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LeapinGnome
Joined: 16 Dec 2004
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Location: SLC
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 Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 6:32 am Post subject: NASA presents: The 7 Minutes of Terror! |
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Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2I8AoB1xgU
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Grant
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
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Location: The Sun Mountain Town
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| Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 10:30 am Post subject: |
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I don't understand how the propulsive jets above the rover don't throw dust wash everywhere. The tether is only 21 ft long. I've read on Mars the surface dust is 50x finer than on earth. The electrostatic charge in it could be awfully dangerous!
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LeapinGnome
Joined: 16 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 5:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I don't understand how the propulsive jets above the rover don't throw dust wash everywhere. |
That's a good question.
My thought would be that multiple factors would be in play. First, the thrusters are angled away from perpendicular to the surface, raising less dust (and preventing cooking the rover!). Second-the lower gravity means that the lander engines require less thrust and that is distributed between the engines. Third, the lower atmospheric pressure means that exhaust gases expand more rapidly so that a few meters away from the nozzles the effect would me minimal.
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Ron R.
Joined: 15 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 8:23 pm Post subject: |
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| ^ Thanks for this post and the explanation, very interesting. |
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LeapinGnome
Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 786
Location: SLC
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| Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 11:45 pm Post subject: |
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I get so excited about these projects but have to temper that with some reality checks-the complexity of what these people are trying to do is overwhelming-one glitch and it's the Polar Lander all over again.
Here's a cool page showing a complete list of Martian exploratory attempts:
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/spacecraft_planetary_mars.html
The USSR record with Mars is brutal- check out the Russian Phobos-Grunt program-what an epic!
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chemman
Joined: 07 Dec 2004
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Location: Flying over the Earth poisoning you with chemtrails
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| Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 12:30 am Post subject: |
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You should also bear in mind that the lander would most likely not using visual information for the actual touchdown phase. Most likely radar. The dust would be invisible up to a certain density. It would be interesting to know what is used...
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