Space news /comments

[Valka D'Ur]

Didn't the Terminators get somewhat *creaky* when their outer shells were damaged? It's been awhile since I've seen any of those movies.

Would the rovers make more of a humming sound, then? Does it whirr? Any clicks or beeps? Does the Martian regolith quietly go "crunch"? I realize there wouldn't be any reason to deliberately make it quiet, but generally speaking, electronics are supposed to work quietly when they're functioning right. I'm just wondering if there would be any other noises associated with it traveling or doing anything else it's supposed to do.

Thing is, I've watched coverage of probes landing, taking pictures from space - but naturally we can't hear what it sounds like. I'm not imagining R2D2, but I am wondering if it makes sounds similar to a normal computer, and how loud it is when it moves.

 

[ghostmaker650]

Just want to let OT know that it's only a few hours until curiosity will (crash)land on Mars. Fingers crossed.

I don't think they're crash landing this time.


Link to video.

 

[Winner]

I am so happy it landed safely, I was quite worried that the whole skycrane system would fail because of something petty and idiotic (loose bolt somewhere, software glitch, that sort of thing). It's another first for NASA, and we need those these days

 

[Cutlass]

Didn't the Terminators get somewhat *creaky* when their outer shells were damaged? It's been awhile since I've seen any of those movies.

Would the rovers make more of a humming sound, then? Does it whirr? Any clicks or beeps? Does the Martian regolith quietly go "crunch"? I realize there wouldn't be any reason to deliberately make it quiet, but generally speaking, electronics are supposed to work quietly when they're functioning right. I'm just wondering if there would be any other noises associated with it traveling or doing anything else it's supposed to do.

Thing is, I've watched coverage of probes landing, taking pictures from space - but naturally we can't hear what it sounds like. I'm not imagining R2D2, but I am wondering if it makes sounds similar to a normal computer, and how loud it is when it moves.

Beeps are an artificial sound that would have to be designed in. And there's no reason to do that. It's really just going to be the electric motor sounds, and they won't be loud. If you've heard a car roll over sand and gravel, that's sort of what the movement will sound like. They say it's about the weight of a SUV. The regolith it will be rolling over is mostly the consistency of sand with bits of gravel in it, so far as I can see. Rolling on sand makes little noise, but there would be some. Once on the ground the biggest threat to the operation of the rover will be dust in the machinery. So the design works to keep it out to the greatest extent possible. So those electric motors and gears will be contained, which will take machinery which is typically not very loud and make it even quieter. On the other hand, it is a large machine and will take powerful motors to move it.

So whirrrrs and clicks, and some grinding of the wheels on gravel and sand, and probably little else. And none of it audible except very close due to the thin air.

 

[Kozmos]

 

[Crezth]

I am so happy it landed safely, I was quite worried that the whole skycrane system would fail because of something petty and idiotic (loose bolt somewhere, software glitch, that sort of thing). It's another first for NASA, and we need those these days

Hey, man, what have I been saying? Have a little faith.

 

[Cutlass]

That one's always a tear-jerker.

 

[Kozmos]

Curiosity killed the cat.

 

[J-man]

I am so happy it landed safely, I was quite worried that the whole skycrane system would fail because of something petty and idiotic (loose bolt somewhere, software glitch, that sort of thing). It's another first for NASA, and we need those these days

Or a mix up of feets and meters...

 

[Winner]

Or a mix up of feets and meters...

I hope they won't do that again

---

Well, let's hope the rover stays alive for a loooong time, because it will be a looooong time before NASA can send anything remotely as sophisticated there due to its budgets for exploration being cut and "restructured" all the time.

 

[Murky]

I think the whole "7 minutes of terror" was hype to draw more attention. The attention is well deserved without the hype. They tested every aspect of the landing multiple times over. That it was flawless was not a given but not that hard to believe either.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Beeps are an artificial sound that would have to be designed in. And there's no reason to do that. It's really just going to be the electric motor sounds, and they won't be loud. If you've heard a car roll over sand and gravel, that's sort of what the movement will sound like. They say it's about the weight of a SUV. The regolith it will be rolling over is mostly the consistency of sand with bits of gravel in it, so far as I can see. Rolling on sand makes little noise, but there would be some. Once on the ground the biggest threat to the operation of the rover will be dust in the machinery. So the design works to keep it out to the greatest extent possible. So those electric motors and gears will be contained, which will take machinery which is typically not very loud and make it even quieter. On the other hand, it is a large machine and will take powerful motors to move it.

