Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison recently discovered a flaw in how NASA and other space agencies design and test rovers for exploring the moon and beyond.
For decades, engineers have tested rovers through a method called gravitational offset, in which a rover is made lighter, either by removing weight or attaching a crane or helium balloons, to account for earth’s gravitational pull.
“Basically, what you try to do is reproduce on Earth the conditions that you are going to experience on that planet or moon,” Dan Negrut, a mechanical engineering professor at UW-Madison and head of the Simulation Based Engineering Lab said…