Monday, June 11, 2001 - The Mic
'U' rovers designed
to roam red planet
By Maia Sprow explore the surface, they need to be able
Daily Nws Editor to get around .. the vehicle that we are
building can travel 600 miles."
Humans living on Mars is soon to be After they are complete, the rovers
science, not fiction, proclaimed a recent will head to Nevada to a Mars testing
announcemnent made by National Aero- station, a simulated environment where
nautics and Space Administration offi- they will encounter the same obstacles
cials. New estimates report that humans they would on the actual planet.
could be on Mars in two decades But Paulson said neither Everest nor
there is much to be done in the mean- Olympus would likely make the actual
time. journey to Mars, but testing them on the
Helping out in the process is the Uno- Mars habitat could prove useful when
versity's School of Engineering. The designing new prototypes.
school is w'strkittg Otn the Mars Rover, a "We expect the process of building a
terrain vehicl' that will assist human rover to take several prototypes," said
exploration on Mars, serving as a Paulson. "We expect that in a few years
mobile home and research center for when an actual Mars rover is going to go
three people for up to two weeks. to Mars, it will be based on our design"
The team, consisting of almost 50 The project started last year when
University students, the majority of Mars Society had a design contest to
whom are undergraduates, is currently build a vehicle that could also function
working on their first rover named Ever- as a living space and laboratory. The
est. After finishing Everest, they will go University was chosen as one of three
on to build a more complex vehicle, teams to work on the project.
called Olympus, which will be com- The Everest is scheduled to be
pletely remote controlled. unveiled at the Mars Society Conven-
"What we are doing is building a tion at Stanford University August 23-
vehicle that would be necessary when 26. Students can view interior and
humans travel to Mars," said Anna Paul- exterior pictures of the rover on the
son, the project manager of the Universi- web at marsroverengin.umich.edu.
ty's Mars Rover Project. "In order to One of the biggest challenges facing
Courtesyof theMairsiRove am wosite
The Everest was designed by University
students for Mars Society.
the team initially was the amount of
space allotted for the vehicle.
"The vehicle had to fit into a C-130
spacecraft ... it has very tight space
requirements, width and height," said
Engineering senior Warren Strong,gone
designer of Everest. "We figured out all
the different types of things that would
go into the vehicle and tried to find the
optimal arrangement for the smallest
possible size."
Despite the various challenges, Strong
said it was a good experience for him to
work on it at the undergraduate level.
"There's no class on Mars robotic
design, and a lot of things that you learn
in class are not directly related to this
project,' he said. "This project is differ-
ent than some of the other student proj-
ects on campus. We're not about
competition. The goal of our project is
pure research It's a higher goal than a
straight competition."
Music sophomore Christina Reynolds chats on her cellular phone while driving. A hill
Introduced in the state legislature proposes that one point be added to a driver's
record if it is proven that cellular phone use contributed to a traffic violation.
Combination of cell
phone use, driving
d 11 "
U
scrutinize(
By Sarah Scott
Ior the Daily
drivers who chat on their cell phones
while navigating through traffic are the
target of a new bill in the state Legisla-
ture aimed at reducing the number of
people who combine commuting with
conversing.
The bill, introduced in February by
House Majority Floor Bruce Patter-
son, directs the Secretary of State to
d one point to each traffic violation
1rthe citation indicates a cell phone
contributed to the cause of the viola-
tion. The law would also limit cell
phone use while driving to hands-free
devices, such as headsets.
"I think the bill has merit, but I don't
want to rush to judgment on it, said
Patterson (R-Canton).
Another element of the bill would
require the Secretary of State to conduct
a two-year study to determine how often
t 11 phone use played a role in motor
hicle accidents.
But one representative has not shown
overwhelming enthusiasm for the bill.
"The question is knowing what we
know, is it fair to single out cell
phone users versus people who eat
their lunch in the car? Where do you
draw the line?" asked Rep. Judson
Gilbert (R-Algonac), chairman of
e House Transportation Commit-
le, to which Patterson's bill has
been referred.
Michigan is one of 40 states consider-
ing such regulations, according to the
National Conference on State Legisla-
I in bill
tures.
University students have noticed and
responded to the trend.
LSA junior Dennis Tom admits using
his cell phone when he's driving can be
distracting but said he finds it highly
unlikely that a cell phone could be
proven to cause an accident.
"I was in a car that almost got into an
accident when the driver was on a cell
phone, but I think it's very hard to pin-
point the accident on the phone," Tom
said.
But LSA junior Laurin Gracey said
she disagrees.
"I hate cell phones'" she said. "They
just get in the way. My sister uses one
when she drives all the time, and she's
always swer ing and doesn't pay atten-
tion to her dri ing
Gracey said her sister was talking
to her on the cell phone while driv-
ing and got into an accident. "She
swerved, hit some orange construc-
tion barrels, and crashed," she said,
attributing the ca e of the crash to
the cehl phone.
Gracey said she hopes the law passes
and said she thinks it would be effective
in himiting cell phone use on the road.
tga cell phone is not worth pay-_
ing extra mitsurance' she said.
LSA senir Brian O'Neill also agreed
with the proposed legislation. "You can
definitely tell when someone's on their
phone that they're not paying as much
attention to driving as they should be,'
he said.
- TheAs sociuted Press contributed to
this report.
Now accepting new entries* from
campus organizations and groups
to be listed in the Campus
Information Guide of the
2001-2002
Student Directory
the official directory of on and off campus
University of Michigan students
Deadline for new entries:
July 6, 2001
Please contact Jennifer
@ 764-0550 Or fax: 936-1054
*Please keep description of your group
to a maximum of 3 lines.