NASA's Opportunity rover has been silent since June 10, when a planet-encircling dust storm cut off solar power for the nearly-15-year-old rover. Now that scientists think the global dust storm is "decaying"—meaning more dust is falling out of the atmosphere than is being raised back into it—skies might soon clear enough for the solar-powered rover to recharge and attempt to "phone home."
No one will know how the rover is doing until it speaks. But the team notes there's reason to be optimistic: They've performed several studies on the state of its batteries before the storm, and temperatures at its location. Because the batteries were in relatively good health before the storm, there's not likely to be too much degradation. And because dust storms tend to warm the environment—and the 2018 storm happened as Opportunity's location on Mars entered summer—the rover should have stayed warm enough to survive.
[...] When Opportunity experiences a problem, it can go into so-called "fault modes" where it automatically takes action to maintain its health. Engineers are preparing for three key fault modes if they do hear back from Opportunity.
The first thing to do is learn more about the state of the rover. Opportunity's team will ask for a history of the rover's battery and solar cells and take its temperature. If the clock lost track of time, it will be reset. The rover would take pictures of itself to see whether dust might be caked on sensitive parts, and test actuators to see if dust slipped inside, affecting its joints.
Once they've gathered all this data, the team would take a poll about whether they're ready to attempt a full recovery.
Even if engineers hear back from Opportunity, there's a real possibility the rover won't be the same.
The rover's batteries could have discharged so much power—and stayed inactive so long—that their capacity is reduced. If those batteries can't hold as much charge, it could affect the rover's continued operations. It could also mean that energy-draining behavior, like running its heaters during winter, could cause the batteries to brown out.
Dust isn't usually as much of a problem. Previous storms plastered dust on the camera lenses, but most of that was shed off over time. Any remaining dust can be calibrated out.
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Submitted via IRC for cmn32480
NASA's Opportunity rover has had an incredible career already, spending years upon years studying the Martian surface and proving to be an incredibly reliable and hardy piece of hardware. Unfortunately, a NASA dust storm that began kicking up in May may have abruptly ended its historic run.
In mid-June, the solar-powered Opportunity ran out of juice and was forced to go into its dormant standby mode. The dust storm which swallowed the entirety of Mars had blocked out the Sun, cutting the rover off of its only available source of power. NASA engineers had remained optimistic that the rover would wake back up when the skies began to clear, but things aren't looking good thus far.
[...] That's...not great news. NASA knew that the rover would be forced to sit dormant for a while because of the intensity of the storm, but that was several weeks ago. The dust has since began to settle, and enough light should be pushing its way down to the surface to begin recharging Opportunity's batteries once again.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday August 19 2018, @09:45AM (8 children)
Curiosity is still around, and we have another rover being sent soon, Mars 2020 [wikipedia.org].
It's about time to start sending robots that a.) can build structures out of Mars soil, or b.) can drill into the polar ice and reach any trapped lake that may be down there. Something that could drill through large patches + layers of the topsoil might also be good. Or maybe drill a narrow core, but miles down [popsci.com]. Maybe the good stuff is a few feet below the surface, instead of the centimeter(s) that Curiosity is drilling.
Use Kilopower [soylentnews.org] for systems that need more than a little solar power.
The search for microbes should be accelerated before humans show up and make things a bit more complicated by crapping all over the place, growing potatoes, etc.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday August 19 2018, @12:06PM (7 children)
Perspective: 1kW - very likely your toaster is in this ballpark and your blender at least twice that much.
Here's a list of typical amount of energy required to obtain 1kg of material [lowtechmagazine.com] for you to compute how much time you'll need to build something significant.
Likely the first building material sourced from raw materials available on Mars will resemble glass = 18-35MJ, 5,000 to 9,700 watt-hours - maybe by synthering rather that homogeneous transparent glass, so towards the lower limit of the range.
Knowing that replacement heating elements are hard to come by on Mars and heating perchlorates isn't quite friendly to heaters, I'd bet for IR laser heating - 65% efficiency max.
