Curiosity Rover

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Don

Well-known member
Joined
May 10, 2012
Messages
3,108
Location
Biloxi MS
Speaking of EV's . . . . Is anybody else as psyched up about the MSL as I am??

What a feat of engineering to land a one ton rover within a few kms of the target inside a crater on Mars . . . . and take some pictures of it from an orbiting satellite as it's happening! To me, this makes a manned moon landing seem like a walk in the park!

As complicated as the landing process was (7 minutes of terror) I was really hoping and praying that our $2.7 billion wasn't going to wind up a pile of rubble in a new crater . . . . but I guess I needn't have worried - These guys REALLY know what they're doing!

This is something I'll be following daily. I've been checking regularly on the progress of the Opportunity Rover (and the Spirit too until it quit working in 2010) but this new mega-rover is all the more exciting to me somehow. I really need one of those RTG's in the back of my i to recharge the batteries - Talk about a 'green EV'!!

Don
 
I *think* it's 14 years to 80% of max . . . . they keep going almost forever. The first one built sat on Eisenhower's desk in 1959, I have no idea where it is now

Voyager I and II, launged in 1977 are both powered by RTG's and we're still communicating with them both to this day. Voyager I is now more than 11 Billion miles from the sun, so solar wasn't an option. It's RTG was rated at 470 watts @ 30 volts at launch and has now deteriorated to 'only' 285 watts, some 35 years later

The one on Curiosity is a cube 24 inches to a side and it generates 2.5 KWh per day . . . . I guess I'd need a couple of them for my car ;) It uses 11 pounds of plutonium 238 dioxide, but I don't know how much the box weighs

No telling how long this rover could last on Mars, considering the last pair outlived their projected lifespans by 20 or 25 times - One day, your great grandson might be driving this thing . . . . who knows!

Don
 
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