Engineers hope to gain a much better understanding of Sojourner's interactions in the Martian environment to make this concept a reality. Right now we're developing a brand new command sequence for the rover every day, but we're accomplishing that with significantly fewer people than we did in the Voyager days. In those days, it took as many as 700 people to fly the spacecraft, whereas Sojourner only requires about seven people. Powerful visualization tools not yet invented 20 years ago have also advanced Sojourner's and future rovers' autonomous capabilities. For instance, with a specially designed computer program, stereo images taken by the lander or Sojourner are integrated into a three-dimensional view of the rover's location.
Engineers can see the rover's tire tracks and know where it has gone.
Their view of the immediate surroundings also helps them decide where Sojourner should go next. I'd like to launch a Lewis and Clark expedition, where we would basically travel 1,000 kilometers cross-country with our rover. Even in the shorter term, though, the strides made by Sojourner's travels on Mars will be evident. The next rovers to explore the red planet will have at least 1,000 times the processing speed of Sojourner and will be able to travel much farther much faster. Whereas Sojourner can only plan 20 centimeters ahead, our next rover will be able to plan 10 meters or more ahead.