Nasa announces new rover mission to Mars in 2020 |
Nasa announces new rover mission to Mars in 2020 |
May 11 2018, 09:16 PM
Post
#226
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2084 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
Helicopter confirmed for the payload: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/mars-hel...t-rover-mission
Looks like deployment will be from the belly of the rover body. Just release, and then drive off to a safe distance? Obviously some benefits to the Dragonfly Titan proposal in terms of getting experience with autonomous rotor-driven spacecraft, (thought liftoff on Titan would be a lot easier!) but also just plain cool! Selfies will be a lot easier to plan too... |
|
|
May 11 2018, 11:06 PM
Post
#227
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2511 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
Obviously some benefits to the Dragonfly Titan proposal in terms of getting experience with autonomous rotor-driven spacecraft... I think you overestimate the level of cooperation and information flow between JPL and APL, even if the two vehicles had much in common other than having rotors. -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
|
|
|
May 12 2018, 01:49 AM
Post
#228
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2084 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
That's true, and obviously there are many differences; one has to use its rotors for EDL in addition to the prime mission, carry scientific instruments, all after a multi-year cruise, while the other is a tech demonstration piggy-backing on another mission, and its own success or failure does not impact the 2020 Rover's objectives.
I was just thinking in terms of "space is space". Whether half an hour signal delay or several hours, neither will be controlled in real time by anything but an onboard computer, with really thin margins on mass and power. JAXA and NASA have cooperated on their respective asteroid sample return missions, (which are coincidentally flying at the same time), and there are some rather large differences between them. But anyway, this is mostly academic for now; looking forward to the Mars microphone picking up the whirr of the blades (3000 RPM!) |
|
|
May 12 2018, 02:26 AM
Post
#229
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 290 Joined: 29-December 05 From: Ottawa, ON Member No.: 624 |
Please tell me they're fitting a camera on the helicopter.
|
|
|
May 12 2018, 02:53 AM
Post
#230
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2084 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
Please tell me they're fitting a camera on the helicopter. Yes, this is the main point of the demonstration; being able to scout terrain ahead, with higher resolution than orbital imagery, both for engineering (planning safe drive routes) and science (spotting things too small for HiRise or not in line-of-sight to the rover). Being able to inspect the entire rover is an obvious plus, (if they are permitted to fly close enough to avoid being a hazard)*, though I'm sure many EDL team members would like to see how their hardware fared too! With Curiosity pretty much everything fell into local low points in the terrain, and we never saw the heatshield, backshell, parachute, or skycrane from the ground. Mind, the current plan is for only 30 days of operations, it's not apparently planned to 'tag along' for the main mission. Edit: *a bit tongue in cheek Mike! The forward facing camera would be plenty adequate for a distance view! |
|
|
May 12 2018, 03:29 AM
Post
#231
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2511 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
Being able to inspect the entire rover is an obvious plus, (if they are permitted to fly close enough to avoid being a hazard) No freakin' way. -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
|
|
|
May 13 2018, 06:52 AM
Post
#232
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 184 Joined: 2-March 06 Member No.: 692 |
I just fell on the floor laughing!!!
|
|
|
May 31 2018, 06:50 PM
Post
#233
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 201 Joined: 16-December 13 Member No.: 7067 |
JPL was concerned enough about the helicopter interface potentially taking down the rover that they gave that design to the Lockheed Martin Space avionics team. Our best engineer is working it, so I’ve been looking over his shoulder at the design.
I assumed there would be no moving parts in the deployment, but apparently the helicopter is held sideways against the belly, and then rotated 90 deg to vertical for deployment. I guess that makes sense on more consideration, this thing isn’t going to be THAT small, but I still don’t have a sense of scale between the two vehicles, how much clearance the stowed helicopter is going to get. |
|
|
May 31 2018, 08:03 PM
Post
#234
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2084 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
The new upgraded skycrane landing system should be able to avoid any unlucky rock sticking up, from what I recall?
|
|
|
Jun 1 2018, 12:55 AM
Post
#235
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2511 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
The new upgraded skycrane landing system should be able to avoid any unlucky rock sticking up, from what I recall? There's no active hazard avoidance that I'm aware of. There's TRN but that still requires a priori knowledge of hazards from pre-existing orbital imagery. See https://marsnext.jpl.nasa.gov/workshops/201...straints_v6.pdf -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
|
|
|
Jun 16 2018, 06:48 PM
Post
#236
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 808 Joined: 10-October 06 From: Maynard Mass USA Member No.: 1241 |
Here is a nice technical write-up of the Mars Helicopter
https://rotorcraft.arc.nasa.gov/Publication...AA2018_0023.pdf Two Cameras! -------------------- CLA CLL
|
|
|
Jun 22 2018, 05:31 AM
Post
#237
|
|
Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8783 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Helicopter test in simulated Mars surface atmosphere at JPL.
That's very impressive, esp. considering that they can't simulate 0.38g. -------------------- 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.
|
|
|
Oct 18 2018, 09:12 PM
Post
#238
|
|
Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10157 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
Voting at the landing site workshop just concluded. Looks like Jezero crater and Midway are preferred (either one can have an extended mission to the other). NE Syrtis a close second, but Columbia Hills is out.
Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PD: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
|
|
Oct 31 2018, 05:17 PM
Post
#239
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 866 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Santa Cruz, CA Member No.: 196 |
There's a nicely detailed rendering of a Jezero-Midway traverse map in this recent Discover article.
Its unclear the reasons behind the potential path options shown, perhaps they are mostly engineering and timeline considerations, as other paths could turn out to be more productive scientifically, i'm personally hoping the landing would be in Jezero (to which i'm assuming the yellow circles do not delineate any landing constraint but simply highlight the areas of interest), then onward through to the Midway region and whats sure to be a laundry list of sites beyond. I'm still mesmerized by that parachute test every time i see it. |
|
|
Nov 8 2018, 08:50 AM
Post
#240
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 102 Joined: 29-January 10 From: Poland Member No.: 5205 |
I made a flight over 3 landing sites to Mars Rover 2020.
I use MRO/CTX b.w. images then add a color from Mars Expres HRSC camera and made model from DT4 (same orbit like color image). Now I'm work from MRO/HiRISE more detailed images to Jezero and Midway sites. https://youtube.com/watch?v=yINcv96Tgb4 -------------------- Adam Hurcewicz from Poland
|
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 4th May 2024 - 08:51 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. |