Crash Course in Safely Crashing on Mars

Posted by timothy on Wednesday November 5, 2003 @03:37AM from the go-fast-turn-left dept.

An anonymous reader writes "NASA described today how they prepared for the twin air-bag crash landings on Mars. The sites are Gusev Crater on January 4th and Terra Meridiani on January 25th. The golfcart-sized rovers have double-lined bladders, that must protect against: the equivalent of a forty mile-per-hour crash, compression against a surface of unknown sharpness, impacts repeated in rapid succession up to sixteen times, and the big bounce covering more than half-a-mile. Airbag landings are considered easier than retro-rocket or soft landings."

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Re:please explain this sleep bit by WTFmonkey · 2003-11-05 08:51 · Score: 2, Interesting

how long it will take for the solar panels to become degraded by dust cover
What about "windshield wipers?" A quick swish every few hours (or days, whatever) keeps 'em clean{er}. Or a quick shot of compressed air, or something like that?