MSL "scarecrow" mobility model Options

[elakdawalla]

I went to JPL yesterday to see them put the mobility model for MSL through its paces. It is HUGE!

Lots of pictures and video posted at http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001010/

I have the pictures (but not the video) at twice the resolution if anyone needs them for artistic purposes.

--Emily

[MarsEngineer]

I went to JPL yesterday to see them put the mobility model for MSL through its paces. It is HUGE!

--Emily

Hi Emily,

I am sorry I missed you yesterday.

Your reaction is the same reaction we all have when we first see scarecrow. It is big. But it is not just big ... it has a presence .. it is there .. you can almost see it alone on Mars scratching its metalic way over boulders and vanquishing ventifacts. Little Sojourner and even MER did not project itself into our space like MSL does.

Ironically when engineers "see" objects via textual requirements (e.g. mass & volume of science instruments, rover mass estimates) or even schematics and drawings we miss the reality of what we are attempting. I suspect that those who have seen it for the first time without hearing much about it in advance will wonder about the audacity of it all. Is this a sign of our arrogence? One could easily conclude that it is. But to the engineers, ironically it is not. To our eyes it is all numeric. Margined mass estimates, volumes, structural loads, power profiles ... if the units are mm or m, mg or kg, the problems are the same. It is only when we see it with our own eyes and through the fresh eyes of others does the reality set in.

But only for a moment. There are dynamics simulations, functional design documents, modal analyses, design reviews, schematics, procurements, test plans, test equipment & tests to complete. There is but a moment for awe.

-Rob Manning

PS I first got wacked by the reality of Mars exploration way back on Mars Pathfinder in th fall of 1994 when a gaggle of engineers, scientists and teachers drove up to the "scablands" of eastern Washington State (my home state) to visit the terrestial "analog" to Pathfinder's eventual landing site called Ares Vallis (massive catastrophic water outflow - Mars floods about 3x10^9 years ago and Earth's about 13,000 years ago). We swung by Spokane and visited a Jr HS on a Thur night in the pouring rain to talk to the general public figuring there might be some who would be interested in Mars. We expected maybe a few dozen folks - maybe some high school science teachers. It looked as if a thousand people showed up. Suddenly I no longer felt I was just another engineer working on a little project that nobody cared about. My job became far more intense after that, but also far more exciting.