NASA tests – NASA is testing a prototype rover, Ernest, in Colorado to improve how future Mars and moon missions handle rough terrain. The vehicle is designed to drive faster than today’s rovers and to lift its wheels over obstacles, using active suspension and multiple st
The next generation of Mars rovers may not just need to go farther. It may need to move like it can think around problems.
This week, NASA showed progress on a prototype called the Exploration Rover for Navigating Extreme Sloped Terrain, or Ernest, designed to tackle the kind of rough, obstacle-heavy ground that has long forced delays and detours for missions.
Today’s fleet still carries familiar limits. Perseverance, which NASA calls a “standout,” reaches a top speed of just under 0.1 mph on flat ground. Even then. wheels take a beating on rough terrain. and steep slopes with hazards like rocks and sand can be so hard to handle that rovers sometimes need long detours to reach targets.
Ernest is being tested in the Colorado Desert as NASA looks for approaches that could carry over to future missions on Mars and the moon. The prototype has four wheels—versus six on current Mars rovers—and is four feet long. though NASA says a version built for an actual mission would be double the size. The key mechanical trick is that it can individually lift its wheels to step on or over obstacles.
During the recent desert tests, Ernest drove for a total of over 37 hours across seven days, covering roughly 16 miles, according to NASA. Its top speed in the tests was about 0.6 mph.
“You could do a science road trip across the Moon — or Mars — with this vehicle,” said James Keane, a JPL planetary scientist working on lunar missions.
Under the hood. Ernest is also built around a suspension system that’s meant to handle uneven ground more actively than what’s been used before. Going back to NASA’s Sojourner rover. Mars missions have relied on a passive suspension approach known as the rocker-bogie system. keeping the rover’s weight constant across its wheels. Now engineers are testing active suspension with Ernest to improve mobility.
NASA says Ernest uses two powered joints in front, which articulate a gimbal that lets the rover drive using different gaits. Those include “squirming,” “wheel-walking,” and obstacle-climbing. It can also switch between active and passive suspension depending on the task and energy needs.
Control is another lever NASA is trying to pull. With four steerable wheels, Ernest can drive in any direction. Since the program began in 2022. there have already been multiple iterations of the Ernest prototype. with the team testing nearly a dozen active suspension configurations. The latest version also includes “enhanced independent decision-making capabilities.”.
The goal, NASA says, is to develop rover technology that covers more ground than previous designs—and faster—while relying less on controllers on Earth.
NASA Mars rover Perseverance Ernest Exploration Rover for Navigating Extreme Sloped Terrain JPL active suspension rover prototype Colorado Desert obstacle climbing independent decision-making