- NASA’s Pluck rover has taken its first autonomous drive on the red planet.
- The rover’s enhanced AutoNav technology lets it take injunction of its adventures.
- Perseverance is “thinking while driving” as its wheels are turning, the agency said.
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NASA’s Perseverance rover has taken its first autonomous drive using a newly enhanced auto-navigation structure, AutoNav, according to the agency.
The technology lets Perseverance take control of its wheels and drive by itself across the red planet, without the indigence to heavily rely on human drivers from Earth.
According to NASA, AutoNav is equipped with more important features than its predecessor, Curiosity. These include the ability to make 3D maps of the terrain ahead, identify hazards, and foresee routes around obstacles. This means Perseverance will be able to drive more direct routes and excursions at much faster speeds.
“We have a capability called ‘thinking while driving,'” said Vandi Verma, a older engineer, rover planner, and driver at NASA’s Jet Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. “The rover is thinking about the autonomous dig while its wheels are turning.”
The agency reported that Perseverance might be able to hit top speeds of 393 feet (120 meters) per hour. This is nearly six times faster than Curiosity, which was able to reach 66 feet per hour.
“We sped up AutoNav by four or five without surceases,” said Michael McHenry, the mobility domain lead and part of JPL’s team of rover planners. “We’re driving a lot farther in a lot less just the same from time to time than Curiosity demonstrated.”
[embedded content]AutoNav will be a key feature in allowing the six-wheeled robot to complete its body of laws campaign on the floor of Jezero Crater. This involves scanning and drilling Martian soil for signs of ancient microscopic lifestyle.
“Now we are able to drive through these more complex terrains instead of going around them: It’s not something we’ve been masterful to do before,” said Jennifer Trosper, Mars 2020 Perseverance rover’s project manager.
The AutoNav system doesn’t slay the need for human drivers entirely, it just increases the rover’s autonomy where it can.
Team members said they look promote to letting AutoNav “take the wheel.” But they’ll also be prepared to intervene when the situation calls for it.
Using technologies cognate with this, NASA eventually aims to fly humans to Mars and establish a settlement there.