Spirit now living longer than Viking 2 |
Spirit now living longer than Viking 2 |
Aug 11 2007, 09:44 AM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 710 Joined: 28-September 04 Member No.: 99 |
Today is a historic day...eh Sol.
Sol 1281 is the sol that Spirit will beat Viking 2. Yes, that's right, today a solar powered vehicle beat a Nuke in longevity! I say a celebration is in order! |
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Guest_Zvezdichko_* |
Aug 11 2007, 12:00 PM
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#2
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Guests |
Today is a big day for Martian exploration. Spirit is on its 1281 sol. Viking 2 was turned off on the very same sol because of a battery failure
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Aug 11 2007, 12:15 PM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 362 Joined: 12-June 05 From: Kiama, Australia Member No.: 409 |
Today is a big day for Martian exploration. Spirit is on its 1281 sol. Viking 2 was turned off on the very same sol because of a battery failure What kind of batteries did the landers have, the orbiters are quoted as having wet cell NiCads. We have come a long way since then. |
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Guest_Zvezdichko_* |
Aug 11 2007, 12:20 PM
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#4
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Guests |
According to wikipedia info:
QUOTE Power was provided by two radioisotope thermal generator (RTG) units containing plutonium-238 affixed to opposite sides of the lander base and covered by wind screens. Each generator was 28 cm tall, 58 cm in diameter, had a mass of 13.6 kg and provided 30 W continuous power at 4.4 volts. Four wet cell sealed nickel-cadmium 8 A·h, 28-volt rechargeable batteries were also onboard to handle peak power loads. I personally don't believe that at least one of the rovers will live longer than Viking 1 ( the other lander ). |
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Aug 11 2007, 12:26 PM
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#5
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Member Group: Members Posts: 362 Joined: 12-June 05 From: Kiama, Australia Member No.: 409 |
Thanx for that info, all seems good except this has got to be a typing error, how did they manage to run 1960's electronics on 60W, must be a zero missing
QUOTE Each generator was 28 cm tall, 58 cm in diameter, had a mass of 13.6 kg and provided 30 W continuous power at 4.4 volts. Must be correct, 35W maximum as quoted here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_...ctric_generator |
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Aug 11 2007, 02:06 PM
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#6
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Member Group: Members Posts: 267 Joined: 5-February 06 Member No.: 675 |
30 W for each of two RPGs comes to 1440 Watt hours per day. Spirit and Oppie together never reached that level.
Steve |
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Aug 11 2007, 04:14 PM
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#7
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Member Group: Members Posts: 509 Joined: 2-July 05 From: Calgary, Alberta Member No.: 426 |
I personally don't believe that at least one of the rovers will live longer than Viking 1 ( the other lander ). Depends on what you mean by "live". Certainly they might not be able to keep moving for two or three more years. However, even if their wheels fail, they still might be able to act as stationary "weather stations". |
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Aug 11 2007, 04:59 PM
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#8
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Special Cookie Group: Members Posts: 2168 Joined: 6-April 05 From: Sintra | Portugal Member No.: 228 |
I say a celebration is in order! ULTREYA ET SUS EIA SPIRIT!!!! Undoubtfuly! Abyss or no abyss this is, to me, the biggest of missions... We have crossed the desert, w have climbed the mountain, we have descended the mountain... Man...Spirit is just...BEYOND! -------------------- "Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe |
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Aug 12 2007, 05:00 PM
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#9
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1619 Joined: 12-February 06 From: Bergerac - FR Member No.: 678 |
It's a great day.
But, don't forget that the battery failure was due to very low temperatures who have made some charge and discharge, during the second winter that VL2 had through. Utopia Planitia winter is colder than Meridiani or Gusev. Now, imagine you put one of the rovers on this site, I don't believe that they can survive to the winter (lower sun and lower temperature : remember frost during some sols). -------------------- |
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Aug 13 2007, 07:41 AM
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#10
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
I believe the Viking's battery failures were due to age and not cold. Remember, the landers had large amounts of waste heat available from the radioisotope power generators. I don't remember anything about thermal control in detail, but that heat was available to keep the important insides warm.
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Aug 13 2007, 10:46 AM
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#11
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14431 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
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Aug 13 2007, 08:11 PM
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#12
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Member Group: Members Posts: 688 Joined: 20-April 05 From: Sweden Member No.: 273 |
[Sigh] Contrary to popular belief Vikings did NOT have horns on their helmets.
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Aug 13 2007, 08:23 PM
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#13
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1229 Joined: 24-December 05 From: The blue one in between the yellow and red ones. Member No.: 618 |
(sigh) Obviously you never attended a Minnesota Vikings game.
-------------------- My Grandpa goes to Mars every day and all I get are these lousy T-shirts!
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Aug 13 2007, 09:47 PM
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#14
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14431 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
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Aug 14 2007, 03:19 AM
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#15
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
(sigh) Obviously you never attended a Minnesota Vikings game. I was about to say "Just try telling that to several hundred thousand of my fellow Minnesotans," but you beat me to the punch, Shaka... -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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