Robotic Hedgehogs to Explore Martian Moons

Jan-01-13 Stanford researchers have created a spherical, spiky rovers designed to hop and tumble across the uneven surface of a Martian moon while relaying information about its surface.

The rovers, called “hedgehogs,” are designed to be deployed by a mother spaceship to explore the Martian moon Phobos. The half-meter wide hedgehogs would be released one at a time, cooperating with the mothership to map a trajectory and relay information back to the Phobos Surveryor. The hopper design is more efficient than the typical rover because it can cover much more ground than the rover, cross difficult terrain and is not at risk of problems like a stuck wheel.

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[POPSCI.COM]
[STANFORD]

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