Posted on 07/19/2004 9:45:31 AM PDT by Paradox
Oh my, a Martian Winter --- Check the antifreeze in the Rover and get the snow tires on!
"...Spirit's aging front wheel" Yeah, right. How many miles on it? It's barely six months old.
Just like sliced white bread was an improvement over Grandma's cat head biscuits and iron skillet corn bread. (In a wood stove of course.)
From the article:
Spirit, with an odometer reading of over 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles), has already traveled six times its designed capacity.
The conditions on Mars are hardly ordinary. And the data on what the parameters of those conditions are not all that exhaustive. And, there's no way to maintain them.
Of the nine planets, the orbit of Mars has the third highest eccentricity (0.093) after Mercury (0.250) and Pluto (0.206) so it probably does play a part in temperature variations at the planet's surface; however, the equator of Mars is inclined 24.0 degrees to the plane of its orbit: I'm guessing that causes greater temperature variations, particularly at higher Martian latitudes.
Ought to call up one of those "on site" auto repair places and ask em if they do rear wheel bearings get an estimate and then tell em where it is.
Well, it seems to me that those guys that go for the land speed records do it in very salty and abrasive conditions.
Not sure if they can replace the wheels after the first run, but I would think NASA has access to some competent engineers
and scientists that could at least match them.
If anything, the design spec for the rover, in general, should have been greater than the absolute maximum, best-case scenario for the batteries.
Mars surface temperatures are currently being measured as varying from -10 deg. C to -130 deg. C every sol (Mars day). The surface pressures are well below the vapor pressures of the components of any non-solid lubricant. Not to answer for the dust storms that can envelope most of the planet.
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