NASA descends on Icelandic lava field to prepare for Mars

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South Africa Headlines News

To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, NASA has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job.

With its black basalt sand, wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun lava field at the foot of Iceland's second biggest glacier, Langjokull, was chosen as a stand-in for the Red Planet's surface.

Experts say that Iceland, a volcanic island in the middle of the North Atlantic, is in many ways reminiscent of the fourth planet from the Sun. The meagre pace on the lava field is still two to four times faster than the speed it will be driving at its extraterrestrial destination.Utilising its sensors and camera, the rover gathers and classifies data from its environment and sends back the findings to the engineers' trailer.

Before Mars became an inhospitable frozen desert with an average temperature of minus 63 degrees C , scientists believe that the planet shared many of the characteristics of the subarctic island.

 

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