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Spirit now living longer than Viking 2
OWW
post Aug 11 2007, 09:44 AM
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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! tongue.gif

pancam.gif wheel.gif wheel.gif wheel.gif
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Guest_Zvezdichko_*
post Aug 11 2007, 12:00 PM
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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 smile.gif

wheel.gif wheel.gif
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abalone
post Aug 11 2007, 12:15 PM
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QUOTE (Zvezdichko @ Aug 11 2007, 10:00 PM) *
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 smile.gif

wheel.gif wheel.gif

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_*
post Aug 11 2007, 12:20 PM
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According to wikipedia info:

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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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abalone
post Aug 11 2007, 12:26 PM
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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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SteveM
post Aug 11 2007, 02:06 PM
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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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Rob Pinnegar
post Aug 11 2007, 04:14 PM
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QUOTE (Zvezdichko @ Aug 11 2007, 06:20 AM) *
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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ustrax
post Aug 11 2007, 04:59 PM
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QUOTE (OWW @ Aug 11 2007, 10:44 AM) *
I say a celebration is in order! tongue.gif


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! biggrin.gif


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"Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe
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Ant103
post Aug 12 2007, 05:00 PM
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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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edstrick
post Aug 13 2007, 07:41 AM
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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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djellison
post Aug 13 2007, 10:46 AM
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GO SPIRIT
BEAT VIKING
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tty
post Aug 13 2007, 08:11 PM
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[Sigh] Contrary to popular belief Vikings did NOT have horns on their helmets. mad.gif
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Shaka
post Aug 13 2007, 08:23 PM
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(sigh) Obviously you never attended a Minnesota Vikings game. cool.gif


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My Grandpa goes to Mars every day and all I get are these lousy T-shirts!
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djellison
post Aug 13 2007, 09:47 PM
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QUOTE (tty @ Aug 13 2007, 09:11 PM) *
Vikings did NOT have horns on their helmets.


But the Viking engineers and scientists did on landing night.


Doug
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dvandorn
post Aug 14 2007, 03:19 AM
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QUOTE (Shaka @ Aug 13 2007, 03:23 PM) *
(sigh) Obviously you never attended a Minnesota Vikings game. cool.gif

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... smile.gif

-the other Doug


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