"Gravity on the surface of Ryugu is very weak, so a rover propelled by normal wheels or crawlers would float upwards as soon as it started to move," officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) wrote in a description of MINERVA-II1A and MINERVA-II1B. So, the robots — each of which measures 7 inches wide by 2.8 inches tall (18 by 7 centimeters) and weighs 2.4 lbs. (1.1 kilograms) — hop instead. They do…
You don't happen to know of an animation showing the system in action, do you?
"Gravity on the surface of Ryugu is very weak, so a rover propelled by normal wheels or crawlers would float upwards as soon as it started to move," officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) wrote in a description of MINERVA-II1A and MINERVA-II1B. So, the robots — each of which measures 7 inches wide by 2.8 inches tall (18 by 7 centimeters) and weighs 2.4 lbs. (1.1 kilograms) — hop instead. They do…
You don't happen to know of an animation showing the system in action, do you?
Sadly, no diamonds on the surface. Or gold. Would love to see how "the market" will react to that ;)
Diamonds are unlikely to be found on asteroids, because they require immense pressures to form, and the gravity on asteroids is so weak that even at the core the pressure is less than sea level air pressure on Earth.
Wonder if they could use some sort of rather slow mechanical deformation to provide movement with pump mechanisms. I guess that still would rely on significant gravity or other anchoring ti avoid slippage.
Movement along the surface via friction (wheels, crawling, snaking etc) is not considered feasible. The surface is probably too loose to provide much traction, but more importantly the low gravity means the vehicle will certainly become caked in dust very quickly. Hopping means you don't disturb the surface, and if you do you probably fly clear of the resulting dust cloud.
Makes sense. Now that yoo bring up dust, how does erosion occur in space, or how would dust form other than perhaps through temperature fluctuations?
> since it doesn’t have any significant value in the field of astronomy. PR has some value: more people will want to try and join the field and more funding could be secured.
NASA is not allowed PR as a federal agency. Imagine how far ads, sponsoring games/events, etc, would get NASA in terms of PR. Compare that to the military: https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/amount-money-militar... https://taskandpurpose.com/us-military-combat-trainer-kick-a... Not only that, NASA's education department was as close to PR as we had and... https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/05/25/t…
On the other hand, I visited several of the major ESA facilities across Europe, and then Kennedy Space Center, and it was a stark difference how much more commercialized KSC is. It’s a proper theme park. I don’t think any other space agency has anything so touristy.
I love that they opted for color cameras. Not much color to be seen, but the flares, together with the motion blur (while falling and hopping!) make the pictures look really dynamic. :)
I'm not entirely sure that's motion blur. The images shown in the article make it look like it's just lens distortion. It's probably a fairly wide angle lens, and that's why things look stretched out the further from the center of the image they are. (I think.)
Sadly, no diamonds on the surface. Or gold. Would love to see how "the market" will react to that ;)
Diamonds are unlikely to be found on asteroids, because they require immense pressures to form, and the gravity on asteroids is so weak that even at the core the pressure is less than sea level air pressure on Earth.
Except if the asteroid is a piece from a bigger body that got teared apart.
NASA is not allowed PR as a federal agency. Imagine how far ads, sponsoring games/events, etc, would get NASA in terms of PR. Compare that to the military: https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/amount-money-militar... https://taskandpurpose.com/us-military-combat-trainer-kick-a... Not only that, NASA's education department was as close to PR as we had and... https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/05/25/t…
On the other hand, I visited several of the major ESA facilities across Europe, and then Kennedy Space Center, and it was a stark difference how much more commercialized KSC is. It’s a proper theme park. I don’t think any other space agency has anything so touristy.
The visitor complex is a separate entity than the KSC itself.
It's run by Delaware North.
Consider literal competitions--it was similarly appalling to watch recent Olympics in the US. 95% or more of the coverage was of Americans winning. If a particular day had fewer wins, they would replay earlier footage rather than dare show any other country succeeding at non-American dominant areas. One saving grace is that the NBC app had all the footage they didn't deem worthy of broadcasting.
I can't watch the Olympics on US TV. Hours of stories about the upbringing of the US athletes interviewing moms and grandparents. Then a little actual sport if you are lucky. And certainly nothing where there isn't a US athlete/team at the front. It's unbearable.
I cannot agree more. I remember growing up it was just raw footage of events without break, and often with little or no commentary. We would sit for hours and watch the pinnicale of human physical ability. Now its 95% pomp and commentary, and you find yourself just looking up the events you wanted to watch the next day on a video hosting site. This just fits into the larger context of broadcasting digging their own grave in the glow of the internet. Even though their offerings are still often technically and artistically superior, the are bound outside like writhing beasts to their business model and it kills them by forced exposure (nessitating constant 'content'). Youtube is now doing the same by deranking channels that fail to release videos on a regular, if not frantic, schedule. Patreon is helping, but just enough to defer actually dealing with the huge problem. Its a vicious cycle.