Mars Rover Stuck in a Dune 497
Bamfarooni writes "The NASA Mars rover Opportunity has gotten stuck in a dune, buried up to the hubs of the wheels. While they haven't given up yet, it doesn't look good for the little guy who's now 359 days into the extended mission." From the article: "The Mars machinery had been cruising southward across the open parking lot-like landscape of Meridiani Planum, full of larger and larger ripples of soil. Opportunity has been en route to its next stopover, Erebus crater, nestled inside an even larger crater known as Terra Nova."
Summary is a little too sensational (Score:5, Informative)
I'd hardly interpret that as "it doesn't look good for the little guy".
Re:Demolition derby (Score:1, Informative)
That sucks, but they got their money's worth (Score:5, Informative)
As much as my Nerd Gene wants a manned mission to Mars, it's hard to argue with the scientific value of (relatively) cheap missions like this. NASA shifted in the late 90's to a series of relatively inexpensive probes with a narrow purpose (as opposed to the Voyager-class missions). These probes make sense. For one, there's less financial damage if one fails or is destroyed. And two, they can be put together, tested, and launched more cheaply and more quickly.
And we're getting some excellent science from them. The Mars rovers were an hour-by-hour news story, then a day-by-day news story, there was a lot of public interest in them during those first few days. These kinds of missions are, I think, more crucial to human space exploration than launching a dude to Mars.
There's some things you must have people in space to accomplish, but we've got a lot to learn yet through frugal unmanned space exploration and I hate to see so much of NASA's focus being shifted towards manned operations. Honestly, I hate to see NASA continuing to be involved in the production and operational side of space exploration. I think NASA should be reformulated as a primarily science and research-oriented organization and launch operations should be almost entirely privatized. NASA does too many things and most of it not that well, and none of it efficiently.
Images (Score:5, Informative)
I hope they get it out...
Re:Don't give up, NASA! (Score:5, Informative)
Perhaps NASA could learn a thing or two from rednecks in 4x4 pickup trucks? *smile*
Re:Summary is a little too sensational (Score:3, Informative)
Re:More info (Score:5, Informative)
Re:They've probably tried this already... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:More info (Score:3, Informative)
Re:They've probably tried this already... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Demolition derby (Score:5, Informative)
Under near-ideal conditions, the rovers could crawl a hundred meters (three hundred or so feet) per day.
The two rovers are on roughly opposite sides of the planet, which has a diameter of nearly seven thousand kilometers. To bring the other rover around--assuming you could drive in a straight line and there were no obstacles or technical problems--would take two or three hundred years.
Re:Baja Claws (Score:3, Informative)
No, you need sand tyres [landroverclub.net] - mud tyres are designed to dig deep into the dirt.
That's the last thing you want to do if you are travelling across sand.
Re:Southern Drivers (Score:2, Informative)
Where rain is more frequent, the layer of guck is less and the danger less.
At least that's what my late buddy from southern cal. used to tell me, explaining why in a Virginia cloudburst he would pull over to the side of the road and refuse to budge until the initial fury was spent.
Re:Summary is a little too sensational (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It's easy! (Score:5, Informative)
Also, the floor mats do work, those people you see obviously don't know what they are doing with the floormats if they are ejecting them into the air. Don't floor it when you shove the mats under! You're suppose to just crawl it out using the floormats for grip instead of loose sand, or ice.
Some Rover achievements... (Score:2, Informative)
[Source:" http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tl_surface
What will be learned from this information will help in future Mars missions, you gotta start somewhere!
Re:Job well done (Score:3, Informative)
Soyuz is cheaper - about half the price per kilogram as the shuttle. There are a lot of factors involved here, but as the previous poster mentioned, most of them have to do with it not being reusable. The downside to this is that they have to produce a new rocket each time, unlike the shuttle, and rockets have very large amounts of labor and raw materials (some materials, like those used in the engines are very expensive) involved in all of the part production and assembly. Even with the semi-mass-production style used on Soyuz, costs still add up fast, and there's not too much they can do to bring them down further.
Another thing that helps make Soyuz cheaper is that their labor costs are a small fraction the cost of ours. That makes the Delta-IV heavy all the more impressive as a launch vehicle, as its launch prices are similar to Soyuz and Long March prices, but we have to pay US labor costs.
Re:Some suggestions to get UNstuck... (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7284 [newscientist.com]
"The rover has six wheels aligned in two rows and each of the four corner wheels has its own steering mechanism. The problem is with the front right wheel, which can still roll but is now stuck at a 7 inward angle. NASA rover project manager Jim Erickson says it is like a car losing its power steering."
It continues with a quote from the "Quote I wish I could take back" department:
"At this point, with this one actuator failed, it's an inconvenience, nothing more," says rover chief scientist Steven Squyres.
The JPL statement on the issue at that time is here: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_opp
[...]
"Opportunity's right-front steering motor stalled out on sol 433 during an end-of-drive turn. While performing tests to help the team diagnose the condition of that motor, the rover also continued to make remote-sensing observations. Testing in sol 435 did show motion in the steering motor, but analysis is still underway. The rover resumed normal science and driving operations on sol 436, but with restrictions on use of the right-front steering motor. It drove 30 meters on sol 437. Opportunity and Spirit are capable of driving with one or more steering motors disabled, though turns would be less precise. The latest revision in flight software on both rovers, uploaded in February, gives them improved capabilities for dealing with exactly this type of condition. It gives them upgraded ability to repeatedly evaluate how well they are following the intended course during a drive, and to adjust the steering autonomously if appropriate."
So the JPL story seems to say on sol 435 that the steering motor was still working, but testing was still underway and its use was restricted.