There's what you can 3D print with approx 1.2-1.4kW of power in half a day [dezeen.com] from desert sand - the Fresnel lens was 1x1.4m. 6mins video [vimeo.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday August 19 2018, @12:25PM (6 children)
1 kW for prototype. Up to 10 kW for a full version, with the possibility of sending multiple units.
Compare to Curiosity, which produced 110 Watts of electricity and 2,000 Watts of heat at the start of its mission. Or Opportunity, which produced up to 140 Watts for up to 14 hours per day using solar panels, with some heating from radioisotope heaters that were included.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday August 19 2018, @01:21PM (5 children)
How many would be needed? How about a bit of arithmetic [wikipedia.org] instead of hand-waving?
With the density of ceramics at at 3-6g/cm3 [umich.edu], you have all the numbers to estimate how long will take to build enough "bricks" for a reasonable structure.
Feeling of guts, sending over a binding polymer to mix with the regolith and cast those "brick" may be more advantageous energetically for a kick-start than building something exclusively from Mars materials
Drilling for ice until it gets to the liquid water? Lifting tons of broken down materials from depth of miles? Making sure the well doesn't cave in and replacing worn-out drilling heads [wikipedia.org]? In a frozen soil without drilling mud?
I can't even dare to think of the required energy and diversity of technologies needed (and no, Armageddon wasn't a pinnacle of scientific accuracy).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Sunday August 19 2018, @01:48PM (4 children)
WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY ABOUT ME I'LL WAVE MY HAND UP YOURNah, but it's not hand-waving to say that another power generation technology can provide 1-2 more orders of magnitude of power.
Ice drills don't require lots of power:
https://www.wired.com/2013/10/mars-polar-ice-sample-return-1977-1978/ [wired.com] (praywalled)
Here's one intended for soil/rock:
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2015/03/technical-details-on-zaptec-plasma.html [nextbigfuture.com]
Power requirements aren't listed for Mars Ice House, but it looks like it will be less than what would be required to makes bricks out of the soil.
http://spacearchitect.org/pubs/ICES-2016-222.pdf [spacearchitect.org]
10 kW will be more than enough for useful applications. More would be better, but you have to start somewhere.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Sunday August 19 2018, @02:20PM (3 children)
For research purposes, it will fit.
To provide habitable conditions, utterly insufficient.
Like... the Moon as a testing ground for those technologies?
1. the technology should work in Earth conditions as well. From 2015 to now I'd expect at least a prototype to be shown. Mmmm... let's visit the Zaptec site [zaptec.com], shall we?
2. ... ummm, ok, ZapchargerPro and Zapcharger portable...
Did that plasma transformed the technology into vaporware?
Perhaps. But then you need to be careful how much heat you exhaust inside the "building" - if you overload the capacity of heat transfer, your building will melt on your head.
This besides the necessity of pressurising the building against a very thin atmosphere - ice isn't very elastic or tensile to start with. The thicker the ice, the lower the max heat flux it can support.
May be something to consider for a start, but not as a medium term solution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday August 19 2018, @02:29PM (2 children)
NASA (or Space-X or whoever) needs to recruit Inuits, Norwegians, Siberians, etc., to go to Mars. Or at least consult on the architectural engineering.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Sunday August 19 2018, @02:53PM (1 child)
It will also need to train them to live in anaerobic conditions - water electrolysis is energetically expensive as well. But I believe scrubbing CO2** without losing the nitrogen component** will be one big problem - the quickest way will be to freeze the CO2, separate it then reheat the rest - mmm, some other energy lost as heat.
** Over 20% CO2 will lead to death by acidosis, no matter if the rest of atmosfere is pure oxygen
A pure oxygen atmosphere is toxic in days (pulmonary capillary damage, lungs edema). Besides fats in excess has the bad habit to autoignite in pure oxygen.
