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Mars Tumbleweed Rovers Will Rock, Bounce and Roll on Mars

What if you could reduce a robotic Mars rover down to a simple ball that gets propelled across the Martian plains under wind power alone? If you were on the Red Planet’s surface, the object would most likely look like a beachball gone wild, but the “tumbleweed” rover design is getting some serious attention from NASA as an unorthodox way to reconnoiter Mars.

But as the drivers of rover Opportunity can attest, Mars is covered in rocks and obstacles that require some pretty mean navigation skills.

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