Mars Rover Lag: Walking for 20 Minutes

If you see a cliff on Mars, you push “Stop” on your joystick. 20 minutes later, the signal reaches the rover. The rover fell off the cliff 19 minutes ago. Real-time Control is impossible in space.

Command Queuing

NASA drivers don’t drive. They Schedule.

1. They look at a photo from yesterday.
2. They plan a path: “Drive 5 meters North. Turn 30 degrees. Take a photo.”
3. They upload the script.
4. They go home and sleep. The rover executes the script alone.

Auto-Nav (Hazard Avoidance)

If the rover sees a rock that wasn’t on the map, it has to decide. It uses Stereo Vision (Dual Cameras) to build a 3D map.

• “Path blocked.”
• “Rerouting locally.” It is smart enough to disobey the driver to save its own life. In FTC, our “Autonomous Period” is basically a 30-second Mars mission. No joysticks allowed. Only pre-planned code.