Airbus Mars Rover Runs on a Steam Deck at London Simulation Facility
The Steam Deck, already used by Disney for robots and in military settings, now appears in aerospace testing as a practical controller for Mars rover operations.
Reporting from 1 source: Game Spark.
Video from Airbus's Mars simulation facility, Mars Yard, shows a Steam Deck being used to manually operate a rover unit called Codi. The footage, published on Nebula, shows influencer Tom Scott controlling the rover with the handheld during a tour. Airbus uses the facility to test self-propelled Mars rovers in a reproduced Martian environment.
The Steam Deck has turned up in an unlikely workplace: a Mars rover test facility. Footage from Airbus's Mars Yard, located on the outskirts of London, shows the handheld being used to manually operate a rover unit called Codi during a tour led by influencer Tom Scott. The video, published on the streaming site Nebula, includes a moment where Scott is handed what the narration calls "something like a game console," and the Steam Deck screen displays an MDA logo and space technology branding, suggesting dedicated control software.
The Mars Yard reproduces Martian surface conditions, including sand, for testing self-propelled rovers. Airbus's adoption follows earlier Steam Deck uses, such as Disney operating in-park robots and military applications in Ukraine. Its SteamOS, based on open-source Linux, offers customizability and was relatively inexpensive at release, which may explain its spread beyond gaming.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- Game Spark Steam Deckで火星探査車を操作！？エアバス社シミュレーション施設での使用が確認