One on top of the other, you need that inert gas to dilute the oxygen and it can't be CO2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday August 19 2018, @03:03PM
Do you work for NASA or any space company? If not, why not? They need you. But from where I sit, so do many people. Are you a Dr.?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday August 19 2018, @10:13AM (15 children)
After getting out of bed around mid-afternoon Friday, getting tipped a TEN DOLLAR BILL while singing on the street in downtown Portland at 5:00, talking over a few of my essays with the very first MeatSpace fan of my writing - _her_ friend is my second, getting totally amped on two count em:TWO shots of espresso poured over a medium cup of Espresso Explosion ice cream, a glazed cinnamon roll and a chocolate frosted donuts, being unable to do _anything_ useful until four hours later hhhhhhhh
dam
damit ths keyboard doesn't fuckng work!
Im n the Emergency Roooom because I realzed the reason locked my self out f my apartmen because waas _already_
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday August 19 2018, @11:04AM (13 children)
wa already Maniic when I faled to checck my pocket for my keys when I popped out for a pint of Cherry Garca before my planned to pop my Happy Plls when I went to bed at mdnght.
Get This:
My Happy Pills are _inside_my apartment!
"If you're not sleeping, it's an emergency."
-- Psychiatrist Darryl Chagi MD
It's common for me to have insomnia but insomnia with Racing Thoughts is _always_ Bipolar Mania.
Most times I can get to the ER in a tax or even on the motherfucking bus, but when I called 9-1-1 to request what at first intended to be non-emergency transport to the ER by then really _was_an emergency.
have two completely _new_ symptoms that 've never experenced before: alternatng ncreasingly frequent increasingly intense hot and cold spells as well as a strange difficulty wth comeing up each individual word when ever I try to say something.
Happily despite what this accursed "getwell:)network" Bluetooth keyboard and the batshit crazy cold-molasses Freshman year CS project of a useless-as-a-nuns-tits browser that now fills the 1080 pixel Full HD Jesus Big Orwellian Telescreen that hovers over me a good two metres beyond the range of my readng glasses...
... my _writing_ remains strangely _unaffected_.
I just now dissolved a fast-acted reliably anti-manic Happy Pill under my tongue. My ER doc stepped in, said he'd write me a prescription for "a short course" of said Happy Pill and said he'd send me home when the new day dawns.
I at first said I'd get home on the bus but he reminded me that the bus doesn't run on Sunday then said "We'll getcha home" which home I'll remain locked out of until my apartment manager gets up. 'm going to ask him to park his truck under the awning, climb from his truck onto the awning and from their in through my blessedly-open bedroom window.
At which point I'll post to Facebook that due to curcumstances beyond my control, I'll have to withdraw my widely-cast invitation to dne on my Totally Awesome Soup until I've taken all my other Happy Pills then Slept Like The Dead for a solid _week_.
Most of my writings as well as mosts of my posts about my mental illness put a confidently-positive spin on my Bipolar-Type Schizoaffective Disorder but in reality...
... It gets old sometimes. It Really Fucking Does.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by janrinok on Sunday August 19 2018, @11:16AM (6 children)
Sorry to hear of your predicament - but what the hell has it got to do with Opportunity's Recovery Efforts? May I respectfully suggest you use your journal?
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday August 19 2018, @02:40PM (1 child)
MDC is no mental slouch, and he's sharing with us how great minds can be hampered, and that maybe science therefore society could advance more, faster, if society would do a better job at taking care of some of these things. I can't speculate on the details- maybe a chip under his skin that would allow him to get a pill from one of a network of automated unhackable dispensers. Yes, I'm dreaming of the future. We used to do that back in the day. For sure, we've come a long way, and are progressing.
Disregarding protestations, said chip would have caused coffeehouse to give him decaf and we'd be having a different discussion. :)
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday August 19 2018, @10:06PM
Once a month injections of Risperdal - an antipsychotic that once worked well for me - whose dosage would be metered out at a constant rate rather than the wild fluctuations of daily tablets.
I first took Risperdal for florid psychosis in April 1994 just a few months after it was first licensed. A couple days later I told the psych nurses that it was "like a breath of fresh air blowing through my mind". However Tardive Dyskenesia began to set in, in my case as is common an unconscious repetitive opening and closing of my mouth. TD is a form of brain damage; there is one documented case of someone getting TD that put her in a wheel chair after just ONE injection. TD is generally far more disturbing to others who watch it than the person who suffers it.
