Test Rovers
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory maintains a pair of rovers at its location in Pasadena for testing and modeling of situations on Mars. One test rover, weighing approximately 180 kilograms (400 lb), is fully instrumented and nearly identical to Spirit and Opportunity. Another test version is identical in size and drive characteristics but does not include all instruments. It weighs in at 80 kilograms (180 lb), much closer to the weight of Spirit and Opportunity in the reduced gravity of Mars. These rovers were used in 2009 for a simulation of the incident in which Spirit became trapped in soft soil.
Read more about this topic: Mars Exploration Rover
Famous quotes containing the word test:
“It is the test of a novel writer’s art that he conceal his snake-in-the-grass; but the reader may be sure that it is always there.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)