NASA Robot Stalls on Its Way Out of Alaskan Volcano
After successfully spider-walking its way inside the Mt. Spurr volcano, the $1.7-million Dante II robot was halted in its tracks on the way out Thursday, apparently by an electrical short.
Technicians were watching the robot ascend the volcano’s 20- to 30-degree slope when the screen suddenly went dark, said Dave Lavery, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration robotics program director. The robot stalled about 650 feet from the rim.
Lavery said the problem is probably a bad cable leading to Dante’s diesel generator.
The generator powered the eight-legged robot over snow and around boulders to reach the crater floor earlier this week in a journey that began July 29.
Scientists may try to fly to the crater, which sits at 6,500 feet, to see if the robot can be reactivated.
NASA scientists came to Mt. Spurr, 80 miles west of Anchorage, for terrain similar to what could be faced by a robot sent to explore distant planets.
The machine was operated partly by remote control from Anchorage and NASA’s Ames Research Center in California.
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