Opportunity & Spirit **8** - ...More...

SpaceNut · 2004-10-22 06:22:12

I hope that the next generation rovers have a different steering design than the mars rovers do currently.

I am quite surprised by the increased power from the solar panels which should not be happening.

moby · 2004-10-23 04:51:40

Considering the geography that rovers in the future will likely wind up in they might want to redesign more than just the steering . The 100% slippage that Oppy got the other day doesn't bode well. Spirit dragging a wheel should give pause for thought also and I'm sure it has.

Rxke · 2004-10-23 06:35:25

Huh?
I dont understand you guys' reasoning...

Because it's breaking down, all of a sudden the design is bad?
Those rovers are operating well beyond their current design-cycles, nearing *300* days instead of 90.... so eventually something's got to give...

The steering design is quite elegant, IMO, allowing them to turn around their own axis, for instance, and slipping is just unavoidable in such terrain, maibe they could just add spikes to the wheels of future rovers to get more grip, but for the rest I don't see major (or even minor) design flaws in their steering enginering...

moby · 2004-10-23 23:08:56

not bad design at all but nearly everything can be improved upon. If you give the engineers time and money to do it before the next launch I suspect they'll take a look at the previous expedition results and try to improve/upgrade

djellison · 2004-10-24 02:47:26

Huh?
I dont understand you guys' reasoning...
Because it's breaking down, all of a sudden the design is bad?
Those rovers are operating well beyond their current design-cycles, nearing *300* days instead of 90.... so eventually something's got to give...
The steering design is quite elegant, IMO, allowing them to turn around their own axis, for instance, and slipping is just unavoidable in such terrain, maibe they could just add spikes to the wheels of future rovers to get more grip, but for the rest I don't see major (or even minor) design flaws in their steering enginering...

HERE HERE!!!!

Not to mention, there wont be another MER flying in the near future if at all - possibly, JUST POSSIBLY in 2011 perhaps as a scout mission, but it's HIGHLY unlikely.

The next rover is MSL - and that is a big, RTG powered beastie - and will be as big again than an MER than MER was bigger than Sojourner!

Doug

Shaun Barrett · 2004-10-25 06:01:54

Here's an interesting 3-D shot of http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … jpg]Wopmay.

I've now determined beyond any reasonable doubt that Wopmay is the fossilised remnant of a large martian trilobite with compound eyes. We're looking at it from the right rear quarter of the animal; the right eye being still in position on the head, while the left side of the head and the left eye have split away and fallen to the ground.
It's just a matter of time now until Dr. Squyres calls a press conference to announce the discovery of the first indisputable fossil on Mars.
Waddyathink?!!

SpaceNut · 2004-10-25 07:20:04

So when will the first rover be that will tell us if the martian soil would be a hazard to manned flights in the future?

REB · 2004-10-25 09:42:38

Good one, Shaun.

And the Blueberries are really predators, and they were attacking the Giant Trilobite like Piranhas attack their prey.

Beware of the
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000 … lueberries!

remcook · 2004-10-25 11:53:20

wopmay always looked like brains to me...

Palomar · 2004-10-26 06:38:22

*Yep...Wopmay looks like a brain to me, too.

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mer … tml]Spirit doing good...; is examining "Uchben."

"Spirit is farther from the equator than its twin, Opportunity is, and it has much less available solar energy. Spirit's solar panels are pointed to the northern Sun, but Spirit is still only getting about 400 watt-hours of energy per day - enough to run a 100-watt bulb for four hours."

Oppy still getting good power though (it seems).

--Cindy

atomoid · 2004-10-26 13:32:14

Yes, another brain! Remember this brain's http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/ … gif]bigger brother?
I find it most curious how brains are found only in the bottoms of craters... hmmm...
But is this brain dead? Certainly not! Having been stirred from its eternal slumber by Opportunity, it has now begun to evolve at a terrifying pace! Only God can save us now!

Palomar · 2004-10-26 20:06:14

Yes, another brain! Remember this brain's http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/ … gif]bigger brother?
I find it most curious how brains are found only in the bottoms of craters... hmmm...
But is this brain dead? Certainly not! Having been stirred from its eternal slumber by Opportunity, it has now begun to evolve at a terrifying pace! Only God can save us now!

*Pray tell, from whence cometh this diabolic plot??

