How Much Driving Time? |
How Much Driving Time? |
Jul 18 2005, 04:03 PM
Post
#1
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 153 Joined: 11-December 04 Member No.: 120 |
Does anybody know how much time Oppy actually can spend on driving on a single sol?
I remember that when she travelled from Eagle to Endurance crater it was no more than 1.5 hours per sol (or so), due to power limitations. I have no idea what the current power situation and battery status of Oppy allows these days... |
|
|
Jul 20 2005, 08:05 AM
Post
#2
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
The dust is finer than talcum powder, way way too fine to easily just be dumped off tilted and shaken panels as if it was fine sand.
There's no reason available surface on a rover couldn't be covered with thin, lightweight solar cells as "supplementary" power. Note that Viking's RTG's produced only 70 watts each, at the start of the mission <somebody check my figures...> 140 watts x 24 hours isn't an enormous amount of energy, and supplementary solar could help, if it doesn't eat up too much weight. |
|
|
Jul 20 2005, 09:27 AM
Post
#3
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 290 Joined: 26-March 04 From: Edam, The Netherlands Member No.: 65 |
QUOTE (edstrick @ Jul 20 2005, 08:05 AM) The dust is finer than talcum powder, way way too fine to easily just be dumped off tilted and shaken panels as if it was fine sand. I don't agree. Look at opportunities wheels at the moment. The have been milled around in extremely fine dust (especially lately) and at some moments they were filled with dust. And now: they look like being from the dishwasher: completely clean. On Mars, it's not like on earth, where atmospheric water vapour easily clods together dust. Dust on Mars almost falls off just as easy as it settled down. It's a great benefit of roving on Mars: it's dry (also, you don't need to coat your chassis with tectyl against rust ). |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 22nd September 2024 - 01:27 AM |
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. |