APOD: Opportunity's Decade on Mars (2014 Jan 25)

[neufer]

Yours in slop,
Nitpicker.

You call THAT Sturm und Drang

[neufer]

---

Spirit Rover was an amazing performer and Opportunity Rover still is.
I wonder if Spirit has 'died' or could it yet be 'revived' somehow?

Spirit is willing but my digress here is weak.
(When will we really have the Opportunity again?)

As for the dust I wonder if a vacuum cleaner will work on Mars?

Dust devils are essentially vacuum cleaners.

[Chris Peterson]

As for the dust I wonder if a vacuum cleaner will work on Mars?

Even where I live, at an altitude of 9000 feet, vacuum cleaners are noticeably less efficient than their design specs suggest. Wind energy is uneconomic, and electronics that depend on fans for cooling have an annoying habit of burning up.

On Mars, a vacuum cleaner could work, but it would need to be of a very different design that the sort we're familiar with, requiring a mechanism to move air very, very fast.

[Anthony Barreiro]

I'm imagining some NASA mechanical engineer spending a couple years imagining, designing, prototyping, and testing several Mars rover solar panel dust removal mechanisms, and finally saying, "f--- it, let's use plutonium."

[geckzilla]

As for the dust I wonder if a vacuum cleaner will work on Mars?

Even where I live, at an altitude of 9000 feet, vacuum cleaners are noticeably less efficient than their design specs suggest. Wind energy is uneconomic, and electronics that depend on fans for cooling have an annoying habit of burning up.

There's the motivation I need to finally build a water-cooled silent system. I just need to move to a mountain top.

[Nitpicker]

I've never lived at an elevation quite as high as 9000 feet, but I've camped a few times, for a few days at a time, at 10-11 thousand feet (in the Rockies in Summer -- I lived in Colorado for a few years at the turn of the century). The air is very thin up there and without enough time to get used to it, you get exhausted very quickly. Even cars are noticeably less powerful at that altitude. Another factor I noticed was that at 9000 feet, say, water boils at about 90°C or 195°F. Impossible to get a nice hot cup of tea of coffee (egad).

[rstevenson]

... Another factor I noticed was that at 9000 feet, say, water boils at about 90°C or 195°F. Impossible to get a nice hot cup of tea of coffee (egad).

That's why I live very near (but not too near) sea level. Ya gotta have your priorities straight.

Rob

[geckzilla]

Pressure cooker! I love my pressure cooker. Any excuse to use it is good to me.

[BillBixby]

I'm imagining some NASA mechanical engineer spending a couple years imagining, designing, prototyping, and testing several Mars rover solar panel dust removal mechanisms..."

I would like to see two or more competing groups work on developing independent ideas for cleaning, then merging to compare notes and ideas to determine if something practical could be developed. NASA, Disney and DreamWorks all, among many organizations, have the type of people that make the impossible happen. Engineers living on the cutting edge.

[neufer]

I'm imagining some NASA mechanical engineer spending a couple years imagining, designing, prototyping, and testing several Mars rover solar panel dust removal mechanisms..."

I would like to see two or more competing groups work on developing independent ideas for cleaning, then merging to compare notes and ideas to determine if something practical could be developed. NASA, Disney and DreamWorks all, among many organizations, have the type of people that make the impossible happen. Engineers living on the cutting edge.

Spirit & Opportunity have both struggled through various problems
but power reduction by dust accumulation hasn't been one of them; why the obsession?

[Chris Peterson]

I would like to see two or more competing groups work on developing independent ideas for cleaning, then merging to compare notes and ideas to determine if something practical could be developed. NASA, Disney and DreamWorks all, among many organizations, have the type of people that make the impossible happen. Engineers living on the cutting edge.

Not necessary. First of all, the dusty panels aren't a serious problem. Second, the engineers at JPL are very good. I doubt that bringing in outside ideas would add much value. Keep in mind that these aren't consumer products. They are designed over years, and operated over more years. Most of the engineers involved have many years of experience with a single product. That extreme expertise is why they have been so successful at recovering from genuinely serious problems in the past.

[Chris Peterson]

Pressure cooker! I love my pressure cooker. Any excuse to use it is good to me. ;)

We don't need an excuse. With a 90°C boiling point, lots of stuff can't be cooked any other way.

[Dustin M.]

What about using charge to clean. If the panels could be static charged, the charge would transfer to the dust maybe, and like charged objects repel. Then a dust collector of opposite charge could collect the dust. Unfortunately some testing would need to be done to be sure it would work.

