The UK has finished testing an autonomous Martian robot that will make its own decisions about where it explores when it reaches the planet.
The rover, that uses artificial intelligence to work out where to go and how to get there, will be able to drive up to a kilometre a day by itself on the Red Planet.
The software on the rover, developed by researchers at King’s College London and aerospace company Airbus, will also make decisions about managing its resources. For example it can shut down certain functions to conserve power.
It will also give the rover the ability to investigate things it deems to be interesting, things which human operators might miss.
This is a significant advancement from the current remote controlled Martian robots being used by scientists.
These rovers are slow and unresponsive, as it takes eight minutes for commands sent from Earth to reach the robot. This limits how far the robots can travel, with current rovers moving only a few dozen metres a day.
The new autonomous systems were tested last month in the Sahara Desert on a four-wheeled rover called ‘Sherpa’.
They used an arid location in Morocco as a test site, because it has a red, rocky terrain that is very similar to the surface of Mars. The robot travelled over 1.4km without human interaction during the month long trial.
Catherine Mealing-Jones, Director of Growth at the UK Space Agency, said: “Mars is a very difficult planet to land safely on, so it’s essential to maximise the discoveries from each successful touchdown.
“New autonomous robot technology like this will help to further unlock Mars’ mysteries and I’m delighted that the UK is a key player in this cutting-edge field.”
Airbus in Stevenage is the prime contractor for the new European Space Agency (ESA) Exomars rover, due to land on Mars in 2020.
Following a public competition last year, the UK Space Agency will announce the name of the new UK-built rover this spring.