Tumbleweed Rover Tests Demonstrate Technology for Low-Cost Mars Exploration

Posted3 months agoActive3 months ago

PaulHoule

10 points

7 comments

phys.orgResearchstory

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Mars ExplorationSpace RoboticsLow-Cost Technology

Key topics

Mars Exploration

Space Robotics

Low-Cost Technology

Researchers demonstrate a Tumbleweed rover technology that could enable low-cost Mars exploration, sparking discussion on its potential applications and limitations.

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Discussion (7 comments)

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d--b

3 months ago

1 reply

This looks cool, but won't these get stuck in ditches, or small craters?

Also, Mars's atmosphere is supposedly quite thinner isn't it? So it would require more wind than on Earth to push these things, no?

MurkyLabs

3 months ago

1 reply

I'm not sure if the density plays into this too much. Gravity would probably play a bigger role as the gravity is only 38% of Earth's so it would need less wind to move

wumms

3 months ago

2 replies

Wind forces in the 17 mbar tests (mentioned in the article) are roughly twice as strong as those on Mars, but still about 60x weaker than on Earth at full atmospheric pressure (1013 hPa (= 1013 mbar)).

The lower gravity might compensate for the pressure in the test being about twice as high.

foobarbecue

3 months ago

1 reply

Where did you find info about the pressure they tested at? I don't see it at https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC-DPS2025/EPSC-DP... or https://phys.org/news/2025-09-tumbleweed-rover-technology-ma...

wumms

3 months ago

1 reply

The phys.org article mentions it: "[...] the team carried out static and dynamic tests in a wind tunnel with a variety of wind speeds and ground surfaces under a low atmospheric pressure of 17 millibars.

Results showed that wind speeds of 9–10 meters per second were sufficient to set the rover in motion over a range of Mars-like terrains, including smooth and rough surfaces, sand, pebbles and boulder field."

foobarbecue

3 months ago

Ah, thanks, I missed that. It's weird how that information is in the phys.org article but not in the linked abstract. I guess that's because it's just an abstract -- they must have given more details during the presentation.

IAmBroom

3 months ago

Mars gravity is 38% of Earth's.

The force caused by the wind acting on the rovers are 50% of Mars, if you are correct, so I'd expect twice the "sail" force pushing the CG of the rover versus its current contact "point" on Mars as in the experiment. 2/0.38 = 2.5x the moving force. When the CG is pushed forward, the whole thing rotates, and the rover advances to a new contact point.

Of course, we're talking about things like wind velocity and surface texture as "constants" here, but yeah: the thing should move.

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