NASA Selects 10 New Mars Robots

Posted 14 Jul 2001 at 14:26 UTC by steve

Independent News is reporting that NASA has selected 10 new Mars exploration projects from a list of 43 proposals for the Mars Scout Mission. Among selections are two autonomous flying vehicles; one will explore Valles Marineris while another will capture dust from the Martian atmosphere and then return it to Earth. There are several landers; some micro-sized, insect-like robots and others more exotic such as a lander that may melt through the Polar Ice Cap using jets of hot water. Lastly, there will be several new orbiting probes to monitor Martian Weather and Map the surface. JPL is holding free lectures July 19th and 20th on Mars Exploration in the 21st Century.