NASA Jet
Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Mars Exploration Rover Mission
Videos: People
First Person - Ayanna
Howard - 08/20/2003
JPL robotics engineer
Dr. Ayanna Howard explains
how engineers design and test rovers that may one day go to Mars
Go to: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/video/people.html
click
on: First Person
- Ayanna Howard 'RealPlayer' or
'QuickTime'
(you will need to have RealPlayer or QuickTime
installed on your computer)
| telescope Mt. Wilson (150-Foot Solar Tower Current Towercam Image from Mt. Wilson) scientists to catch a glimpse of Mars to occur as great as...is feature Lake Tahoe rovers landers ears and eyes surface dime |
feet
(= 12 inches) spacecraft to deal with time delay to joystick to employ airbag smarter terrains flat and even to land precisely in this regard autonomy artificial intelligence (AI) cliff |
boulder smarts (= intelligence) the arroyo see how it does Mars yard to be patterned to navigate The Bionic Woman to build up with robotic parts engineering specifically robotics to encourage to take s.t. to the next level |
Listening comprehension questions:
1. Where is Mt. Wilson, and why is it significant in this feature?
2. In the past, when was the only time the 100-inch telescope at Mt. Wilson
could be profitably used to view Mars?
3. Where is Lake Tahoe?
4. How has the ability to see features on Mars changed in recent times?
5. How many centimeters are there in one foot?
6. Why can't engineers on earth simply 'joystick' a Mars Rover by remote control?
7. What is a drawback of using airbags for landing a Mars Rover?
8. What is artificial intelligence needed for when devising a landing method
for a Mars Rover?
9. How are Mars Rovers tested before they are launched on a mission to Mars?
10. How did Howard become interested in engineering?