Curiosity and MAVEN Explore Mars

This animation first shows Curiosity working to understand Mars as a past habitat, with a cut to MAVEN arriving at Mars to study the upper Martian atmosphere. Curiosity will not be able to "see" MAVEN on its arrival. Later in the mission, Curiosity may be able to view MAVEN when its orbit passes over Gale Crater at dusk, similar to viewing a low-earth-orbiting (LEO) satellite around Earth. As a precedent, Mars rover Spirit captured the Mars Odyssey orbiter as a bright point in the Martian sky.

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NASA | The Power of Two: How Humans and Robots Explore Space

The video starts at 04:26. From robotic scouting missions, to space station construction, to opening the planetary frontiers, there has been a growing relationship between robots and humans. The first robotic scouts to the Moon answered key science and engineering questions, paving the path for the Apollo landings. Now Mars is under the robotic magnifying glass, both from orbit and from its surface.

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NASA's Valkyrie 'Superhero' Bot May Help Us Explore Mars

NASA has developed a robot that may be used to explore Mars before humans ever set foot on the red planet. "Valkyrie" was developed by a team of engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Tex. for the DARPA robotics competition later this month. Valkyrie is a 6.2-foot, 275-pound humanoid robot that can walk on its own and pick up and manipulate objects. It is extremely flexible with 44 degrees of axes of rotation in its joints.

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NASA: Amorphous Robots to Explore Mars

NASA: Amorphous Robots to Explore Mars When conventional robots explore hazardous environments like rubble in the aftermath of an earthquake they usually get stuck and are lost. An amorphous robot with minimal structure could help in these situations... and be an excellent Mars surface explorer, too.

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