Beautiful, thank you Dowly. :yeah:

The Mars Rover Team- Check the guy out farthest on the left. If the eyes are a window to the soul, his eyes say he is the devil,lol

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2...utmk=266046028

As usual, we think in two dimensions when it comes to opportunities to settle on Mars. Have read several replies in this thread and all answers pointing ONLY to the things we have today and are on the drawing board. But it will take a very long time before we can start sending the first settlers to Mars, and by then we will have developed today, for us, completely unknown, new material

Markus

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/950...1020aphoto.jpg
:hmm2:
I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation...
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/8960/originw.jpg
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/8551/beasttoby.jpg]
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/509...sg11010114.jpg
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/7...yfriend200.jpg
... oh yep: alien... :yep:

:haha::haha:

Curiosity's first test drive successful! :yeah:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms...l20120822.html

I love that NASA have named the landing site "Bradbury Landing" ,where ever he is now I think he may have a huge grin :03::D

Not too happy that NASA picked another Mars mission after this one,i think its time we stretch out a little further,back to titan.

NASA and the Europeans are planning (early planning) a mission to Titian's neighbor Enceladus, which has some signs of an environment suitable for possible life.

NASA, ESA and the Russians are building a probe (actually two orbiters and a lander) for a joint mission to Europa and Ganymede.

A few days ago I read in a Swedish newspaper, that the next robot that they are planning to send to Mars, shall have the possibility to drill and dig deeper than before.

Why not build a multitask robot that can do more than just one thing.

They got well paid engineers so let them show that they are worth the payment.

Markus

Build a probe to do one thing, you get a probe that does one thing well.

Build a probe to do ten things, you end up with a probe that can do five things, and doesn't do a very good job at any of them.

Complexity. You need redundant systems and redundantly redundant systems. Remember, anything goes wrong and it will be a long time before a repair dude can get there.

It is not intuitive, but you can't take two pieces of equipment which have been space rated and bolt them together and expect not to have to space rate the new configuration. You do... or you should... there have been examples where it was not done... those are usually referred to as space junk.

Multiply that by the complex systems that are needed to do the simplest task in downtown Mars. Multiply that by the redundant systems needed. I think it will become clear that simple systems in smaller numbers makes for a reliable space system.

When it comes to designing a space system, there is no such thing as a "small change". :nope::nope:. Everything affects everything else.

The more systems that need to interact, the more chances of an oops. Many oopses can be fixed here on earth, few oopses can be fixed on Mars.

In the space business, we call this mission creep and it is usually the death knell for space systems.

How about instead of building a multiple task robot, you build a multiple robot delivery system capable of deploying many different drones, each built for a single specific task that can be operated independently. I'd think this is what they'd do if they were sending humans. You send a team of specialists in several key areas of study. This allows the team to assist each other as well as perhaps back each other up in the event of mishap.

Hasn't a mars rover been lost because it got stuck in the sand? Maybe it might still be operating if there had been another rover nearby to pull it out. A squad of rovers like I suggest above might even have some type of recovery and repair bot dedicated to unscrewing any number of similar mission ending situations.

The problem is payload and endurance. A big probe can carry more sensors/equipment and can last longer (Curiosity is the 1st rover to use an RTG for example) meaning it can operate in conditions that a smaller rover cannot, one rover was put out of commission because dust covered its solar cells.

Now curiosity was only 23% of a nearly 9000 lb spacecraft all dedicated to getting that rover down safely. Sending two similar Rovers would have been beyond the payload abilities of the Atlas V rocket, even a Delta IV or Titan IV might not be able to do it. It could have in theory deployed about 8 of the Sprint/Opportunity type rovers but they would have all been landed very close to one another if they were meant to assist each other (These rovers cannot travel very far very fast), which does not factor in the practicality to commanding a rover to fix another rover with a 20 minute time delay from Mars to Earth (10 mins each way).

If we were commanding a rover from Mars orbit or from an outpost established on one of its moons then maybe having a pair of mutual assisting robots might be practical.