NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover

[Beati Dogu]

It protected the sensitive sampling equipment & helicopter from the landing rockets blast. I'm sure Elon will be along in a few years to tidy up.

[SpudLink]

bmwmike said:

Why are they dropping that? Will they go back and retrieve it, or are we humans going to litter Mars too.

That was my though when I saw the photo. Mars has been invaded by robots, dropping litter and firing lasers.

I’m sure it’ll make a great exhibit in a museum for future colonies.

[bmwmike]

Beati Dogu said:

It protected the sensitive sampling equipment & helicopter from the landing rockets blast. I'm sure Elon will be along in a few years to tidy up.

Ah, makes sense. Thanks

[Eric Mc]

Many of these sites will become tourist attractions in decades to come.

Don't forget that the vast bulk of interesting archaeology comes from the litter our ancestors left behind.

[Zad]

If you think that is litter, then you really don't want to see what happened to the heatshield and sky crane...

[Eric Mc]

Not to mention all the other bits and bobs that come off during the descent.
And the same sort of stuff that have come off all the other landers.

[CraigyMc]

Zad said:

If you think that is litter, then you really don't want to see what happened to the heatshield and sky crane...

Quite a few man-made things on Mars;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artificial_o...

[MartG]

Cover dropped and helicopter revealed. Just some careful unfolding to do next...

[MartG]

[Eric Mc]

It's still there I reckon. Mars is a frozen planet and I suspect that there is a subsurface frozen ocean under the great Martian plains.

[Beati Dogu]

NASA has revealed that the Mars helicopter is carrying a little piece of fabric taken from the Wright Brothers' aircraft on it.

So the first flight from the surface of Mars will have something from the first powered flight on Earth.

No pressure then.

It's not the first time they've done something like this; Neil Armstrong carried a couple of pieces with him to the Moon on Apollo 11. Fellow astronaut (and native of Ohio) John Glenn also carried a piece with him on his Space Shuttle trip in 1998.

[MartG]

Ingenuity deployment underway - body is upright and two legs are down

[Blackpuddin]

Is there any danger of the solar panels not being able to recharge the drone? Am thinking about the panels being coated by the dusty atmosphere which I seem to recall has been a problem on previous Mars missions.

[MartG]

Looking ahead to the next mission - "Northrop Grumman to supply solid rocket motors for first Mars Ascent Vehicle"

https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/03/29/northrop-gru...

[FunkyNige]

Blackpuddin said:

Is there any danger of the solar panels not being able to recharge the drone? Am thinking about the panels being coated by the dusty atmosphere which I seem to recall has been a problem on previous Mars missions.

Hopefully they can just spin the rotors up every now and again to clear them?

[SpudLink]

FunkyNige said:

Blackpuddin said:

Is there any danger of the solar panels not being able to recharge the drone? Am thinking about the panels being coated by the dusty atmosphere which I seem to recall has been a problem on previous Mars missions.

Hopefully they can just spin the rotors up every now and again to clear them?

I think one of the rovers died after a dust storm because the solar panels could no longer function.

[MartG]

All four legs down

[Blackpuddin]

FunkyNige said:

Blackpuddin said:

Is there any danger of the solar panels not being able to recharge the drone? Am thinking about the panels being coated by the dusty atmosphere which I seem to recall has been a problem on previous Mars missions.

Hopefully they can just spin the rotors up every now and again to clear them?

If the battery isn't dead. Not a lot they could do about that I guess, short of installing some kind of drive-over 'car valet' setup on the underside of the Rover.

[eharding]

Blackpuddin said:

FunkyNige said:

Blackpuddin said:

Is there any danger of the solar panels not being able to recharge the drone? Am thinking about the panels being coated by the dusty atmosphere which I seem to recall has been a problem on previous Mars missions.

Hopefully they can just spin the rotors up every now and again to clear them?

If the battery isn't dead. Not a lot they could do about that I guess, short of installing some kind of drive-over 'car valet' setup on the underside of the Rover.

Would some form of ultrasonic cleaning layer on top of the photocells - in the same style as integral camera sensor cleaning - have worked?

[Blackpuddin]

eharding said:

Blackpuddin said:

FunkyNige said:

Blackpuddin said:

Is there any danger of the solar panels not being able to recharge the drone? Am thinking about the panels being coated by the dusty atmosphere which I seem to recall has been a problem on previous Mars missions.

Hopefully they can just spin the rotors up every now and again to clear them?

If the battery isn't dead. Not a lot they could do about that I guess, short of installing some kind of drive-over 'car valet' setup on the underside of the Rover.

Would some form of ultrasonic cleaning layer on top of the photocells - in the same style as integral camera sensor cleaning - have worked?

Again it would all depend on the drone battery having any juice. Seems a bit odd to risk total failure through dirt accumulation on the panels when a simple airjet from the base of the Rover (which I think has a plutonium-based power source?) would have done some sort of a job. They could have used it to clean dust off rocks/samples/whatever too, if there was a scientific need to do stuff like that. I'm way out of my depth here of course.
ETA Maybe the airjet wouldn't work so well/at all on Mars, told you I was out of my depth! The ultrasonic idea presumably would though.

Edited by Blackpuddin on Wednesday 31st March 13:00