Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a testament to the engineering excellence happening at NASA.
Also a testament to the value of under-promising. :)
Then that was the mother of all under-promises!
Nasa’s Mars Rover Opportunity Concludes a 15-Year Mission
51–60 of 235 posts
Re: Nasa’s Mars Rover Opportunity Concludes a 15-Year Mission
#52Seems like they could just send a drone to go wipe off the solar panels...
With so much of the planet to explore, it may not be worth it compared to sending a new vehicle somewhere else.
Steve Squyres from Cornell answered something kinda related on the jpl channel today[0].
"If you had the opportunity to bring a hundred and eighty kilograms of stuff back from the surface of Mars, the last thing I wanna bring is something I know exactly what is made of."
Opportunity did her mission amazingly and is resting in peace in the place where she was designed to be.
We learned a lot from her and her sister mission, now, the effort is better spent building over their shoulders.
Re: Nasa’s Mars Rover Opportunity Concludes a 15-Year Mission
#53And it was supposed to last 90 days...
It wasn’t supposed to last only 90 days, the initial mission specifications were for a 90 day mission. While it’s an engineering marvel no one thought that it would last only 90 days if it successfully landed and deployed, the 90 days was a minimum figure for the design and also the initial operating budget for the mission.
The effects of dust buildup on solar panels was largely unknown though. Many expected power to slowly dwindle away over a short period of time.
Turns out the panels clean themselves with enough wind.
Re: Nasa’s Mars Rover Opportunity Concludes a 15-Year Mission
#54I'm feeling humbled by NASA's achievements compared to those of our profession here wrt sustainability and longevity.
Re: Nasa’s Mars Rover Opportunity Concludes a 15-Year Mission
#55Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1504/
Today's https://xkcd.com/2111/
Re: Nasa’s Mars Rover Opportunity Concludes a 15-Year Mission
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
With so much of the planet to explore, it may not be worth it compared to sending a new vehicle somewhere else.
Steve Squyres from Cornell answered something kinda related on the jpl channel today[0]. "If you had the opportunity to bring a hundred and eighty kilograms of stuff back from the surface of Mars, the last thing I wanna bring is something I know exactly what is made of." Opportunity did her mission amazingly and is resting in peace in the place where she was designed to be. We learned a lot from her and her sister mi…
I do hope some future Mars colony goes and collects it for the Martian wing of the Smithsonian, though.
Re: Nasa’s Mars Rover Opportunity Concludes a 15-Year Mission
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm reminded of this entry in the wikiwiki: "Just" is a dangerous word. http://wiki.c2.com/?JustIsaDangerousWord
I recall having a chat with someone with a poor understanding of chemistry, and they asked why we couldn't "just have tiny robots take the carbon dioxide and turn it back into gasoline again"
I think it's safe to say that person had a poor understanding of a lot of things, not just chemistry.
Re: Nasa’s Mars Rover Opportunity Concludes a 15-Year Mission
#58I'm feeling humbled by NASA's achievements compared to those of our profession here wrt sustainability and longevity.
I built some warehousing apps in VFP 20 years ago and they're still running fine. Every time I go ship something the owner asks me to prune and reindex the DB and that's it, another year running smooth.
Re: Nasa’s Mars Rover Opportunity Concludes a 15-Year Mission
#59Opportunity is going to be the standard for longevity that all future rovers are measured against until one surpasses it.
If you said you expected a rover to last 5yr in 2004 you'd have been called crazy. Here we are in 2019 and after ~15yr of Opportunity driving around up there the idea of rover lasting 5yr or seems perfectly normal. Opportunity has raised the bar for all future missions.
Re: Nasa’s Mars Rover Opportunity Concludes a 15-Year Mission
#60Is it possible for someone other than NASA to send a message to the rover? I'd be happy throwing a little money at a project to ping it monthly to see if there is a response.
Yes and unlikely :-) The protocols are all documented but the ability to receive signals from the rover requires a pretty sensitive receiver and antenna combination. If you have the resources to build a 10m or 15m steerable radio antenna parabolic dish then you could probably manage it.