Slashdot Mirror
Spirit Stuck In Soft Soil On Mars
cheros writes "NASA reports that the Spirit Mars lander is presently stuck in soft soil. The lander's wheels are halfway sunk into the soil and they are planning simulation tests to see if they can get it out again. I hope they can get it out of there because it's picking up enough new energy to operate; however, it only has 5 wheels left to get around on — one of the wheels hasn't been working for years. Fingers crossed."
Time to call AAA...
... but I guess it's a little too late now. Oh well, better luck next time.
Yes.
same as your 20 minutes waiting is cheaper than buying you a new laptop with Usb 2.0 high speed ports.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
SOURCE: Wikipedia
On sol 779, the right front wheel ceased working after having covered 4.2 mi (7 km) on Mars. Engineers began driving the rover backwards, dragging the dead wheel. Ironically, although this has resulted in changes to driving techniques the dragging effect has also had a positive effect in the fact that the wheel dragging has partially cleared soil away on the surface as the rover travels and allows for imaging areas that would normally be covered in soil.
http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/mission/images/rover1_detail_500.jpg
NASA got awesome mileage out of this vehicle... considerably more than was initially expected- over 7700 meters! Hopefully they get it unstuck. According the the NASA website, they've gotten it backed up by a few CM over the last few Sols...
http://www.bistolas.net
In an era where time is the devil and speed is God, it's interesting and heart warming to see that there is actually an engineering job where you can spend weeks looking at the dust under your feet, comtemplate your (modest) goals (another 100 feet, yeah!) and then very, very slowly take you next step. And if a dust storm comes along, just wait for the next breeze to gently brush the dust of your panels and let the sunshine in. Envious. Quite envious.
The next rover to mars is costing $1.8B to build. Spirit and Opportunity costs around $4M per year to operate. So I think you can fund a lot of years of operations for $1.8B. Hell what does a Delta IV heavy launch cost these days? $50M? $100M?
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
I wonder if they could put inflatable tires on rovers and then manually adjust the pressure for each one to accomodate different soil types, a la WWII DUKW http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUKW It might help the rover to better adapt to different kinds of soils.
Of course, it would have to be designed for the different pressures of the martian atmosphere.
It's great to see that the rovers have lived on for so long, even if they are showing some wear-n-tear, but given the circumstances, they're clearly well built and I'd buy a used one off ebay any day (uh, shipper pays postage).
I'm curious though, in a totally non-judgmental way, about the cost of the program in general; they expected the rovers to last, what, 90 days? So presumably someone budgeted so many resources here on Earth for people, etc., for that length of time. Since the rovers have been doing such a great job of defying expectations, what kind of effect does that have on the budget for the program; is it sufficiently small enough that it just gets lost in the wash?
Also, since their plans were presumably all built for a 90-day time frame, how do they determine what to do now? Do they take requests from PhD candidates and researchers from around the world?
maybe a good comedy movie will do the trick.
Like that recent JJ Abrams comedy based on Star Trek characters?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Does anyone know if managing the twins is still cheaper than sending a new rover?
Sending a new rover for what? There is a new rover on the way, but that does not make Spirit and Opportunity any less valuable. Even getting stuck in soft soil is doing science: the things that the scientists learn from the experience (what soft soil looks like when you approach it, what techniques to use to get out, how to built a rover that can handle it) will be useful.
And don't forget, turning up this soft soil may reveal something important. Many of Spirit's discoveries were because of soil turned over due to her stuck wheel.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Let's get some real people up there! Our unmanned rovers have given us a lot of valuable scientific data, but our space program needs some new life breathed into it. The days of the Shuttle are numbered, and technology such as ion rockets seems very promising.
Grumman billed North American Aerospace for towing the crippled Apollo 13 command module back from the moon. Make it worth enough and I'm sure someone will be up there shortly
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
How does a rover on Mars cost 4 million per year to operate?
Long distance charges.
I don't think the $4million number is accurate anyway. It's likely higher. Last year they were going to cut the budget by $4 million and turn off one of the rovers but then changed their minds. IT looks like the budget for the program is actually $20 million according to this article.
Hmm... maybe they didn't change their minds and it's not really stuck.
Dual Opteron < $600
Don't be so quick to judge. If the GP is a highly paid professional, his time actually might worth more than a modern netbook.
Same story with the rovers. That was a legit question.
Okay, it is pretty obvious that someone at NASA is a fan of the show, and figured if it worked for Wolowitz... Hey, surely 'I' won't be so stupid as to get the rover stuck. Maybe they will discover life on Mars while stuck in the dirt.
And don't forget, turning up this soft soil may reveal something important.
Especially if the "soft soil" turns out to be warm poo.
Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.
Communications infrastructure maintenance costs and data warehousing maintenance costs probably don't come cheap for a project like this. I'm sure they don't communicate with these rovers over a walkie talkie.
I don't know how many people are on the team that operate each rover, but lets assume five. I'm sure they're making a smidge more than $8/hr, so chalk up another million in pay and benefits right there.
I read somewhere that your average local walmart has an operating cost between 1 and 1.5 million. These guys are performing science and maintaining a robot on another planet for a little less than 3 times that cost.
Scott Maxwell, one of the rover's drivers, has a blog detailing the events of the mission exactly five years behind schedule.