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Mars rovers OK after dust storm
AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/31/07 | John Antczak - ap

Posted on 08/31/2007 7:52:37 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

click here to read article


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To: Humble Servant

lol...


21 posted on 08/31/2007 8:54:18 PM PDT by JasonC
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To: Thudd

Not to worry.

I sold NASA Martian dust offset credits.


22 posted on 08/31/2007 8:59:42 PM PDT by 2111USMC
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To: balls
"Given our astonomical investment in your envours, success most of the time should be expected!"

Exploration on the edge of technological ablity will always bring risk. You manage it. You cannot eliminate it. We are doing things for the very first time here.

And the "astronomical investment" is peanuts compared to how government spends your money. Note NASA in the graph below, and remember that JPL and the Mars rover are a fraction of that even.......


23 posted on 08/31/2007 9:57:42 PM PDT by Names Ash Housewares
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To: balls; Names Ash Housewares

I see that NAH has already responded to your budget comment. But I feel the need to address your other comments, they stink of a lack of understanding of exactly what goes into these programs.

The rovers had a 90 day planned lifespan. Which, really when you think of it, is not that long for the investment. What we have gotten out of these rovers is amazing. Like every other mission that humanity has ever launched, there are mounds of data that have been collected but there just isn’t enough manpower to analyze what it means. The biggest problem is if you don’t know what you’re looking for in the data you’ll never find it.

To contradict your statement, the mission managers and Primary Investigators are THRILLED that these rovers just refuse to die. Thinking up new missions on the fly is NO problem, there is enough science to be done that if these rovers lasted 10 years it wouldn’t be long enough. You can’t get a whole lot of more value out of these missions the way they are going.

As far as NASA’s budget...they were asked by the president in 2003 to plan and execute manned Lunar and Martian missions. And then he dropped the ball and refused to give them enough money to carry out that vision. Maybe it was his way of trying to kill NASA. The biggest problem is that your country can not be without human spaceflight capability. Losing that (as you will for about 5 years) will be a MAJOR setback for a country that’s already teetering on the brink of economic ruin.

Granted I think (from an engineering standpoint) the way they’ve gone about manned exploration is completely wrong. They started with a conclusion and then changed the data to make sure that their preferred system was used rather than something that was faster, better, cheaper. But the point is it will get done.


24 posted on 09/01/2007 1:03:37 AM PDT by AntiKev ("No damage. The world's still turning isn't it?" - Stereo Goes Stellar - Blow Me A Holloway)
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To: balls
It’s amazing what happens when you build in robust, graceful failure modes into a design, instead of the usual way NASA pushes for bleeding edge performance, without realizing that better is the enemy of good enough. The Russians are better at elegant but robust design, because they had less sophisticated and reliable tech to work with - they planned for it to fail partially, but still complete the mission.
25 posted on 09/08/2007 12:52:54 PM PDT by anymouse
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To: anymouse

There are Russian robots on Mars??


26 posted on 09/08/2007 1:00:42 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: balls

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0709/06phoenix/

Mars-bound Phoenix lander checks out gear
NASA/JPL STATUS REPORT
Posted: September 6, 2007

Two crucial tools for a successful landing of America’s latest mission to Mars, the radar and UHF radio on NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander, have passed in-flight checkouts.

The ultra-high-frequency radio won’t be turned on again until landing day, May 25, 2008, when it will relay communications from Phoenix to orbiters already in service around Mars. Since launch on Aug. 4, 2007, and until the day it reaches Mars, Phoenix is communicating directly with Earth via even higher frequency X-band radio, mounted on a part of the spacecraft that will be jettisoned shortly before Phoenix hits the top of the Martian atmosphere.


This is an excerpt. There is much more to this international effort.


27 posted on 09/08/2007 1:07:13 PM PDT by RightWhale (It's Brecht's donkey, not mine)
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To: All
On to Mars ping!


28 posted on 09/08/2007 1:11:39 PM PDT by Fitzcarraldo (Skip the Moon, go for Mars)
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To: tet68
There are Russian robots on Mars??

Not funtioning ones. But they did get there first.

The overview of the Russian launches toward Mars

May 28, 1971 Mars-3 Mars orbiter/lander Orbited Mars; Lander failed upon landing

Aug. 5, 1973 Mars-6 Mars flyby/landing UR-500 Flew by Mars, landed capsule

Numerous later Mars missions planned by the Russians never quite got the funding they needed to fly their proven hardware. Their whole mission budgets were fractions of what NASA spends annually on planetary projects.

29 posted on 09/09/2007 12:59:27 AM PDT by anymouse
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To: NormsRevenge
Very cool. These are certified NASA success stories. Amazing how well they've done and how long they've lasted.

Kudos to NASA.

30 posted on 09/09/2007 1:29:29 AM PDT by TChris (Has anyone under Mitt Romney's leadership ever been worse off because he is Mormon?)
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