Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2015

24 The rough surface of asteroids and comets makes it impossible to explore and study them with traditional rovers, implying the need for a completely new tech- nical solution. JPL /NASA, Stanford University and the MIT have recently tested the one that seems the most feasible alternative, a small cube-shaped robot capa- ble of hopping, tumbling and rolling on any surface. Exploring as and comets “ hedgehogs NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2015 by Michele Ferrara