NASA to Begin Testing "GROVER" Vehicle on Greenland's Ice Sheet

Daily Tech ^ | - May 2, 2013 2:10 PM | Tiffany Kaiser

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

It will collect radar data for the purpose of understanding changes in the ice

NASA will begin testing a new rover tomorrow, which is expected to measure changes in Greenland's ice sheet. 

The rover is called GROVER, which is short for Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research. It's a 6-foot-tall, 800 pound, autonomous vehicle complete with solar panels and two repurposed snowmobile tracks. 

The solar-powered GROVER will travel Greenland's surface layer collecting measurements in order to help scientists understand changes in the ice sheet. A ground-penetrating radar -- which is powered by two rechargeable batteries -- is placed at the back of the rover. The radar sends radio wave pulses into the ice sheet, and the waves bounce off buried features. This information about the characteristics of snow and ice layers in this area is then collected.

Why Greenland? Because Greenland's surface layer made the news in summer 2012 when higher temperatures led to surface melting across about 97 percent of the ice sheet. GROVER will identify the layer of the ice sheet that formed after the great melt. 

"Robots like GROVER will give us a new tool for glaciology studies," said Lora Koenig, a glaciologist at Goddard and science advisor on the project.

GROVER will have a partner come June named Cool Robot, which was developed at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., with funding from the National Science Foundation. Cool Robot will help conduct glaciological and atmospheric sampling studies.

From May 3 to June 8, GROVER will collect radar data in its testing phase in Greenland. It will travel at an average speed of 1.2 mph over a spot where the ice sheet is about 2 miles thick. While this seems like a snail's speed, GROVER can work at any time during the day because the sun never dips below the horizon during the Arctic summer (meaning GROVER can be continuously powered).

Source: NASA

[hoagy62]

Did they buy the copyright from Children’s Television Workshop?

[tet68]

Kewl, it comes with it’s own pine tree.

So we had the “great melt” and then the “great freeze”?

[MNDude]

NEEEEEAR! FAAAAR!

[Rebelbase]

Is it possible to post a larger picture? That one is kind of small.

[Cicero]

That thing is going to do incredible damage to the pristine ice sheets. Probably the polar bears will damage their toes trying to walk on it.

[Tanniker Smith]

Watch out for the monster at the end of the ice sheet!

[tomkat]

LOL !

If there's ever been a bigger pic posted at FR, I can't recall it at the moment ?

This may be a record, but back in our dialup days your name would have been Mr.Ernest.Mudd !

[Joe 6-pack]

"It's a 6-foot-tall, 800 pound, autonomous vehicle..."

Thanks for the full scale pic ;-)

[spawn44]

You already know what the study will find. AGW is increasing the ice melt and we are all going to drown. And we need more funding the study this further. All this after one year of measurements

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well,...thought it would be good to see it up close.....

I just copied the markup language...don;t know why the sizing commands weren't copied.

Picture at the Dailytech website was not sized that large.

[InterceptPoint]

Welcome to the National Anti-Science Administration. It used to have another name and another mission. You can read all about it on Wikipedia

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Gigantic amount of melt and they need GIGANTIC AMOOOUNTS OF FUNDING....to keep the BIG ROBOTS working and build more of them.

Antarctica is much bigger....need to study down there too.

[Never on my watch]

That tree must be 15,000 feet tall!

[Wuli]

so part of the NASA budget can be deferred to this, while getting to Mars is put on the slow burner

so is NASA any longer the “National Aeronautics & Space Administration” or just a great place for scientist-bureaucrats to push the programs that will simply keep them employed by NASA, for any purpose whatsoever???

If this is a worthy project it should be funded by the NOA budget, not NASA.

[Patton@Bastogne]

.


What a pathetic design, typified by black electrical tape used to secure one of the antennas (upper right hand corner of photo).


.

[Rodamala]

IT'S SUPERGROVER!