NASA's Curiosity - Mission to Mars
Discussion
With NASA's "Curiosity" rover due to launch on November 25, Mars exploration is once again on the space agenda.
What's your thoughts? I think the logistics of successfully landing something so big will prove difficult especially when the landing system consists of a hovering sky crane. However, I hope the mission goes without fault. Touch down is expected to be around August 5, 2012.
What's your thoughts? I think the logistics of successfully landing something so big will prove difficult especially when the landing system consists of a hovering sky crane. However, I hope the mission goes without fault. Touch down is expected to be around August 5, 2012.
Wiki says:'Maximum terrain-traverse speed is estimated to be 90 m (300 ft) per hour via automatic navigation, however, average traverse speeds will likely be about 30 m (98 ft) per hour, based on variables including power levels, difficulty of the terrain, slippage, and visibility. MSL is expected to traverse a minimum of 12 mi (19 km) in its two-year mission.'
12 miles in two years... Let's hope there's something interesting in range.
12 miles in two years... Let's hope there's something interesting in range.
Mars has not been off the agenda for a while I think. Two rovers on the surface outlasted their stay, sadly down to one now. Mars express, is still there. There was Phoenix and Pathfinder. And there is MRO with some stunning hires images (http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ has to be seen).
But robots are robots and Mars is where it is at so it will take time to get the distances in, its where your uman been will better it I think.
But robots are robots and Mars is where it is at so it will take time to get the distances in, its where your uman been will better it I think.
Bedazzled said:
Is there any more news on Russia's Phobos-Grunt probe since this? I was looking forward to seeing a photo of the 'monolith', they don't have much luck with the Red Planet do they? 
Not really, no. It appears to be alive, but uncommunicative. Mathematically, it might just be possible to get it on a workable trajectory, but it's unlikely. The orbital mechanics are getting worse every day, and observations suggest it's thrusting so fuel depletion will be an issue.This is probably the best English language live update, http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=2... , along with www.russianspceweb.com .
Novosti Komsonavtiki is probably the most up to date resource on the internet, but it's in Russian.
Edited by bobthemonkey on Sunday 20th November 18:26
It looks like Phobos-Grunt will make some visible passes over the UK starting on 24 November - assuming they don't manage to fire its engine in the next few days.
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?
I was surprised to learn that the Russians still do not have the ability to communicate with their orbiting spacecraft for the duration of a complete orbit. There are still large gaps in each orbit where the spacecraft is out of contact.
NASA sorted this problem out almost 50 years ago with the installation of the Manned Spacecraft Network (MSN) and, when this was closed down, with the launch of the TDRS communication satellites.
It's this lack of ability to communicate with the spacecraft for the full 90 minutes of an orbit which is behind the current Grunt (I like that name) problems. The firing of the engine to push the spacecraft out of earth orbit and on a trajectory to Mars had to take place within one of these communication "dead zones". This meant it had to be automatic and not controlled by a command from Mission Control. It looks like the automatic firing signal never happened. The Russian engineers have been trying to devise a "work around" to get the automatic system sorted so that the rocket mototr will fire at the correct point.
NASA sorted this problem out almost 50 years ago with the installation of the Manned Spacecraft Network (MSN) and, when this was closed down, with the launch of the TDRS communication satellites.
It's this lack of ability to communicate with the spacecraft for the full 90 minutes of an orbit which is behind the current Grunt (I like that name) problems. The firing of the engine to push the spacecraft out of earth orbit and on a trajectory to Mars had to take place within one of these communication "dead zones". This meant it had to be automatic and not controlled by a command from Mission Control. It looks like the automatic firing signal never happened. The Russian engineers have been trying to devise a "work around" to get the automatic system sorted so that the rocket mototr will fire at the correct point.
The article on the BBC website suggests that the ESA's kit was reconfigured to make their signals match the format as the probe would see them from Mars; TDRS couldn't be made to do that.
To answer the specific question, ESA uses the US TDRS network for the ATV, and it currently has a single satellite in geostationary orbit (Artemis) that can also communicate with satellites in low earth orbit. The ESA does have plans for its own TDRS system, but EDRS is still a paper exercise.
To answer the specific question, ESA uses the US TDRS network for the ATV, and it currently has a single satellite in geostationary orbit (Artemis) that can also communicate with satellites in low earth orbit. The ESA does have plans for its own TDRS system, but EDRS is still a paper exercise.
I was in Milan a couple of weeks ago for our company's new year kick-off and the closing speaker was one of the NASA vehicle engineers from this programme.
He went through in detail the previous programme, how the vehicle was developed and how it was deployed, what worked and what didn't. One of the big issues is that the first lander took 12 days to get off of it's landing platform as there was a bit of damage to one of the ramps which is why they are going with this delivery method that puts the vehicle on its wheels from the start.
The drawback with this is that they have no way of truly testing it before they have to do it for real so there is a lot of trepidation about it!
One of the other issues they face is the 10 minutes latency each way on the command signal which is why they travel so slowly, that way they can be kept out of trouble!
It was a fascinating presentation, the photos were out of this world (as you'd expect...) and the guy was an excellent speaker
This was one of the films he narrated:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryr977yjdr0
He went through in detail the previous programme, how the vehicle was developed and how it was deployed, what worked and what didn't. One of the big issues is that the first lander took 12 days to get off of it's landing platform as there was a bit of damage to one of the ramps which is why they are going with this delivery method that puts the vehicle on its wheels from the start.
The drawback with this is that they have no way of truly testing it before they have to do it for real so there is a lot of trepidation about it!
One of the other issues they face is the 10 minutes latency each way on the command signal which is why they travel so slowly, that way they can be kept out of trouble!
It was a fascinating presentation, the photos were out of this world (as you'd expect...) and the guy was an excellent speaker
This was one of the films he narrated:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryr977yjdr0
Simpo Two said:
The idea of hovering above the Martian surface under rocket power whilst lowering the thing down on a rope does seem optimistic, given the tendency of the simplest thing to break on such missions.
Why not use the same method as the Viking landers etc?
It's a lot heavier than anything that has been landed on Mars up to now. The previous two rovers weigh around 300 lbs. Thuis weighs 2,200 lbs.Why not use the same method as the Viking landers etc?
In fact, it may be the heviest unmaned object soft landed on another planet up to now.
How heavy were the Soviet Lunakhods?
Eric Mc said:
Simpo Two said:
The idea of hovering above the Martian surface under rocket power whilst lowering the thing down on a rope does seem optimistic, given the tendency of the simplest thing to break on such missions.
Why not use the same method as the Viking landers etc?
It's a lot heavier than anything that has been landed on Mars up to now. The previous two rovers weigh around 300 lbs. Thuis weighs 2,200 lbs.Why not use the same method as the Viking landers etc?
In fact, it may be the heviest unmaned object soft landed on another planet up to now.
How heavy were the Soviet Lunakhods?
Just a shame it will touch down during the summer holidays as we'll be trying to keep an eye on it as the year goes on.Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff