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Thread: Opportunity Finally Declared Dead

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    Default Opportunity Finally Declared Dead

    The last of the twin Mars rovers, Opportunity, has finally been declared officially dead. Sent for approximately 6 months, lasted 15 years.

    The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.

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    I wonder if they'll eventually find evidence of life that may have once existed there. Obviously some of the prerequisites have been found.
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    Quote Originally Posted by enf View Post
    The last of the twin Mars rovers, Opportunity, has finally been declared officially dead. Sent for approximately 6 months, lasted 15 years.
    If only they cold build new domestic appliances that good.

    They must have had a schedule hoping they could do this that and the other. At the 12 month point they must have been cheering they got so much more done then they thought they would be able to accomplish.
    By the 5 year mark, it must have been " Done all these things and driven it all over the planet, what the fk do we do with it now??"

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    Quote Originally Posted by george65 View Post
    If only they cold build new domestic appliances that good.
    They could, but they won't, no profit in making something that lasts.

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    Was it a holden then ??????

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jma View Post
    They could, but they won't, no profit in making something that lasts.
    Well that is the mindset now but I'm not sure how correct it is.

    Lots of people buy cars and tools and other things for exactly that reason, they last. Toyota has a reputation for lasting reliability and I don't think they are going broke.
    I spose it would depend how much of the market you could corner. There are some things like Kirby vac cleaners, speed queen washers and others that are known, amoungst those that do know them, to be the last appliance of that type you'll ever buy.

    Then again they are exy and not that well known.

    Spose there is a happy medium but it has to be above the flimsy crap we have inflicted on us now.

    There are some things you just can't get solid, reliable quality in regardless of price.



    Maybe all they had to do with opportunity (and Spirit) to keep them going even longer was add a $10 windscreen wiper to at least some of the solar panels to clear the dust off enough to keep them from going completely flat and they would have been OK?.

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    Maybe all they had to do with opportunity (and Spirit) to keep them going even longer was add a $10 windscreen wiper to at least some of the solar panels to clear the dust off enough to keep them from going completely flat and they would have been OK?.
    You could be right, the only problem there would be the additional fuel load required for the extra weight of such things, Of course, those panels also probably had no protection like most of ours (pane of glass) in the interests of weight (i.e. fuel) saving.
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    You guys probably won't believe me but inspired by a report in Silicon chip at the time and when I read it would last only 6months because of dust build up on the solar panels I contacted JPL and asked if they could mount wipers to regularly clean the panels using those very fine brushes you use to clean records(vinyls). As they should wipe over the edge of the panels the dust comes off the bristles when they suddenly straighten up which makes them self cleaning.
    I even got a response but it was too late for any additions.
    Turned out the dust build up was not an issue as it is quite windy on mars, although you would barely feel it but enough to blow the extremely fine and dry dust away.

    This major dust storm might have totally buried the rover, so simple wipers no use there either. Maybe one day it all gets blown away. There is no humidity for the dust to bake on, so who knows when it might suddenly reboot after the next storm.
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    If it were severe enough, the damage to the rover might not be that it was buried, but rather that it was sandblasted to death.
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    Quote Originally Posted by lsemmens View Post
    If it were severe enough, the damage to the rover might not be that it was buried, but rather that it was sandblasted to death.
    I don't think so. Imagine a bag of flour sandblasting at a pressure 100 time less than our atmosphere.
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 16-02-19 at 12:16 PM.
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    You could be right, nomeat, I have no idea how fast their wind blows or how heavy the dust is. Given that you can drive on it, I was thinking more like beach sand.
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    Quote Originally Posted by lsemmens View Post
    You could be right, nomeat, I have no idea how fast their wind blows or how heavy the dust is. Given that you can drive on it, I was thinking more like beach sand.
    The wind can be very fast but has very little force so it might not even lift something like our beach sand, but something as fine as baking flour will be all over the place but you won't be driving much in it as the layer will usually be fairly thin. When I think of it, to bury a rover it would have to be in a cavity or in front of a wall like object for it to build up that thick.
    The size of this dust can be only 3-30µm and can stay suspended in the atmosphere for quite some time. Our beach sand is usually 1-2mm, so they are 'boulders' in comparison.
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    JPL is still quite hopeful that the rover might recover. They plan to continue to send it commands over the next 12 months.
    They're not confident that they will get it back, but there's always a chance.
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    Maybe send up a little robot with windex and a roll of paper towels to clean the solar panels

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skepticist View Post
    Maybe send up a little robot with windex and a roll of paper towels to clean the solar panels
    Better still send up one of those clowns that advertise cleaning solar panels on dumbtree and the like claiming 30% better panel performance after they were cleaned. They must clean them using a shovel to get that sort of improvement.
    Give him an oil can and a grease gun and he can service the thing while he's up there. Maybe a new battery and he can jump start the thing while he's at it.

    I believe it could be a pretty long and boring trip however.

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    Quote Originally Posted by george65 View Post
    ..... claiming 30% better panel performance after they were cleaned.
    Ha, wow. The gronks working the traffic lights at Dixon have really moved up market.
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    Quote Originally Posted by trash View Post
    Ha, wow. The gronks working the traffic lights at Dixon have really moved up market.
    About the size of it. Another of those manufactured "Necessity" jobs that arent but they can make good money from little investment, no skill,no training and no knowledge.
    Bs seems to be a helpful and well exercised skill.

    I saw an ad the other week on dumbtree for one of these " experts" whom had a picture of a bloke cleaning panels whist standing on them. Couldn't help but to message the guy and say are you for real using a pic like that to promote your business and his indignant reply clearly illustrated he had no idea what I was talking about.

    As there is wind on mars there must be air so maybe a fan to move the dust off the panels may have helped although if it's really thick would probably need a compressor to give an air blast.

    I read on the story that once the mars rover is dead it's dead as there are a couple of things that were never set up to boot up again remotely.

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    Quote Originally Posted by george65 View Post
    I read on the story that once the mars rover is dead it's dead as there are a couple of things that were never set up to boot up again remotely.
    Yes, like you don't need the radio transmitter sending out signals and jamming other future probes.

    They do have cycles of wake up and attempt, but they have a time to live algorithm that will kill the unit past an expiry date if that date isn't changed prior.
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    Another Mars Rover Curiosity went to sleep for 2 weeks but it's not dead! Was just asleep.

    Curiosity returned to science planning today after a two week hiatus because of a . Our most recent science plan, described in the blog for , included a drive towards a blocky outcrop called "Midland Valley." The drive was a success, bringing us right on top of the beautiful chunk of rock shown above - but before we could reach out and touch it, Curiosity went into safe mode. While the engineers worked to return Curiosity to nominal operations, the science team stood down from planning, eagerly awaiting our chance to get a closer look at Midland Valley.
    Cheers, Tiny
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