Getting Unstuck in West Valley |
Getting Unstuck in West Valley |
May 12 2009, 02:29 AM
Post
#1
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4247 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
We may have the same scenery for quite a while. From the latest release:
QUOTE The rover team... has suspended driving Spirit temporarily while studying the ground around the rover and planning simulation tests of driving options with a test rover... "Spirit is in a very difficult situation," JPL's John Callas... said Monday. "We are proceeding methodically and cautiously. It may be weeks before we try moving Spirit again."
In the past week, the digging-in of Spirit's wheels has raised concerns that the rover's belly pan could now be low enough to contact rocks underneath the chassis, which would make getting out of the situation more difficult. |
|
|
May 13 2009, 07:01 PM
Post
#2
|
|
Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Hmm. Amplifying on your COG shift idea, Maycm, what else on the MERs can still articulate? I don't know if the HGA can provide any significant mass offset. Can the Pancam mast still retract/extend? (I sincerely doubt it, but have to ask.)
EDIT: BTW, ElkGroveDan first posted the idea of using the IDD here. Suggest that everybody read (and re-read!) this entire thread as a brainstorming aid. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
|
|
|
May 13 2009, 07:53 PM
Post
#3
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 279 Joined: 19-August 07 Member No.: 3299 |
Hmm. Amplifying on your COG shift idea, Maycm, what else on the MERs can still articulate? I don't know if the HGA can provide any significant mass offset. Can the Pancam mast still retract/extend? (I sincerely doubt it, but have to ask.) My best guest, analogy, the Pancam/Navcam mast cannot be stowed as the wheels. It is fixed after it is unstowed. The question that I have is about the properties of soil around Spirit. How can be a big difference of firmness of soil between left (west) and right (east) side of Spirit. The channel which Spirit is traveling was maybe a river where the water from higher lands were flowing toward the South. The soil of the channel, specially on the left side, close to the hills Tsiolkovsky would have a regolith of silica sand (reacted by the treatment of water) would lose the firmness faster if it is cracked by the wheel action. One of the last hope is that below of regolith (10, 20, 30, ? cms) might be a bedrock in which the rover's wheel will gain the traction again after sinking the wheels after a long rolling. Yes, I believe it since I don't think that the soil would be loose after the regolith (a zone where the land have already undergone any kind chemical process, any ashes, sand deposition) For that, the only way is to use the turret to find out about how deep is the regolith? I doubt it but it is worth to ask it anyway. The Freddy idea of using the IDD as an mirror is a genial ones. |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 2nd June 2024 - 11:48 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |