On Saturday , the next Mars bird of passage will lead off its journeying to the red planet . Only this time , NASA is charge something the size of a car . How the hell ?
In the past times , the bird of passage that NASA has sent to Mars have been reasonably small . Sojourner , the first , was 65 cm farseeing and weighed 10 kg . The next two , Spirit and Opportunity , were a little bigger : they were both 1.6 meters long and weighed 170 kg .
But on Saturday 26 November , a fresh roamer called Curiosity is sound to be sent Mars - Aaron Montgomery Ward . And thisplutonium - powered guyis somewhat hearty . wonder weigh in at 900 kilogram , and is 3 meters long . “ It ’s the size of it of a Mini Cooper with the wheelbase of a Humvee , ” is how project scientist John Grotzinger described the new roverto the BBC . That ’s pretty bad .
https://gizmodo.com/how-the-new-mars-rovers-power-supply-works-this-sucker-5851853
So how the Hades do you safely enrapture something the size of a car to Mars ? In the past , the rovers have blow down to the planet ’s surface beneath parachute , but Curiosity is too heavy for that to act . Instead NASA has build something called a skycrane . Yes , really .
When the ship on which Curiosity is being transmit reaches an altitude of 1.6 kilometre above the surface of Mars , a peculiar descent leg with two rockets at each of its corner will separate , transport the rover . Then , when this this subaltern craft is 20 meters above the surface , the rover will be get down using cables . When it touches down , the cables will be cut with explosives , and the secondary craft will fly off to crash farming elsewhere .
Errr , at least , that ’s the theory . Because to me , it go like there ’s mass that could go wrong . Also , render late failure with craftsmanship destined to reach Mars and its surroundings , like Phobos - Grunt , there ’s a fairly big chance it wo n’t even make it anywhere most .
https://gizmodo.com/my-favorite-space-mission-fails-but-theres-still-hope-5857845
Still , let ’s stay irrefutable . Because I want NASA to land something the size of a cable car on Mars . practiced portion , Curiosity . [ BBCandThe Economist ; Image : NASA / JPL - Caltech ]
MarsNASASpace
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