NASA is building rovers that can think faster than Earth can respond

Today's Mars rovers typically drive at about 500 to 1,000 feet per hour — roughly the length of one to three football fields — and only for short stints at a time. NASA engineers say they could go so much longer and faster if they could only think more for themselves. A miniature prototype is already proving that point. On a recent test day, ERNEST, short for Exploration Rover for Navigating Extreme Sloped Terrain, rolled toward a pile of boulders that would stop Curiosity and Perseverance in their tracks. Instead of stalling or waiting for new instructions from controllers, it sized up the rocks, shifted its stance, and climbed straight over — no joystick from 200 million miles away necessary. The robot, about four-feet long, looks a little like Wall-E or Johnny 5, with four mesh wheels in place of treads. Those wheels can lift and tilt, as if rising on tiptoes. ERNEST has already shown it can trundle about 16 miles across the Colorado desert in California. Engineers were hands-off during the excursion, mostly there to see how far the rover's new brain and body could take it. You can watch how it moves and navigates treacherous obstacles in the two videos below. The space agency's