On Saturday, the following Mars rover will begin its journey towards the red-colored planet. Only this time around, NASA is delivering something how big a vehicle. The way the hell
Previously, the rovers that NASA has delivered to Mars happen to be fairly small. Sojourner, the very first, was 65cm lengthy and considered 10kg. The following two, Spirit and Chance, were just a little bigger: these were both 1.6 meters lengthy and considered 170kg.
But on Saturday 26 November, a brand new rover known as Curiosity will probably be sent Mars-wards. Which plutonium-powered guy is fairly substantial. Curiosity weighs in at in at 900kg, and it is 3 meters lengthy. "It's how big a Small Cooper using the wheelbase of the Humvee," is when project researcher John Grotzinger referred to the brand new rover towards the BBC. That's pretty large.
Just how the hell would you securely transport something how big a vehicle to Mars Previously, the rovers have sailed lower towards the planet's surface beneath parachutes, but Curiosity is simply too heavy for your to operate. Rather NASA has generated something known as a skycrane. Yes, really.
Once the ship which Curiosity has been moved reaches an altitude of just one.6km over the the surface of Mars, a unique descent stage with two rockets each and every of their corners will separate, transporting the rover. Then, if this this secondary craft is 20 meters over the surface, the rover is going to be decreased using cables. If this touches lower, the cables is going to be cut with explosives, and also the secondary craft will disappear to crash land elsewhere.
Errr, a minimum of, this is the theory. Because in my experience, it may sound like there's plenty that may fail. Also, given recent failures with craft determined to achieve Mars and it is surroundings, like Phobos-Grunt, there is a fairly large chance it will not even allow it to be anywhere near.
Still, let us maintain positivity. Because I would like NASA to land something how big a vehicle on Mars. Best of luck, Curiosity. [BBC and also the Economist Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech]
No comments:
Post a Comment