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General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: LWACE on January 22, 2004, 02:57:40 PM

Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: LWACE on January 22, 2004, 02:57:40 PM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3855168/ (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3855168/)

Damn, little green men found out we were thinkin bout puttin a wal-mart there.:(
Title: ya think it'd work forever?
Post by: Eagler on January 22, 2004, 03:07:33 PM
didn't they use???
(http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00002N9ED.01.LZZZZZZZ.gif)

hope they got their monies worth...
Title: Re: ya think it'd work forever?
Post by: Sikboy on January 22, 2004, 03:08:25 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Eagler
hope they got their monies worth...


Don't you mean our monies worth?

-Sik
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: gofaster on January 22, 2004, 03:15:31 PM
Is it coincidence that contact was lost just before it was supposed to start cutting into a "rock"?  What if that rock isn't an inanimate object, but a form of life that was asleep?  Didn't anybody think this thing through?

{translated from Martian}
"Zzzzz. Eh?  What's this? Oh, its a toy. Ouch! Stop that!" BLAMMO!

{translated from Earthling English}

"This is a serious problem. This is an extremely serious anomaly," project manager Pete Theisinger said.

"It's not clear there is one cause ... that would explain the observables we're seeing," deputy project manager Richard Cook said.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Dune on January 22, 2004, 03:18:34 PM
Which means that they finally found it and unplugged the damn thing.  Just like all the other landers.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Makarov9 on January 22, 2004, 03:18:49 PM
Last photo taken by Spirit:

(http://www.horrortv.it/mars17.jpg)
Title: Re: Re: ya think it'd work forever?
Post by: Eagler on January 22, 2004, 03:33:15 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Sikboy
Don't you mean our monies worth?

-Sik


yep almost $900,000,000 worth ...
Title: Re: ya think it'd work forever?
Post by: -dead- on January 22, 2004, 04:51:35 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Eagler
didn't they use???
(http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00002N9ED.01.LZZZZZZZ.gif)

Yes, but sadly they also used: (http://www.microsoft.com/library/toolbar/3.0/images/banners/windows_masthead_ltr.gif)
"Where would you like to stop working today?" ;)
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Roscoroo on January 22, 2004, 05:14:30 PM
(http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~lori/gif/marvin.jpg)

(http://www.bettsiv.com/gif/marvin-martian.gif)

The pic they didnt want ya to see .
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Pei on January 22, 2004, 05:23:20 PM
Earthling, you have made me very angry!
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Fishu on January 22, 2004, 05:27:16 PM
Hopefully they get it to work again... it'd be a pity if it would quit this soon after the brits attempt seemingly failed.

Perhaps too many people were putting crap down on the brits for their failure, unaware of the pending irony..
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: kj714 on January 22, 2004, 05:55:47 PM
Yep another 1/2 billion worth of junk on Mars. When do they get real about this? What a freaking waste.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Eagler on January 22, 2004, 05:56:12 PM
don't they have a sister spirit landing there saturday?
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: ra on January 22, 2004, 05:57:50 PM
This is the last picture the Spirit transmitted back to Earth:

(http://users.adelphia.net/~randrew/binn.jpg)
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Chairboy on January 22, 2004, 06:24:18 PM
The other part of the mission (it has two landers) is landing on Saturday.

KJ714, Mars is hard.  Many probes from different countries have been lost enroute to Mars.

You want to increase your chances?  Send humans.  A robot might not be smart enough to deal with a small problem, but a human is.  Look at the first moon landing, their automatic landing profile put them into the middle of a field of boulders.  Armstrong saw that and took control to steer elsewhere.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: kj714 on January 22, 2004, 06:33:44 PM
Send humans to do what?
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Chairboy on January 22, 2004, 06:43:11 PM
uh.....  explore Mars.  What did you think we were talking about?  Sorting mail?
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: AKIron on January 22, 2004, 06:46:30 PM
Wonder if they let Bill Gates program the damn thing.

