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Spirit Rover Reaches Safety
dylanduck writes "Good news for rover fans - Spirit is safe for the winter. It had been heading for a north-tilting spot to make sure its solar panels got enough sunlight during the imminent winter to survive, when a sand trap appeared. But, despite its busted wheel, it scooted round and is now sitting pretty. From the article: 'We've got a safe rover,' says principal investigator Steve Squyres. 'That's huge news for us.'"
One might also argue that since they so grossly exceeded their life expectancy then they were overdesigned and cost too much.
But I agree. Great job.
Build more and recover the economies of scale!
Yes! Yes! Yes! I can't understand why they insist on going back to the drawing board every time. I've read about the next generation rovers. They're very different in many ways including the way they'll land on Mars.
I just don't understand why, with the success that Spirt and Opportunity have had, they don't build these as a platform. Surely if the research was put into new instruments that could be attached to the current design, rather than redesigning from scratch, that would be a better use of the money.
I'm sure (or hope) NASA has thought this through, right?
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
"Build more and recover the economies of scale!
Yes! Yes! Yes! I can't understand why they insist on going back to the drawing board every time. I've read about the next generation rovers. They're very different in many ways including the way they'll land on Mars. "
Because there aren't any economies of scale to be had.
The big cost of the rovers isn't the rover but the launch vehicle and the time on the DSN to keep them running. Mainly the launch vehicle. The Rover themselves are pretty cheap in comparison.
Also after each mission NASA learns more about what works and doesn't and finds new questions to ask and that requires new tools.
Finally because stuff gets better over time. You know that Moore's law thing?
In reality trying to get "economies of scale" from the space program is EXACTLY the wrong way to do things. That is what lead to trying to use the Shuttle for everything.
The space program should be more about trying new ideas than mass production.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
It is a shame that Maestro appears to have stopped updating their data.
Still, it is excellent software, and fun to use even if you don't get where Spirit is today. With Maestro you can see what the rovers see, and what the rover operators and instruments see... Actual software used in mission control.
Space and Computers.