You are not logged in.
Hey some say dreams don't come true but ideas are born.
Think of the benifits of producing economical clusters of micro rovers, that could be dispersed over large areas that could be networked together increasing the possible potential of discovery over vast areas with the help of an orbiting sattelite.
Well I suppose once new minerals or metals with fantastic properties are eventually discovered there will be an endless convoy of unmanned robots mining/processing and building. Genetically designed organic machines once developed could cary out functions for example building or chemical processing like the terraforming that now appears like a feasable idea that is just waiting to happen.
Offline
I read an article in Popular Science the last year or so that told about a new invention which is a tiny networked electronic device that sends data by radio signal to the next device like it and so on until it gets to the server. Each device can only transmit about 100 yards, so this uses very little power. They are called something like "dust'" or "motes" or "mites." Tiny rovers could have one of these in each of them. It said they will get down in size to ant size.
Brian.
Offline
The rare-earth minerals come to mind, esp. the ones used in cellphones...
(But my knowledge about them is vague, to put it polite...)
I recall reading about it, rebel factions in DR Congo (or was it... errr... Liberia, again, vague) holding onto their occupied territory because there was a source of those minerals there... They were not 'real' rebels (ideological' but merely croocked business sharks....
There's a thread here on the board that explains you don't have to make huge profit (if you're government-driven) but *any* amount of precious stuff can be sold off to alleviate some of the operation costs, even if the net operation of such a thing is loss, it's better than 'coming home' empty-handed
Offline
I admit that I am no boffin and havent actually loooked at the chart for years. What if there are actually some other "new minerals or metals with fantastic properties" the ball game changes The question is have all the elements in the universe been discovered, well I know that you will all get that one right by just having a quick look at the periodic table, hey it keeps changing, there are even spaces left for theoretical elements and they are split up into different catorgories ...... but if one new totally enexpected type pops up could it possibly change the chart forever let alone be used in propulsion or for making new alloys.The other questionable debate about micro probes breaking down there are endless answers:
1.Could micro probes could be developed with particular organic componets that could repair themselves very much like our skin repairs a wound.
2. Could micro/nano machines be developed to repair each other or use combinations of each other to make up different machines to perform different tasks. How about a machine that could be designed to restructure in x number of components in a certain way so that it were capable of adapting. (even release specific compactable super memory folded away metalic components)
It may really sound stupid but ther was an article where these rocks about six inces square and smaller are actually blown through the desert enviroment leaving behing these strange gouge marks, so if a micro probe broke down but it still had sufficient energy to flip down two rails and some how use a solar panel as a sail, perhaps a bit feable maybe an emergency solution. Perhaps they could make use of these powerfull winds if they were robust enough release a kite and tether but that would only be a one off.
Design the micro probe to be capable of being blown into the air like a box kite.
Offline
What would be the most perfect shaped concept micro probe.
Wouldn't it be cool if this website were capable of using everyones input with the use of some drawing program like auto CAD but more user friendly to design and develop ideas which could have as many variations as the mind can imagine in other words a big think tank now that would be utalising true internet capability.
If I were to start designing say another micro probe I would consider starting with a cylinder spiral shape with an inner hub so that wind could blow it along it could also use the motion to charge the cells, all right one might say hey what if there were a rock in the way, thats fine provided the inner hub could some how through ingenious engineering retrieve the super memory spiral outer cylindrical shaped coil by rolling it back up similar to a tape measure but much lighter, then cary on using the standard or should I say brilliant rover thats more manouverable.
Offline
On the subject of probes, I think it would be beneficial if you had a large probe that had several smaller probes connected to it by retractable cables. I favor this approach because then you do not have to risk everything just to inspect something dangerous.
Each smaller probe would have a certain function, with some probes having the same tools in case you wanted to look at two different spots. I favor this because it allows the probe to study an area in depth.
A problem with the recent rovers has been red dust gathering on the solar panels. Multiple small rovers could alleviate this problem.
Say for instance, you give one of the microrovers a long arm with which to wipe off dust-Even better, you give the mother-rover the ability to wipe dust off itself. and deploy the smaller rovers in a power-gathering array.
In the interests of my species
I am a firm supporter of stepping out into this great universe both armed and dangerous.
Bootprints in red dust, or bust!
Offline
Not micro probes..but this has got to do with a cluster of craft in space.
ESA-China scientific collaboration in the East Meets West With Double Star
This mission consists of two satellites, the equatorial satellite DSP-E, following a 550 x 60 000 km orbit, inclined at 28.5 degrees to the equator and the polar satellite DSP-P, following a 350 x 25 000 km orbit inclined at 90 degrees to the equator.
Double Star will follow in the footsteps of ESA's ground-breaking Cluster mission by studying the effects of the Sun on the Earth's environment. Conducting joint studies with Cluster and Double Star should increase the overall scientific return from both missions.
The Double Star satellites will operate for at least 18 months studying Earth's magnetosphere, where charged particles in the solar wind are caught by Earth's protective magnetic bubble and begin to affect the environment in ways in which scientists have yet to fully understand.
A key aspect of ESA's participation in the Double Star project is the inclusion of 10 instruments that are identical to those currently flying on the four Cluster spacecraft. A further eight experiments will be provided by Chinese institutes.
The 'polar' satellite (DSP-2) will concentrate on physical processes taking place over the planet's magnetic poles and the development of aurorae. It will have a 350 x 25,000 km orbit that takin it round the Earth once every 7.3 hours.
The first -- now in space -- features three experiments from China, three from the United Kingdom, and one each from France and Austria. The second includes five Chinese instruments and three from Europe. All but one of the eight European payloads on the project are identical to those used in the Cluster program.
Tan Ce ("Explorer") 2 was launched from the Taiyuan spaceport west of Beijing (Zhangye province) using a Long March 2C rocket. The launch, initially scheduled for today 26 July, took place one day earlier in order to avoid adverse weather conditions expected in the days to come. The spacecraft will join Tan Ce 1, which was launched on 29 December 2003, to complete the Double Star configuration.
Tan Ce 2 reached its nominal orbit, with perigee at 682 km, apogee at 38279 km and inclination of 90.1 deg. The positions and orbit of the Double Star satellites have been carefully defined to enable exploration of the magnetosphere on a larger scale than is possible with Cluster alone. One example of this coordinated activity is the study of the substorms that produce aurorae.
The exact region where these emissions of brightness form is still unclear, but the simultaneous high-resolution measurements combined under these two missions are expected to provide an answer.
ESA is contributing eight scientific instruments to the mission, seven of which are Cluster-derived units.
These are the first ever European experiments to fly on a Chinese satellite. ESA will also be providing ground segment support, four hours each day, via its Villafranca satellite tracking station in Spain.
Scientific cooperation between China and ESA goes back quite a long way. A first Agreement signed back in 1980 facilitated the exchange of scientific information. Thirteen years later, the collaboration focused on a specific mission, Cluster, to study the Earth's magnetosphere
The pair will also work together with Europe's Cluster satellite quartet launched in 2000 to investigate the interaction between our home planet and charged particles swept up in the solar wind that is constantly ejected from the Sun at a speed of about 250 miles per second.
Although the general goals of ESA's growing constellation are altogether the same, each of the Double Star craft has specific tasks and are assigned to different types of orbits.
'first steps are not for cheap, think about it...
did China build a great Wall in a day ?' ( Y L R newmars forum member )
Offline