ExoMy Is A Miniature European Mars Rover With A Friendly Face





5 thoughts on “ExoMy Is A Miniature European Mars Rover With A Friendly Face

  1. I think it’d be a good idea to send a fleet of smaller rovers, each one dedicated to running a single type of experiment in addition to a common sensor suite of cameras, temperature sensors etc. For Mars that suite could also include a speaker and microphone with the ability to be configured with software as a wide area SONAR. Why use sound in the thin Martian atmosphere? For gathering more data.

    Testing audio propagation of the thin atmosphere at various distances and temperatures can provide additional data above what a simple barometer or pressure and temperature sensors can provide. If put on an arm so the sound transducer and microphone can be placed in direct contact with the surface, the audio propagation can tell something about the subsurface before disturbing it by digging. Could be used to avoid large rocks that would impede digging, possibly discover subsurface ice or frozen CO2.

    And of course these small rovers should all be equipped with a fan to blow dust off their solar panels. Fans could also be used to suck up samples and blow lose material off places for instruments to be used for testing and grinding samples off rocks. The same method used to avoid rocks for digging could be used to find rocks for sampling.

    1. No, not a fan. They should play lout metal through the speakers and mosh to shake the dust off. There would be synergy, the dust probably has some iron oxide in it and that’s metal.

  2. Hey Roger!
    Miro, one ExoMy developer from ESA here. :)
    Thanks for this great article covering ExoMy! We’re looking very much forward to see more of your newest Sawppy Mini iteration. Looks really great so far.

    Cheers from the Netherlands

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