Fido Completes Longest Drive in Field Trial
View a larger image (50 kB) or an
animated gif (2 MB) or learn about other sol 16 images.
Today FIDO made a long traverse of about 70 meters (230 feet) to
investigate some interesting land types in the southern distance. To reach
its final destination, engineers directed FIDO through a series of waypoints.
Waypoints are sometimes established to guide the rover around
known obstacles. If data indicates that a large rock is in the middle of
an otherwise straight traverse, engineers will predetermine locations
that direct the rover around the hazard. While the FIDO autonomous
hazard avoidance system can perform the same function, waypoints
can be useful for biasing the rover's path through preferred areas of
the terrain to maximize performance of the rover mobility system.
Waypoints were used for Sojourner and will also be used in the Mars
Exploration Rover mission.
Thus far, this was the longest traverse distance driven in a sol
during this field trial, bringing the team closer to achieving its
distance goal of 200 meters (650 feet).
|
|
Eddie Tunstel |
Mark Powell |
|
|
Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu |
Eric Baumgartner |
|
|
Jeff Norris |
|