Re: Why not more spirit and opportunities?

On Mar 29, 11:09 am, Ian Parker <ianpark...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 28 Mar, 12:51, "hall...@xxxxxxx" <hall...@xxxxxxx> wrote:



Obviously a robust and great design, why havent we put out a
production run?

Some could be sent to more hazardous landing areas that could offer
better science return:)

If we sent 10 more and 2 didnt make it so what, the remaining 10 could
do great science.

have controlling done by select colleges and universities with nasa
over site once the primary mission is complete.

send some to places where liquid water may have caused landslides, and
other interesting spots.

what amazes me is this has never been mentioned anywhere

I think you forget one thing the advance of technology. The Mars
rovers were a great experiment and did indeed produce valuable
results. However they do have shortcomings. One of these is the speed
at which they move. They have only travelled a rew hundred meters. OK
you may say that is considerably more than their design distance.
However to explore Mars you don't just do a repeat in a different
location. You send a better robot, one that can perhaps walk a few
hundred meters in a day - sorry a sol. Still hardly agile by human
standards.

You also want to know what is underneath Mars. The search for water
and life depends on this. To me the next stage of Matian exploration
must involve built in robustness. Nothing in fact failed (fortunately)
in Spirit or Opportunity but it could have done. My idea is to send a
swarm to Mars. This would consist of small robots which would
importantly have a communality of parts. The robots could cannibalize
in the event of failure. This means that mission failure would be soft
rather than hard failure.

The military have in fact made some strides in this direction. Their
latest concept is the flying mobile phone. This is a collection of
tiny aircraft which communicate with one and other. A "mobile phone"
mission fails soft. The enemy will have to destroy an incredible
number of mobile phones.

I am with you emotionally. Rationally I believe we have to move
forward.

- Ian Parker

Can't hardly move forward if the past, present and future is
continually based upon lies and of otherwise excluding evidence.
.. - Brad Guth
.

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