You'd think NASA would have installed some sort of GPS device in all their shit- that way any lost probe or rover could eventually be found by later missions.
I was reading that the two super-rovers will eventually die from dust build-up on their solar arrays...almost makes it worthwhile to have a third rover sent with a big can of compressed air.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
That article wasn't written very well. They probably know exactly WHERE it is, they just can't communicate with it anymore. And spotting it with the MRO was an outside shot anyway. It's likely they were trying to see if they could see *why* they couldn't communicate, like a jammed solar array or something.
As for the rovers, Spirit was starting to noticeably slow down from dust buildup a while back, but something (probably a dust devil) wiped it practically clean, so it got a new lease on life.
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: You'd think NASA would have installed some sort of GPS device in all their shit...
You do know that GPS relies on a network of 24 satellites in very precise orbits, right? Which I'm assuming was a fairly difficult thing to achieve around our own planet.
I do wonder whether they may have lost it's position. Seems we've lost quite a few out that way. There might be a fun project reclaiming these lost probes and figuring what might have gone wrong. Though I'd love to see a manned Mars expedition, it does give one pause.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Well, while it sucks to lose a spacecraft unexpectedly, it HAD fulfilled its initial science mission years ago - the satellite was still active and providing valuable data, but the primary objectives they sent it there for were acheived.
I believe they were thinking of purposefully crashing the MGS when they finally ran out of fuel, to they could record what it excavates when it hits via the other satellites. Too bad they won't be able to do that.
Mark
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
They got a faint signal telling them it was in safe mode because of a problem with the solar pannels, and then lost it, and tried to get another satelite to photograph it to see if it was pointing at the sun but failed.
So it sounds like like B.J. is right on the button.
That said, Mark's right too, I mean it's been there 11 years and finished it primary mission nearly 7 years ago, so I reckon they got their money out of it!