The Curiosity On Mars Thread.

thecommander

ronan45 wrote: »

Just "CURIOUS" pardon the pun.... I read the following

"This power source gives the rover an operating life span of at least 14 Earth years or 7.4 Martian years. The mission is initially expected to last around two Earth years."

So are they saying that its objectives will last 2 years and possibly not work or break down or will we still be using the rover in 2023 assuming it hasnt had a catastrophic failure or gotten stuck???

Correct. The Opportunity rover had a mission length of 90 Mars days, but is still in operation nearly 9 years later.

ronan45

thecommander wrote: »

Correct. The Opportunity rover had a mission length of 90 Mars days, but is still in operation nearly 9 years later.

Cheers Commander. Didnt realise that other fella was still buzzing about up there!!!

"2013
Opportunity began the year at the edge of Endevour Crater's Cape York,[97] and the total distance traveled since landing on Mars was 35 km (22 mi).[97][98]"

thecommander

Getting a tour of JPL next week. Not sure what I'll get to see but I'll take a ton of photos and post them here.

Ava_e

New evidence of water. Intriguing .http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/130115-curiosity-mars-drill-water-space-science/

TheUsual

Just found this thread.
I have been following the NASA information but it nice here to get other stuff too.

Just on that point above about lifespan of Curiosity.
Are there any risks to it from Solar radiation ?
And is there any danger that the storms that can blow for months or years obscure the contact with Earth like in a dust-cloud ?

shedweller

TheUsual wrote: »

Just found this thread.
I have been following the NASA information but it nice here to get other stuff too.

Just on that point above about lifespan of Curiosity.
Are there any risks to it from Solar radiation ?
And is there any danger that the storms that can blow for months or years obscure the contact with Earth like in a dust-cloud ?

The radiation risks are much the same as that experienced here in earth orbit. So there is a risk of radiation damage, but the circuitry has been radiation hardened to improve lifespan.
As far as i know, dust storms don't affect comms with the rover. They do affect solar panels for obvious reasons but Curiosity is nuclear powered so there are no such worries.
All i'd be worried about is getting the cameras covered with dust, despite the fact that there are dust covers. They might delay closing them for some reason and get spots of dust on the lenses.
Some new pics up today:

Capt'n Midnight

shedweller wrote: »

All i'd be worried about is getting the cameras covered with dust, despite the fact that there are dust covers. They might delay closing them for some reason and get spots of dust on the lenses.

If you meet anyone who worked on the Russian Venusian probes don't mention lens covers


Given the way that the other rovers got dust cover on their solar panels removed by wind would there be any thing to say for having a shaped coil / torus thingy that would generate a vortex near the camera ?

Sort like the way that Dublin Bay is scoured clean by the wall built by wall designed by Captain Bligh.

Anything designed to work outside of Earth's magnetosphere almost certainly has a radiation hardened processor (yes it's true sometimes that glitch on your computer was caused by a cosmic ray)

haven't they found evidence of tunnels on Mars - handy for humans as radiation shields.

shedweller

Jaysus that lens cover was a spectacular mess! Fortunately (for now) some of Curiosities lens covers are on actuators so they can be opened and closed.

I just saw this today and noticed the drop in temps now that Curiosity has gone onto more rocky ground.

Wired.com also has a good picture of the drive so far, minus any text overlay:

Gerrup dat mountain ya good ting!:D

Aquarius34

These Mars rovers are created to keep everyone distracted. Of course they'll find nothing. No life. Nothing. It's not meant to find life. So what's the point of it. Keeps threads like this going for no reason at all but to keep you all distracted from what NASA are really up too!

AlmightyCushion

Aquarius34 wrote: »

These Mars rovers are created to keep everyone distracted. Of course they'll find nothing. No life. Nothing. It's not meant to find life. So what's the point of it. Keeps threads like this going for no reason at all but to keep you all distracted from what NASA are really up too!

Oh I gotta hear this. What are NASA really up to?

thecommander

Aquarius34 wrote: »

These Mars rovers are created to keep everyone distracted. Of course they'll find nothing. No life. Nothing. It's not meant to find life. So what's the point of it. Keeps threads like this going for no reason at all but to keep you all distracted from what NASA are really up too!

You're right, Curiosity isn't designed to find life.

But continue on about what NASA are really up to, interested to hear.

Duggys Housemate

thecommander wrote: »

You're right, Curiosity isn't designed to find life.

But continue on about what NASA are really up to, interested to hear.

He has the conspiracy forum for that.

mickmackey1

Aquarius34 wrote: »

These Mars rovers are created to keep everyone distracted. Of course they'll find nothing. No life. Nothing. It's not meant to find life. So what's the point of it. Keeps threads like this going for no reason at all but to keep you all distracted from what NASA are really up too!

