What's Up With Ulysses?, alive? dead? cancelled soon? |
What's Up With Ulysses?, alive? dead? cancelled soon? |
Sep 27 2005, 04:05 AM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 356 Joined: 12-March 05 Member No.: 190 |
What is up with the tiny Ulysses spacecraft that was launched in 1990 to study the solar whatever at high lattitudes? Last I heard it was in danger of dying because the RTG power was running low and at aphelion there was a risk of the hydrazine freezing/exploding in its propulsion system. Well that was like a year ago and I haven't heard anything since. It looks like it should've passed aphelion by now and should be out of danger.....
Its been going up there for over a full solar cycle, is it one of the missions on the chopping block because of the new humans on moon/mars thing? |
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Feb 11 2007, 08:17 PM
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
I agree with ustrax; the longevity of this spacecraft (and others) is astounding. These are arguably among the most complex devices ever built, yet without hands-on maintenance, periodic overhauls, etc., they just keep going. Wonder if the space agencies might be interested in building a few cars on the side...
All that aside, how much longer can Ulysses keep going given this new power conservation strategy? Also, is there any possibility that it will re-encounter Jupiter at some point? -------------------- 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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Feb 13 2007, 03:36 AM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 477 Joined: 2-March 05 Member No.: 180 |
I agree with ustrax; the longevity of this spacecraft (and others) is astounding. These are arguably among the most complex devices ever built, yet without hands-on maintenance, periodic overhauls, etc., they just keep going. Wonder if the space agencies might be interested in building a few cars on the side... All that aside, how much longer can Ulysses keep going given this new power conservation strategy? Also, is there any possibility that it will re-encounter Jupiter at some point? I figure that they've probably got some pretty tight tolerances on these components. What I'm learning in my engineering classes is that tight tolerances are expensive. According to my Product Design professor, a Professional Engineer, they probably could design cars that would come with lifetime warranties. But they might cost $500,000 each, or more. Parts would need to be made out of more corrosion-resistant materials (more expensive), more parts wouldn't pass inspection because they'd be out of tolerance (higher manufacturing costs, and more time required to manufacture, which also = higher costs), and you might need more highly skilled engineers and machinists to properly design and construct this super-accurate car. If they manufactured the MER's to the tolerances you probably find in the consumer auto industry, the rovers might never have left their landers. Something else to consider - car manufacturers want you to buy a new car every so often. A car that might fail eventually increases your chance of buying again. NASA and JPL don't expect a lot of that sort of return business for most of their designs. |
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Feb 13 2007, 03:56 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2173 Joined: 28-December 04 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 132 |
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Feb 21 2007, 04:06 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 477 Joined: 2-March 05 Member No.: 180 |
But not from that manufacturer. I think car failure is due mostly to keeping costs down, not planned shoddy workmanship. How much would a car built to NASA specifications cost? It depends how long it lasted, and it depends on the person. I doesn't have to last long. Just long enough. If it was long enough, the person may rather stay with a brand whose quirks and issues they know, rather than risk venturing into the unknown, buying something different that might be much worse. And maybe it's not planned, but the engineers making it have to know what's going to happen. Heck, one of the equations I've learned has "reliability factor" built into it. What reliability do you want? 50%? 90%? 99.9%? Different percentages have different numbers (1 for 50%, .75 for 99.9%) that go into determining endurance strengths and allowable stresses to give the certain reliability rating. I guess it's not planned so much as it is a side effect. How much would a car built to NASA spec cost? See the post you quoted me out of. It'll be interesting to see how much longer it'll last. They seem to have a fair level of confidence in it: "The definitive proof will come when Ulysses measures the temperature of the north polar coronal during the next 15 months." |
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