Mars Rover Opportunity Update: June 21-24, 2013

In article ,
says...

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/missi...ml#opportunity

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Exceeds 37 Kilometers of Odometry! -
sols 3345-3350, Jun. 21, 2013-Jun. 24, 2013:

Opportunity is in good health, although the robotic arm elbow joint potentiometer
is acting up.

On Sol 3346 (June 22, 2013), the rover continued the trek toward 'Solander
Point' with a 295-foot (90-meter) drive due south. On Sol 3347 (June 23,
2013), Opportunity imaged the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) bit to assess remaining
bit life. On the next sol, Opportunity exceeded 23 miles (37 kilometers)
of odometry with a 318-feet (97-meter) drive. On Sol 3349 (June 25, 2013),
a long drive was planned, but was terminated after only 207 feet (63 meters)
when the potentiometer on the robotic arm elbow indicated an unexpected
motion, stopping the drive. This potentiometer is a sensor that can indicate
if the arm has moved, which is not intended during a drive. Investigation
of the joint and the use of before and after images showed no joint motion.

A drive was planned on Sol 3350 (June 26, 2013), and stopped almost immediately
due to an even larger anomalous reading of that same potentiometer. The
plan ahead is to conduct a set of diagnostics on the joint potentiometer.

I bet a good squirt of DeoxIT would fix that potentiometer issue...

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer

"Jeff Findley" wrote in message
...

In article ,
says...

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/missi...ml#opportunity

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Exceeds 37 Kilometers of Odometry! -
sols 3345-3350, Jun. 21, 2013-Jun. 24, 2013:

Opportunity is in good health, although the robotic arm elbow joint
potentiometer
is acting up.

On Sol 3346 (June 22, 2013), the rover continued the trek toward
'Solander
Point' with a 295-foot (90-meter) drive due south. On Sol 3347 (June 23,
2013), Opportunity imaged the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) bit to assess
remaining
bit life. On the next sol, Opportunity exceeded 23 miles (37 kilometers)
of odometry with a 318-feet (97-meter) drive. On Sol 3349 (June 25,
2013),
a long drive was planned, but was terminated after only 207 feet (63
meters)
when the potentiometer on the robotic arm elbow indicated an unexpected
motion, stopping the drive. This potentiometer is a sensor that can
indicate
if the arm has moved, which is not intended during a drive. Investigation
of the joint and the use of before and after images showed no joint
motion.

A drive was planned on Sol 3350 (June 26, 2013), and stopped almost
immediately
due to an even larger anomalous reading of that same potentiometer. The
plan ahead is to conduct a set of diagnostics on the joint potentiometer.

I bet a good squirt of DeoxIT would fix that potentiometer issue...

If only there were.. I don't know. Humans around to help...



Jeff

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

In article ,
says...

"Jeff Findley" wrote in message
...

In article ,
says...

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/missi...ml#opportunity

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Exceeds 37 Kilometers of Odometry! -
sols 3345-3350, Jun. 21, 2013-Jun. 24, 2013:

Opportunity is in good health, although the robotic arm elbow joint
potentiometer
is acting up.

On Sol 3346 (June 22, 2013), the rover continued the trek toward
'Solander
Point' with a 295-foot (90-meter) drive due south. On Sol 3347 (June 23,
2013), Opportunity imaged the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) bit to assess
remaining
bit life. On the next sol, Opportunity exceeded 23 miles (37 kilometers)
of odometry with a 318-feet (97-meter) drive. On Sol 3349 (June 25,
2013),
a long drive was planned, but was terminated after only 207 feet (63
meters)
when the potentiometer on the robotic arm elbow indicated an unexpected
motion, stopping the drive. This potentiometer is a sensor that can
indicate
if the arm has moved, which is not intended during a drive. Investigation
of the joint and the use of before and after images showed no joint
motion.

A drive was planned on Sol 3350 (June 26, 2013), and stopped almost
immediately
due to an even larger anomalous reading of that same potentiometer. The
plan ahead is to conduct a set of diagnostics on the joint potentiometer.

I bet a good squirt of DeoxIT would fix that potentiometer issue...

If only there were.. I don't know. Humans around to help...

Agreed. If only they had someone there with experience fixing things
like this. It's not like a noisy potentiometer is hard to fix. Even
someone who repairs office equipment could fix this issue in a few
minutes. Just show him a picture with a big red arrow showing where to
spray the DeoxIT.

That DeoxIT is great stuff. I've used it on many noisy pots over the
years (mostly audio equipment) and it really does work.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer

On 2/07/2013 3:06 AM, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article ,
says...

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/missi...ml#opportunity

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Exceeds 37 Kilometers of Odometry! -
sols 3345-3350, Jun. 21, 2013-Jun. 24, 2013:

Opportunity is in good health, although the robotic arm elbow joint potentiometer
is acting up.

On Sol 3346 (June 22, 2013), the rover continued the trek toward 'Solander
Point' with a 295-foot (90-meter) drive due south. On Sol 3347 (June 23,
2013), Opportunity imaged the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) bit to assess remaining
bit life. On the next sol, Opportunity exceeded 23 miles (37 kilometers)
of odometry with a 318-feet (97-meter) drive. On Sol 3349 (June 25, 2013),
a long drive was planned, but was terminated after only 207 feet (63 meters)
when the potentiometer on the robotic arm elbow indicated an unexpected
motion, stopping the drive. This potentiometer is a sensor that can indicate
if the arm has moved, which is not intended during a drive. Investigation
of the joint and the use of before and after images showed no joint motion.

