I think the real breakthrough on some of these probes to other planets isn't so much how they move around, but the growing possibility of self-directed action. Mars is between 3 light minutes and 22 light minutes away. Every command takes at least that long to reach a probe on Mars, then the same amount of time for NASA to be told "Yes, I heard you and did that".
The Curiosity rover has been on Mars for 6 years. It can travel 90m/hour. Theoretically, it could have moved 3,400km by now- that's more than once around the equator of Mars. It's managed almost 20km. While I'm sure there was much to pause and study, I cannot fathom that it could not have done more in it's time were it not constantly waiting for commands.
Saturn is, at closest approach, more than 1 light hour away.
I feel as though there's a real need to put a generic computer system that can be reprogrammed after launch into orbit around whatever planet we're studying. Give it higher-level commands of what we want to see happen, and send us back the highlight reel.
That's all stuff we can try out on Earth first. Maybe build a rover that explores the whole of Antarctica or the Sahara autonomously. There is this idea of sending a submarine to Europa, melt it through the ice, explore the ocean and then come back up. It would be really cool but first we need to do this on Earth.
”NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., […] engineered Curiosity […] to travel up to about 200 meters (660 feet) per day on Martian terrain.”
The Curiosity rover has been on Mars for 6 years. It can travel 90m/hour. Theoretically, it could have moved 3,400km by now- that's more than once around the equator of Mars. It's managed almost 20km. While I'm sure there was much to pause and study, I cannot fathom that it could not have done more in it's time were it not constantly waiting for commands.
Saturn is, at closest approach, more than 1 light hour away.
I feel as though there's a real need to put a generic computer system that can be reprogrammed after launch into orbit around whatever planet we're studying. Give it higher-level commands of what we want to see happen, and send us back the highlight reel.