Wheels Installed on Next Mars Rover
NASA,Mars,Rover
The wheels and suspension system have been installed on NASA’s next Mars rover, Curiosity, a key step in assembly and testing of the flight system for the Mars Science Laboratory mission slated to launch next year. The centerpiece of MSL, Curiosity has six wheels and a rocker-bogie suspension system like its smaller predecessors: Spirit, Opportunity and Sojourner. Each wheel has its own drive motor and the corner wheels also have independent steering motors. Unlike earlier Mars rovers, Curiosity will also use its mobility system as landing gear when the mission’s rocket-powered descent stage lowers the rover directly onto the Martian surface on a tether in August 2012.
#Wheels #Installed #Mars #Rover
Wheels Installed on Next Mars Rover
29 Comments
29 Comments
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that is one big dog
Gosh.. it’s huge!
Damn it looks 10 times bigger than the previous one. I’d love to see how it is going to land. Will it be the same process as the smaller ones ie bouncing?
@KalimaShaktide actually I saw it is going to use a parachute and sky crane…can t wait to see the animation for that.
@KalimaShaktide it’s told 30 seconds into the clip.
For KalimaShaktide and anyone looking, you can see the amazing animation NASA made for the new generation landing system of Curiosity at /watch?v=jlcJZL3MDHw. You can see the parashute, correction propulsion system, the small rocket boosters it uses to keep its falling velocity low and the lowering of the tether with the rover on it. It’s worth it.
/watch?v=jlcJZL3MDHw
After watching the other link to the animation at /watch?v=jlcJZL3MDHw the only thing I can say is “holy crap I can see so many things going wrong with that landing system”. One booster falling could compromise the whole landing…I can t wait for it to be on the ground.
Wish NASA would at least mention it’s nuclear-powered as much as they clucked about the other rovers being solar powered. You hardly ever hear what powers the Saturn probe and Horizons, as though showing solar wings is a sign of how good n’ green NASA is!
@TotalWarLord This rover is equipped with a radioisotope power battery. The power source (MMRTG) can generate 2.5 kilowatts and hour compared to the Mars exploration Rovers which can only produce 0.6 kilowatts an hour. NASA is originally planning a mission that will last 2 years, even though the MMRTG’s minimum lifetime is 7 times as much.
This Rover looks Serious. is this going to be sent to Mars on a Rocket that will have an unmanned Launch ?
what about teh new Vasimir Engine I read about that is in Final stages of testing.It is supposed when ready to be able to get to Mars in 45 days. That brings the Ocean of vacuum down to a more traversable distance.
Wheels, state of the art technology coming out of nasa these days.
Curiosity, that name is just too perfect for any space mission/satelite
tracks>wheels, take some lessons from excavation equipment and tanks
dont cry the blues about energy needs either, 6 wheels plus steering sync vs 2 track gears (point and go)
I guess every nasa scientist needs to get an automobile stuck on the beach for a physics lesson without math to get the picture.
good luck, dont forget plan B adds more weight.
Nasa am stay with you:-)
@obaeyens
you’re asking the wrong questions. try this one on for size.
would you rather get stuck in a crater? (lmao dragging a deadbeat wheel)
because, i tell ya…a dozer WILL crawl up a 2:1 slope…ie every 1′ go up 2′
…ie a 67 degree incline.
Wonder when we will send a rover to a jovian moon?
tracks have more moving parts (each link)
Down here, when a link hinge bends, theres a engineer available to replace it.
@obaeyens man are you oblivious to technology?
hello; titanium, rubber, carbon fiber.….…it doesnt have to weigh the equivalent to thick steel like excavation
otherwise, gratz NASA.…..glad you have another bot going to Mars reguardless.
@obaeyens prove it
i hope that the area where it lands is next to the face and pyrimids . well maybe you you get better scince from flat empty planes !!!!
@kachinababe A small nuclear Reactor
i say they might exist, you say they dont ! reason enough to check it out ayyy! :} worse case scenerio we get to look at something other than flat planes. dont get me wrong thats cool to !!
Wow, I can’t wait.
Is there still the planned moon colony in 2020 or his it been canceled?
@Taco1011 “A small nuclear Reactor”
An RTG is not a reactor.
It’s got frickkin’ lasers!
never mind how much to make it it costs over a million dollars a pound just to get it outa our atmosphere lol
So what would happen if it fell down a hole and got stuck? That would suck.
YOUTUbe NASA LiVe