Yahoo Finance Tim Peake Controls UK-Based Rover From Space
British astronaut Tim Peake has successfully taken control of a robot on Earth from the International Space Station (ISS).
Major Peake, 44, piloted the rover - named Bridget - through a simulated Martian landscape at Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage.
But it was not all plain driving - at one point Bridget got stuck on a large rock and its signal was lost for around 10 minutes.
Under Major Peake's guidance, the British-built Rover travelled around 20 metres (65ft) during the two-hour test, and entered a mock darkened cave.
Loud applause and cheers rang out from the control room at Airbus at the end of the experiment.
Dr Ellie Allouis, mission and robot engineer, praised Major Peake's driving as "measured" and "careful".
He said: "Tim found targets, avoided obstacles - almost all of them - and returned to the entrance of the cave."
Dr Allouis added that the team was "elated" with what they had learned,
The ExoMars rover is due to be launched in 2018 and will take nine months to reach Mars, using parachutes to land safely on the surface.
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It is named after the 1960s French movie star Brigitte Bardot.
Bridget weighs around 300kg (660lbs) and can travel at a maximum speed of 2cm (0.8ins) per second on a flat surface.
Within the first 70 minutes of the experiment it drove over several fake rocks, moving around 10-15 metres (33-49ft) through the cave.
But the Bridget's greatest challenge was telling the difference between a shadow and a rock, something rovers cannot do in dark conditions.
That was where Major Peake came in.
His task was to get Bridget into the cave and find three targets marked with UV paint before exiting - all within 90 minutes.
Bridget had to frame up each target for a picture, mark a map and notify ground control.
The object was to develop the technology needed for astronauts to navigate rovers while orbiting Mars and to see how humans and robots can work together.
Bridget will be the first rover sent to the Red Planet specifically designed to find evidence of past or present life.
