Rover Sojourner
Logo Design by Tina Lafferty
Mechanical, Thermal and Mobility Subsystem (MTM)
A small 11-kilogram rover will journey to Mars aboard
the Mars Pathfinder Mission. Its primary mission
is to perform technology, science and engineering experiments on the Martian
surface.
The MFEX Rover is based on the Rocker-Bogie suspension system developed
at JPL in the late 1980's. This six wheeled platform is the key to the fantastic
mobility achieved by the Rover.
As the Rover is a mobile robot, its two primary subsystems are mobility
and control. The Mechanical, Thermal and Mobility Subsystem (MTM) is responsible
for:
- the physical configuration of the vehicle
- the mobility/suspension design
- the mechanisms and actuators which drive and steer the wheels
- the structures which hold the rover to the lander
- the mechanisms which release the rover from the lander
- the structures which support all electronics and payloads
- keeping all electronics and payloads within their safe operating ranges
Mobility Team Members:
- Howard Jay Eisen (Subsystem Leader)
- Donald Bickler
- David Braun
- Willis Han
- Gregory Hickey
- Ken Jewett
- Don Noon
- Dutch Sebring
- Lee Sword
- L.C. Wen
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All information on this site, including text and images
describing the Rover is copyright © 1996, Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
California Institute of Technology and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
This document was last updated on: 28 October, 1996