By Adam Harper
630 kilometres may be a long way to travel for an eye check-up; but when those eyes are viewing landscapes at over 2,000 kilometres away and are responsible for millions of dollars worth of information supporting decisions on environmental management, farming practices and mineral exploration, it’s well worth the trip.
That’s exactly what CSIRO researchers did on a recent mission from Perth when they travelled out to Lake Lefroy (near Kalgoorlie) with colleagues from France, Israel, China and Japan. Their job was to make sure the information coming from several Earth observation satellites orbiting the globe is accurate; it’s a process called vicarious calibration.
And this time, their space communication mission went space age.
Our 'Outback Rover’ is helping scientists improve the accuracy of satellites.
Our ‘Outback Rover’ is helping scientists improve the accuracy of satellites.
Nicknamed the ‘Outback Rover’, this vehicle may look like a cousin to R2-D2 from Star Wars, but it is a prototype from CSIRO, which could enable future calibration missions to be conducted remotely.
CSIRO Research Scientist, Dr Alberto Elfes, said: “Outback Rover could potentially be operating out here at Lake Lefroy on its own while researchers back in their home cities or even countries oversee its movements to take various measurements. These are then fed wirelessly and instantly back to the researchers, saving hours if not days of travel and field work.”
For more information about the Outback Rover and the recent mission to Lake Lefroy, check out this video:
26th September 2013 at 8:03 pm
Reblogged this on The starlightwalker and commented:
CSIRO tests its “outback rover” in outback Western Australia, with the goal of enabling remote calibration missions of Earth observation satellites in the future