'Curiosity' - NASA Mars Rover - Due to land 5th Aug 2012

[Caruso]

Bedazzled said:

Rovers big and small, who can name the other two...?

Spirit/Opportunity for the mid size one and Sojourner for the tiddler.

[Simpo Two]

Johnny 5 and K-9?

[Hooli]

Caruso said:

Bedazzled said:

Rovers big and small, who can name the other two...?

Spirit/Opportunity for the mid size one and Sojourner for the tiddler.

The little one looks like Beagle to me, but then all I can recall about how it looks was a mockup on a factory roof when it went missing.

[Eric Mc]

Hooli said:

Caruso said:

Bedazzled said:

Rovers big and small, who can name the other two...?

Spirit/Opportunity for the mid size one and Sojourner for the tiddler.

The little one looks like Beagle to me, but then all I can recall about how it looks was a mockup on a factory roof when it went missing.

Beagle wasn't a Rover.

[Killer2005]

Wall-E's more flamboyant brother?

[Gwagon111]

Zad said:

You don't use current technology for space hardware. You don't even use stuff that's a couple of years old, you use stuff that's tried and tested, and built using radiation hardened processes. http://www.baesystems.com/product/BAES_058248

The 2GB will be for the controller only. Each camera has its own 8GB local memory, rather than storing it on a central system. Systems designed for space recognise that cosmic rays cause random bits to flip in memory, and have lots of error detection and correction. If it is in flash, they will simply mark the sector as faulty and relocate the data after performing error correction, but right now they will want to understand the exact nature of the problem and use the information to develop strategies for the future.

That's correct. One of the biggest ball aches with the manufacture of the optical fibers used in the LN200 / LN250 FOG's, which are onboard all of the modern Rovers, is that they have to be rad hard. This means that they cannot contain any phosphorous, which means the glass from which the fibers are produced has physical properties which are far from ideal. However, where there's a will, there's a way .

[Hooli]

Eric Mc said:

Beagle wasn't a Rover.

Thinking about it, I've only known German Shepherds called Rover...

[mrmr96]

Curiosity's been busy in the 9mth's it's been up there. Here's a timelapse video to show you what it's been doing. Lots of science!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkmDM376-nE

[jmorgan]

The other one has been a bit naughty.

Clicky

Opps, better put that link in rather than the url

[Eric Mc]

A bit of a cock-up from NASA.

[tapkaJohnD]

mrmr96 said:

Curiosity's been busy in the 9mth's it's been up there. Here's a timelapse video to show you what it's been doing. Lots of science!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkmDM376-nE

Thanks for that '96!
Towards the end, the view of Mount Sharp in the background, the outcrop that is Curiosity's destination, is obscured by weather! Dust storm, I presume, but looks awfully like a damp day in the Scottish Highlands.
John

[TheHeretic]

As always, the propensity of the human mind to find patterns, and associate with known objects amazes. A bit of fun, nothing more, but...


A MARTIAN RAT!



http://news.discovery.com/space/alien-life-exoplan...

[jmorgan]

Defo filmed on Erf then, stand to reason.

[Caruso]

And now for some real science news from Curiosity

Nasa's Curiosity rover has confirmed what everyone has long suspected - that astronauts on a Mars mission would get a big dose of damaging radiation.
The robot counted the number of high-energy space particles striking it on its eight-month journey to the planet.
Based on this data, scientists say a human travelling to and from Mars could well be exposed to a radiation dose that breached current safety limits.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-2271...

"What's important about this study is that it characterises the deep space radiation environment for the first time in a vehicle whose shielding is not orders of magnitude different from that which you would expect to put a human crew inside."

[Eric Mc]

So up the shielding then.

Or speed the journey.

[jmorgan]

More of a confirmation though rather than a discovery I thought?

Good idea to stick one on the rover though and measure it.

[Caruso]

Eric Mc said:

So up the shielding then.

Or speed the journey.

Upping the shielding doesn't work too well. Speeding the journey is the best option. They had Nerva engine NASA was developing in the 70s could have cut the journey time to weeks.

[Eric Mc]

This is really a ploy by NASA to lobby for more funding on new propulsion systems.

[Simpo Two]

Caruso said:

Based on this data, scientists say a human travelling to and from Mars could well be exposed to a radiation dose that breached current safety limits.

Pretend H&S limits or real ones?

A mission to Mars is never going to be 'safe'!

[jmorgan]

Depends who wants to take the risk. I still would not surprised if someone pips the usual suspects at the post for kudos, even if it is a one way mission.