Thoth Technology has proposed what it is calling its "Northern Light mission," which has the goal of placing a mini-rover (called Beaver, shown above) on the surface of Mars in 2018. This little rover will roam the surface and grind away at rocks to learn more about the early atmosphere of Mars. And unlike other rover missions, the rover will think for itself during much of the 90-day mission.
Here is how Thoth Technology describes its planned mission:
So what does the company need to make this mission a reality? About CAD$1.1million by January 3rd, which is a very tall order given less than CAD$10,000 has been pledged to date on the Indiegogo site. Hence, while it seems like a great idea to involve the public in such space missions, Thoth Technology may want to extend the pledge period or find an additional source of funding.Over the past few years, we've developed and tested the engineering models for the Northern Light mission. We have created and flown in space infrared instruments to explore the surface, subsurface and atmosphere of Mars. And we have refurbished Canada's largest radio antenna at the Algonquin Radio Observatory (ARO) to serve as the Northern Light ground station. The 46 meter radio telescope at ARO is one of the largest fully steerable dishes in the world, In 2008, Thoth acquired and refurbished ARO to provide the crucial link to Northern Light on Mars.The purpose of this campaign is to raise support for the development of the Northern Light flight hardware and operations. We want to be ready to piggyback a ride to Mars in April 2018. We're also going to make the Northern Light systems available commercially for others to use at the same low cost.
