Ottawa company Mission Control is developing software for the United Arab Emirates' Rashid rover that will land on the moon.
Here you can see their prototype rover, Max, exploring a simulated lunar surface.
Credit: Space.com
Here you can see their prototype rover, Max, exploring a simulated lunar surface.
Credit: Space.com
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TechTranscript
00:00 Hey, it's Elizabeth Howell coming to you from Ottawa, Canada for space.com.
00:04 Check out all the snow. It hasn't stopped snowing here for months and months.
00:08 What I'm doing here today is looking at a really cool Ottawa company called
00:12 Mission Control.
00:13 They are working on an artificial intelligence system for a moon rover called
00:18 Rashid that is going to be landing on the moon in just a few months.
00:21 And right here,
00:22 I'm going to be going inside and driving a lunar rover of my own.
00:27 So be sure to follow along and I'll bring you through the adventure.
00:31 Hey folks, I'd like you to meet Max.
00:34 That's Max the lunar rover behind me.
00:37 I'm going to be filming with Max at a very short time,
00:41 learning how to drive on the surface of the moon.
00:44 Check out this simulated environment that I'm sitting in.
00:47 This is where Mission Control tests out its rovers and its
00:52 software to make sure everything is working properly. And as you can see,
00:57 the lighting, which is from a big lamp,
00:59 just in front of me is simulating those harsh shadows that you can see on the
01:03 moon. And so just right there, you can see how it's super sharp.
01:06 And it makes it a little bit more difficult to navigate,
01:10 which is exactly the point.
01:11 You want to make sure that you're doing that in the simulation before you
01:15 actually bring the hardware out into space.
01:18 Also what you see here are some rocks. Some of them are simulated,
01:23 some of them are hollow, and they have some little craters as well.
01:26 And this was designed by a geologist to try and figure out the best environment
01:31 possible to make sure these rovers are ready,
01:33 because you want to make sure you're ready for space before you actually get
01:36 there. All right, I'm going to be driving this one soon.
01:39 So I'll see you very shortly.
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