NASA's spy sat snaps Curiosity rover burning tracks on Mars Curiosity Rover has left a mark on Mars that is visible from space. The rover's maiden journey across the Red Planet has left tire tracks that have been photographed by the high resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconaissance Orbiter. The snap released by NASA today shows where the tyres have scuffed the red surface dust off …
When Top Gear went to Africa and left tire tracks across the Makgadikgadi Pan, there was outcry and calls for the show to be taken off the air (again).
But when NASA do it on another planet, why then that's all right then, because at least it's not our undisturbed scenery that's being irrevocably damaged is it?!?!
Bunch of hypocrites the lot of us!!!
I see your point, but, is it really avoidable?
Top Gear is an entertainment show, whereas, the Curiosity Mission and those before it are furthering our knowledge of science rather than furthering our knowledge of Jeremy Clarkson's tastes and world views.
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Aside from that, @Wayland Sothcott 1 : http://forums.theregister.co.uk/post/1517034
"Surely it's more nutty to believe this stuff without proper evidence." -- Well, here is a picture that NASA have taken depicting the track marks of a Rover they successfully placed on the surface of Mars at the beginning of August. Along with that, if you visit http://www.nasa.gov you can also find a wealth of information on the subject.
Troll Icon is for Wayland not Jai ;)
2000AD suggested lasered ads on the moon, um, about 30 years ago, probably.
God I'm old.
Not OLD enough, evidently.
You are several decades out for those adverts.
Robert Heinlein, The Man Who sold The Moon (1950) , if I recall the short story correctly; (might not have been'lasers', though :) )
At a guess if they found a problem it would be over to the duplicate on earth, try to replicate the problem, and then work out how to fix it, or what can be done with things in a less than optimal state. So with this gravity calculation stuff on the boom, if it's wrong, rewrite the software, bung an update across, try again etc.
Better to know now there's an issue than halfway through some actual test which could damage the science. Quite why here and not over to the right I could not answer.
> what will they do if they found some malfunction?
They could possibly figure out a way to get the rover to fix itself, find some way to compensate for a failing, or at the very least know NOT to use that tool and risk further damage. I know we're all in a 'It's already been a month. Why is it taking so long?' mood, but slow and methodical is the way to do this.
This sort of design is why Voyager 1 is still sending back information, some of it very interesting as it approaches interstellar space (17.8 terameters away), some 35 years after its launch. Most of us, including myself, would be absolutely ecstatic if our one-off kit survived just half that without maintenance.
"This sort of design is why Voyager 1 is still sending back information, some of it very interesting as it approaches interstellar space (17.8 terameters away), some 35 years after its launch. Most of us, including myself, would be absolutely ecstatic if our one-off kit survived just half that without maintenance."
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Oh yes indeed!
I'm quite happy if the systems we build last out the during of the original contract. ie. Long enough to cover their cost.
Somehow, dust and other less identifiable material accumulating inside the case seems quite mundane compared to continual bombardment from charged particles, electro-magnetic radiation and micro-metorites.
Look, if you ARE going to take pictures, get a sponsor. I'm sure that any fruity company would pay BIG BUX (that's a technical term). to have their logo done as tire tracks in the Martian dirt. Maybe JPL's budget for computers (they use the fruity kind) would be greatly enhanced.
You never know!
Waiting for usual climate change 'sparks':
a) environmental damage to pristine natural landscape ( equiv on earth, wind-turbines)
b) dust emissions added to pristine 'naturally dusty' atmosphere (butterfly effect? wait for the hurricane!)
c) laser ablation of rock and mineral samples will cause chemical changes to the 'local' environment
d)climate change due to the combined effects above.
anyone notice the more we dump on mars, the heavier it gets (and the lighter, faster spinning mother earth is)?
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