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Science (non-SETI) :
Opportunity Rover
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Author | Message |
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Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
Live long and prosper, Opportunity! The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
Too bad Spirit got stuck, but it and Curiosity and Opportunity are clearly well-made robots, plus I think they have been very lucky with the winds blowing dust off the solar panels. The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30664 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32 |
The odd thing is that the scientists knew very well that Martian dust could be a problem, and I'm quite sure that some simple windscreen wiper mechanism could have been designed to combat that. But it seems that providence has been on our side. :-) Even that is a good name for a Rover! Every gram of additional weight hefted to mars costs how many million? Also do you want to scratch the surface of the solar cells with your wiper too? That's why the Mars Science Lab doesn't use solar cells! Actually looks like the bigger problem is wheel and motor design and bearing seals. Remember the seals go from earth pressure to space vacuum for a couple of years to mars pressure and get the crap shook out of them at launch, never mind the wild temperature swings.. I'm sure they would love to have Spirit in a lab to tear it down for a failure analysis. |
bluestar Send message Joined: 5 Sep 12 Posts: 7032 Credit: 2,084,789 RAC: 3 |
@ Chris S Honestly, but should tell that in my opinion, Opportunity landed in the wrong spot on the planet and I had to look down in order not to confuse the names. Mars was being mentioned around during the day somewhere else, possibly at Yahoo! but could next be in one of my browser tabs. In fact a presentation of the Earth as seen from above makes it even more glorious or spectacular than it actually is. My guess is that it is not only the atmosphere which makes for a visibility of detail, but also that of color and resolution as well. Mariner 9 arrived at Mars only to make diffuse or hazy pictures in black and white showing almost nothing. Becomes almost a laugh for the whole thing, but at least the mission was a success. The old dream of perhaps visiting Mars by means of traveling there could be a survival mission in the Arctic for such a thing, with that of misery as a possible result. My guess is that both the bad day as well as the sweet dream could also happen or be an occurrence when at the surface of Mars, but still not the same as being home. The fact is that the initial attempt of perhaps digging in the sand on Mars perhaps was one of the better attempts, but next slightly forgotten. The possible results here were either inconclusive, or no such thing at all, but next that it reminds me about the laboratory experiments carried out by Stanley Miller in the 1950's and that the way of thinking could perhaps be similar. I still choose to make a difference between that of nature itself and possible UFO's which could be observed. I relate that of such UFO's with possible technology far surpassing our own when it comes to a possible level of technology and perhaps intelligence. Always the stick using the hands when it comes to the jet plane, you know, but also that Telepathy could be a possible option. If such a thing as a Type III civilization may not be defined at all, at least when it comes to that of technology, we probably should know the alternative options. Therefore at least technology becomes from our perspective only and not necessarily others, but still that nature could be questioned in different ways. Prove such a thing as gravity amplifiers for that of possible travel through space and time and next also do the same when it comes to that of controlled fusion and you have one possible option. |
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
Can Opportunity talk to Curiosity? It must get lonely out there, and maybe they share weather reports together. The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
Meet up? Great location map! I like that. Good explanation of one of the reasons the rovers move so slowly, too. The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
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