It was around a few months back that NASA chief scientist Jim Green shared the hopes of discovering alien life on the Red Planet. Green claimed that alien life will be discovered on Mars within 2021 by a NASA probe. As people are waiting for alien discovery, NASA's Perseverance Rover is currently on its course to the Red Planet, and the probe is expected to make its soft-landing on February 18, 2021. As Mars exploration continues, scientists from NASA and Caltech have developed a four-legged Mars dog that is capable of moving faster than traditional rovers.
Mars dog to explore Martian surface
Researchers at NASA have now introduced the Mars dog at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Researchers believe that robotic canine explorers could map out the buried tunnels on Mars, and they could even look for possible signs of alien life, at least in its microbial form.
According to a report published in Live Science, scientists will fit the robotic dog with sensors that will help them to avoid rocky obstacles. The walking dog will be also capable of navigating through deep underground tunnels.
What makes robotic Martian dogs special?
"Toppling does not mean mission failure. Using recovery algorithms, the robot can self-right from a multitude of falls," said the scientists involved in the study, Daily Star reports.
Scientists revealed that this Martian robotic dog is 12 times lighter than rovers like Curiosity that had previously explored the Martian surface. Due to the lightweight, the new robotic Mars dogs can move speedily across the surface of the Red Planet. Initial tests revealed that the Martian dogs could move at a speed of three miles per hour, while traditional rovers had a speed of .9 miles per hour.
The US military has been using robotic dogs for their operations over the past few years, and now, the country is aiming to implement the same strategy to unlock the hidden mysteries of Mars.