"There is no one single fault that explains all the observables," Theisinger said. Among the possibilities could be a software glitch that caused the rover to reset itself, or a power surge, or a temperature-related hardware failure, or perhaps even a cosmic-ray hit, he said.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: kj714 on January 22, 2004, 06:48:43 PM
Why must we explore it? Might there be some better uses for all that cash here?
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Chairboy on January 22, 2004, 07:00:09 PM
There aren't any stores in space.  Every dollar spent on space exploration is actually spent here on Earth.  Hey, I've got an idea, let's divert NASA's $15 billion budget to Health & Human Services!  Sure, their budget last year was $539 Billion, so this is something like a 2.7% increase, but I'm sure that'll solve ALL our problems instantly!

Wow, I'm smrt!  I should be president!
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: boxboy28 on January 22, 2004, 07:32:34 PM
NASA needs a new acronim!
some thing like
N-on
A-ble
S-pace
A-gency

or

N-umbskulls
A-nd
S-tupid
A -holes

Please feel free to add your own! lets compile a list and send them in!

:aok
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Otto on January 22, 2004, 07:48:45 PM
There going to send a 'Tech Guy' around  to check it out.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Fatty on January 22, 2004, 08:02:42 PM
Quote
Originally posted by kj714
Why must we explore it? Might there be some better uses for all that cash here?


Because it is more important long term than anything that can be done for anyone living on the earth right now.

Perhaps, if it furthers exploration.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Sox62 on January 22, 2004, 09:50:23 PM
Another pic right before the Rover ceased transmitting....


(http://www.gargaro.com/images/MarsLanding.jpg)
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: majic on January 22, 2004, 10:42:23 PM
I watched the NASA briefing on cspan and it doesn't seem all lost yet.  The rover is still in contact (just gibberish) and it appears that it is a software error that (depending on exactly what it is) might be fixable?  (Not sure on the last part, the guy just said not to make to much of this yet, he seemed optimistic.)

I imagine they are pre-occupied with the other lander now too.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: NUKE on January 22, 2004, 10:47:45 PM
I heard if it is software, they may be able to D/L it again and re-boot it........from 100 million miles away. That would be great.

Think about the logistics of that D/L :)

Does Mars have cable yet?
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Fishu on January 22, 2004, 11:17:32 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Chairboy
You want to increase your chances?  Send humans.  A robot might not be smart enough to deal with a small problem, but a human is.  Look at the first moon landing, their automatic landing profile put them into the middle of a field of boulders.  Armstrong saw that and took control to steer elsewhere.


Would be hard..  theres more radiation on the way to mars than to the moon or the orbit, then there is increasing risk of getting hit by something and repair would be quite far away.. then as last and the biggest difference between moon and mars would be the atmosphere...  moon pretty much doesnt have one, but mars has one which can have very violent storms, tornados far bigger than the mankind has ever seen.
The wind alone can be very strong.
Travelling there would take long long long time..  I dont think anybody even spent that much time on the Mir space station.. and thats just to one way... if you've ever planned on to getting back.

Otherwise good, but technology isn't quite there yet
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: AKS\/\/ulfe on January 22, 2004, 11:45:50 PM
Fishu - I think that Chairboy's statement was more of a "with the proper technology" than a "lets do it tommorrow night!!!".

Although, with proper funding and the correct motivation (which falls back on proper funding)... a manned mission to Mars is quite feasible in the next fifteen years.

The problem is the funding, on NASA's current budget it'll take decades to reach Mars with humans.

Then again, the budget could easily be increased by focusing on the federal governments internal spendings. Been there(regarding spendings), seen what happens come time to report spendings, sad and depressing to say the least.
-SW
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Dowding on January 23, 2004, 12:09:46 AM
If I think it would be a good idea to learn to send remote probes successfully before we get any ideas about sending humans.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Toad on January 23, 2004, 12:12:31 AM
Good news!

Miss Cleo is in contact with the Spirit Rover!

