NASA Attempts To Free The "Stuck" Spirit Rover On Mars. (light, solar)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Spirit has been "bogged down" for several months. NASA states that it will take several more months to attempt a rescue. Let's hope they can free our little robotic friend. SEE: NASA to try to free stuck Mars rover Spirit | Science News | Comcast.net (http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-science/20091112/US.SCI.Mars.Rovers/ - broken link) .
I hope they can free it, but it seems like that would be very difficult. Of course, most everything NASA accomplishes seems incredibly difficult to me, so here's hoping!
I hope they can free it, but it seems like that would be very difficult. Of course, most everything NASA accomplishes seems incredibly difficult to me, so here's hoping!
Agreed... the whole freaking thing just amazes me to no end.
They are essentially navigating a giant RC car over unknown terrain on an alien planet that is some 60 million km away at its closest point. The thing has been going for six years, part of that dragging a bad wheel, which is well past their expected lifespan of 3 months.
Oh and that doesn't even take into account that they did this twice and there is another rover on the other side of the planet. Or how they got them there in the first place.
Agreed... the whole freaking thing just amazes me to no end.
They are essentially navigating a giant RC car over unknown terrain on an alien planet that is some 60 million km away at its closest point. The thing has been going for six years, part of that dragging a bad wheel, which is well past their expected lifespan of 3 months.
Oh and that doesn't even take into account that they did this twice and there is another rover on the other side of the planet. Or how they got them there in the first place.
Yes, it's truly impressive! Heck, I remember the last time I tried to navigate an RC car. Once I turned it around to come back to me, disaster ensued. Of course, going way too fast didn't help.
Agreed... the whole freaking thing just amazes me to no end.
They are essentially navigating a giant RC car over unknown terrain on an alien planet that is some 60 million km away at its closest point. The thing has been going for six years, part of that dragging a bad wheel, which is well past their expected lifespan of 3 months.
Oh and that doesn't even take into account that they did this twice and there is another rover on the other side of the planet. Or how they got them there in the first place.
I forgot about the bad wheel. It amazes me too, how they have exceeded expectations on longevity. I think NASA assumed the solar panels would get covered in dust...but the Martian winds appear to be keeping them relatively clean. I think most of us "see" the rovers as our "kids"....let's hope we can help free Spirit!
Maybe they should send rovers like those to Titan or any of the outer moons.
Remember we sent the Huygens "probe" to Titan, but it was only designed to basically tell us what the surface was made of by a "controlled crash" and had no capabilities approaching Spirit or it's sister probe. I believe there are plans to send a balloon type probe to do a more advanced analysis.
We are sending a probe to Europa to "burrow" through the ice and reach it's interior ocean. The experiments in Antartica to drill through the ice to the under the ice lake(Vostok..I think???) are a trial run. Scientists need an efficient way, with minimal energy requirements to cut through but the major concern is contamination with lifeforms not indigenous to the Antartic lake. The same parameters apply to Europa but are far more important. PS......Please correct the lake's name, I think I have it wrong????
Remember we sent the Huygens "probe" to Titan, but it was only designed to basically tell us what the surface was made of by a "controlled crash" and had no capabilities approaching Spirit or it's sister probe. I believe there are plans to send a balloon type probe to do a more advanced analysis.
We are sending a probe to Europa to "burrow" through the ice and reach it's interior ocean. The experiments in Antartica to drill through the ice to the under the ice lake(Vostok..I think???) are a trial run. Scientists need an efficient way, with minimal energy requirements to cut through but the major concern is contamination with lifeforms not indigenous to the Antartic lake. The same parameters apply to Europa but are far more important. PS......Please correct the lake's name, I think I have it wrong????
I hope they can free it, but it seems like that would be very difficult. Of course, most everything NASA accomplishes seems incredibly difficult to me, so here's hoping!
As far as I know; the "high tech" rescue attempt..mainly involves rocking the rover back and forth; like trying to free a car stuck in the snow/ice.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
SEE: NASA to try to free stuck Mars rover Spirit | Science News | Comcast.net (http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-science/20091112/US.SCI.Mars.Rovers/ - broken link) .
