InSight Surface Operations, 26 Nov 2018- 21 Dec 2022 |
InSight Surface Operations, 26 Nov 2018- 21 Dec 2022 |
Nov 26 2018, 08:20 PM
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#1
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Congratulations to the InSight team on a successful landing! We'll discuss the remainder of the mission here.
-------------------- 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.
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Sep 21 2019, 01:46 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 214 Joined: 30-December 05 Member No.: 628 |
As a spectator, I'd rather see the mole team try something risky than simply give up. But for institutional reasons this will be difficult. I guess the decision would have to be made collectively, to avoid one person's becoming the scapegoat for the failed experiment if they end up breaking the mole. Also, they would need to apply for a lot more DSN time to manage a hail-Mary final attempt, and without a high probability of success the application might not get very far. Likewise for other resources like personnel costs.
If the mole is to be written off, is there anything that can be done to further clarify what went wrong? Any way to increase the chance that a future attempt will succeed? |
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Sep 21 2019, 06:51 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
If the mole is to be written off, is there anything that can be done to further clarify what went wrong? Any way to increase the chance that a future attempt will succeed? I mentioned way upthread that there is a poor cumulative track record for the success of digging and subsurface probes on the Moon and Mars. Apollo struggled with this multiple times even given repeated opportunities and humans + problem solving present. The mechanical properties of regolith are varied and not perfectly understood. It's not clear that any particular test process will duplicate mission conditions. Existing legacy technology used for digging and boring on Earth uses mass extravagantly, and can't be adapted to this. My own non-mechanical-engineer musing has thought about something like this: One or more strong but non-metallic spears that separate from the lander at altitude, drop point-down and impact the surface at high velocity. A spear could have non-mobile thermometers at various depths up and down its length, and transmit temperatures to the lander. If any spear survived, you would get your data. That said, the last time something somewhat like this was attempted, it failed. |
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Sep 21 2019, 10:24 PM
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 684 Joined: 24-July 15 Member No.: 7619 |
... My own non-mechanical-engineer musing has thought about something like this: One or more strong but non-metallic spears that separate from the lander at altitude, drop point-down and impact the surface at high velocity. A spear could have non-mobile thermometers at various depths up and down its length, and transmit temperatures to the lander. If any spear survived, you would get your data. That said, the last time something somewhat like this was attempted, it failed. I think I mentioned this somewhere up-thread, but there are extremely high-G sensors for US bunker-buster munitions. These are part of smart-fuses that are designed to survive penetrating several meters of reinforced concrete, detect a void and then detonate. One idea - most landers have some sort of ballast, make that ballast out of tungsten flechettes. Release the flechettes into the landing ellipse, then let the rover check the newly drilled holes for readings. |
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Sep 22 2019, 01:38 PM
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#5
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Member Group: Members Posts: 362 Joined: 12-June 05 From: Kiama, Australia Member No.: 409 |
One idea - most landers have some sort of ballast, make that ballast out of tungsten flechettes. Release the flechettes into the landing ellipse, then let the rover check the newly drilled holes for readings. I think that the ballast weights land a long way for the craft landing zone, that is probably why they haven't done that yet |
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