Dec 1, 2010 11:10 AM by Bea Karnes
A Mars mock-up, complete with robots and Mars landscape, has opened at Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy in Colorado Springs.
The Mars Yard was made possible by a grant from Honeywell.
The goal is to allow students to operate the robots, as if they were scientists operating the real rovers on Mars.
"Some people may look at it as, 'yea, you're playing with robots in a big sandbox,' but this actually teaches students about technology, about programming, robotics, teamwork, in a situation that's actually happening now on Mars," said Bryan DeBates of the Space Foundation.
The finishing touches on the landscape, with wall-to-wall scenes taken by rovers on the red planet, will be completed in January.