It's disgustingly expensive, a dreadfull way to get stuff into space...but I'll cry when it launches and lands for the last time. If I don't get my butt to Florida to see it fly before it's shelved, I don't think I'll be able to forgive myself.

Doug

The higher you go - the less air your parachute has to work with. 'lower' altitiudes make for an easier landing.

Doug

nasa.gov/ntv is it really.

Doug

I've got an entry checklist from nsf to follow along with , nasa tv streaming well, and the spag bol I made last night reheated with a jacket potato - happy days

Looks like an entry almost directly from the South - do you Californians get any sighting or boom-boom with that?

Doug

And no chance for an on-orbit checkout before comitting to a TLI.

Doug

'Crushinator' could be good.

Look - I've said it 1000 times, Rocky and Bullwinkle are copyrighted. Give it up!

I see you need to be taught in the ways of Python..

Frankly - when the rover is that big, and has a laser beam....it gets called whatever it WANTS to be called

Doug

They can call it BunwhacketbuzzardstoppingQWalrusTitty for all I care - as long as it works

Doug

As I understand it the MPLM's don't have the shielding to remain in space for long duration. I'm sure one could be converted to habitable space for a modest ammount of cash, but with more US side habitable volume to go up than is already there ( i.e. Unity + Desity < Harmony + Columbus + JEM ) I'm not sure how necessary the extra space would be.

It's unlikely they'd ever shut them down if one was still mobile. Exact costs are not particularly well published - but taking the total mission cost to date and dividing it by the total number of sols, it runs at something like $360k/sol The actual cost of an extension is a lot less than that.

Doug

I remember watching videos of little FIDO - that's quite noisy as well. FIDO was used for a lot of field tests to learn how to 'do' MER style ops - the little PLuto rover - just out the door to the right - is what I think FIDO has now turned into.
http://planetary.org/image/marsyard_20070619_img_1835.jpg

The varnish would have to go through thermal-vac testing along with the toes...and that's probably not recommended.


Doug

LOVE the way they got JPL _|qL (that's supposed to be jpl backwards ) into the wheel tread

I think expletives were justified and frankly - required.

Doug

Hell no - Endurance was a cake walk





Doug

Well - when I spoke to Squyres back in the autumn of '05 - I asked if a MER vehicle could be built for a Mars Scout budget - and he said probably not. That would put it at at least >$400m

Because it's been nearly 4 years since ATLO started for MER - there would be not a lot of saving to be had from the heritage - perhaps the orig. single vehicle budget of $440m could be matched (which was initially exceeded because of the 'chute, airbag and other changes from pathfinder 'heritage' )

I would imagine there are a few things they would want to change. More efficient solar cells being one I would guess. I'm sure there are flight ready systems that could be used as metaphorical upgrades. Given you would be building from scratch, there's no point in sticking to exactly the same design for everything because you're going to have to test the new hardware just as much as the old stuff was tested 4 or 5 years before. It would make sense, where the changes are modest, to make any changes that could improve reliability or performance.

Reuse of the MER deisgn in some form has been touted as a potential mission for the future - 2013/15 sort of time frame - but it's only one of multiple options out at that distance.

Doug

It'll be similar to MER - which means hugely dependant on terrain and power. Anything from 30 to 200m/sol

Doug

The geological promised land to the south of Home Plate was always suggested as a later target, but with the limited mobility of 5 wheel drive, it would be a very tough call.

Doug

Because the money isn't there to do it. MER was initially $440m for one - approx $625m for two - which grew to about $850m by launch. One MSL is looking like being $1.5B - so on the estimated 'second is 50% extra' formula - another $750M would have to be found, and given the state of Space Science at the moment...that's just not going to happen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Pathfind..._of_the_mission

The lander and rover performed for much longer and better than expected, but eventually contact with the lander was lost on sol 83. The lander's silver-zinc battery was only capable of being recharged about 40 times, as a consequence after about 40 sols, the battery was not able to keep the lander warm at night. The exact reason for the final failure of the lander is not certain, but it was probably due to an electronics failure due to the very cold night-time temperatures that were experienced in the final weeks of the mission.

The rover was basically better at keeping itself warm, even though it had non-rechargable batteries - and while we don't know how much longer than the lander it worked for - HiRISE imagery certainly suggests that it moved a few metres of its own accord.

Doug

I was asked if I would contribute to the Outreach session by Alice - so I'm combining that with my unique style of conference coverage for TPS

(PS - I don't get active links on 'Accepted Contributions' for any programme group)

As I expected - the labelling of the graph as 'air temperature' is missleading. It is just a FHAZ temp - not adjusted with any thermal model. It's fairly well isolated from the WEB, but operation of the camera itself would result in higher temps.

Doug

Well - with good stereo you can generate a DEM, and from that you can make anything you want really.

Doug

So do I

Shall we buy him some on-line Russian courses

(if I were single - and could speak Russian - I'd do it )

Doug

Looks like a self portrait was put in work yesterday after the cleaning. I'm REALLY out of stitching practice

Compare the lovely black heat absorbing temperature of a solar array....and the 'in the shade' temp fo the Hazcam. They're almost identical - because they're both bolted to the same WEB. This 'air' temp also gets a good spike when the web heaters kicked in at the depths of winter. I'm still waiting for more info on them - but I think a FHAZ temp is a FHAZ temp - not an air temp. The point they're trying to make isn't about Mars - it's about what the rover components have to deal with - the hottest they get because of spacecraft operations, and the coldest they get at night.

Doug