NASA is busy planning missions for its Curiosity Rover vehicle which is currently on Mars. Because the robot is millions of miles away, it can take anywhere from 3mn to 30mn for a radio signal to go from Earth to Mars – this depends on the position of both planets on their respective orbits. This makes it unpractical to “remote control” the robot like you might do on earth, where things can be controlled in real-time. To save time, NASA has created a technique where they use the robot's sensors to retrieve 3D imaging of the its surrounding.
Ubergizmo , NASA plans Curiosity's path using gaming technology
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cherryapple, NASA plans Curiosity's path using gaming technology