Planetochod Some time ago, the Mars rover oppertunity has set a new distance record for extra terrestrical vehicles with 40 kilometers within ten years (!). Before, the record had been held by the soviet Lunochod, which had traveled 39 kilometers on the moon in 1972. Obviously, it's no easy task to control an extraterresrical vehicle. From time to time, kinds of walking maschines have been proposed that might be better for moving automatically on unpaved ground. In 1973, Professor G. P. Katys, Moscow Institute for Control Problems, had proposed an interesting concept of a pedipulator that consits of tubular rail connecting two tripods on which a main unit can move from end to end. When the main unit, carrying all intrumentation and therefore being the haviest part, has reached one end, the opposing tripod can be lifted and the whole contruction will turn around until the foot has reached a proper position to be set down. Then, the central unit will move along the rail for lifting the other foot to begin the next step. With those big steps, this vehicle could probably overcome way big obstacles such as trenches. In the next step in further development the tripods should be able to move along the lower side of the rail, allowing the vehicle to go without turning. This might be necessary for travelling along valleys. The left side of the image depicts the way the Planetochod is intended to move. The right side shows the main unit in end position as well as lifted from the rail. The Wheelchairgeneral AutoCAD 2011 Grapher 2.0 Corel Photopaint 7 Notepad