Victoria ahead..., Time spent at Emma Dean |
Victoria ahead..., Time spent at Emma Dean |
Sep 5 2006, 07:13 AM
Post
#1
|
|
The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Might I humbly suggest this new thread, as Victoria looms large before us..?
GREAT images guys. I was out last night and have only just got online, to find Victoria opening up ahead of us... what a fantastic time! -------------------- |
|
|
Sep 12 2006, 05:16 PM
Post
#2
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 578 Joined: 5-November 04 From: Denmark Member No.: 107 |
Can't believe they are gonna waste precious grinding bits on these rocks here
But tosol (937) another small drive to get to the target it seems. -------------------- "I want to make as many people as possible feel like they are part of this adventure. We are going to give everybody a sense of what exploring the surface of another world is really like"
- Steven Squyres |
|
|
Sep 12 2006, 05:46 PM
Post
#3
|
|
Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
Can't believe they are gonna waste precious grinding bits on these rocks here If these evaporite "rocks" are like their earthly counterparts, I suspect the RAT eats through them like butter. It's one reason why Opportunity's RAT is still going strong compared to Spirit's now-blunt RAT over at Gusev which was chomping down on basalts from day one (or day 33 or whatever it was). Which brings up a geology question. Is anyone aware of any aspect of the RAT that could be interpreted to estimate hardness? Perhaps the current draw on the motor while it's grinding? or a number of turns of the motor in relation to the depth of the cut? If so is there a table of acquired hardness values published somewhere? -------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
|
|
|
Sep 12 2006, 08:49 PM
Post
#4
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 242 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Ohio, USA Member No.: 34 |
...Which brings up a geology question. Is anyone aware of any aspect of the RAT that could be interpreted to estimate hardness? Perhaps the current draw on the motor while it's grinding? or a number of turns of the motor in relation to the depth of the cut? If so is there a table of acquired hardness values published somewhere? In response to your question, I found this iinformation at the Athena/Cornell site: (http://athena.cornell.edu/pdf/tb_rat.pdf#search=%22Rock%20Abrasion%20tool%22) “During the operation of the RAT, the rover will monitor currents, temperatures, and encoder readouts for all three RAT actuators. These data can be used to infer information about the strength properties of the rocks that have undergone grinding. A pre-flight test program is planned to establish some of the relationships among the parameters and rock strength, but this program will be limited in scope. …” The abrasive surfaces on the RAT are diamond studded, so we know the hardness of the grinder. Perhaps there has been an effort to calibrate the grinding data with the martian rocks. I doubt that that information would be published, though, as it would be really only useful to the people operating the RAT. |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 26th September 2024 - 10:18 AM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |