Get Outside!

Programming Your Steps

Every move the Perseverance Rover will make on Mars must be programed ahead of time by mission specialists on Earth. This is a challenge under any circumstance, but the millions of miles between Mars and Earth creates a communication lag of up to 20 minutes. This means mission specialists on Earth don’t know if a rover successfully made the right moves until long after they have been completed, and the lag is just as long before new, corrected instructions can be transmitted when needed.

Practice your programming skills with this fun, outdoor activity:

1. Select a “rover”—the person who will complete the obstacle course—and a mission specialist—the person who will create the program for successfully completing the course.

2. Create an obstacle course in your backyard that includes 3-5 locations with resources for a “rover” to study. For example, you might want someone to visit a flower to smell, a bucket of water to feel the temperature of, and a tree trunk to feel and describe the texture of. Decide on the best path to travel between these destinations, and put an obstacle in the direct path of each section (for example, a stack of cushions, an empty trash barrel, or a large cardboard box).

3. Have the mission specialist record on a notepad how many steps it takes to each point on the course, as well as the direction to turn and how many steps to take to avoid each obstacle. Finally, have the person record detailed instructions for what the “rover” is to do at each destination (e.g., kneel down, lean forward one foot, and smell the flower). Programming instructions must be precise—e.g., “walk three steps forward, turn ¼ turn to the right, take two steps forward, turn ¼ turn back to the left”).

4. Have the “rover” put on a blindfold, and lead him/her to the start of the course.

5. Have a third person read the mission specialists programming instructions one step at a time to the “rover.”

6. Each time the “rover” gets off course, runs into an obstacle, or fails to successfully make the observation at each research location, the rover should be led back to the start (or the previous research location), and the mission specialist must correct the program before starting again.

7. Once the entire course has been completed, the mission is declared a success!

8. Have the “rover” and mission specialist trade places, rearrange the course, and try it again!