Well, the earth isn't in the same position relative to Mars now as it was when Curiosity was launched...
I have no idea how far it travelled, though.
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NASA's Mars Science Laboratory |OT| 2,000 Pounds of Science!
- Thread starter DrForester
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Well, the earth isn't in the same position relative to Mars now as it was when Curiosity was launched...
I have no idea how far it travelled, though.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Yeah, the current distance between mars and earth is 154 million, but that's not the same distance the rocket traveled.
You have articles that say, for example: http://www.latimes.com/news/science...o-have-landed-safely-20120805,0,1496980.story
Which is true for now, but that is not the same as how far it had to travel overall since the distance between earth and mars is always changing.
Graphics Horse
Member
Yup.
4 months ago* Mars and Earth were their closest for 2 years, exactly half way through the trip. Probably has some significance for when they launched it but it's beyond my brain.
*OK it was 5 months ago.
Damn, yes. I keep forgetting we're already in August.
astroturfing
Member
i wish NASA actually did something like that here on earth, just to demonstrate how badass they (and science) are lol.
Yeah, basically.
Where the path line of the MSL intersects with the orbit of the Earth (right side of orbit), is where it was launched when Earth was there. After it is launched, both the Earth and Mars are in motion so the satellite has to fly en route to where Mars' location will be by the time it arrives. This makes the flight distance longer than the distance between the planets.
You should see what we had to do to get Cassini to Saturn
"This path was necessitated by the heavy weight of the probe - over six tons, including propellant. Lacking a strong enough booster, NASA devised a flight path that utilized the gravitational forces of Venus, Jupiter, and the Earth to create a slingshot effect to generate the necessary velocity to reach Saturn. "
ChuyMasta
Member
Are the orbits really that close to being a perfect circle?
Image seems overly simplified.
Graphics Horse
Member
I know it was/wasn't the size of an SUV/mini but I'd not realised how huge the craft looks.
They'd strap a basketball to a guided missile.
I know it was/wasn't the size of an SUV/mini but I'd not realised how huge the craft looks.
Now, I'm sorry for off topic, but how exactly is one supposed to view these type of images on GAF's new(or newish) image quote system?
When I click the image to make it bigger, half of it vanishes below the screen, can't roll page down if the image is among the latest posts...
any tips how one should view these neat quoted pictures? Is the "open in new tab" only way to properly view these? Can I turn the feature off?
Graphics Horse
Member
Byakuya769
Member
Why aren't we sending something like this into our own ocean?
JJDinomite
Banned
Funding, maybe? I know that there are lots of expeditions to the bottom of the sea, though. So many fascinating creatures down there.
Because it's much easier to find and use materials that work well in low pressure.
High pressure is a bitch, yo.
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
Yeah, either this, or
right click, then middle click "view image" to open it in a new tab.
Graphics Horse
Member
Pressure, money, and we have send loads of stuff there(not the deepest parts) already.
But technology created to exist in high-pressure environments have dual applications in space (I would think).
Let's go to Venus, bro.
Smiles and Cries
Member
you are not dealing with the same pressures
I agree, but I rather they go to Europa first. Let's crack dat ice!
Graphics Horse
Member
Why don't we just build a big wall around a trench and drain out the water. Can't be that hard.
NASA just installed a state of the art Extreme Environment Chamber at NASA Glenn to test out parts of spacecraft that will be sent to the surface of Venus.
Hell. Yes.
JJDinomite
Banned
My God. He's got a point.
Omegasquash
Member
Excellent.
Venusian exploration is the logical next step since it's our other neighbor, and in the habitable zone. Just with that added bonus of death and so forth.
JJDinomite
Banned
Plus we can play the Final Countdown during liftoff.
Venus is going to be our future landfill. It's like a super efficient garbage disposal.
I'd think the Sun is a more efficient one.
And since we only need the liftoff part (location and inclination would dictate where the "garbage" would land), we'd just have an endless stream of trash going to the sun.
Gravity is a bitch.
Venus' atmosphere is as dense as 1km deep ocean, makes sense.
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Sure, I've done this in MInecraft. Can't be much harder in real life...
Its a pretty simple explanation. I am pretty sure that NASA used a Hohmann transfer to send the rover to mars, since it is the means of crossing interplanetary distances using the least amount of energy. However, Hohmann transfers can only be done when the two planets are in the correct orientation. In the case of sending something from Earth to Mars, a launch window only appears once every 2.2 years. As another example, a launch window to send something from Earth to Jupiter opens every 13 months.
Sending something during a different time period, or trying to send a spacecraft any faster would require significantly more energy. Though, since the 90s, scientists have mapped out the Interplanetary Transport Network, a route the connects the various Lagrange points between the myriad planets and the sun. Traveling through this route is even lower energy cost than a Hohmann transfer, but takes longer.
In short, just trying to fire a rocket straight at Mars is way too energy intensive to be practical, so people use particular routes to make the voyage possible.
I was assuming it was Mt. Sharp because in the presser this morning they said when the front hazcam images came in that would be what they'd see. Rear hazcam is looking towards the dunes toward the crater rim.
We'll have to wait until 5pm to clarify I guess!
The cool thing about Venus is that if you build a structure pressurized to match Earth's atmospheric pressure, the structure would float in Venus' atmosphere like a balloon.
Sky Cities!
I think it would be farer away, but who knows.
From what I understood in the last press thing I watched, the Black line are the dunes, while the bigger thing is Mt. Sharp itself.
The dunes are 2km away, while the base of the mountain is 10km away.
The back hazcam just shows the edge of the crater itself, away from the center and Mt. Sharp.
In other words, the rover is facing Mt. Sharp, which is at the middle of the crater. The back hazcam shows the outer edge of the crater.
Why would they use a riskier landing method and is the rover limited in the range that it can travel? What is it in comparison to the other rovers?
maquiladora
Member
Awesome. These look great for just hazcam pictures!
Neuromancer
Member
maquiladora
Member
It's too big to use the airbag method.
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