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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#801
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 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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Jan 22 2020, 10:50 PM
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#802
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Member Group: Members Posts: 684 Joined: 24-July 15 Member No.: 7619 |
Hmm, not sure if I asked this before but-
1) What is the maximum downward force that the arm can generate? Both continuous (push) or and impulse (punch)? 2) How deep a hole CAN the arm dig? 3) How far down is the caliche / duricrust layer estimated to be? Any data about delta-T and the quantify heat loss, that might suggest regolith depth, which might imply duricrust depth? I'm figuring this is the "Andy Dufresne" segment of the mission... "All it takes is pressure, and time"... |
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Jan 24 2020, 05:56 AM
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#803
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
According to the last post on the team blog (which has frequent caveats to indicate guesses rather than certain knowledge), the duricrust is about 20 cm thick, and the problem is that it is underlain by cohesionless soil. When the mole reaches the cohesionless layer below the duricrust, it pops back up. If it's all as simple as that, then we're at a futile impasse.
The scenery and my understanding of it is that, with the exception of pebbles, this area is isotropic – there are no important differences if you move 10 cm, 1 m, or several meters in any direction. It sounds pretty hopeless. Of course, there's no great motive to stop trying, so I expect the team to keep trying until the last days that the lander continues to function, but nothing suggests a plausible path to success unless their interpretation of the situation is unexpectedly pessimistic. |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 26th September 2024 - 07:49 PM |
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