en.Wedoany.com Reported - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected seven companies to qualify for contracts under the "Science and Transport and Deployment and Exploration Robotics Innovation (STRIDE)" initiative, which aims to advance the development of robotic mobility systems on the Martian surface, enabling future missions to access more challenging terrain and travel greater distances to investigate scientifically valuable areas that current mobility systems cannot reach.

According to an award announcement released by NASA on July 8, the STRIDE program is scheduled to launch this fall, with a total estimated value of $17 million. The seven selected companies include: AeroVironment of Arlington, Virginia; Astrobotic of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Venturi Astrolab (Astrolab) of Hawthorne, California; Ground Control Robotics of Atlanta, Georgia; Honeybee Robotics of Longmont, Colorado; Intuitive Machines of Houston, Texas; and MEI Technologies of Webster, Texas.

NASA currently has two rovers actively exploring Mars: Perseverance, which landed in Jezero Crater in February 2021, carrying the Ingenuity helicopter, to search for evidence of past biological activity on the Red Planet; and Curiosity, which landed in Gale Crater in August 2012, to investigate changes in Martian environmental habitability over time. Three previous NASA rovers—Sojourner from Mars Pathfinder and the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity—landed in 1997 and 2004, respectively. Despite their successes, they faced challenges, including mobility during Martian dust storms that inhibit solar power generation.

As a forward-looking goal of its Artemis program, NASA plans to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon, returning astronauts to the lunar surface through the Artemis IV mission in 2028, building a base camp in phases, and applying the lessons learned to the development of future human Mars exploration.