Phoenix Site |
Phoenix Site |
Jan 22 2005, 01:21 PM
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Rover Driver Group: Members Posts: 1015 Joined: 4-March 04 Member No.: 47 |
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Aug 25 2005, 08:29 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
I really wish it were possible to put minimal crawler treads on instead of footpads to give the vehicle some tens of meters mobility, but it ain't!
This mission, though heading for sub-polar dirty-ice and/or icy-dirt deposits instead of the polar layered dust and ice deposits will achieve many of the same critical science objectives lost with Polar Lander. An essential in climate modelling is information on the adsorbed CO2 and H20 capacity of generic Mars Dust. That info is crucial in modelling atmosphere / climate behavior during precessional climate cycles and we have nothing approaching real numbers, just wild-ass-guesses. |
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Aug 25 2005, 09:49 AM
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Dublin Correspondent Group: Admin Posts: 1799 Joined: 28-March 05 From: Celbridge, Ireland Member No.: 220 |
QUOTE (edstrick @ Aug 25 2005, 09:29 AM) That info is crucial in modelling atmosphere / climate behavior during precessional climate cycles and we have nothing approaching real numbers, just wild-ass-guesses. There is a much greater need for ground truth data at high latitudes than having another rover right now. IMO Phoenix would be justified solely as a platform to land the MET package and get lots of real data from this far north to test the atmospheric models. Sure in an ideal world it would have an RTG and be a rover and ... but the only reason it's flying at all is because it can be flown on a shoestring without cutting the sort of corners Beagle did. |
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