Sundial sitting on solar panels, A question about power requirements |
Sundial sitting on solar panels, A question about power requirements |
Sep 2 2006, 03:03 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 147 Joined: 14-April 06 From: Berlin Member No.: 744 |
I am currently digging in the Planetary Radio archives and heared Bill Nye saying that the Mars sundial sitting on the solar panels takes about 1 to 2 percent of power by covering them. The sundial itself is of course a great outreach idea and probably does not affect the mission as Bill said. BUT: what if the 2 percent were the LAST 2 percent left? What is the minimum power requirement for MERs? And namely a) for being able to rove for being able to use the RAT c) for being able to sit calmly and just send data to the orbiters. No intention to question the "Two Worlds One Sun" thing, I really love it. Just made me curious about the power as it might be relevant in speculations about their expected lifespan.
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Sep 2 2006, 04:01 PM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 578 Joined: 5-November 04 From: Denmark Member No.: 107 |
And the HGA and the PMA takes up much more than 2 percent
-------------------- "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 |
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Sep 3 2006, 04:31 PM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 147 Joined: 14-April 06 From: Berlin Member No.: 744 |
And I was not suggesting to toss'em as worthless but asking what the MERs could do with only 2% of power left Could they at least send some bits to the orbiters?
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Sep 3 2006, 04:46 PM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2919 Joined: 14-February 06 From: Very close to the Pyrénées Mountains (France) Member No.: 682 |
And I was not suggesting to toss'em as worthless but asking what the MERs could do with only 2% of power left Could they at least send some bits to the orbiters? Do NOTHING and wait untill the batteries charge the next day I talked will Bill Nye on the very day of Spirit landing and he was very proud of the sundial be in fact a by product of the calibration target. -------------------- |
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Sep 5 2006, 12:51 PM
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#5
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2454 Joined: 8-July 05 From: NGC 5907 Member No.: 430 |
Do NOTHING and wait untill the batteries charge the next day I talked will Bill Nye on the very day of Spirit landing and he was very proud of the sundial be in fact a by product of the calibration target. The sundial was the very first object image radioed to Earth by Spirit after it landed on Mars. Not quite sure if they used the same target with Opportunity's first image. -------------------- "After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance. I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard, and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft." - Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853 |
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