FIDO does a jig

JPL scientists have been testing Mars rovers in sandpits and deserts for nearly a decade. But Earth is not like Mars. Neither are robots human, a fact that is sometimes comically apparent.

FIDO

FIDO, a test rover used to improve systems that will be on real Mars rovers, ambles across the Mojave Desert.

"It looked like it was dancing, because it would go to the right, go to the left." Anderson said, doing a little jig with his hands to demonstrate.

Then an engineer walked up and put a coat over the bush, and FIDO moved on. Turns out that at some angles, FIDO would see the bush, but at other angles it would see right through it.

"FIDO doesn't understand bushes," Anderson says. "Because we don't have bushes on Mars."

A Martian in our midst

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is an institution that some employees say has gotten stale and can stifle scientific initiative. Too much paperwork. Too many layers of oversight. Too many rules. And not enough time, money or help to do the cutting edge work that is the institution's legacy.

But Bob Anderson, like many people here, seems largely unaffected by all this. His only real complaint is that as a geologist he never has time to analyze all the important data that is returned by the machines he helps build. Many scientists at JPL serve a similar dual role, acting also as engineers in support of missions and spacecraft design.

"It's very difficult to do your science," the geologist-turned-engineer says.

This leaves the data available for other researchers, outside JPL, to analyze and publish. So while JPL is loaded with braniacs, many toil in relative obscurity.

Anderson is reminded that he's one of these braniacs, a talented geologist who could likely make more money in the private sector, or who could certainly publish a lot more scientific papers if he worked at another research institution. Does he ever contemplate leaving JPL?

"Nah, I'm a Martian." He laughs, and then in a whisper, as if it's a secret, says, "This is the best place to come." For robotics, he explains, and for Mars exploration.

Fooled, rovers to migrate indoors

Anderson has patiently discussed the politics of JPL, but he needs to help build a spacecraft by 2003, and he's very anxious to show off a recently constructed full-scale model. So from the outdoor Mars Yard, he leads the way back down the hill to the new building that houses his office and the next generation of Mars rovers.

As he walks, he tells of an outdoor test in the Mars Yard that lasted into the evening. A rover had spent the afternoon making a topographical map of the yard. Then JPL's streetlights came on, effectively remaking the landscape in the rover's eyes and ruining the test.

So while outdoor testing continues, JPL is constructing a new indoor facility to provide greater control over conditions. Anderson opens the door to the facility.

It is a cavernous building the size of a football field and divided in half by a wall of windows. No one else is here, though soon it will be buzzing with activity, Anderson says.

One side is still under construction, a sunken concrete pit -- something like a shallow Olympic-sized pool. It will be filled with five dump truck loads of sand crushed out of volcanic cinder, to most closely resemble the surface of Mars. Rocks and boulders will be tossed around, and a huge bank of lights will span the length of the ceiling, set to simulate daylight on Mars.

Next Page: Meet the next Mars rover