On Monday, February 10, 2014 2:32:10 AM UTC-5, Fred J. McCall wrote:
bob haller wrote:



well its feb 10th, the lander and rover should wake up right about now...



I do wonder why they designed the craft to stow its solar panels, every lander or rover I ever heard of deployed the panels permanetely after landing. wasnt spirit and opportunity built to expose the anels as soon as te air bag was deflated.



having to restow solar panels adds extra complexity and failure modes ......





The Moon is different. You get a long period of time with no

illumination and temperatures drop precipitously. The solar panels on

Jade Rabbit are part of the insulating system that keeps electronics

from freezing and being damaged during the long 'night'.



Lunar rovers of various designs frequently have compartments that

close for insulation purposes and often have internal heaters powered

from something other than solar power to keep them from 'dying' during

the 'night'.



--

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable

man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,

all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

--George Bernard Shaw

spirit and opportunity dont and neither did the old moon landers like surveyor.

it would likely e easier to have solar panels that arent complex. since moon dust is sticky and abrasive.