So whirrrrs and clicks, and some grinding of the wheels on gravel and sand, and probably little else. And none of it audible except very close due to the thin air.

Thank you, Cutlass.

Awww... This makes me want to go to Mars and give it a hug and tell it that everything is fine, we're happy with how it did its job, and it's a good rover...

 

[J-man]

Well, let's hope the rover stays alive for a loooong time, because it will be a looooong time before NASA can send anything remotely as sophisticated there due to its budgets for exploration being cut and "restructured" all the time.

As I understand, the budget for robotic exploration was cut in favor for the manned space program. IMO a strange decision as NASA is the only space agency that can reliably land on Mars (almost all Russian and European have failed so far). While manned space flight is something the Russians are better in compard to NASA.

 

[Winner]

I think the whole "7 minutes of terror" was hype to draw more attention. The attention is well deserved without the hype. They tested every aspect of the landing multiple times over. That it was flawless was not a given but not that hard to believe either.

Media hype everything, but this 6 minutes of terror really is what you feel - the ground control has no control over what happens due to the communication delay. Everything either works perfectly, or you added a new crater to Mars with a price tag in hundreds of millions of dollars.

As I understand, the budget for robotic exploration was cut in favor for the manned space program. IMO a strange decision as NASA is the only space agency that can reliably land on Mars (almost all Russian and European have failed so far). While manned space flight is something the Russians are better in compard to NASA.

It was cut in favour of all kinds of things, not just human spaceflight. It's idiotic decision for many reasons, one of them being that they're punishing people for being successful.

Europe tried just once, with Beagle-2, which was a semi-independent British landing probe. If the Brits invested proper money, it would have succeeded. The Russians have tried many times (the first lander to send *some* kind of picture from the surface was actually Soviet), but with little to no success due to the traditional bane of Russian robotic space programme - quality control, or lack thereof, rather.

Let's hope other space agencies step up their Mars game in the future.

 

[Lillefix]

I think the whole "7 minutes of terror" was hype to draw more attention. The attention is well deserved without the hype. They tested every aspect of the landing multiple times over. That it was flawless was not a given but not that hard to believe either.

They can't possibly have tested the landing system properly. We don't have the right air density or gravity here on Earth.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

As I understand, the budget for robotic exploration was cut in favor for the manned space program. IMO a strange decision as NASA is the only space agency that can reliably land on Mars (almost all Russian and European have failed so far). While manned space flight is something the Russians are better in compard to NASA.

This is why it's critical for European and North American space agencies to cooperate. One's strength is the other's weakness.

 

[Crezth]

This is why it's critical for European and North American space agencies to cooperate. One's strength is the other's weakness.

If only the USA, Russia, EU, China, and India could all work together. Imagine the things we could do.

 

[Murky]

They can't possibly have tested the landing system properly. We don't have the right air density or gravity here on Earth.

They weren't able to recreate the conditions perfectly, but well enough to make sure their systems worked as designed. If you watch some of the pre-launch talks they go over this aspect of the project in detail. I'm certainly not downplaying the difficulty of the mission. I'm just saying they thought of everything they could think of that could go wrong and tested for it relentlessly. Previously failed landings and other sources provided them with enough data to properly simulate the landing. They had eliminated a lot of the uncertainty that caused previous attempts to fail. It is a great work of engineering to land a rover on mars, but is it really as miraculous as some would make it out to be? Maybe if you count getting funding in this tax adverse political environment as a miracle.

 

[Lillefix]

Maybe if you count getting funding in this tax adverse political environment as a miracle.

Well, whoever convinced the politicians to spend that much money on a single Mars mission deserves a sainthood.

 

[Traitorfish]

Given that you have to be dead to be canonised, that may be something of a backhanded compliment.