GROVER the NASA rover takes on Greenland ice sheet
Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 1:22 pm
- (Image: Lora Koenig/NASA Goddard)
- dn23537-1_1200[1].jpg (111.88 KiB) Viewed 2093 times
The Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research, or GROVER, is trundling across Greenland to measure changes in the ice sheet with ground-penetrating radar. This should help researchers to better understand the effects of climate change.
GROVER is a much cheaper data-gathering option than aircraft or satellite monitoring. As it is fully solar-powered, its impact on the polar environmental is minimal. High, V-shaped solar panels let the rover harvest energy both directly from the sun and also from sunlight bounced off the ice.