517 Watts

The Opportunity rover solar panels are producing still 517 Watts after
10 years exploring Mars. The whole machine is in excellent condition,
but showing signs of wear and tear after all this time of course.

With just a bit more effort this kind of solar panels could sustain
a machine on Mars indefinitely. Adding some hardware+software to clean
them up would be a plus, even if that is not really required. The
wind on Mars does a great job if you are lucky, and Steven Squyres has
been lucky.

Flash memory is showing its age too. A warm reboot was forced again
last week because of a known flash memory problem but after a reset the
machine did a great drive with 65 meters in a single day.

Cameras and other instruments in the machine seem in perfect condition,
and there is still a treasure of discoveries flowing from Mars: a set of
what can be arguably seen as the first marsian fossils has been
discovered a few months ago.

This machine shows how mars exploration can be developed and done well
within todays budgets and capabilities. The total cost of the two rovers
sent to Mars was 829 Million dollars, and now each year of operation
costs only 20 million.

Mars exploration doesn't need to be expensive.

On Jun 18, 5:03*am, jacob navia wrote:
The Opportunity rover solar panels are producing still 517 Watts after
10 years exploring Mars. The whole machine is in excellent condition,
but showing signs of wear and tear after all this time of course.

With just a bit more effort this kind of solar panels could sustain
a machine on Mars indefinitely. Adding some hardware+software to clean
them up would be a plus, even if that is not really required. The
wind on Mars does a great job if you are lucky, and Steven Squyres has
been lucky.

Flash memory is showing its age too. A warm reboot was forced again
last week because of a known flash memory problem but after a reset the
machine did a great drive with 65 meters in a single day.

Cameras and other instruments in the machine seem *in perfect condition,
and there is still a treasure of discoveries flowing from Mars: a set of
what can be arguably seen as the first marsian fossils has been
discovered a few months ago.

This machine shows how mars exploration can be developed and done well
within todays budgets and capabilities. The total cost of the two rovers
sent to Mars was 829 Million dollars, and now each year of operation
costs only 20 million.

Mars exploration doesn't need to be expensive.

nasareally should of built more of this excellent model. build enough
and send some to high risk areas..

On Jun 18, 10:07*am, Fred J. McCall wrote:
bob haller wrote:
On Jun 18, 5:03*am, jacob navia wrote:
The Opportunity rover solar panels are producing still 517 Watts after
10 years exploring Mars. The whole machine is in excellent condition,
but showing signs of wear and tear after all this time of course.

With just a bit more effort this kind of solar panels could sustain
a machine on Mars indefinitely. Adding some hardware+software to clean
them up would be a plus, even if that is not really required. The
wind on Mars does a great job if you are lucky, and Steven Squyres has
been lucky.

Flash memory is showing its age too. A warm reboot was forced again
last week because of a known flash memory problem but after a reset the
machine did a great drive with 65 meters in a single day.

Cameras and other instruments in the machine seem *in perfect condition,
and there is still a treasure of discoveries flowing from Mars: a set of
what can be arguably seen as the first marsian fossils has been
discovered a few months ago.

This machine shows how mars exploration can be developed and done well
within todays budgets and capabilities. The total cost of the two rovers
sent to Mars was 829 Million dollars, and now each year of operation
costs only 20 million.

Mars exploration doesn't need to be expensive.

nasareally should of built more of this excellent model. build enough
and send some to high risk areas..

Yes, given the 50% survival rate in LOW risk areas, let's throw away
some more money on toasters!

--
"Ordinarily he is insane. But he has lucid moments when he is
*only stupid."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * -- Heinrich Heine

if we cant get low risk unmanned vehicles to mars safely where would
that leave man?

Le 18/06/13 11:03, jacob navia a écrit :
Cameras and other instruments in the machine seem in perfect condition,
and there is still a treasure of discoveries flowing from Mars: a set of
what can be arguably seen as the first marsian fossils has been
discovered a few months ago.

This is not just empty talk.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsr...20120914a.html

Maybe the first discovery of crucial importance in Mars will be done
with the help of this old "toaster".

