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Mars Rover longevity again limited by dust build-up
In article ,
Velovich03 wrote: Presuming no other major failures occur I predict the rovers will never fail dues to dust and will work for years. Sojuner didn't. Sojourner was still working fine when we last heard from it. When Mars is actually unknown. (Probably not much longer than MP, though.) -- MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. | |
#12
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Mars Rover longevity again limited by dust build-up
toddh writes:
Mount a pump with a rotating nozzle and hit them with a jet of air. Would also be handy to stir up ground dust for analysis. What we need is a rover garage! Seriously the rover has been getting warmer than expected because of the (apparent) insulating effect of the landing pad underneath. This insulating from the cold ground effect was credited with having to use less energy to heat the rover at night. So what if we dropped a small insulating blanket on the surface to drive the rover onto at night? This might save enough energy and reduce contraction stresses enough to increase rover life. Then you think about walls to protect from the wind and perhaps a blower to get rid of the dust buildup in the morning just before we go out hunting. Later Mark Hittinger |
#13
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Mars Rover longevity again limited by dust build-up
"Velovich03" wrote in message ... Presuming no other major failures occur I predict the rovers will never fail dues to dust and will work for years. Sojuner didn't. It is entirely unknown how long Sojourner Truth lasted. The communication link was broken with the lander. The rover was working just fine but could only communicate through the lander. When the lander stopped working all communication was lost with the still-working rover. |
#14
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Mars Rover longevity again limited by dust build-up
toddh wrote:
On Wed, 7 Jan 2004 16:11:22 +0000 (UTC), Poliisi wrote: Mount a pump with a rotating nozzle and hit them with a jet of air. Would also be handy to stir up ground dust for analysis. I suspect this would not work. Look at the build-up of dust on fan blades, and these have a much greater flow of air at a much greater density. Keith Harwood. |
#15
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Mars Rover longevity again limited by dust build-up
Newsuser "Brian Davis" wrote ...
A good science is to send a probe which is able to work all 5 years! Sure. Good science would be to put hundreds of trained geologist on the surface of Mars, with equipment to traverse the surface. Oh, yes, but explain it to the people ... But economicly, there might be some constraints here. More serious problem is to take risk when a lot of people expects that life should be easy and nice form year to year. -- (STS) |
#16
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Mars Rover longevity again limited by dust build-up
Newsuser "Manfred Bartz" wrote ...
Personally I think the Beagle mission had a better and more ambitious science package. They were going to look for past and present life, not just at a few rocks in search of past water activity. Oh well, maybe a few missions down the track we'll get serious.... :/ Do you think, that SETI is a 'good science'? -- (STS) Mars, predzej czy pózniej, bedzie nasz! |
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Mars Rover longevity again limited by dust build-up
Newsuser "Christopher M. Jones" wrote ...
Why? Because plutonium Pu238 is bad? A good science is to send a probe which is able to work all 5 years! Look at Vikings. Viking budget was about $2.5 billions (for both, recalculated) and ground stations worked 5 years (average lifetime V1 & V2) so monthly cost is only $35 millions!!! Hey, go easy, it's not just that RTGs are kinda politically hard to sell (though really they aren't), mostly it's the cost and mass overhead. Solar panels are inexpensive and easy, RTGs are expensive. Do you remember RTGs used for Vikings? Mass of 13kg. Is it to much? I'd like to see an RTG powered rover myself. Me too Just imagining it blows my mind away with the possibilities, it would be the single greatest thing in space exploration since Apollo, easily. And it would go on for years! But, it's gonna be expensive, so I can wait. Why expensive?! What a new design have to be done? Almost nothing! Interestingly, NASA has plans for such a thing, and if they can get funding then it will happen. Funding is sufficient, but the "greens" are out of control :-( -- (STS) |
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Mars Rover longevity again limited by dust build-up
I wrote:
Sojourner was still working fine when we last heard from it. When Mars is actually unknown. (Probably not much longer than MP, though.) Somehow that lost a line in the middle. Should have been roughly: Sojourner was still working fine when we last heard from it. When Mars is actually unknown. (Probably not much longer than MP, though.) -- MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. | |
#19
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Mars Rover longevity again limited by dust build-up
"Stanislaw Sidor" schrieb im Newsbeitrag ...
Newsuser "Manfred Bartz" wrote ... Personally I think the Beagle mission had a better and more ambitious science package. They were going to look for past and present life, not just at a few rocks in search of past water activity. Oh well, maybe a few missions down the track we'll get serious.... :/ Do you think, that SETI is a 'good science'? Yeah! All these "Close Encounters" type missions, and in all this time, when was the last time we had a rover roam the Moon? That's a place whose resources could actually help us on Earth-- solve our energy problems and all that. And it would be the ideal jumping board to the rest of the Solar System, if we were able to build and launch rockets from up there. ("Aluminum, silicon, oxygen, low gravity and lots of solar ener- gy to be had..." *That's* music to my ears! As opposed to: "Ancient fossilized microbes found on meteorite--maybe." So what, even if they were??) What's the deal with Mars if we haven't even built a base on the Moon yet? Why do I get the feeling space exploration is funded by people who get their idea of what's important from the head- lines of the National Enquirer? What's the deal with trying to find life out there? I mean, it still doesn't mean that *we* could live there, and that's all that counts! |
#20
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Mars Rover longevity again limited by dust build-up
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