SPACEPHOTOS

Unmanned exploration of the planets may some day be undertaken by tele-operated rover vehicles. A prototype rover will conduct field tests February 13 - 18, 1995, at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii. From a control center at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) in northern California scientists will drive a Russian planetary rover inside an active volcano over terrain similar to that on Mars and the Moon. The six-wheeled rover is a descendant of the Russian Lunakhod vehicles that explored the Moon. Integration of the rover chassis with western avionics and development of a manipulator arm was accomplished by McDonnell Douglas.