‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to sign off
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Re: ‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to sign off
#2I'm confused on why the end state for all these rovers is to loose power because of dust on the solar cells. They did such a good job engineering these things to survive the trip and the conditions in general, but they can't give them "windshield wipers for dust"? Seems like with that minor upgrade they could have much longer lifespan.
Can someone enlighten me?
Re: ‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to sign off
#3I'm confused on why the end state for all these rovers is to loose power because of dust on the solar cells. They did such a good job engineering these things to survive the trip and the conditions in general, but they can't give them "windshield wipers for dust"? Seems like with that minor upgrade they could have much longer lifespan. Can someone enlighten me?
Windshield wipers add weight and complexity but more importantly add to the budget.
These things are designed only to serve the mission.
This rover was designed to last 1 year and went for 4 so it’s a pretty good result.
Some good discussion here [1] on Astronomy Cast regarding this topic and potential solutions NASA is working on. Such as an electrostatic dust blaster.
1. https://podcasts.apple.com/vu/podcast/astronomy-cast-ep-661-...
Re: ‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to sign off
#4I'm confused on why the end state for all these rovers is to loose power because of dust on the solar cells. They did such a good job engineering these things to survive the trip and the conditions in general, but they can't give them "windshield wipers for dust"? Seems like with that minor upgrade they could have much longer lifespan. Can someone enlighten me?
(1) they were intended to last for three months and (2) dust is extremely static and there is no really good way there to get rid of this static charge, (3) dust is pretty sharp ('abrasive') and will scratch the surface of the cells if removed mechanically.
Re: ‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to sign off
#5I'm confused on why the end state for all these rovers is to loose power because of dust on the solar cells. They did such a good job engineering these things to survive the trip and the conditions in general, but they can't give them "windshield wipers for dust"? Seems like with that minor upgrade they could have much longer lifespan. Can someone enlighten me?
Some kind of passive self-cleaning solar-cell cover might work. You could direct and shape the wind so it blows more strongly over the cell surface to clean it, or since the dust is charged[1] you might use a conductive layer with the same charge. (Although I'm sure engineers have thought long and hard about this already.)
[1] Moon, but similar: https://youtu.be/0k9wIsKKgqo?t=378
Re: ‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to sign off
#6I'm confused on why the end state for all these rovers is to loose power because of dust on the solar cells. They did such a good job engineering these things to survive the trip and the conditions in general, but they can't give them "windshield wipers for dust"? Seems like with that minor upgrade they could have much longer lifespan. Can someone enlighten me?
I am sure it comes down to economics really, but I do wonder now about a mission in far future, that would clean solar panels of all those older missions to make them work again. For shits and giggles I guess.
Re: ‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to sign off
#7I'm confused on why the end state for all these rovers is to loose power because of dust on the solar cells. They did such a good job engineering these things to survive the trip and the conditions in general, but they can't give them "windshield wipers for dust"? Seems like with that minor upgrade they could have much longer lifespan. Can someone enlighten me?
Dust is a factor, but so is cold and diminishing solar. My guess is that the dust isnt a problem until late in the season, and by then they hope to have gotten all the data they came for.
IIRC, one of the reasons the MER rovers lasted so much longer is the dust clearance from wind, which was much more than expected. Perhaps Insight counted on more clearing than they got.
I'd just go ask their Project Scientist on Twitter. @MarkPanning
Re: ‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to sign off
#8I'm confused on why the end state for all these rovers is to loose power because of dust on the solar cells. They did such a good job engineering these things to survive the trip and the conditions in general, but they can't give them "windshield wipers for dust"? Seems like with that minor upgrade they could have much longer lifespan. Can someone enlighten me?
I once (around 2010) worked with a nasa designed system for electrically clearing solar panels. It was basically a 3-phase arrangement of transparent indium tin oxide electrodes on the surface of the panels. By supplying high voltage AC, both conductive and insulating particles can be removed by various mechanisms. I thought it worked quite well and keep expecting to see it in the wild somewhere. Maybe it's still in the pipeline somewhere.
Re: ‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to sign off
#9I'm confused on why the end state for all these rovers is to loose power because of dust on the solar cells. They did such a good job engineering these things to survive the trip and the conditions in general, but they can't give them "windshield wipers for dust"? Seems like with that minor upgrade they could have much longer lifespan. Can someone enlighten me?
(1) they were intended to last for three months and (2) dust is extremely static and there is no really good way there to get rid of this static charge, (3) dust is pretty sharp ('abrasive') and will scratch the surface of the cells if removed mechanically.
Regarding (1), almost all of these Mars robots seem to do useful science well beyond the end of the stated mission, I think the OP was suggesting that maybe it’s time we start trying out solutions for much longer duration missions ?
(2) - could it be possible to introduce an oppositely static charged layer on the panel surface to repel dust to stop it settling in the first place ?
Re: ‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to sign off
#10I'm confused on why the end state for all these rovers is to loose power because of dust on the solar cells. They did such a good job engineering these things to survive the trip and the conditions in general, but they can't give them "windshield wipers for dust"? Seems like with that minor upgrade they could have much longer lifespan. Can someone enlighten me?
I am sure it comes down to economics really, but I do wonder now about a mission in far future, that would clean solar panels of all those older missions to make them work again. For shits and giggles I guess.
Like a long range Ingenuity helicopter that cruised the planet using its downwash to revive old rovers ?