MSL's Power Source |
MSL's Power Source |
Guest_exobioquest_* |
Nov 27 2005, 04:46 PM
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#1
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Guests |
Hi, new here.
I'm wondering if any news has come down about finalizing what MSL will run on? Will it be 2 Boeing's MMRTG (at ~100 watts?) or Lockheed Martin’s SRG (again ~100watts?), have they decided yet? Willl MSL use the RPS to trickle charge a battery or will MSL run on the RPS only? God I hope solar is not a option is anyone pushing for it? |
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Nov 27 2005, 06:30 PM
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#2
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Dublin Correspondent Group: Admin Posts: 1799 Joined: 28-March 05 From: Celbridge, Ireland Member No.: 220 |
QUOTE (exobioquest @ Nov 27 2005, 05:46 PM) I seriously doubt that anyone is pushing for it. Even with significantly improved efficiencies Solar just has too many drawbacks for long term missions. The MER's have been lucky and no-one should fool themselves into thinking that the circumstances that have allowed them to survive can be relied upon. With technology as it is right now any roving surface mission with a long term primary mission needs an RTG. To replace a ~100W RTG with a solar solution that could survive a major dust storm you would need approximately 16x the surface area of the panels on the MER's. Solar Cell technology has improved quite a bit since the MER's were put together but even so the best case I can see right now would be panels 10-12x the area of the MER's. And that is just for a near equatorial rover. |
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Guest_exobioquest_* |
Nov 27 2005, 06:53 PM
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#3
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Guests |
QUOTE (helvick @ Nov 27 2005, 12:30 PM) The MER's have been lucky and no-one should fool themselves into thinking that the circumstances that have allowed them to survive can be relied upon. That’s what I'm worried about, I'm sure the anti-nuclear people (remember the ones that went apesh!t over cassini?) are going to be piss off about MSL and are going to use MER's two amazingly hard to survive years at the equator as proof that solar can be used for every mars mission no matter the latitude or conditions. I’m also worried that MSL is going to use batteries, sure it could survive for a Martian year with Li-ion batteries but how about 5-10 years of over time, not likely, if its RTG only it could potentially run around for decades! Everything else should easily survive decades and hundreds of km of operation if maintain at a relatively constant temperature of course, as is MER has push a lot of components to and beyond there temp ranges and its still running! The power source should be the only significant limiter in life-time performance, and the use of chemical batteries will definitely shorten it. By the way what advances in solar cells have happened since MER’s launch that could improve solar cells performance so much. |
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