NOWYOUKNOW:
TheR2unit is the first dexterous
humanoid robot in space.
usversusthem; theyarealreadygoing.And
makenomistake:Humanitycannotexplore
spacewithoutrobots.
But, asBeatypoints out, humans have
advantagesaswell, like theability toadapt
to surprises and make snap decisions.
“This is especiallyvaluable inexploringun-
knownplaces, becauseweknow therewill
AmericanWay
contributor
JOEPAPPALARDO
isasenior
editorat
PopularMechanics
and theauthorof thenonfic-
tionbook
Sunflowers: TheSecretHistory
.
be surprises,”he says. “Themost eective
explorationsystem isprobablyone inwhich
robots andhumans areworking coopera-
tively together, eachdoing the things that
theydobest.”
eliminatethat levelofrisk.”
TemperaturesonMarscandipas lowas
225degrees below zero, and the planet is
scouredbymassiveduststorms.Essentially,
itwould takeawearable spaceship forahu-
man to survive a five-second stroll there.
Butroverscanhandle theconditions there;
they’vealreadyproved it.
In2003,NASAsentapairofsix-wheeled
robots called Spirit and Opportunity to
Mars, partof a90-daymission that turned
into an eight-year odyssey. Their perfor-
mancewas impressive: Spirit,whichdrove
4.8miles,died in2010;Opportunity, stillac-
tive,hasdrivenmorethan21miles.Theybe-
came iconsof thenewwaytoexplorespace.
TherovernowonthewaytoMarsdwarfs
thosepioneers. Everyoneof its sixwheels
has its owndrivingmotor. Itwill explore
approximately330 feet eachday. TheMSL
is carrying 10 times theamountof payload
of theother rovers—and thatmeans it can
collect samples with an arm, drop them
intotubeson itsback,conductexperiments
andbeam results back to eager scientists
onEarth.
MSL iswellarmedforscience.An instru-
ment namedChemCamuses a laser to va-
porizethin layersofmaterial fromMartian
rocksmore than23 feet away. It thenfinds
thechemicalmakeupusingaspectrometer,
adevice that can identifymaterialsby the
way their atoms react after being zapped
by the beam. Though they are less expen-
sive thanhumans to send into space, robot
explorersarebynomeanscheap.Curiosity
cost $2.5billion tobuildand launch. Inan
era of tight budgets, there is a perception
that either robots or humans can explore
space.Butafter2012, itwon’tbeamatterof
LEFT:
Curiosityon itsway toMarson
Nov. 26, 2011
RIGHT:
testingprecision
ofmovement onCuriosity’s roboticarm
UNITEDLAUNCHALLIANCE;NASA/JPL-CALTECH
AA.COM/AMERICANWAY
APRIL 15, 2012
33
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