I keep hoping we'll be able to see live streaming. I want to see the laser convert rocks to plasma. I know it looks like a pebbly desert but it's...Mars.
If you apply the same ratios as previous missions it will last 20 to 60 years.
What killed Spirit was wheel bearing lubricants. There aren't many candidates that operate at Martian temperatures and they are finicky. Of course Spirit would still be useful, if stationary, if it had a nuclear battery instead of solar panels, but it got stuck in a bad orientation for surviving the winter. R.I.P.
I don't think there is much chance Curiosity's RTG will last 60 years. While the RTG makes Curiosity safe from winter and poor solar orientation, there will also be no miraculous wind solar array cleaning events. Eventually they will have to start turning systems off to conserve power. Once the decision is made to turn it into a stationary base, as they had hoped to do with Spirit, it might last quite awhile, but driving is a pretty high-energy activity, both because of wheel motors and the computational load associated with navigation.
Once again, the rich guys (or Hot Wheels collectors, just as fanatical as Trekkies) prove they have more dollars than sense. NASA could have sold these and paid for the entire mission!
I was shivering with terror watching your video erco
The 360 degree panorama you posted was brilliant, I can just imagine an engineer looking at that picture and thinking to themselves I installed that bit of kit and now it's millions of miles away on another planet. what an amazing buzz that must be!
The rover missions have been just great! I think back to the first one and how everybody was all over it, despite the sharp tech limits at the time. Now here we are with such detail and data potential. I actually "know" what some parts of Mars are like in ways that are way more familiar than expected.
One thing I would love is a chemical simulation. What does it smell like? The last description I read was "stinky" due to the known chemistry. Feel and such are something one can get a sense of with the data we have.
The other thing I wonder about is the poles. Too bad we lost that one. As the seasons change, we should see really interesting things, and of course I want to just push the ethics aside and plant something there. Get our toughest plants that align with what we know and just see whether or not they make it. If they do, it would be one big question answered. "does life work anywhere but here?" We think so, we hope so, but we've not seen it happen yet.
Too bad we lost that one. As the seasons change, we should see really interesting things, and of course I want to just push the ethics aside and plant something there. Get our toughest plants that align with what we know and just see whether or not they make it. If they do, it would be one big question answered. "does life work anywhere but here?" We think so, we hope so, but we've not seen it happen yet.
That made me think of the film Silent Running and Dewey still out there tending the plants and trees (sniff)
A straightforward (much less Hollywood-over-the-top than "7 Minutes of Terror") animation about Curiosity's complex landing sequence. Video is nearly 6 years old, so those JPL guys have been hearing "that will never work" for much longer than that.
During the interview with mohawk hair guy and Elvis hair guy, they said that all the landing simulation was done in computers. This may explain why I have not seen and videos of the landing sequence.
I would have expected extensive testing in the desert using actual vehicles.
Imagine seeing that landing from the perspective of a simple mars creature, trying to eke out a hard-scrapple existence on the Red Planet. Suddenly this ... this thing appears from the sky, lowered on tethers into the crater you call home. For several days it just sits there, not doing much, but you keep your distance just the same. Then, all of a sudden, it comes to life and vaporizes a rock with a laser! The horror! Are others like it on their way? What do they want? Your mind reels with anxiety from the possibility of an alien invasion. Then it starts to move, with apparent but still enigmatic purpose.There's talk of fleeing the crater for another, but that's even more frightening, because no one has ever ventured outside of the Home Crater. ...
I could go on, but I've probably gotten too carried away as it is.
I would have expected extensive testing in the desert using actual vehicles.
I'm not sure that would even be possible. With more of both gravity and air, such a field test would only prove that it could be done here on Earth with no rational way to scale the results to Mars.
I'm not sure that would even be possible. With more of both gravity and air, such a field test would only prove that it could be done here on Earth with no rational way to scale the results to Mars.
-Phil
I believe the final descent and sky crane portion could be accurately simulated on Earth.
They did test the parachute in a wind tunnel that simulated the conditions of descent. And it's a good thing, too, since the first design(s) failed to deploy reliably.
There's no shortage of "artist's impressions" about what Curiosity might look like roving around: http://news.discovery.com/space/zooms/mars-rover-curiosity-alien-life-120804.html It would have been interesting for the rover to temporarily deploy a remote camera on a tripod/monopod that would send back a complete photo of the rover doing its thing. Not the most scientific of payloads, but it sure would make for some great press shots! As the marketing types say, "sell the sizzle, not the steak".
It would have been interesting for the rover to temporarily deploy a remote camera on a tripod/monopod that would send back a complete photo of the rover doing its thing.
What a great idea! Or even a Paparozzobot to follow Curiosity around!
Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California say the rover Curiosity flexed its robotic arm Monday for the first time since before its November launch.