A drive was planned on Sol 3350 (June 26, 2013), and stopped almost immediately
due to an even larger anomalous reading of that same potentiometer. The
plan ahead is to conduct a set of diagnostics on the joint potentiometer.

I bet a good squirt of DeoxIT would fix that potentiometer issue...

These days, much equipment is not economic to repair. The Mars rovers
are no different. Just send a new one.

Sylvia.

On 2/07/2013 12:57 PM, Fred J. McCall wrote:
Sylvia Else wrote:

On 2/07/2013 3:06 AM, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article ,
says...

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/missi...ml#opportunity

OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Opportunity Exceeds 37 Kilometers of Odometry! -
sols 3345-3350, Jun. 21, 2013-Jun. 24, 2013:

Opportunity is in good health, although the robotic arm elbow joint potentiometer
is acting up.

On Sol 3346 (June 22, 2013), the rover continued the trek toward 'Solander
Point' with a 295-foot (90-meter) drive due south. On Sol 3347 (June 23,
2013), Opportunity imaged the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) bit to assess remaining
bit life. On the next sol, Opportunity exceeded 23 miles (37 kilometers)
of odometry with a 318-feet (97-meter) drive. On Sol 3349 (June 25, 2013),
a long drive was planned, but was terminated after only 207 feet (63 meters)
when the potentiometer on the robotic arm elbow indicated an unexpected
motion, stopping the drive. This potentiometer is a sensor that can indicate
if the arm has moved, which is not intended during a drive. Investigation
of the joint and the use of before and after images showed no joint motion.

A drive was planned on Sol 3350 (June 26, 2013), and stopped almost immediately
due to an even larger anomalous reading of that same potentiometer. The
plan ahead is to conduct a set of diagnostics on the joint potentiometer.

I bet a good squirt of DeoxIT would fix that potentiometer issue...

These days, much equipment is not economic to repair. The Mars rovers
are no different. Just send a new one.


Because half a billion dollars for a new one is ever so much more
economical than a squirt of DeoxIT...


It's a lot cheaper than the available (?) technology for getting a
squirt of DeoxIT into the right place.

Sylvia.

lets send fred on a one way mission to mars with poor internet.......

In article ,
ess says...

On 2/07/2013 3:06 AM, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article ,
says...
A drive was planned on Sol 3350 (June 26, 2013), and stopped almost
immediately
due to an even larger anomalous reading of that same potentiometer. The
plan ahead is to conduct a set of diagnostics on the joint potentiometer.

I bet a good squirt of DeoxIT would fix that potentiometer issue...

These days, much equipment is not economic to repair. The Mars rovers
are no different. Just send a new one.

I call b.s. A spray can of DeoxIT Gold isn't expensive at all (about
$11 from Parts Express, which is relatively close to me in Ohio). Plus,
it will get old equipment working again that *does not* necessarily have
a modern replacement that's worth a damn. Just try finding a quality
cassette tape deck these days to use for digitizing tapes where there is
only one copy.

In the aerospace world, try finding a new copy of an old tape drive like
the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project is using. The fact is, you
can't. They had to repair and rebuild original 60's era tape drives for
that project. It's a fact of life that maintaining old equipment
happens for valid reasons (cost, schedule, etc).

When your replacement would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and
years to build and fly (like a Mars rover) you fix what you have, if at
all possible. But, we can't do that with toasters on Mars without
people on the spot, can we? That's the point here. Robotics and humans
compliment each other. After all, we created the robots in the first
place. We're the ones who know how to fix them and keep them going.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer

In article ,
says...

lets send fred on a one way mission to mars with poor internet.......

Not relevant to the discussion. My point is that even you could fix the
Mars rover's "scratchy" pot. Your career included fixing equipment too
expensive to replace. Your customers wanted their copiers fixed "now".
They didn't have time and/or money for a replacement copier.

Yet you somehow think that Mars rovers that break down and eventually
become unusable due to minor issues that could be easily fixed by having
a repairman on call are just fine and dandy.

Building a lot of them and throw them away when they break may be fine
for a consumer inkjet, but it's not going to work for an expensive
office copier/printer. Those Mars rovers you're so fond of are much
closer to an expensive office machine than they are a mass consumer
product.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer

well the cost of a repairman on site could be too high, making it cheaper to just replace it. this is why a lot of equiptement is replaced. sure it can be fixed but economically its not worth it....

lets assume travel to fix that pot is 100 bucks a hour times 3 year round trip

"bob haller" wrote in message
...

well the cost of a repairman on site could be too high, making it cheaper
to just replace it. this is why a lot of equiptement is replaced. sure it
can be fixed but economically its not worth it....

lets assume travel to fix that pot is 100 bucks a hour times 3 year round
trip

Lets assume something far more realistic.

A crewed mission with 4-6 people (my guess at the most likely number) what
is supplemented with rovers on the ground.

As I've pointed out and Jeff is alluding to, it's NOT an either/or
situation. Most likely it will be a AND situation.

I can certainly see a scenario where the rovers are driven from the landing
craft or even Earth overnight to check out things the astronauts don't have
time for. If they find something of interest, the astronauts wonder over and
check it out.

And if you're not nearly as worried about your rover getting stuck, etc. you
can "drive" it a lot faster.





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