Posted on 03/19/2013 9:08:18 AM PDT by BenLurkin
There is a lot more radiation that makes it to the surface of Mars than here, due to our atmosphere and stronger magnetic field.
need more tin foil
Hard to understand how the shielding could have been inadequate, along with strategies to recover from memory errors.
Did anyone check the measurement units to see if the calculations reflected USEngineering or metric?
Turns out that the amount of radiation reaching the surface is considerably less than they expected. One of the earliest findings from this rover was that the radiation at surface level was comparable to what our astronauts experience on the space station.
I’m assuming the damage was likely done in transit.
The Martians disabled it so we would have to go fix it. Their idea if a practical joke...; )
I know. ‘Space radiation’. Space radiates, you know. Gotta love journalism.
The engineers KNEW they were going to a planet that had no magnetosphere. Moreover, you can test for this. You can actually create a lab environment where the vehicle has to perform under these conditions, and for extended lengths of time.
I’ve been studying the correlation between planetoids with magnetic fields and the observation of lightning on the planetoids.
Interesting. I do know they have special shielded closet they get into when a bad solar flare(s) are detected.
It sucks that mars is so far away. It would be technically much easier to colonize on mars than the moon but the amount of time spent in open space makes it more dangerous to get there.
A martian day is comparable to earth. There is at least some atmosphere so suits and habitats could be built for minimum pressurization. Daytime temperatures can be warm enough to require minimal heating.
“Space radiation” is the correct term, though sometimes you see “space weather”, to describe the particle environment.
A program used to estimate rad effects is called SpaceRad, after Space Radiation.
This is the sort of dumbing down that made thermodynamics harder than it had to be. The word ‘heat’ should never be used in the context of thermo, but because it is, it gets confusing - specific heat, etc. ‘Thermal energy’ is the correct term, and once you get into that practice, thermo is easy.
Space radiation is a term not unlike what 18th century scientists used the term ‘ether’ for. ‘The ether’ was a scientific term for a very long time until we got specific about what ‘the ether’ meant.
Bodies emitting thermal energy also emit EM radiation. The sun puts out UV radiation. Hydrogen and helium nuclei emit nutrinos. The Van Allen belts emit radiation. Then there are cosmic rays, which is another ‘ether’ like term, since their sources are myriad. At least cosmic rays are understood to originate outside the solar system.
Most of the radiation occuring on Mars is due to the Sun. As such, they could have designed around it sufficiently, but they apparently didn’t.
Mars is probably "so far away" for a reason. If it were significantly closer, gravitational interactions with Earth and the other inner planets could result in a chaotic orbit that would result in an eventual collision with the Earth, ruining a lot of people's weekends.
Also, Mars' inner moon, Phobos, is inside its Roche limits, so that it eventually will be torn apart and crash into Mars (sometime in the next 100 million years). The collision would result in a large amount of debris ejected into space, some of which will collide with Earth. If closer to Mars, Earth would just catch more Martian flak, again ruining a lot of weekend plans.
It ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids.
LOL my typa humor...: )
I don't believe that they know the 'problem' came from 'space radiation'. They know they have the problem, and are fixing it. All else is speculation. It's not like they have a 'space radiation damage' detector onboard.
Next time use FED-EX.
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