They say they'll now spend weeks testing and calibrating the 7-foot-long arm and its extensive tool kit which includes a drill, a scoop, a spectrometer and a camera, in preparation for collecting its first soil samples and attempting to learn whether the Martian environment was favorable for microbial life
On Monday engineers unfurled the arm, extended it forward using all five of its joints, then stowed it again.
Just heard on the news this morning that a sensor has "been broken" and curiousity will not be able to sense wind speed and direction, just wondering how much of an impact on the mission that will cause or is it something that can be worked around?
They were suggesting that curiousity would not be able to receive data on wind speed and direction and was wondering what sort of impact loss of that sort of data might have?
for instance could curiousity be driving up an incline unaware of side winds that may unbalance it?
It seems that earlier news reports were wrong in saying that curiousity was blind regarding weather data as there is indeed another sensor but they will now have to be careful as this is now the only one, seemsthat a pebble flew up and damaged PCB's on landing.
On my morning commute, I was behind a giant flatbed delivery truck carrying construction materials and its own forklift for loading/unloading. Made me wonder if that combination of a large main cargo/long haul vehicle and one or more smaller, more nimble drones might be a winning combination for mobile robots on this and other planets. In the case of Mars exploration, you could have a large slow mobile laboratory robot that does most of the analyzing, data telemetry and solar energy capturing while several small, fast drone robots explore rough terrain and dig, while carrying samples, cameras, etc. The drones could plug into the big solar lab to speed recharging instead of relying solely on their own small solar cells. A bit of swarm technology with multiple drones to divvy up the workload, help each other get unstuck, and not end the mission if one dies.
erco, I think that's a great idea. Why not have the main base be able to replace damaged pcb's, sharpen drill bits, etc. I believe they could build the infrastructure for a manned station on the moon. I believe it's doable. I guarantee several of the super rich would try to make the mile-high club obsolete.
Comments
What killed Spirit was wheel bearing lubricants. There aren't many candidates that operate at Martian temperatures and they are finicky. Of course Spirit would still be useful, if stationary, if it had a nuclear battery instead of solar panels, but it got stuck in a bad orientation for surviving the winter. R.I.P.
I don't think there is much chance Curiosity's RTG will last 60 years. While the RTG makes Curiosity safe from winter and poor solar orientation, there will also be no miraculous wind solar array cleaning events. Eventually they will have to start turning systems off to conserve power. Once the decision is made to turn it into a stationary base, as they had hoped to do with Spirit, it might last quite awhile, but driving is a pretty high-energy activity, both because of wheel motors and the computational load associated with navigation.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mars-Rover-Curiosity-2012-Hot-Wheels-Q-Case-Rare-Impossible-Find-/190712856042?pt=Diecast_Vehicles&hash=item2c675f3dea
Guess I should have left mine in the package...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqLUIJA6Q1c
They'll be in stores within a month for a buck, so someone just paid $271 to be the first on their block(head).
The 360 degree panorama you posted was brilliant, I can just imagine an engineer looking at that picture and thinking to themselves I installed that bit of kit and now it's millions of miles away on another planet. what an amazing buzz that must be!
The rover missions have been just great! I think back to the first one and how everybody was all over it, despite the sharp tech limits at the time. Now here we are with such detail and data potential. I actually "know" what some parts of Mars are like in ways that are way more familiar than expected.
One thing I would love is a chemical simulation. What does it smell like? The last description I read was "stinky" due to the known chemistry. Feel and such are something one can get a sense of with the data we have.
The other thing I wonder about is the poles. Too bad we lost that one. As the seasons change, we should see really interesting things, and of course I want to just push the ethics aside and plant something there.
I would have expected extensive testing in the desert using actual vehicles.
I could go on, but I've probably gotten too carried away as it is.
-Phil
-Phil
Would-be roboticists, polish up your resumes and get them to JPL, PRONTO!
I believe the final descent and sky crane portion could be accurately simulated on Earth.
-Phil
I was born during the baby boom. It was a ray gun!
-Phil
NASA rover flexes arm for first time on Mars
Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California say the rover Curiosity flexed its robotic arm Monday for the first time since before its November launch.
They say they'll now spend weeks testing and calibrating the 7-foot-long arm and its extensive tool kit which includes a drill, a scoop, a spectrometer and a camera, in preparation for collecting its first soil samples and attempting to learn whether the Martian environment was favorable for microbial life
On Monday engineers unfurled the arm, extended it forward using all five of its joints, then stowed it again.
TEN FEET OF TERROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://news.yahoo.com/mars-rover-curiosity-1st-martian-drive-wednesday-193325678.html
Don't be the guy driving the rover when it gets stuck on a rock. Interplanetary FAIL!
for instance could curiousity be driving up an incline unaware of side winds that may unbalance it?
I guarantee several of the super rich would try to make the mile-high club obsolete.