Meeting Nasa’s Rovers

On a recent visit to California pi-top’s VP of Technology and mini rover designer, Wil Bennett, was lucky enough to have a tour of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion laboratory. Kid in a candy shop doesn’t even come close.

To showcase some of the potential uses for pi-top [4], we designed and built two mini Mars rovers whose movements were remotely controlled by it. The idea being this is exactly the sort of project a club, society or school could work on. It combines various skills and technologies, from coding and 3D printing to environmental studies and photography.

We’ve travelled around the world with these rovers, and recently had the privilege of visiting NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology, to see what the real Mars rovers are capable of.

When we arrive, we’re greeted by our friendly NASA liaison, Brandon, who sorts us out with security passes. The first stop is a fantastically detailed exhibition room full of models of previous rovers, landers and probes that JPL have designed and built over the decades.

We get a chance to meet scale models of household names like Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity, and there’s even a model of…