What's next with Curiosity?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

We've all seen the video "7 Minutes of Terror" but many don't know that it was put together with clips from a much longer unnarrated video produced by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that shows the Curiosity mission goals more completely.

[Esse Quam Videri]

1. Very interesting

Still can't believe it made it through the 7 minutes of terror. Can't wait to see what unfolds!

[AsahinaKimi]

2. That was really cool..

It also made me wonder what sounds would be like on Mars.. and on a silly note.. I imagined hordes of (Martians? A-la-John Carter movie) riding some strange beasts over the hills in a full out charge.. and the Scientists at home staring in object Horror going.. "omg! Omg! Omg!"

[Spitfire of ATJ]

3. "It also made me wonder what sounds would be like on Mars"

A lot fainter than on earth due to the thinner atmosphere. (Less medium to transmit the sound waves.)

It always pisses me off to see sounds in space by people who know better.

It's like they're dumbing it down for us.

"2001 - A Space Odyssey" got it right. However Bowman shouldn't have sucked in his breath, he should have blown it all out and he would have likely lost his eardrums,...and his eyes....

Aw, hell, the only movie I've seen that shows what exposure to a vacuum does was "Outland".

[WhoIsNumberNone]

4. ...

[AtheistCrusader]

5. I didn't realize this probe was nuclear powered until I saw this video.

8:00 looks a bit like we sent it to taze the planet into submission.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

6. I'm not woried about it.

It's a pulsed laser for spectrographic analysis. Also the plutonium battery is hardened to survive a pad explosion so there's no real danger of it just falling apart. It could probably take a meteor impact and besides, any civilization capable of visiting Mars isn't going to be stupid enough to pry it open and expose themselves.

I mean, it's not like we landed on a world with cave men with clubs.

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. Apparently the solar powered ones are barely working due to dust covering the

panels.


This seems like a reasonable option for a dusty planet

[AtheistCrusader]

8. They far outlived their expected service lifespans.

And there are ways to deal with that, but this is fine. I'm just surprised I didn't hear about it before. I guess I wasn't as tuned into Curiousity's mission profile as I had thought.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Yeah, it's using RTGs, like the Voyager, Pioneer, Cassini, etc. probes as well.

It's worth noting that RTGs do have a solid safety record.

That's not to minimize the fact that, yes, they are nuclear powered.

The fact is, Curiosity is several times bigger than the MER rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and requires a great deal more power. It is going to be doing some high-powered science. I don't think solar panels would have done the job for a mission profile this ambitious.

[Warren DeMontague]

13. There were no protests over it that I recall at the launch, unlike the Cassini launch.

it's worth noting, too, that Cassini has provided a goldmine of science. To my mind, I think the risks were worth it.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. Two words: Wiper blades.

[AtheistCrusader]

14. abrasion.

But, you could use a compressor, gather up some martian atmosphere, and blow the surfaces clean.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. My other option would be a thin saran wrap in layers

As the top layer gets bad it's pealed off revealing a fresh one.

[FailureToCommunicate]

21. They say they actually wait for wind storms and get some dust cleared that way!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

24. That dust must be like soft talcum powder.

On earth the occasional rain washes the really fine grain stuff into the ground and bonds it. On Mars the particles just keep flying and colliding and breaking up with each wind into finer and finer particles. On the bright side, it doesn't seem to be either conductive or terribly abrasive. One of the landers went through a storm and didn't get sandblasted.

[editor5]

9. what happens to religion of they discover life....

We'd like to hope religion would collapse under its weight;through all the contradictions but they'll just say; we always said "god" could do whatever he liked....being the hypocrites they are...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. More likely they'll want to send missionaries.

I had some show up at my door once and this girlfriend of mine played along and we acted like we'd never heard of Jesus or the concept of a God before they arrived.

It was a laugh riot.

I had to hold it together when she said, "A carpenter? Like Bob Vila?"

[PopeOxycontinI]

16. I guess...

a manned mission isn't in the cards. Sci-fi movies gave me some false expectations as a kid.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. Eventually, it'll happen.

Mars is very far away, and it's going to be a daunting undertaking.

Don't undervalue the accomplishment that just took place, though. This was a major- MAJOR- technological and engineering achievement. We used a flying rocket powered skycrane to lower a car-sized robot onto a planet 14 light minutes away. Humans -and, yeah, Americans- should be patting ourselves on the back today. This is a big deal.

Oh, and, welcome to DU!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

17. The main thing is water.

It's very heavy to get into orbit and we need enough for a round trip.

Grabbing a comet would be ideal. There were plans in the 60s to do that to deliver water to a moon base. (A controlled impact into a specific spot and then mining it.)

All of this assumes a long trip but that's not necessarily the case.

Ever hear of Deep Space 1? It was launched 13 years ago.

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Ion drive is very real and can push a spacecraft to an amazing speed.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/details.cfm?id=5870

[HopeHoops]

19. What's next? A few days of system checks and then a VERY short journey.

The same thing they did with Spirit and Opportunity.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

20. It's set for two years. That should cover some ground...

....but yes, it IS a planet so it will only cover a tiny fraction of the surface.

The ultimate would be a lander that can fly from place to place or one that can send out probes. Maybe a low altitude balloon system.

[HopeHoops]

22. Well, perhaps the next one will employ the space crane for more than landing.

The braking rocket contraption is still there. It is conceivable that they could work out a pickup and dropoff system using something similar.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. That could require a lot of extra fuel.

A balloon system could provide lift while fuel is used for horizontal flight to the next target. Idealy, one would have the mission land upwind of subsequent landing sites so it would be a case of land, explore, inflate and drift, land, deflate and stow, explore, inflate and drift,...etc. Designing a balloon that can be deflated and stowed is the key as you don't want to have to jettison a balloon for each touchdown. If you could pump the gas back into a storage tank it would help too. I'm assuming the lander would have the power to do that of course.