The Mars Helicopter Is Online and Getting Ready to Fly • Hacker News Board

Re: The Mars Helicopter Is Online and Getting Ready to Fly

#261

Post by shawnz » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 4:30 AM UTC

cosmonaughty wrote: post #199

adrianpike wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Googling NASA + AVR led me down a rabbit hole towards Atmel microcontrollers, what do you mean by AVR in this context?

AVR = Augmented Virtual Reality. It's like CGI on steroids, crack, and speed at the same time. People still have the naivete to trust things because they are on a screen. Preconceived notions cause one to mentally miss or gloss over the great artistry and manipulation in AVR cartoons. The vid is worth the few minutes. It is a half decent scientific experiment that shows how rocket propulsion really works, and it show…

Can't reply to your other post unfortunately, but that's not true about rocket propulsion not working in a vacuum. You just have to mix the fuel with an oxidizer if oxygen isn't available. (EDIT: Or just use a method of propulsion other than combustion, but they are usually not as effective)

Re: The Mars Helicopter Is Online and Getting Ready to Fly

#262

Post by tempodox » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 9:20 AM UTC

NotChina wrote: post #58

Now to see if X-plane's Mars simulator proves accurate.

I dearly miss that part of X-Plane. It was crazy challenging and fascinating to experience the effects of a thin atmosphere almost-first-hand.

Re: The Mars Helicopter Is Online and Getting Ready to Fly

#263

Post by rtkwe » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 1:56 PM UTC

mojomark wrote: post #259

rtkwe wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's always a fun blast from the tech hype past where nanotechnology was going to be pure magic with tiny machines capable of doing anything. That was an exciting possible future while it lasted, nanotechnology is doing neat stuff but it's nowhere close to the wild promises.

I too always thought the field of clatreonics (1) would be further along by now. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claytronics

Yeah we're starting to do that but the individual pieces are pretty large and I think we're much more level headed about how small they can be shrunk now.

Re: The Mars Helicopter Is Online and Getting Ready to Fly

#264

Post by jefft255 » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 12:36 AM UTC

shellfishgene wrote: post #253

Daho0n wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not agree at all that it is not useful but even if true the PR in itself is likely worth it, both for getting more attention to NASA (IE. budgeting) and for sparking ideas and dreams.

I'll gladly change my mind, what is it useful for? On your other point, I'm sure many people find it fascinating and are inspired. However a young geologist or biologist might not be inspired to start a career at NASA. Another point the author of the article above makes it that in the ~2 hours of live coverage, 6 seconds were spent discussing the rovers instruments. As for budget, this is also dangerous; after all, i…

It's useful (if it doesn't die) for scouting. From above, it will have a better look at the terrain, helping mission control do path planning and terrain/risk assessment. I have no information telling me that's going to happen, but this is my fairly educated guess as to how the drone could be used.

Re: The Mars Helicopter Is Online and Getting Ready to Fly

#265

Post by shellfishgene » Wed, Mar 03, 2021, 10:24 AM UTC

jefft255 wrote: post #264

shellfishgene wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll gladly change my mind, what is it useful for? On your other point, I'm sure many people find it fascinating and are inspired. However a young geologist or biologist might not be inspired to start a career at NASA. Another point the author of the article above makes it that in the ~2 hours of live coverage, 6 seconds were spent discussing the rovers instruments. As for budget, this is also dangerous; after all, i…

It's useful (if it doesn't die) for scouting. From above, it will have a better look at the terrain, helping mission control do path planning and terrain/risk assessment. I have no information telling me that's going to happen, but this is my fairly educated guess as to how the drone could be used.

Ok, that could be a use for it. They do have satellite images, but I guess those are much lower resolution and a better satellite would probably be orders of magnitude more expensive.