You are not logged in.
Pages: 1
What if we landed a rover that was a slightly reduced version of the manned exploration vehicle (see link, #11) with the idea that it would be a permanent rover that could constantly travel the martian surface exploring? It would have to have a lot of redundancy built in for mission critical systems: backup computers, modems... It would be completely solar powered and would need some way to routinely clean it's solar panels. Maybe have a long extendable arm with changeable attachments: drill, soil scoop, soil coring tool...that could dump soil samples into internal experiments.
[http://www.spaceuniverse.com/WS_Content … eryUnq=196]http://www.spaceuniverse.com/WS_Cont....Unq=196
Offline
Cool!
"We need to get back into that Saturn V world mentality."
Gene Cernan -- Commander Apollo 17
Offline
Yes, but... On solar alone you won't get very far, i think... This is a *big* machine, compared to Spirit. You could of course use the original design, minus it's fuell cells, (or temporarily disable them) and drive a little, then let it 'rest' to recharge it's batteries... then drive a little.
I don't think non-stop operation would be possible.
Of course, it would be cool to launch it before a human mission, let it do some exploring of the human landing-site, and when the crew lands, hey presto, a taxi on stand-by, ready to go wherever they want (just fill it up with hydrogen)
Offline
It wouldn't be designed to go very far at a time. I'm not sure how NASA guides the rovers with the long delay in signal transmit time but it seems to me that a picture would be taken of the area ahead and then NASA would send a course to the vehicle/rover for it to take to avoid large rocks. A better idea is to actually have some way for the rover to be independant and identify the best course to take, avoiding large rocks and craters, to a new site. Four 33" x 66" 185 watt solar panels providing 740 watts wouldn't be enough to go very far at a time. Maybe have a small nuclear reactor? But then you have heavy shielding to deal with, hmm.
Offline
Power isn't the only challenge rovers have with longevity - the harsh temperatures, winds and clogging dusts and fines will eventually degrade the rover's scientific instruments, wheels and motors. It would be prohibitively expensive to design a rover that would be able to withstand Martian conditions for several years - you'd need so many backups and self-repair mechanisms that it wouldn't be worth it.
But as we can see, the rovers are getting tougher and bigger. Soon there won't be any need to have a permanent rover since we'll be sending rovers with longer lifespans more frequently - I'd expect the next rover to last for at least half a year.
Editor of [url=http://www.newmars.com]New Mars[/url]
Offline
The lead article on SpaceDaily addresses this today. It talks about the next-gen rover being nuclear-powered.
You can stand on a mountaintop with your mouth open for a very long time before a roast duck flies into it. -Chinese Proverb
Offline
Huh? ? Thanks Jadeheart, for pointing this out.
2009? First time i heard of this, is this real? I thouht they were going to launch some other stuff, in preparation to ISRU...
Offline
They are. Next year they'll be launching a Martian telecommunications satellite which'll have tons of bandwidth. There's a timeline somewhere about upcoming missions, I can't find a link though.
Oh, I found it, here you go: [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/mars_future.html]http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/mars_future.html
Some useful links while MER are active. [url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]Offical site[/url] [url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html]NASA TV[/url] [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/]JPL MER2004[/url] [url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html]Text feed[/url]
--------
The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.
Offline
Pages: 1