Golf carts today, mini-van in 2009? New Mars mission already planned(Forwarded)

Communications Services
Montana State University-Bozeman
Bozeman, Montana

Contact: Evelyn Boswell
E-mail:
Tel: (406) 994-5135 Fax: (406) 994-4102

January 12, 2004

Golf carts today, mini-van in 2009? New Mars mission already planned
By Evelyn Boswell, MSU News Service

If you think the Mars rovers are interesting, wait until you see a mini-van
clambering over the planet's red rocks and dusty lake beds.

The two golf-cart size rovers that are mesmerizing the country now are preparing
the way for a 2009 mission to Mars called the Mars Scientific Laboratory, says
William Hiscock, head of the physics department and director of the Montana
Space Grant Consortium based at Montana State University-Bozeman. The 2009
mission will involve a rover, too, but that vehicle will be the size of a mini-van.

Lest anyone picture adventurous soccer parents doubling as astronauts, Hiscock
said the upcoming rover, like the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, will be
remotely controlled. It will be nuclear powered instead of solar powered.

Nuclear power is a good thing, because it means the rover won't be disabled by
dust covering the power source, Hiscock said. The current rovers are expected to
run 90 days before they're done in by conditions like dust or extreme
temperature changes.

"Dust builds up on solar panels, decreasing the light getting in. The power
fades away because of it," Hiscock explained.

Roving around Mars is like being 100,000 feet above sea level on Earth, Hiscock
added. So when day turns into night, temperatures can drop up to 200 degrees,
only to surge again the next day.

"That puts a lot of thermal stress on electronics and wiring," Hiscock said.
"Eventually probably, something just breaks after going through so many cycles."

The Sojourner rover that landed on Mars in 1997 and still sets on the planet was
disabled by dust and extreme temperatures, Hiscock said. It weighed 23 pounds,
which means the Spirit and Opportunity are almost big enough to roll over it.
The two rovers each weigh about 400 pounds.

Michelle Larson, deputy director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium, said the
larger size of the 2009 rover will give it the ability to survive longer than
current and past rovers.

"Therefore, science experiments performed on the 2009 rover will be able to make
long duration measurements to see how the environment changes in time," Larson
said. "The intent is to have the science instruments on the rover operating for
an entire Martian year (which is approximately two Earth years)."

The 2009 mission will investigate the capacity of the Mars environment to
sustain life, Larson said. Among other things, the mission will look for organic
carbon compounds and features that might have resulted from biological
processes. The mission will look at the geology and geochemistry of the landing
area, investigate the role of water and other processes that may have been
relevant to past living conditions. The mission will look at the effects of
cosmic and solar radiation on the Martian surface.

Andrew Yee wrote in sci.astro:


Golf carts today, mini-van in 2009?

SUV's by the time Dick Cheney - sorry - Halliburton got their concessions
to drill on Mars?


--
CeeBee


"I am not a crook"

On a sunny day (Wed, 14 Jan 2004 16:18:09 -0500) it happened Andrew Yee
wrote in
:


Nuclear power is a good thing, because it means the rover won't be disabled by
dust covering the power source, Hiscock said. The current rovers are expected to
run 90 days before they're done in by conditions like dust or extreme
temperature changes.

"Dust builds up on solar panels, decreasing the light getting in. The power
fades away because of it," Hiscock explained.
Nothing some windshield wipers could not solve.
Considering the extra science return.... for ++ more days .... forgotten?
Could be paid for by big car companies:
Advertizing: "Our windshield wipers are the best, installed on the mars..."
JP

Andrew Yee wrote in message . ..

[snip]

Nuclear power is a good thing, because it means the rover won't be
disabled by dust covering the power source, Hiscock said. The current
rovers are expected to run 90 days before they're done in by conditions
like dust or extreme temperature changes.

"Dust builds up on solar panels, decreasing the light getting in. The
power fades away because of it," Hiscock explained.

[snip remainder]

While I favor nuclear power in space applications when necessary
(e.g., Cassini), I have often wondered why no one has proposed
shipping a Squeegee and a bottle of Windex, or the equivalent thereof,
on a Mars rover. I can't imagine that such a system would not be
cost-competitive with nuclear power.

--
Rainforest laid low.
"Wake up and smell the ozone,"
Says man with chainsaw.
John J. Ladasky Jr., Ph.D.