The byte is that she's charging NASA $9/minute.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Dinger on January 23, 2004, 12:47:55 AM
let's be honest.  If you're writing the code for something like that, you do it in layers.  at the very bottom is the reversion code, for when the 5417 hits the fan.  This is gonna be as simple as possible, and will be tested ten times to tuesday for errors.  In other words, the software base will be rock-solid. If they can't get the darn thing out of its lowest reversion mode, odds are something catastrophic happened.

okay, now the news is:
Quote

NASA scientists now have received a basic communication tone from the rover indicating it is alive but the solid flows of data that marked its first 18 days on Mars have stopped, said Richard Cook, deputy project manager, speaking from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The tone is programmed into the spacecraft, to be emitted when there is a serious problem onboard.



Now, that "tone" is probably a carrier signal and not an error message.  'cos if you can get an error message out, you can probably rewrite the firmware.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Tuomio on January 23, 2004, 03:01:42 AM
The tone has indicated, that it is in safe mode and is waiting for commands, they do not expect to get any data from it on the communication windows until they ask it in the "safe channel", which they haven't done yet. If it does not answed coherently to those commands, then there is odds that something is fried badly up there.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: SLO on January 23, 2004, 08:43:00 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Fishu
Would be hard..  theres more radiation on the way to mars than to the moon or the orbit, then there is increasing risk of getting hit by something and repair would be quite far away.. then as last and the biggest difference between moon and mars would be the atmosphere...  moon pretty much doesnt have one, but mars has one which can have very violent storms, tornados far bigger than the mankind has ever seen.
The wind alone can be very strong.
Travelling there would take long long long time..  I dont think anybody even spent that much time on the Mir space station.. and thats just to one way... if you've ever planned on to getting back.

Otherwise good, but technology isn't quite there yet



2 years there and back.....

russians lasted 400 something days on MIR.....

they are now studyin different methods to fight solar radiation on a long term basis on the space station...thinks its german and russian studyin these effects.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: LWACE on January 24, 2004, 11:43:37 AM
I saw somethin online today, said contact with rover regaind, so guess it wasnt sometin to big.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Duedel on January 24, 2004, 11:45:20 AM
Quote
Originally posted by LWACE
I saw somethin online today, said contact with rover regaind, so guess it wasnt sometin to big.

Havent heard any news about it. If so it would be really great.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: rpm on January 24, 2004, 12:58:49 PM
They sent a Ping, got a Pong. Going thru system reboot procedures.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Fishu on January 24, 2004, 01:14:35 PM
Quote
Originally posted by SLO
2 years there and back.....

russians lasted 400 something days on MIR.....

they are now studyin different methods to fight solar radiation on a long term basis on the space station...thinks its german and russian studyin these effects.


Yes.. and it was quite a hard stretch for human body.

IIRC the travel to one way alone would take about as long or longer
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: Chairboy on January 24, 2004, 01:41:11 PM
You recall incorrectly.  The right answer would be of course 'it depends on how much fuel you have.'

If you do a Hohmann transfer orbit launched at the right time (very frugal), it's a 259 day trip.  If you have enough fuel to do a direct transfer, you can do it in 155 days.
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: AKcurly on January 24, 2004, 03:28:11 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Fishu
the biggest difference between moon and mars would be the atmosphere...  moon pretty much doesnt have one, but mars has one which can have very violent storms, tornados far bigger than the mankind has ever seen.
The wind alone can be very strong.yet


Hi Fishu,

While the storms are large, the air density is tiny.  Big tornados blowing dust everywhere (on Mars) would not be a big deal -- air pressure too low.

I haven't read one negative remark about the Brit expedition.  All US scientists are painfully aware of Mars' propensity for eating landers.

The Euro orbiter has been a resounding success and all have learned something from the Brit experience - failures, while painful always teach a lesson.

curly
Title: Re: Re: ya think it'd work forever?
Post by: Dingbat on January 24, 2004, 03:35:37 PM
Quote
Originally posted by -dead-
Yes, but sadly they also used: (http://java.com/im/home/main_left.gif)
"Where would you like to stop working today?" ;)



I fixed it for you, tool...
Title: Contact With Mars Spirit Rover Lost....
Post by: h345 on January 24, 2004, 04:34:20 PM
Quote
Originally posted by ra
This is the last picture the Spirit transmitted back to Earth:

(http://users.adelphia.net/~randrew/binn.jpg)


I knew that man was planning something