Happy rovers
Image: The team behind ESA’s Analog-1 rover are all smiles after ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano successfully manoeuvres the rover in the Netherlands from space.Last week’s dry-run of the Analog-1 experiment, in which Luca completed a “proficiency run” to test the system, set the stage for another flawless performance on 25 November.Taking command of the rover (centre) located in a hangar in the Netherlands on Monday, Luca expertly drove it to three sites and used its robotic arm to collect rock samples, all while circling our planet at 28 800 km/h on the International Space Station.Which samples to collect and save for further analysis was decided by a science team based at ESA’s Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany in conversation with Luca.The Human Robot Interaction Lab provided the rover and test infrastructure and is located at ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands. They also developed the rover control station that Luca...