News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to ... by brnt on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @09:11AM (#34080932)
They add weight, but also may extend the mission, meaning for science for buck. NASA rovers outlast their no doubt conservatively estimated life expectancy consistently.
Re:‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to ... by wongarsu on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @09:22AM (#34081048)
Well, you give a mission plan of one year, and design a rover to fit that plan. And because you don't want to fail, you engineer everything to have a tiny failure rate in the first year. That also makes them likely to work for many more years, but that's just a side effect. You have only explicitly designed and spent money on that first year. Taking funding from that first year to add a system that only becomes useful in year three is a completely different matter, and likely much harder to greenlight.
Re:‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to ... by ansible on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @10:16AM (#34081721)
Also, something not explicitly stated in this thread is that most of the most important science happens in the first year the rover / lander is there on Mars. You really want that first year to be successful, and anything beyond that is bonus.
Re:‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to ... by brnt on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @05:15PM (#34087113)
Sure, but you also learn from experience. If it turns out dust on panels is usually the limiting factor, and the rover otherwise stay in good shape well beyond expectations, a mitigation for the dust may be an effective solution in reliably operation lifetime and thus mission scope.
Re:‘My power’s low’: NASA’s Insight Mars lander prepares to ... by Retric on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @10:07AM (#34081611)
Every component runs into issues, look at how many rover’s wheels had issues before the panels failed.