Posted by
michael
on from the look-both-ways-before-crossing-the-street dept.
Irishman writes "It looks like the Spirit rover has finally left the womb and is rolling free on the Martian surface. Space.com has the full story and some great pictures." NASA also has photos, straight from their fake set in Hollywood where they produce all the "space" footage.
Revisit Sojourner!
by
grub
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I've been really hoping that one day they'll go back to
the original Sojourner site and return that unit to Earth for
analysis by NASA. They could gain valuable information as to what
finally gave on that rover and use it to harden future
rovers.
Sojourner was a great success as it lasted
much longer than expected. Of course the cost of getting that unit
back to Earth would be so high I'm guessing these are just nice
dreams. C'est la vie.
-- Trolling is a art,
Re:Revisit Sojourner!
by
onyxruby
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Dumb question, why no wiper blades? I've heard it said that wiper blades would damage the solar panels. However if the solar panels are too dust covered to work anyways, what's the loss? It's not like they're going back for warranty repair.
Re:Revisit Sojourner!
by
Tablizer
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
If they'd used an SRG or RTG they wouldn't have those problems. Solar cells? Bah. Waste of weight.
True, but dust and grit would eventually gum up most of the instruments and make wheels stick. The Viking landers didn't do much "moving" science after their first few months (after scooping soil, etc.) They mostly just tracked weather and looked around every now and then.
Making moving parts and instruments dust-resistant and/or cleanable would probably greatly add to the cost I would expect. In other words, power is only half the problem.
Further it costs something like 3 million USD a day to operate rovers (personell, communications, etc.) Thus, extended durations eat money in other ways.
And, it might be better science to have multiple short-distant rovers exploring a variety of marsographically[1] separated areas rather than one to two long-distance rovers. In other words, spend the money on quantity instead of duration.
And, "nuke" power cells are not politically popular due to possible launch crash risks.
About what might happen should the Martian government get their hands on the rover. They will most likely have to destroy it to cover up the fact that their planet has been visited by machines from another planet. Let's just hope we can get a picture of their leaders before they disconnect the cameras!
Re:Nice Article Summary...
by
PhxBlue
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
it's jackass commentary like this that does nothing but perpeptuate bullshit to the masses and misinforms that average (read stupid) american. then the average (read stupid again) american's think these things are a waste of money.
Right, and how many "average Americans" do you know who (A) read Slashdot and (B) won't pick up the sarcasm in the original statement?
It's humor (though I'll agree, it's not really funny). Don't sweat it.
-- !#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
Sniff a rock!
by
Tablizer
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I think they should hurry up and do a close-up analysis of a rock rather than worry about long-distance jaunts. If it croaks in a few days, not having analyzed a single rock up close would be a shame.
Interesting soil
by
Fr33z0r
·
· Score: 5, Informative
The dirt sticking to the wheels of Sojourner (Pathfinder) was discussed at great lengths on a board I read (bit of a crazy board full of the insane for the most part, but there are decent threads from time to time), a bunch of people yelling "it's mud, Mars is wet!" when in reality Soujourner had spun it's wheels in the dirt and essentially "dug" in the dirt... Well, that and the "dirt" is largely magnetite which is inherently magnetic.
Flash forward to today and we've got the "magic carpet", and dirt sticking to Spirit's wheels, sans digging - very interesting, and by the sounds of it also very unexpected. It will be great to find out what's making it stick, and just "how Mars works" in general.
Did I ever mention how glad I am humanity has another rover on an alien world?:)
Re:flimsy looking
by
enjo13
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Wow, a monday morning robot designer..
If you could do all of that, and deliver a package with the neccesary weight, size, and other various launch/flight/deployment constraints.. then you would be (by far) the best robot designer on the planet. Ohh ya, and be able to do all of those things reliably on an alien world millions of miles away.
These are smart people (I've had the privilige of working with two of them), that are well aware of all of those possibilities. The realities of design have to come into play at some point, and that's how these things really come about.
-- Turn s60 photos into awesome videos with mScrapbook for all S60 3rd edition phones!
Slashdot Mirror
%20in%20front%20of%20the%20lander%20and%20facing%20northwest.){kind=link}
I've been really hoping that one day they'll go back to the original Sojourner site and return that unit to Earth for analysis by NASA. They could gain valuable information as to what finally gave on that rover and use it to harden future rovers.
Sojourner was a great success as it lasted much longer than expected. Of course the cost of getting that unit back to Earth would be so high I'm guessing these are just nice dreams. C'est la vie.
Trolling is a art,
...It better roll one way or another.
- It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them. - Alfred Adler -
JPL engineers played Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out" in the control room
Way to go and really enforce those nerd stereotypes. Come on guys.
NASA also has photos, straight from their fake set in Hollywood where they produce all the "space" footage.
That is such a big lie!
Those sets have been moved to India.
Casual Games/Downloads
Dear Great Britain,
;)
This is a picture of Mars, hope you like it!
Wishing you were here,
The US of A
Oh come on, laugh, it's not meant to be an insult!
About what might happen should the Martian government get their hands on the rover. They will most likely have to destroy it to cover up the fact that their planet has been visited by machines from another planet. Let's just hope we can get a picture of their leaders before they disconnect the cameras!
it's jackass commentary like this that does nothing but perpeptuate bullshit to the masses and misinforms that average (read stupid) american. then the average (read stupid again) american's think these things are a waste of money.
Right, and how many "average Americans" do you know who (A) read Slashdot and (B) won't pick up the sarcasm in the original statement?
It's humor (though I'll agree, it's not really funny). Don't sweat it.
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
I think they should hurry up and do a close-up analysis of a rock rather than worry about long-distance jaunts. If it croaks in a few days, not having analyzed a single rock up close would be a shame.
Table-ized A.I.
The dirt sticking to the wheels of Sojourner (Pathfinder) was discussed at great lengths on a board I read (bit of a crazy board full of the insane for the most part, but there are decent threads from time to time), a bunch of people yelling "it's mud, Mars is wet!" when in reality Soujourner had spun it's wheels in the dirt and essentially "dug" in the dirt... Well, that and the "dirt" is largely magnetite which is inherently magnetic.
:)
Flash forward to today and we've got the "magic carpet", and dirt sticking to Spirit's wheels, sans digging - very interesting, and by the sounds of it also very unexpected. It will be great to find out what's making it stick, and just "how Mars works" in general.
Did I ever mention how glad I am humanity has another rover on an alien world?
Wow, a monday morning robot designer..
If you could do all of that, and deliver a package with the neccesary weight, size, and other various launch/flight/deployment constraints.. then you would be (by far) the best robot designer on the planet. Ohh ya, and be able to do all of those things reliably on an alien world millions of miles away.
These are smart people (I've had the privilige of working with two of them), that are well aware of all of those possibilities. The realities of design have to come into play at some point, and that's how these things really come about.
Turn s60 photos into awesome videos with mScrapbook for all S60 3rd edition phones!