Maybe the first discovery of crucial importance in Mars will be done
with the help of this old "toaster".

Please hold your breath waiting for that...



fossils are found on earth all the time by just stumbling onto them.
walk by and see it exposed.

rovers are very capable of doing that

On Jun 19, 9:45*am, Fred J. McCall wrote:
bob haller wrote:

Maybe the first discovery of crucial importance in Mars will be done
with the help of this old "toaster".

Please hold your breath waiting for that...

fossils are found on earth all the time by just stumbling onto them.
walk by and see it exposed.

Yeah, but that sort of relies on a rather prolific biosphere, ice
ages, flooding, etc. *All stuff that is just a bit thin on the ground
on Mars.



rovers are very capable of doing that

Feel free to hold your breath until they find one (and they're MUCH
less likely to do so than a human being).

--
"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar
*territory."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * --G. Behn

a human walking past a fossil is just one persons observation

mars rovers photos have millions of people looking at them.

a human walking past a fossil is just one persons observation

mars rovers photos have millions of people looking at them.

Yeah Bob,
but if you have found some, where would you send it for public discussion?


## CrossPoint v3.12d R ##

Le 19/06/13 21:40, a écrit :
a human walking past a fossil is just one persons observation

mars rovers photos have millions of people looking at them.

Yeah Bob,
but if you have found some, where would you send it for public discussion?


## CrossPoint v3.12d R ##

There are many discussions forums about opportunity. For instance

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/i...showf orum=36

That site has been hosting that forum for all this 9+ years and many
people there discuss each photograph, each movement, etc.

This is, (remember that) the first exploration of Mars by humans ever.
Compared to the huge scope of the undertaking you could wonder why
there aren't more participants, but that is another story.

There *are* many people working on that data.
For a photographer that has followed this adventure from the start see:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hortonheardawho

He has been also following Opportunity/Spirit and now Curiosity since
2004.

And there are many other people.

The planetary society has published in the last nine years a monthly
review of all activities of Spirit and Opportunity, besides their
continuing reporting in their blog.

There is also Whatonmars.com that publishes Mars exploration related
articles since a decade or so.

And this is (as mr haller pointed out) MUCH more interesting for us
than some astronaut looking at Mars some million Km away...

"bob haller" wrote in message
...

On Jun 19, 9:45 am, Fred J. McCall wrote:
bob haller wrote:

Maybe the first discovery of crucial importance in Mars will be done
with the help of this old "toaster".

Please hold your breath waiting for that...

fossils are found on earth all the time by just stumbling onto them.
walk by and see it exposed.

Yeah, but that sort of relies on a rather prolific biosphere, ice
ages, flooding, etc. All stuff that is just a bit thin on the ground
on Mars.



rovers are very capable of doing that

Feel free to hold your breath until they find one (and they're MUCH
less likely to do so than a human being).

--
"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar
territory."
--G. Behn

a human walking past a fossil is just one persons observation

mars rovers photos have millions of people looking at them.

Yes, it's unfortunate we have to rely on only the descriptions from the
Apollo astronauts.

Oh wait, they brought back pictures. And even better, they brought back
SAMPLES.

Look, it's not either/or. Ground based photographic review will compliment
the woman on the spot.




--
Greg D. Moore http://greenmountainsoftware.wordpress.com/
CEO QuiCR: Quick, Crowdsourced Responses. http://www.quicr.net

Le 20/06/13 05:24, Fred J. McCall a écrit :
a human walking past a fossil is just one persons observation

Yes ... one person with better sensors than your toaster.



Billion-Pixel View of Mars Comes From Curiosity Rover
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-205

Jet Propulsion Laboratory
June 19, 2013

PASADENA, Calif. -- A billion-pixel view from the surface of Mars, from
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, offers armchair explorers a way to examine
one part of the Red Planet in great detail.

Besides that is the infra-red sensors, UV sensors, magnetic field
sensors, radiation sensors, and a long ETC.

Mr McCall knows nothing else but
o insults
o lies
o polemic

and normally I do not answer to his tirades. This time however
it is instructive to prove how wrong he is.