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

What about using charge to clean. If the panels could be static charged, the charge would transfer to the dust maybe, and like charged objects repel. Then a dust collector of opposite charge could collect the dust. Unfortunately some testing would need to be done to be sure it would work.

That might work with metallic dust but most dust is dielectric
and those little induced electric dipoles are simply
going to hug the charged object even tighter.

[Nitpicker]

Pressure cooker! I love my pressure cooker. Any excuse to use it is good to me.

We don't need an excuse. With a 90°C boiling point, lots of stuff can't be cooked any other way.

Though it may not be safe to boil water in a pressure cooker, when you really need caffeine.

[geckzilla]

You have to try pretty hard to hurt yourself with a pressure cooker, though. There are a lot of safety mechanisms. Steam burn, maybe.

[Beyond]

Or, if you drop it on your foot

[BMAONE23]

You have to try pretty hard to hurt yourself with a pressure cooker, though. There are a lot of safety mechanisms. Steam burn, maybe.

Unfortunately 2 guys in Boston discovered otherwise

[geckzilla]

Uh, that's not something you would accidentally do in some kind of drowsy state. You'd have to make substantial modifications to the pressure cooker. In other words, trying hard.

[Nitpicker]

You have to try pretty hard to hurt yourself with a pressure cooker, though. There are a lot of safety mechanisms. Steam burn, maybe.

Oh I'm not so sure. A combination of sleepiness, hypoxia and caffeine deprivation can make me pretty silly.

[neufer]

You have to try pretty hard to hurt yourself with a pressure cooker, though. There are a lot of safety mechanisms. Steam burn, maybe.

Oh I'm not so sure. A combination of sleepiness, hypoxia and caffeine deprivation can make me pretty silly.

Don't let's be silly; the only one way to stop a bad pressure cooker is a _Fatal Attraction_ hare with a hammer.

<<Early pressure cookers equipped with only a primary safety valve risked explosion from food blocking the release valve. On second generation pressure cookers, a common safety feature is the gasket, which expands to release excess pressure downward between the lid and the pot. This release of excess pressure is forceful and sufficient to extinguish the flame of a gas stove.

A pressure cooker can be used to compensate for lower atmospheric pressure at high elevations. The boiling point of water drops by approximately 1 °C per every 294 metres of altitude (1 °F per every 540 feet of altitude), causing the boiling point of water to be significantly below the 100 °C (212 °F) at standard pressure. At higher altitudes, the boiling point of liquid in the pressure cooker will be slightly lower than it would be at sea level. When pressure cooking at high altitudes, cooking times need to be increased by approximately 5% for every 980 feet (300 m) above 2,000 feet (610 m) elevation. The absolute pressure in a pressure cooker will always be lower at higher altitudes, since the pressure cooker can only add the same amount of internal pressure over existing atmospheric pressure at any altitude.>>

[geckzilla]

I poked at the rubber overpressure plug on my pressure cooker because it seemed like it was stuck and the thing popped out and steam exploded out but it was not as forceful as one might imagine. A cork popping from a bottle of champagne is more damaging and dangerous.

[neufer]

---

I poked at the rubber overpressure plug on my pressure cooker because it seemed like it was stuck and the thing popped out and steam exploded out but it was not as forceful as one might imagine.

A cork popping from a bottle of champagne is more damaging and dangerous.

---

[Nitpicker]

I poked at the rubber overpressure plug on my pressure cooker because it seemed like it was stuck and the thing popped out and steam exploded out but it was not as forceful as one might imagine. A cork popping from a bottle of champagne is more damaging and dangerous.

Okay, I'll concede. Champagne for breakfast seems safe enough.

[neufer]

Okay, I'll concede. Champagne for breakfast seems safe enough.

<<The Buck's Fizz is an alcoholic drink made of two parts orange juice to one part champagne. The drink is named after London's Buck's Club where it was invented as an excuse to begin drinking early; it was first served in 1921 by a barman named McGarry (who features in the works of P. G. Wodehouse as the barman of Buck's Club and the Drones Club). The Mimosa cocktail, invented four years later in Paris, also contains sparkling wine and orange juice, but in equal measures. Buck's Fizz is touted as a morning "antidote" for a hangover. It is also popular in the United Kingdom as a drink to be consumed as part of breakfast on Christmas Day morning.>>