Spirit cleaner? |
Spirit cleaner? |
Jun 20 2007, 02:43 PM
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#16
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2173 Joined: 28-December 04 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 132 |
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Jun 20 2007, 03:04 PM
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#17
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
I was actually wondering about that. How finely can they pinpoint when the cleaning event happened? With what time frequency are the solar panel outputs measured during the day? Obviously it isn't measured at night, so if it happened at night, I'm guessing all they can say is that it happened at night. When were the pancam images taken that bracket the event?
--Emily -------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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Jun 20 2007, 07:16 PM
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#18
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1887 Joined: 20-November 04 From: Iowa Member No.: 110 |
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Jun 20 2007, 08:00 PM
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#19
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Yeah -- you can see she's cleaner than she was, but it wasn't a full cleaning event. The panels near the ends of the wings are still pretty dirty.
Still, any cleaning whatsoever at this point is a gift, and I accept it gladly... -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Jun 20 2007, 10:54 PM
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#20
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
As I recall these events aren't isolated ones. I bet we'll hear about another one in a few weeks bringing it up to 825 whrs. Didn't we reach a point the last time where they were keeping her up all night to shed excess heat from the return to 900 whr?
-------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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Jun 20 2007, 11:45 PM
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#21
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Member Group: Members Posts: 444 Joined: 1-July 05 From: New York City Member No.: 424 |
I hope your prediction is correct, but wasn't Spirit at a higher, more windy elevation when the previous series of cleaning events took place?
TTT |
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Jun 20 2007, 11:52 PM
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#22
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2922 Joined: 14-February 06 From: Very close to the Pyrénées Mountains (France) Member No.: 682 |
I hope your prediction is correct, but wasn't Spirit at a higher, more windy elevation when the previous series of cleaning events took place? TTT Yep, she was right in a pass when she get the "big" cleaning event which, to me, think logical. By any mean, yes, she was much higher. -------------------- |
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Jun 21 2007, 07:22 AM
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#23
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
"I doubt they get engineering data at a high rate all the time the puter is powered up. Maybe not much or any when it's more or less on standby. Generally, I think events will probably happen between blocks of data.
Anything after sunset and before sunrise can't be detected by solar power changes regardless of whether the rover is taking data or not! |
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Jun 21 2007, 09:11 AM
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#24
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Dublin Correspondent Group: Admin Posts: 1799 Joined: 28-March 05 From: Celbridge, Ireland Member No.: 220 |
I've asked about the engineering data before (and I was specifically looking for the periodic Solar Panel output currents) but was told that that's not going to get published. As I understand it engineering data would have to be stringently reviewed to make sure it didn't breach ITAR and that would be too much paperwork for not enough end user benefit and to be fair that was a perfectly reasonable answer.
I haven't been able to find any data on the sampling period for this either so I can't say if it is taken more frequently than once per day. Prior cleaning events have generally been vague about the precise timing - generally indicating that power levels have increased between sols so it is possible that only one sample measurement is recorded per sol. |
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Jun 22 2007, 05:45 AM
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#25
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2228 Joined: 1-December 04 From: Marble Falls, Texas, USA Member No.: 116 |
That doesn't make sense to me. I would have thought that engineering data consumes a relatively small amount of bandwidth compared to images and spectrometers. I think I appreciate that there are many sensor feeds, but surely they monitor panel output more often than once/sol! Where am I going wrong?
-------------------- ...Tom
I'm not a Space Fan, I'm a Space Exploration Enthusiast. |
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Jun 22 2007, 02:00 PM
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#26
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 57 Joined: 17-May 06 From: Houston, Texas Member No.: 776 |
I was looking at the picture above and I noticed the hinges when a thought hit me. Would closing the solar panels and opening them back up help knock the dust off. Maybe they could even shake them a little.
The only problems I see are, one- dumping the dust elsewhere on the rover. Two- the possibility of not being able to open them again. -------------------- |
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Jun 22 2007, 02:14 PM
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#27
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Member Group: Members Posts: 444 Joined: 1-July 05 From: New York City Member No.: 424 |
Pete Theisinger was asked about closing the solar panels in an effort to get rid of dust on a webcast that I've seen. (I believe that it was during the Q&A after a von Kármán Lecture given before the rovers landed.)
In light of the risk that the panels would not reopen, he said (to paraphrase) that he could not conceive of a circumstance that would justify taking such a risk. And of course the dust is "sticky," so the potential benefit might be very little. TTT |
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Jun 22 2007, 02:38 PM
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#28
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2173 Joined: 28-December 04 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 132 |
...closing the solar panels... I'd find it hard to believe that there is even a way to do this. I would assume they were designed to lock in the open position. I'm sure it would take a whole different design, with different latches, and motors to accomplish this. The intent was to open the panels and leave them open. The design would have been the minimum required to do this reliably and nowhere near as complex as that needed to reclose and reopen them. |
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Jun 22 2007, 03:00 PM
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#29
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 57 Joined: 17-May 06 From: Houston, Texas Member No.: 776 |
I don't know if they lock in place or not. I would probably design them to do so if I was in charge.
If they don't perhaps they could try shaking the dust off as a last ditch effort. However, when Spirit does finally die, I would hate to see her die with her panels stuck up. Doesn't seem fitting for a rover that has done so much. When humans walk up to her one day in the future, I want them to see her sitting on Home Plate like she was as an explorer. -------------------- |
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Guest_Analyst_* |
Jun 22 2007, 04:00 PM
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#30
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Guests |
As I understand it engineering data would have to be stringently reviewed to make sure it didn't breach ITAR and that would be too much paperwork for not enough end user benefit and to be fair that was a perfectly reasonable answer. ITAR again. Well, it could be helpful to build solar powered nuclear bombs roving around. I am sure this could be helpful information for the ExoMars designers. In the long term, ITAR will reduce the capabilities of the US aerospace industry to be competitive. Sorry, I had to say this. Analyst |
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