Drucella Andersen
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                    June 24, 
1992
(Phone: 202/453-8613)

Brian Dunbar
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
(Phone: 202/453-1547)

Jim Doyle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/354-5011)

RELEASE: 92-93

NEW NASA PLANETARY ROBOTIC ROVER SET TO DEBUT

     Robotics engineers and scientists at NASA's Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., will 
demonstrate a new planetary lander and robotic rover at a 
specially-designed test site near the laboratory on June 26.

     "Rocky IV" is a prototype of a mini-rover that may be 
launched to Mars in 1996 as part of the Mars Environmental 
Survey (MESUR) Pathfinder mission.  The 16.5-pound testbed 
will let NASA researchers study how to integrate planetary 
lander functions and science instruments under conditions 
approximating those of a Mars mission.

     The 11:00 a.m. PDT demonstration at the laboratory's 
Arroyo test site will be part of the commemoration of the 25th 
anniversary of NASA's Surveyor Project, which JPL managed.  
Five Surveyor spacecraft successfully landed and operated on 
the moon from May 1966 through January 1968 to pave the way 
for later missions by the Apollo astronauts.

     "Rocky IV, having its own behavioral control system, will 
be integrated with a lander that has a camera system with 
increased computer-processing capabilities, two-way radio 
communications and a command set that will be operated by a 
ground controller," said Dr. Arthur Lane, rover development 
task manager at JPL.

     Rocky IV is 24 inches long, 15 inches wide and 14 inches 
high.  It travels on six 5-inch-diameter wheels made of strips 
of steel foil and cleats to provide traction. 

                            -more-

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     Lane noted that the six-wheeled model is stable and 
mobile. "This arrangement is better adapted for the 
environment we think we will find on Mars," he said.

     Each wheel hub has a motor and the front and rear wheels 
can both steer the rover.  Rocky IV was designed that way so 
that if one wheel motor fails, there is more than enough 
strength in the remaining motors to move the vehicle. The 
rover's "rocker-bogey" suspension, which uses no springs, 
gives it a high degree of stability when rolling over uneven 
surfaces.

     Rocky IV carries sensors that will help it avoid hazards 
such as cliffs, dropoffs and excessive tilt angles.  It also 
has a visible-light spectrometer and a color camera, a chipper 
to remove the thin weathered coverings of rocks and a 
soft-sand scoop to take soil samples. The rover also can place 
a seismometer on the surface.




                            -end-

NOTE TO EDITORS: A photograph of the Rocky IV mini-rover is 
available to media by calling 202/453-8375.

Color: C-92-HC-388
B&W: 92-H-436