723 posts already? You're a nutter

8mv

Aquarius34 wrote: »

These Mars rovers are created to keep everyone distracted. Of course they'll find nothing. No life. Nothing. It's not meant to find life. So what's the point of it. Keeps threads like this going for no reason at all but to keep you all distracted from what NASA are really up too!

Oh Dear. JC can't be far behind.

namloc1980

Aquarius34 wrote: »

These Mars rovers are created to keep everyone distracted. Of course they'll find nothing. No life. Nothing. It's not meant to find life. So what's the point of it. Keeps threads like this going for no reason at all but to keep you all distracted from what NASA are really up too!

So NASA have spent billions of dollars to keep a few dozen people on boards.ie occupied and distracted from what they are really up to? It's nice to know that they care so much.

TheUsual

Aquarius34 wrote: »

These Mars rovers are created to keep everyone distracted. Of course they'll find nothing. No life. Nothing. It's not meant to find life. So what's the point of it. Keeps threads like this going for no reason at all but to keep you all distracted from what NASA are really up too!

I don't think anybody believes there is any life, even sub-soil bacteria on Mars.
But the planet did have ground water flowing back before it lost it's atmosphere.
So I think it's safe to say that under these conditions, with meteors raining down possible life to seed Mars, that there might be a fossil evidence of this or maybe some chemical trace left behind in rocks.

NASA are up to what exactly ?
Death Stars ?

Rubecula

Aquarius34 wrote: »

These Mars rovers are created to keep everyone distracted. Of course they'll find nothing. No life. Nothing. It's not meant to find life. So what's the point of it. Keeps threads like this going for no reason at all but to keep you all distracted from what NASA are really up too!

Yes I agree entirely. NASA are definitely up to no good. We all know for fact that they are in secret talks with the Tharg Empire of Regulus to take over the peaceful agrarian planet of Scrunge. They have already launched the Mighty Mouse, the largest warship the Earth has ever sent to the far reaches of the galaxy.

shedweller

Rubecula wrote: »

Yes I agree entirely. NASA are definitely up to no good. We all know for fact that they are in secret talks with the Tharg Empire of Regulus to take over the peaceful agrarian planet of Scrunge. They have already launched the Mighty Mouse, the largest warship the Earth has ever sent to the far reaches of the galaxy.

Does it have a drill bit? That ****s important!

JupiterKid

On another web forum there was speculation that Curiosity's skycrane had a secret mission of its own and flew off to travel several hundred kilometres from the rover instead of the real distance of several hundred metres. pfffft!:rolleyes:

Unfortunately you will never be able to calm the conspiracy theorists.

shedweller

JupiterKid wrote: »

On another web forum there was speculation that Curiosity's skycrane had a secret mission of its own and flew off to travel several hundred kilometres from the rover instead of the real distance of several hundred metres. pfffft!

Unfortunately you will never be able to calm the conspiracy theorists.

Aye, obviously those tiny fuel tanks were good for a few more km than they were telling us. They weren't, right?? Did they photoshop the descent stage crash site too? Ah feck. I was going to make a lego jobbie of the thing. Now i have to add some aliens n sh1t. Now i have to order more lego pieces. Feck!!

Capt'n Midnight

Rubecula wrote: »

We all know for fact that they are in secret talks with the Tharg Empire of Regulus to take over the peaceful agrarian planet of Scrunge.

Wasn't that supposed to have been done by 2000AD ? :pac:

shedweller

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Wasn't that supposed to have been done by 2000AD ? :pac:

It happened, but they hid it in area 52, i mean 51. Feck...

thecommander

JupiterKid wrote: »

On another web forum there was speculation that Curiosity's skycrane had a secret mission of its own and flew off to travel several hundred kilometres from the rover instead of the real distance of several hundred metres. pfffft!:rolleyes:

Unfortunately you will never be able to calm the conspiracy theorists.

Link? Love to read that.

JupiterKid

thecommander wrote: »

Link? Love to read that.

Sure thing - I managed to dig that thread out. Here it is below:

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=242439

Capt'n Midnight

JupiterKid wrote: »

On another web forum there was speculation that Curiosity's skycrane had a secret mission of its own and flew off to travel several hundred kilometres from the rover instead of the real distance of several hundred metres. pfffft!:rolleyes:

Unfortunately you will never be able to calm the conspiracy theorists.

And you think that the 300kg of ballast was inert lumps of tungsten ? :pac:

2 stroke

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

And you think that the 300kg of ballast was inert lumps of tungsten ? :pac:

Chinese lanterns?

shedweller

shedweller

Here's a brief summary of the recent goings on:

Mountainsandh

Yes ! Keeping it for later when the kids are in bed. Thanks Shedweller.

shedweller

Here's the result of the plan to use the wheels to do some digging and therefore revealing fresh broken rock:


I'm sure there will be some colour pics along soon.