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NASA is sending a six feet-tall solar-powered rover prototype designed for ice exploration on highest part of Greenland’s massive ice-sheet.
The space agency’s newest scientific rover is set for testing from May 3 through June 8 in the highest part of Greenland, NASA said.
The robot known as GROVER, which stands for both Greenland Rover and Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research, will roam the frigid landscape collecting measurements to help scientists better understand changes in the massive ice-sheet.
This autonomous, solar-powered robot carries a ground-penetrating radar to study how snow accumulates, adding layer upon layer to the ice-sheet over time.
Greenland’s surface layer vaulted into the news in summer 2012 when higher than normal temperatures caused surface melting across about 97 percent of the ice sheet, NASA said.
Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, expect GROVER to detect the layer of the ice-sheet that formed in the aftermath of that extreme melt event.
Research with polar rovers costs less than aircraft or satellites, the usual platforms.
“Robots like GROVER will give us a new tool for glaciology studies,” said Lora Koenig, a glaciologist at Goddard and science adviser on the project.
GROVER will be joined on the ice sheet in June by another robot, named Cool Robot, developed at Dartmouth College, Hanover. This rover can tow a variety of instrument packages to conduct glaciological and atmospheric sampling studies.
The tank-like GROVER prototype stands six feet tall, including its solar panels. It weighs about 363kg and traverses the ice on two re-purposed snowmobile tracks.
The robot is powered entirely by solar energy, so it can operate in pristine polar environments without adding to air pollution. The panels are mounted in an inverted V, allowing them to collect energy from the Sun and sunlight reflected off the ice sheet.
A ground-penetrating radar powered by two rechargeable batteries rests on the back of the rover. The radar sends radio-wave pulses into the ice-sheet, and the waves bounce-off buried features, informing researchers about the characteristics of the snow and ice layers.
From a research station operated by the National Science Foundation called Summit Camp, a spot where the ice sheet is about 3.2 km thick, GROVER will crawl at an average speed of 2 kilometres per hour.
Because the Sun never dips below the horizon during the Arctic summer, GROVER can work at any time during the day and should be able to work longer.
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