NASA rover roaming Greenland’s ice sheet

A prototype of GROVER, minus its solar panels, was tested in January 2012 at a ski resort in Idaho. The laptop in the picture is for testing purposes only and is not mounted on the final prototype. (Gabriel Trisca, Boise State University, NASA)
A prototype of GROVER, minus its solar panels, was tested in January 2012 at a ski resort in Idaho. The laptop in the picture is for testing purposes only and is not mounted on the final prototype. (Gabriel Trisca, Boise State University, NASA)

A NASA rover known as GROVER is roaming Greenland to collect data that may help scientists better understand changes to the ice sheet.

GROVER, short for Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research, began exploring the ice sheet on May 3 and is expected to operate until June 8, NASA said in a press release this month.

“Robots like GROVER will give us a new tool for glaciology studies,” said Lora Koenig, a glaciologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. and science advisor on the GROVER project, said in the NASA press release.

While many people think “space exploration” when it comes to rovers, scientists say the new machine makes just as much sense in the world’s remote Arctic environments.

“GROVER is just like a spacecraft but it has to operate on the ground,” said Michael Comberiate, a retired NASA engineer. “It has to survive unattended for months in a hostile environment, with just a few commands to interrogate it and find out its status and give it some directions for how to accommodate situations it finds itself in.”

NASA describes the 800-pound rover as ‘tank-like.’  The rover moves on snowmobile tracks and is solar-powered, allowing the rover to operate  without creating air pollution.

A ground-penetrating radar will sent radio waves into Greenland’s ice sheet giving readings on snow and ice layers.

Data suggests that Greenland’s ice sheet is melting five times faster than in the 1990s.

GROVER was developed in 2010 and 2011 by teams of students at summer engineering boot camps at Goddard.

Related Link:

Video: NASA rover prototype set to explore Greenland Ice Sheet, NASA

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

Eilís Quinn is an award-winning journalist and manages Radio Canada International’s Eye on the Arctic news cooperation project. Eilís has reported from the Arctic regions of all eight circumpolar countries and has produced numerous documentary and multimedia series about climate change and the issues facing Indigenous peoples in the North.

Her investigative report "Death in the Arctic: A community grieves, a father fights for change," about the murder of Robert Adams, a 19-year-old Inuk man from Arctic Quebec, received the silver medal for “Best Investigative Article or Series” at the 2019 Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The project also received an honourable mention for excellence in reporting on trauma at the 2019 Dart Awards in New York City.

Her report “The Arctic Railway: Building a future or destroying a culture?” on the impact a multi-billion euro infrastructure project would have on Indigenous communities in Arctic Europe was a finalist at the 2019 Canadian Association of Journalists award in the online investigative category.

Her multimedia project on the health challenges in the Canadian Arctic, "Bridging the Divide," was a finalist at the 2012 Webby Awards.

Her work on climate change in the Arctic has also been featured on the TV science program Découverte, as well as Le Téléjournal, the French-Language CBC’s flagship news cast.

Eilís has worked for media organizations in Canada and the United States and as a TV host for the Discovery/BBC Worldwide series "Best in China."

Do you want to report an error or a typo? Click here!

Leave a Reply

Note: By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that Radio Canada International has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Radio Canada International does not endorse any of the views posted. Your comments will be pre-moderated and published if they meet netiquette guidelines.
Netiquette »

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *