NASA’s ATHLETE Rover

Athlete overview

NASA’s ATHLETE Rover has a different purpose rather then taking samples on the moon or samples from Mars. Athlete stands for “All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer” and is developed by NASA’s Johnson and Ames Centers, Stanford University, and Boeing. The purpose of the rover is for manned missions to the Moon first and then to Mars to transport payloads. These types of rovers will be able to move Habitats which the first Mechanics and scientists will live in and transport supplies like fuel and resources back and forth. Here is a video demonstrating the Athlete and its function on future missions to the Moon and mars

Impressions of NASA’s ATHLETE Rover

There are many kinds of rovers that have been developed and are in development, however this rover is not for exploration rather for helping out astronauts and assisting them in their living environment making it easier on the work load and doing tasks that would be difficult on the Lunar or Mars surface. This rover will be able to dock with other rover to move heavier payloads while moving habitats to different locations for better coverage and exploration while being able to climb terrestrial terrain of 35° on a rocky surface and 25° on soft sand. ATHLETE will be controlled by a immersive user interface and Demonstrate a useful “voice and gesture” command mode to enable astronauts in suits to interact with these rovers.