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NASA to decide soon whether flying drone will launch with Mars 2020 rover
Spaceflight Now ^ | 3/15/18 | Stephen Clark

Posted on 03/16/2018 8:16:05 AM PDT by LibWhacker

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1 posted on 03/16/2018 8:16:05 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

I would imagine that would be tricky in the thin atmosphere.


2 posted on 03/16/2018 8:17:48 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The government cannot protect you and isn't even trying. Self-defense is a right.)
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To: LibWhacker

Elon Musk’s Martian colony will probably be under construction by then...


3 posted on 03/16/2018 8:22:07 AM PDT by dinodino
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To: dinodino
I'll leave the light on for ya .... t'find yer way.
4 posted on 03/16/2018 8:23:30 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true, I have no proof, but they're true)
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To: LibWhacker

I hope whoever thought of that idiotic ‘sky crane’ concept is not designing this.


5 posted on 03/16/2018 8:26:39 AM PDT by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing Obamacare is worse than Obamacare itself.)
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To: LibWhacker

by 2020?

In the meantime Elon Musk will have a guy on the ground waving to it.


6 posted on 03/16/2018 8:27:40 AM PDT by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing Obamacare is worse than Obamacare itself.)
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To: Mr. K
I hope whoever thought of that idiotic ‘sky crane’ concept is not designing this.

That "idiotic 'sky crane' concept" worked, and delivered a huge payload safely to the surface without requiring a bigger fairing on the launch rocket.

What's your beef with it?

7 posted on 03/16/2018 8:30:35 AM PDT by Yossarian
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To: ClearCase_guy

I did a paper on that exact thing in school. 175 pages.
It is VERY difficult to do. The atmosphere is about 1/2 of 1% of ours. That means you need approx 200 times the lift that a earthbound helicopter needs. Ouch. Oh, and we would like to carry a bunch of instruments too to measure stuff. And then transfer that information to something that will send it to us. And then recharge our batteries and do it again. Complicated hardly describes it. Fun paper though.


8 posted on 03/16/2018 8:32:21 AM PDT by calljack (Sometimes your worst nightmare is just a start.)
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To: LibWhacker

I would love to ride the Rover. Smokin’ technology!


9 posted on 03/16/2018 8:33:07 AM PDT by heterosupremacist (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. - (Thomas Jefferson))
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To: Mr. K

You think they did the sky crane because it was fun?
Please.


10 posted on 03/16/2018 8:34:47 AM PDT by calljack (Sometimes your worst nightmare is just a start.)
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To: Mr. K

I know,that Elon works fast, but 2020 isn’t that far away.


11 posted on 03/16/2018 8:36:11 AM PDT by jmcenanly ("The more corrupt the state, the more laws." Tacitus, Publius Cornelius)
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To: calljack; ClearCase_guy

Perhaps a balloon would be a better concept.

simpler technology with few moving parts.

of course getting it to go where you want it to go might be difficult.

but letting drift where the winds take it could bring unexpected discoveries.


12 posted on 03/16/2018 8:45:51 AM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.L)
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To: dinodino
Elon Musk’s Martian colony will probably be under construction by then...

Not if he's been removed from the taxpayer funded trough

13 posted on 03/16/2018 8:53:18 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: Pontiac

Not enough ways to waste money but great idea.


14 posted on 03/16/2018 8:56:24 AM PDT by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: Mr. K

Either that or musks guy will be a corpse waiting to be found.


15 posted on 03/16/2018 8:56:47 AM PDT by DownInFlames
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To: Pontiac

I like your balloon idea.

Solves the vertical lift problem nicely. Directional control shouldn’t be an issue unless there are very strong winds.

I wonder if it would need to be a rigid, vacuum-filled balloon. 1/2 of 1% air density as compared to earth’s atmosphere is pretty light. Not sure helium is even that light.


16 posted on 03/16/2018 9:07:32 AM PDT by ConservativeWarrior (Fall down 7 times, stand up 8. - Japanese proverb)
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To: ConservativeWarrior

How much oxygen is there in the Martian atmosphere? They could use hydrogen for lift if the threat of combustion were low. I imagine a simple chemical reaction could be performed to free hydrogen gas, when needed, on the surface.


17 posted on 03/16/2018 9:11:10 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The government cannot protect you and isn't even trying. Self-defense is a right.)
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To: LibWhacker
Mars 2020 will also collect rock samples and store them inside sealed tubes for retrieval by a future mission that will return them to Earth.

Why wouldn't the future mission collect their own rocks? It's not like they will be somewhere with different rocks - since they have to go there to pick them up.

18 posted on 03/16/2018 9:22:22 AM PDT by T. P. Pole
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To: ConservativeWarrior

I really like it that somebody else used the words “vacuum balloon” It is probably the only balloon that would work.


19 posted on 03/16/2018 9:26:42 AM PDT by calljack (Sometimes your worst nightmare is just a start.)
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To: calljack

It is VERY difficult to do. The atmosphere is about 1/2 of 1% of ours.


It’s amazing one can design aircraft to operate in what amounts to little more than a vacuum. I’ve even seen designs for gliders operating in the Martian atmosphere.


20 posted on 03/16/2018 9:50:38 AM PDT by Flick Lives
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