The Brain Invaders from Mars Who Ate the Earth!! (coming soon to a theater near YOU).

But hey -- in all seriousness it's refreshing to see some semblance of brains on at least ONE of Sol's planets (I'm >this close< to giving up on the preponderance of brains on Earth!). :;):

Have seen the pic before, but this is a better shot of it.

--Cindy

So when will the first rover be that will tell us if the martian soil would be a hazard to manned flights in the future?

SpaceNut, do you suppose it's a coincidence that, as I type this, the theme song to Mission: Impossible? is playing on the television? ??? There is a cosmic conspiracy afoot..

REB · 2004-10-27 07:20:13

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … .HTML]Nice clouds!

Palomar · 2004-10-27 07:40:18

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … .HTML]Nice clouds!

*That looks oh-so-familiar. Terrific pic.

--Cindy

REB · 2004-10-27 07:45:39

Oppy has been slip sliding. Check out its rear wheels http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … M1.HTML]in this picture as Opportunity makes its way out of the crater.

Come on Opportunity. You can do it.

"I think I can, I think I can..."

atomoid · 2004-10-27 12:34:05

(I'm >this close< to giving up on the preponderance of brains on Earth!). :;):

...except for the newmars threads, of course!

Palomar · 2004-10-30 06:28:39

(I'm >this close< to giving up on the preponderance of brains on Earth!). :;):
...except for the newmars threads, of course!

*Agreed, atomoid.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=15402]MERs pass 50,000 photos mark

And I have a feeling Stu's gonna love pic #50,000!

Spirit's accounts for 35 percent of the all images from the rovers so far; Opportunity's, 32 percent.
There are now more than twice as many images from the two rovers as from NASA's three previous Mars surface missions combined: Viking Lander 1, Viking Lander 2 and Mars Pathfinder.

--Cindy

Rxke · 2004-10-30 07:08:02

And I have a feeling Stu's gonna love pic #50,000!

Shaun Barrett · 2004-10-30 07:44:23

What's everybody talking about?
Stu understands the importance of science experiments on MERs, don't you Stu?
Now now .. come on Stu. You can't use language like that in front of a lady ... !
:;): :laugh:

Stu · 2004-10-30 07:56:05

Oh for pity's sake... :sleep:

Ok, I guess it's a 50/50 shot. Either this was a set-up, and all you guys petitioned JPL to MAKE them shoot the sundial for pic 50k, or it was just a coincidence.

As a firm believer in conspiracies I go with the former...

:;):

Seriously tho, wouldn't it have been more fitting for photo 50k to be an image of the Earth shining in Mars' sky, with Oppy or Spirit's shadow stretching out across the martian landscape beneath it..?

No complaints tho. The MERs are towering achievements, and one day in a hundred or so years time, native martian kids will file past them in the Marineris Smithsonian and marvel at how something so small and spindly and fragile-looking could travel so far and achieve so much.

I'd much rather have pics of sundials than no pics at all.

... but I have a wonderful image in my mind of one of my great grandchildren bouncing over to Spirit and pulling the ****** thing off...

Shaun Barrett · 2004-10-30 08:01:57

:laugh: Ha-ha !! Classic response, Stu.

Stu · 2004-10-30 08:08:47

Er... is that a monolith..???

http://origin.mars5.jpl.nasa.gov/galler … ...M1.HTML

Rxke · 2004-10-30 10:24:14

Stu,

I'm imagining, for you next birthday, a biiiig cake, in the form of a MER, with *lotsa* candles, shaped as sundials! The kind that, when you blow 'em out, the re-light again, heehee.

And then hoping that there are a lot of kids around so you'd have to watch your language!

Palomar · 2004-10-30 10:48:22

Stu,
I'm imagining, for you next birthday, a biiiig cake, in the form of a MER, with *lotsa* candles, shaped as sundials! The kind that, when you blow 'em out, the re-light again, heehee.
And then hoping that there are a lot of kids around so you'd have to watch your language!

:laugh:

Rik...you have a bit of a cruel streak, don't you? :;):

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2004-10-30 19:16:51

Finally got the read the 50k article released from the Nasa news link from JPL. I want to know why it took from late september to figure out that this was the one it only took 260 days before this one was take. Isn't the sundial at the lander site? what did they do drive around in a circle?

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2004-266

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