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So THAT's how you're managing the pre-Victoria tension ( PVT ) - taking DRUGS.



Doug

Or the sort of failures we're seing on MER - actuators, motors etc.

Doug

http://www.habitablezone.com/space/messages/439873.html

Doug

Amazing how many people elsewhere have fallen for it - hook, line and sinker

Doug

Scientifically - it's as fair as it can possibly be

Doug

I totally agree and am utterly disgusted by the situation to be honest. If the opportunity is there - I will be asking questions about this at Valencia.

Doug

Basically the same as the MER/MPF backshell - it'll fly away and destroy itself. I think the trade was still under debate as to if the 'fly away' would be actively controlled onboard or if it would just seperate and throttle up until the fuel ran out, the statistics of the situation dictating that 'recontact' was very very unlikely.

Doug

'flat' would suggest not - perhaps they're taking a new flatfield to store onboard to help identify differences such as clouds etc.

Doug

I must admit - the concept of some sort of 'fan fiction' for long after the rovers end is more than a little tempting

Doug

Wow - Conjunction is going to SUCK for you guys

Doug

And what payload are you intending to put in? The current last shuttle launch is volume packed with Node 3 and the Cupola.....

What you're talking about is all great for the pages of a Simon Baxter novel, but it has little relation to what is possible in reality.

You're making up a solution that isn't even slightly feasable for a problem that doesn't exist still.

Doug

I would be utterly amazed if MGS, Odyssey, MRO or MEX could use UHF in a way that would be compatable with the Viking landers.

(update - infact, it's a no. The Viking UHF was around 381Mhz, whereas modern Mars Relay operations are conducted at the 430ish range )

Doug

Then why take up the docking port with a Shuttle - just take this small hab module you propose and bolt it onto the end of Node 2 and put the last PMA on the end of it?

It's seems like you've thought of a solution for a problem that doesn't actually exist.

Doug

Solar Panels will always be oriented as best they can toward the sun. Iridium sats are a special case - they have a set of large aluminium antennae that are at an angle that reflects light onto the ground just right to create the flares.

http://www.obsat.com/irimage_e.html


of course, there's always still scope for the odd flash or flicks if the angle between a part of the station and the sun is right- but I don't think we'll ever see things like the flares occuring.

Of course - if it gets to mag -3 or lower - then we're talking brighter than 50% of Iridium flares anyway

Doug

Once we had left Endurance - yes - realistically I thought that Victoria, if the terrain was navigable, was a genuine possibility.

However - looking SE from Victoria - I don't like the look of the terrain a great deal - there's no MOC NA imagery that I can see in that direction and we need that or HiRISE to judge what the navigability would be like.

Realistically - I think we could spend at least the next 300-500 sols exploring Victoria - THEN....let's see how the rover is doing.

Doug

Oh we've got to stop this I'm getting excited about the sort of view we could have from there - and that's bad because I really can't imagine us getting there, realistically.

Doug

Or simply marking the site of the first sample return mission in three decades. Crash or no crash, it's doing good science. Nothing wrong with that.

Doug

There's always a way where by you could turn a spacecraft actually off. BUT - it would have to be very very deliberate.

Doug

Doesnt instill confidence does it.

Doug

Might as well call it Mars Renaissance Orbiter

Doug

We've covered just under half the distance to the endurance scale crater between here and 'Big Crater' - in terms of getting to Big Crater - we've covered abotu 30% of the distance required.

Doug

Then why all the tests to see if the rover could climb back out again

Yes - it was 'if we get stuck what a nice place to be' - but that's not the same as 'we're going in and don't care if we can get out' They tested to see if they could get out, they were fairly confident that they could, and went in knowing that they would almost certainly get out again.

Doug

If we have a healthy vehicle once all available outcrop has been examined.....who says we're not?

Yes - it's a long way off - and the balance will probably have shifted to the 'risk it' side of the scale compared to Endurance - but I hope some consideration is given to extraction when deciding an entrance strategy.

Doug

Actually - I think we're going down a bit of a cul-de-sac here as there is a big list of places that Victoria visited waiting to be assigned to the various features 'officially' and we could get confused if we try to 'jump' that process.

The odd crater ( Albert became Erebus, Corner became Beagle etc etc ) is fair enough - but a whole swathe of Capes and Bays would be an un-necessarily complicated twist to what I think will become quite a hard place for us to get to know.

So - my suggestion ( flattering though it was to have someone suggest my name should be in the mix ) is that we don't go through this process as we'll end up very confused.

Doug

Look at the MOC DEM movie - the duck bay slope looks NASTY - I would estimate as much as twice as steep as some of the slopes on the South and South Eastern edge of the crater.

Doug