It is at the foot of the second largest glacier in Iceland, in the west of the island, that NASA sent about fifteen scientists and engineers for three weeks in July. The goal for the US space agency? Test a new prototype of astromobile - a vehicle designed to explore bodies other than Earth - to be sent to Mars in 2020. It is supposed to extend the work of Curiosity rover, which has just celebrated its seventh anniversary of investigation on the red planet.
Iceland was not chosen at random by the scientists of Mission Control Space Service, a Canadian space technology company mandated by NASA for the expedition. At the foot of the glacier lies the Lambahraun lava field. This volcanic area located about 100 kilometers from the capital Reykjavik is the ideal terrain to prepare the mission of 2020. Black sand of basalt, dunes formed by the wind and mountain tops nearby, it has strong similarities with the surface of March. "We get exactly the type of patterns and materials transports that scientists want to test," said AFP Adam Deslauriers, space and instruction manager for Mission Control Space Services, present on site.
And beyond its landscapes, Iceland has "a mineralogy very similar to that we find on Mars," says AFP Ryan Ewing, professor of geology and geophysics at Texas A & M University. Few vegetation, low temperatures and high concentration of magnesium and iron in some rocks ... Iceland has already served as a test area for NASA in the past. For the preparation of the Apollo missions in the 1960s, the volcanic island was popular with astronauts who carried out life-size training.
A robot "fundamentally indestructible"
The place seems ideal to finalize a robot still in the state of prototype, whose departure in the space is planned between July 17 and August 5, 2020. It would be "fundamentally indestructible", according to Adam Deslauriers, and therefore much less sensitive than its predecessors to the environment and conditions of Iceland, such as rain. On the technical side, the machine - which still weighs 570 kg - operates its four-wheel drive, driven by two side engines, at a speed of about 20 centimeters per second thanks to its twelve car batteries.
Equipped with 3D sensors, a computer, a dual-purpose camera and scientific instruments, the robot collects data from the surrounding environment, before transmitting it to engineers located a few hundred meters away. him. But for now, he is not able to collect and collect samples, and scientists have yet to visit the study area to do it themselves. However, its final version will be able to do it.
Since July 21, 1969, date of the first step on the Moon, the conquest of Mars is a recurring goal of astronauts around the world. To better know the red planet, several robots have been sent since the 1960s. Sojourner was the first astromobile to land there in 1997. The only active on the spot is Curiosity, designed by NASA, present on the 6th August 2012 in the crater of Gale. If the "Mars Rover 2020" mission runs smoothly, Curiosity should have a robotic binomial on site by February 2021, by the time it reaches its destination.