Solander Point, Sol 3387 - 3511 (August 4, 2013 - December 12, 2013) |
Solander Point, Sol 3387 - 3511 (August 4, 2013 - December 12, 2013) |
Aug 4 2013, 08:39 PM
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#1
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 3431 Joined: 11-August 04 From: USA Member No.: 98 |
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Sep 10 2013, 01:00 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
I'll tell you one thing -- I doubt that you could have driven the MERs or MSL at, say, the Viking 2 landing site. Way too many blocks to work around at that location, at least for anything larger than a smallish toaster.
It just goes to show that, for rovers of MER and even MSL size, there is a lot of the Martian surface that is not easily trafficable. -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Sep 10 2013, 02:47 PM
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Member Group: Admin Posts: 976 Joined: 29-September 06 From: Pasadena, CA - USA Member No.: 1200 |
I'll tell you one thing -- I doubt that you could have driven the MERs or MSL at, say, the Viking 2 landing site. Way too many blocks to work around at that location, at least for anything larger than a smallish toaster. Is this a challenge? ;-) QUOTE It just goes to show that, for rovers of MER and even MSL size, there is a lot of the Martian surface that is not easily trafficable. -the other Doug That is true, but MER/MSL are quite capable rovers in terms of wheeled vehicles. The max traversable slope is slightly higher than that of a HMMWV, for example, end the size of a traversable obstacle is much better than a typical Earth vehicle. We have driven our testbeds on Earth in *very* difficult terrain but for obvious reasons we don't do that on Mars unless we have to. Paolo -------------------- Disclaimer: all opinions, ideas and information included here are my own,and should not be intended to represent opinion or policy of my employer.
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Sep 10 2013, 05:32 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Is this a challenge? ;-) In no way... Although, if there was a chance that saying "yes" would magically cause a MER or an MSL to suddenly appear next to the V2 lander, just to take on the challenge, my answer would of course be different... ...MER/MSL are quite capable rovers in terms of wheeled vehicles. The max traversable slope is slightly higher than that of a HMMWV, for example, end the size of a traversable obstacle is much better than a typical Earth vehicle. We have driven our testbeds on Earth in *very* difficult terrain but for obvious reasons we don't do that on Mars unless we have to. Paolo Oh, understood, and I can imagine a rover the size of MSL might even be able to make, oh, 5 or 10 meters a drive at a site as boulder-strewn as the V2 site, climbing over one half-meter-tall rock after another. Perhaps less than that for a MER-sized rover. I wasn't saying you couldn't drive one of these marvelous wheeled vehicles over difficult terrain, just that it would make for lousy trafficability -- your forward progress would be slow and painstaking. Come to think of it, rocky terrain hasn't been the rover trap some might have imagined, has it? The only time the MERs have fallen into traps, it's been in drifts or pools of fine, unconsolidated powdered rock, not up against walls of hard, unscalable rock. -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Sep 10 2013, 11:26 PM
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Member Group: Admin Posts: 976 Joined: 29-September 06 From: Pasadena, CA - USA Member No.: 1200 |
... Come to think of it, rocky terrain hasn't been the rover trap some might have imagined, has it? The only time the MERs have fallen into traps, it's been in drifts or pools of fine, unconsolidated powdered rock, not up against walls of hard, unscalable rock. -the other Doug I think you are not taking into account statistics. It is much easier to see a rock than to see unconsolidated sand and therefore the likelyhood of getting a rover trapped in sand is higher. Paolo -------------------- Disclaimer: all opinions, ideas and information included here are my own,and should not be intended to represent opinion or policy of my employer.
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Sep 11 2013, 02:09 AM
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#6
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Oh, no doubt. I can well imagine that this is what makes sand traps more dangerous than rock fields -- the latter can be much more easily seen and avoided.
Truly, I'm not in any way questioning the abilities of the rovers or their excellent drivers. Just noting that we've seen places -- like the V2 landing site -- where trafficability would be lousy for just about any wheeled vehicle. We've actually been somewhat lucky (or at least better at estimating ground truth from orbital imagery) in that the three rover landing sites -- Gusev, Meridiani and Gale -- show considerably less dense boulder populations than we saw at either Viking site or at the Pathfinder site. Indeed, Meridiani has a remarkably low boulder density, making for generally great trafficability, the odd soft dust ripple notwithstanding... -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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