New Mars Forums

Hi Vincent!
In the context to that Viking Lander Skyview it tells, that the colours were "naturalized" by taking black-white highresolution pictures and  the colour-channels input to produce colours as they would be seen by human eyes.
How does this great afternoon shot from MSL Mastcam show more blue than green?
The sunny side shows somewhat clean white, result of saturation?
Thanks for the link
hjs

as I read it,
the thether is more to keep the load low, just to supply the camera up with power and communication, thus reducing the size of the balloon to lift that weight, but plus load of the thether. Still that size will be in the range of 10m diameter, which makes it difficult to launch it without to shelter the skin against edies. That "high camera" conzept will give valuable sights over walls or cliffs, where the rover arm can not reach further out than some meters, and the rover driver dare to move closer or higher up to the edge.

The balloon will be an "use when needed" instrument, like the drill, that is carried all the time, but in action only when the soil is promissing.

What is the status of the awarded SMBL (by AURORA corp.)? Is there somebody in this forum to know it?

The EXOMARS Rover (2014) has tools for drilling down 2m, forming a core, crush it and analyze for the buried targets. They say, it is deep enough because of the layers put over in the last 3.5 GYears over those material will keep it unaffected by surface processes (radiation).
The ground penetrating radar will help in selecting the right spot, just a pinpoint in the skin of the planet.

Going deeper to 10m it will be difficult to stabilize the hole.

Well,
drilling is needed to reach deeper layers of the sediments to look into the history of the planet, but to harvest the obviously existing sources of water for in situ use, it is only necessary to scratch the overlaying sands off the permafrost sites to reach the water ice.(like the PHOENIX tools) Put a bubble or dome over the  site, get the air inside warmed up by the sun, and bring the air like a waterhose at high temperature in close contact at the regolith/water mix. Then crack the upcoming gases of CO2 and H2O in the bubble by controlling the cooling, and separate water and Co2. Such a rack could be moved by a trekking vehicle.

Just an idea, not very much founded by my limited knowledge of any of these technologies.

Could that be made working??

Yes, this sounds very feasible. Does each gondola have an electric motor that draws electricity from the line? How much energy does this take?

Make your choice: come with your buggy, rover or Marssuite only, hook on the rope rails (single or double line) and move on the rope powered by yourself. Or use a cabin with all comfort waiting at the terminal, push the button an go, battery powered or by electric feed cable running parallel.

Energy needed depends on the landscape profil, unless you build very straight connections with high towers. In the plains only resistance from rolling gear is to overcome. Start from a higher point at the terminal , let it run down the hanging rope and up again to the next terminal or pylon.  Use the windforce with a sail, the weight from a counterbalanced cabin coming down on a round running rope etc.

So have the robots drag the heavy steel suspension cables out along the route and then hoist them into place?

Yes, the coming CNT (carbon nano tubes) wires will by far not be as heavy as steel. (japanese patent is pending already!!!)

How would the terminals be built? Steel Frames?

The terminals can be built as simple poles or tripods, ankered with ballast from the grounds there. Or made of sticks and plates out of iron, alloy or Silumin. Production of those materials is very energy consuming. Though every construction/building should be made of multi reusable parts.

You mentioned elevated trains or raised roadbeds, but did you ever talk about aerial ropeways?

They are oeconomic to transport to mars (low mass, low volume); easy to move where needed (terminals, ropes, and gondolas); and can be set up even over demanding grounds like glaciers and rocky fields.

The  ropes would be made of carbon nano tubes enforced polymers, so the distance between terminals could easily be 10 km. The gondolas could be even thethered airships. The solar energy collectors would be installed at the terminals.  The robot technology you will need for the installation of grids between the landing sites (cargo and crew) and the big power plants can be used to build the aerial ropeways.

Yes, the Shackleton team members were all survivers!
Their main goals were, we go to the Antarctica, we need assistance by the other crew, and we all want to come home.
And they did it, because of the leadership of Shackleton.
First you have to get the leader, then he will select his fellows.
Let us talk about this subject:
Who and what type will be the leader?
1) Commander
2) Captain
3) Coach
4) Scout
5) Big Boss
6) NASA Official
7) The President
to be continued
hjs