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No life on Mars

Banned

From: Newyork

Registered: 2004-02-25

Posts: 50

Re: News!!!!-Mars rovers' lifetime boosted

The US space agency's Mars rovers may work for up to 240 days on the Red Planet, about 150 more than the mission team had originally projected. :band: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3545747.stm]BBC

Yang Liwei Rocket

Member

Registered: 2004-03-03

Posts: 993

Re: News!!!!-Mars rovers' lifetime boosted

That's great news, but can they be sure that the winter isn't going to hamper the vehicles?

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'first steps are not for cheap, think about it...
did China build a great Wall in a day ?' ( Y L R newmars forum member )

GraemeSkinner

Member

From: Eden Hall, Cumbria

Registered: 2004-02-20

Posts: 563

Website

Re: News!!!!-Mars rovers' lifetime boosted

That's great news, but can they be sure that the winter isn't going to hamper the vehicles?

Looks like they are just working of current amount of energy used to date to project an estimated life span, they did say the estimate would depend on the Martian environment. But hey, even a couple of days over the estimated lifespan would have been a bonus, so if they only get half of the extra days we should count ourselves lucky for the extra data that will provide.

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There was a young lady named Bright.
Whose speed was far faster than light;
She set out one day
in a relative way
And returned on the previous night.
--Arthur Buller--

Ian Flint

Banned

From: Colorado

Registered: 2003-09-24

Posts: 437

Re: News!!!!-Mars rovers' lifetime boosted

The 90 day (sol) lifespan that NASA originally gave the rovers was just a conservative number.  At day 90 they can relax and tell their bosses in congress that the mission was a complete success.  They have always expected the rovers to last much longer than 90 days, though.

The viking landers both lasted over 4 years, remember.

I expect the rovers to last at least one Earth year.

Bill White

Member

Registered: 2001-09-09

Posts: 2,114

Re: News!!!!-Mars rovers' lifetime boosted

The 90 day (sol) lifespan that NASA originally gave the rovers was just a conservative number.  At day 90 they can relax and tell their bosses in congress that the mission was a complete success.  They have always expected the rovers to last much longer than 90 days, though.

The viking landers both lasted over 4 years, remember.

I expect the rovers to last at least one Earth year.

I attended Marzapolozza (sp?) at Chicago's Adler Planetarium when the rover team gave a public presentation about the program.

It was pretty clear that 90 days was the "warranty date" and that they were determined to make sure no one was expecting or counting on more than that. 90 days clearly was the "expectations game" date for the politicians and bureaucrats.

Everyone vigorously denied any expectation that the rovers would last more than 90 days, yet reading their faces I came away thinking that everyone on the team fully believed they would get far more than 90 days.

It was a damn good political show. Well done!