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NASA launched two rovers in June and July of 2003 as a part of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) project. MER-A (Spirit) landed on Mars in Gusev Crater at 15 degrees South latitude and 175 degrees East longitude on January 4, 2004 (Squyres, et al., Dec. 2004). ...This paper describes the MER rover thermal design, its implementation and performance on Mars. The rover surface thermal design performance was better than pre-landing predictions. ...., Aug. 2004). Both rovers have well exceeded their design lifetime (90 Sols) by more than a factor of 5. Spirit and Opportunity are still healthy and continue to execute their roving science missions at the time of this writing.

In a collaborative effort, Lithion and NASA/JPL developed a lithium ion battery capable of meeting the physical and electrochemical requirements for the 2003/2004 Mars Exploration Rover (MER) missions. The cells provide up to 145 Wh/kg, while the specific energy at the battery level, including wiring harnesses, thermal hardware and mounting hardware is approximately 90 Wh/kg.

Future lunar science and exploration missions will involve the use of pressurized rovers for long duration lunar surface missions. Designs for pressurized rovers are being studied by NASA and the industry. ...This paper presents some results of work currently underway on the development of a rover simulator in the context of a new pressurized rover concept. A motion base simulator will play a vital role in generating rover vehicle design and performance requirements. ...A lunar rover simulator based on MODSIM will help rover vehicle engineers to be productive through all phases of simulator development.

As part of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) project, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched two rovers in June and July of 2003 and successfully landed both of them on Mars in January of 2004.

ChemCam is one of the 10 instrument suites on the Mars Science Laboratory, a martian rover being built by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, for the next NASA mission to Mars (MSL 2009). ChemCam is an instrument package consisting of two remote sensing instruments: a Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS) and a Remote Micro-Imager (RMI). ...Both instruments rely on an autofocus capability to precisely focus on the chosen target, located at distances from the rover comprised between 1 and 9 m for LIBS, and 2 m and infinity for RMI. ChemCam will help determine which samples, within the vicinity of the MSL rover, are of sufficient interest to use the contact and in-situ instruments for further characterization. ...ChemCam will help determine which samples, within the vicinity of the MSL rover, are of sufficient interest to use the contact and in-situ instruments for further characterization.

The two tasks were a site survey for lunar outpost (using the Science, Crew, Operations, and Utility Testbed (SCOUT) rover) and deployment of a solar power system with cables. For both of these tasks, the team acquired quantitative data on human-robot interaction that can be used to determine task efficiency indexes to compare the operational scenarios of robots, humans, and human-robot teams.

Alternative fuels and challenges Automotive powertrain development: virtually-connected hardware co-simulation Functional Safety-progressing towards safer mobility Electric rockets and the future of satellite propulsion Achates powers toward production A potential ICE game-changer, the Achates OP engine is being tooled up for production at one OEM while a new 2.7-L triple for light-truck demonstrations enters the build phase. Engineering with simulation and data Companies are discovering new simulation techniques, especially optimization; the next step is to combine simulation with sensor data and predictive analytics to create even more robust off-highway equipment.