Contra-rotating helicopter now based on Mars
Join Date: May 2011
Location: NEW YORK
Posts: 880
Originally Posted by munnst
Wasn't one of the surprising things learnt about Mars is the wind and dust is very light.
I seem to recall previous rovers were expected to have a limited life span due to dust build up on the solar panels but this never happened. Which is why the older rovers are still going, or at least went for a lot longer than expected.
I seem to recall previous rovers were expected to have a limited life span due to dust build up on the solar panels but this never happened. Which is why the older rovers are still going, or at least went for a lot longer than expected.
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: On the big blue planet
Posts: 954
Originally Posted by etudiant
Not sure about that, think the Curiosity panels are down to about 23% of clean panel power because of the dust, with no easy fix in sight..Future martians may need a whisk broom as their national emblem>
skadi
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 18,921
Originally Posted by Jetstream67
Anyone know if a UK licence is ok there ? 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Brantisvogan
Posts: 775
Originally Posted by Jetstream67
Anyone know if a UK licence is ok there ?
Thats the way the #MARSBARS agreement was negotiated, but good news. It’s a soft border, just don’t order oysters.
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Europe
Posts: 160
I'd posted a thread about this helicopter back in August 2019 but there wasn't any discussion on it. Here's a great video with more details on the helicopter:
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Here
Posts: 808
Originally Posted by skadi
Curiosity is powered by isotope battery, no solar cells!
I don't think Atomic batteries are used very often because of the concern of the results of them falling back to Earth in the event of some failure.
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: On the big blue planet
Posts: 954
Originally Posted by jimjim1
According to the video filmed at NASA and linked in post #27 it has solar cells and a rechargeable battery. The solar cells are in the small panel above the blades. A one day charge fully charges the battery and allows a 90 second (I think it was) flight.
I don't think Atomic batteries are used very often because of the concern of the results of them falling back to Earth in the event of some failure.
I don't think Atomic batteries are used very often because of the concern of the results of them falling back to Earth in the event of some failure.
skadi
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Yakima
Posts: 114
Originally Posted by etudiant
Not sure about that, think the Curiosity panels are down to about 23% of clean panel power because of the dust, with no easy fix in sight..Future martians may need a whisk broom as their national emblem>
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: On the big blue planet
Posts: 954
Originally Posted by Winemaker
And of course the Perseverance rover is powered by heat from Plutonium radioactive decay; I wonder how long it will operate?
https://space.stackexchange.com/ques...-nuclear-power
skadi
