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It took NASA...four years to design a drone.
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It took NASA...four years to design a drone.
On Saturday, May 12, 2018 at 1:48:16 AM UTC-6, RichA wrote:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44090509 It is possible the guys working on it also had other duties. Note that there were likely not as many people working on the project as would be working at a drone manufacturer designing their next product. And this drone had to be super reliable, and it had to work in the atmosphere of Mars, which, as the article noted, is a *lot* less dense than that of Earth. (The article said 100x; I thought it was more than that.) John Savard |
#3
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It took NASA...four years to design a drone.
On Tuesday, 15 May 2018 08:57:15 UTC+2, Quadibloc wrote:
On Saturday, May 12, 2018 at 1:48:16 AM UTC-6, RichA wrote: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44090509 It is possible the guys working on it also had other duties. Note that there were likely not as many people working on the project as would be working at a drone manufacturer designing their next product. And this drone had to be super reliable, and it had to work in the atmosphere of Mars, which, as the article noted, is a *lot* less dense than that of Earth. (The article said 100x; I thought it was more than that.) John Savard Finding a mains socket to recharge the Li batteries every ten minutes is likely to be a deal breaker. I'd have gone for a kite with a soft skeleton. They could run one up in a quarter of an hour if they "borrowed" the Webb's billion dollar sewing machine. |
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It took NASA...four years to design a drone.
On Saturday, May 12, 2018 at 2:48:16 AM UTC-5, RichA wrote:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44090509 A drone which, if it works, would do things no other drone has done on Earth. |
#5
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It took NASA...four years to design a drone.
On Tuesday, 15 May 2018 08:57:15 UTC+2, Quadibloc wrote:
On Saturday, May 12, 2018 at 1:48:16 AM UTC-6, RichA wrote: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44090509 It is possible the guys working on it also had other duties. Note that there were likely not as many people working on the project as would be working at a drone manufacturer designing their next product. And this drone had to be super reliable, and it had to work in the atmosphere of Mars, which, as the article noted, is a *lot* less dense than that of Earth. (The article said 100x; I thought it was more than that.) John Savard Mars' atmospheric pressure is 6% of Earth's. How big do the rotors need to be to support themselves, before they offer any useful lift for the imaging platform. And how will they cope in a Martian storm? |
#6
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It took NASA...four years to design a drone.
On Tuesday, 15 May 2018 02:57:15 UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
On Saturday, May 12, 2018 at 1:48:16 AM UTC-6, RichA wrote: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44090509 It is possible the guys working on it also had other duties. Note that there were likely not as many people working on the project as would be working at a drone manufacturer designing their next product. And this drone had to be super reliable, and it had to work in the atmosphere of Mars, which, as the article noted, is a *lot* less dense than that of Earth. (The article said 100x; I thought it was more than that.) John Savard So why not contract a drone mfg instead of (likely) spending $20 for every $1 the experienced manufacturer would? Isn't that what Space-X is all about? |
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It took NASA...four years to design a drone.
On Thu, 17 May 2018 01:01:19 -0700 (PDT), RichA
wrote: On Tuesday, 15 May 2018 02:57:15 UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote: On Saturday, May 12, 2018 at 1:48:16 AM UTC-6, RichA wrote: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44090509 It is possible the guys working on it also had other duties. Note that there were likely not as many people working on the project as would be working at a drone manufacturer designing their next product. And this drone had to be super reliable, and it had to work in the atmosphere of Mars, which, as the article noted, is a *lot* less dense than that of Earth. (The article said 100x; I thought it was more than that.) John Savard So why not contract a drone mfg instead of (likely) spending $20 for every $1 the experienced manufacturer would? Isn't that what Space-X is all about? SpaceX is about engineering, not science. There is a lot of fundamental new aeronautical science involved in designing any lift-based aircraft that operates in an atmosphere 1/60 as dense as Earth's. That's the sort of expertise NASA has, and conventional makers of aircraft or drones do not. We do not generally contract out fundamental scientific development. |
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It took NASA...four years to design a drone.
On Wednesday, May 16, 2018 at 11:59:29 PM UTC-6, Chris.B wrote:
On Tuesday, 15 May 2018 08:57:15 UTC+2, Quadibloc wrote: On Saturday, May 12, 2018 at 1:48:16 AM UTC-6, RichA wrote: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44090509 It is possible the guys working on it also had other duties. Note that there were likely not as many people working on the project as would be working at a drone manufacturer designing their next product. And this drone had to be super reliable, and it had to work in the atmosphere of Mars, which, as the article noted, is a *lot* less dense than that of Earth. (The article said 100x; I thought it was more than that.) Mars' atmospheric pressure is 6% of Earth's. I just checked. 0.6% of Earth's, I'm afraid. John Savard |
#9
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It took NASA...four years to design a drone.
On Thu, 17 May 2018 10:37:52 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
wrote: On Wednesday, May 16, 2018 at 11:59:29 PM UTC-6, Chris.B wrote: On Tuesday, 15 May 2018 08:57:15 UTC+2, Quadibloc wrote: On Saturday, May 12, 2018 at 1:48:16 AM UTC-6, RichA wrote: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44090509 It is possible the guys working on it also had other duties. Note that there were likely not as many people working on the project as would be working at a drone manufacturer designing their next product. And this drone had to be super reliable, and it had to work in the atmosphere of Mars, which, as the article noted, is a *lot* less dense than that of Earth. (The article said 100x; I thought it was more than that.) Mars' atmospheric pressure is 6% of Earth's. I just checked. 0.6% of Earth's, I'm afraid. That's true for pressure, although the density is more relevant to the performance of wings (moving or fixed). The atmospheric density at the surface of Mars averages 1.6% that of Earth's. That's about the same as the density at a height of 30 km on Earth. That's right in the area that the highest winged aircraft have flown. |
#10
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It took NASA...four years to design a drone.
On Thursday, 17 May 2018 21:26:06 UTC+2, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Thu, 17 May 2018 10:37:52 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc. I just checked. 0.6% of Earth's, I'm afraid. That's true for pressure, although the density is more relevant to the performance of wings (moving or fixed). The atmospheric density at the surface of Mars averages 1.6% that of Earth's. That's about the same as the density at a height of 30 km on Earth. That's right in the area that the highest winged aircraft have flown. I seem to have moved a decimal point after deliberately checking before posting. Just the price of living on a world with 70 billion people and a diameter of 75000 miles. More of a Super Earth than a Pale Blue Dot. It's fortunate the Sun is only 9.3 million miles away or we couldn't possibly feed them all. I hear Google wants to raise the speed limit to 550mph for self driving cars and a Big Mac now weighs a whopping 25lbs not including the attached litter. ;-) |
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