Tim Peake to control rover from space

UK astronaut Tim Peake will get to drive a rover on Mars shortly. Or, at least, that is the scenario he is facing in a challenging experiment. In reality, the Briton, currently on the International Space Station, will command a robot to roll around a giant sandpit in Stevenage that simulates the surface of the Red Planet. It is part of a European Space Agency project that aims to learn how astronauts can control remote systems on other worlds. Known as Meteron (Multi-Purpose End-To-End Robotic Operation Network), the programme has already seen Danish ISS crewman Andreas Mogensen get a robot on Earth to put pegs in a series of holes.