The rovers, Spirit and Opportunity have journeyed across the rugged terrain of Mars for more than two years. During this period, though they collecting data on its rocks’ and soil’s composition, they have not traversed more than 10 square miles. All have their own limitations, as their sensors cannot collect data more than a few feet above the ground.
To survey the planet’s unknown areas, researchers projected a different vehicle for this. It is a balloon craft, named Archimedes. Scheduled to reach the Red Planet in 2009, it is being designed to make hover much closer to the surface of the planet, compared to a satellite. It is expected to snap clear, full-color images exactly the way an Earth photographer might take from a helicopter.
Bernd Hausler, a project scientist said,
A rover can’t tell you the atmospheric density several miles above Mars’s surface, and it can’t give you an image of the planet’s surface taken from a mile up... A balloon craft can do both of those things.
Via: New York Times