My witch doctor in Truro Nova Scotia suggested the monthly Risperdal injection because my daily dose would be a lot less than the tablet had to be to still be at the right blood concentration at it's minimum, just before I took my next dose.
It costs a thousand dollars a month. "I want that money spent on someone whose only hope of staying out of the hospital is to get that injection", and in fact that's what such one a month injections are actually used for.
It's an application of nanotech in which small particles of risperidone - the generic - are encapsulated in soluble spheres. I expect the thickness of the surfaces of the spheres, possibly as well what they are made out of, so as to make some spheres dissolve in the first day, the same number on the last day.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday August 19 2018, @09:40PM
While you're not wrong, one of major problems with bi-polar people during a manic period is that they don't tend to follow the rules or act in a completely predictable way.
Personally, I'm a fan of MDC's, and if he sometimes goes off the rails there's a good reason for it.
Anyway, it sounds like he has a plan to get back on track, and hopefully the meds can even him out.
(Score: 3, Informative) by RS3 on Monday August 20 2018, @04:53AM (2 children)
Since you broached the subject, my journal doesn't seem to work. I enter a subject and text, preview, save, looks good, check back: "Sorry, the requested journal entries were not found."
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday August 20 2018, @06:56AM (1 child)
...and now you enter into areas that are outside my expertise, sorry.
If martyb shows up you could raise it with him - he might be able to help. martyb does a lot of the system testing and so knows a fair amount about most of the magic that is hidden from view. Unfortunately, TheMightyBuzzard is on vacation at the moment - he is the man who knows most about how the site works. I've followed the sequence of actions that you used and it appears to have worked for my journal, but that is of little help to you.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday August 20 2018, @01:25PM
Thank you so much. It's not a big deal; I probably noticed it a year ago. Other priorities stand. And I'm aware that carrion are being sought. :) Thanks again!
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 19 2018, @11:42AM
Please fuck off somewhere else.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday August 19 2018, @03:06PM (3 children)
So is caffeine the trigger here? I have to be careful with it. And I like chocolate but it does something to me too. It certainly keeps me awake at night, but it doesn't feel the same as coffee or tea caffeine. Maybe ask for decaf?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday August 19 2018, @10:12PM (2 children)
I've been working towards kicking coffee cold turkey again, but only for a month. I want to get back to just one cup being all I require to start my day.
The last time I stopped drinking coffee I was so sickened by doing so that my witch doctor advised me to start drinking again.
The difference between an addictive substance like caffeine and a substance that's simply difficult to stop taking such as the antidepressant Paxil - it caused me bizarre "Electric Flashes" in my scalp that no one seems to understand - is that addicts experience "Seeking Behaviour" as their tolerance builds so they want large and larger doses.
Friday night was an aberration. That will _never_ happen again.
As for preparing to kick: before I actually do so - I expect next Saturday - _whenever_ I feel weary I sleep. Mostly for just an hour, but generally two or three naps a day.
Happily I'm not the only NedSpace member there's a guy who sleeps on a couch in the lounge and I'm dead certain they guy in the office just behind mine actually _lives_ there. I'm LOLing as I post.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Sunday August 19 2018, @11:41PM (1 child)
This is fascinating to me. The duh obvious statement is wean off of caffeine. But maybe you need it sometimes. And not like sort of average folks who just want a "pick me up", but maybe you need it at times you wouldn't expect to. All I know is I can only drink maybe 1/2 small cup of caffeinated stuff. I mean, I can drink more, but it affects m' guts, and I have fairly high mental energy and I'm not sure if I annoy people but too much caffeine and I'm racing. It can be okay depending on what I'm doing. And I know others who have high energy. You probably know that dark roasts have significantly less caffeine. I think espresso is very high.
Every try "biofeedback"?
More and more companies are allowing naps. For me the need is fairly rare, and it would be pretty short.
Some of my friends in college were artists, and I remember where there were plywood boards on some walls, on hinges and 45 degree chains, and some of the students basically lived there. I guess breathing all the paint fumes helps the creative process. :-?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday August 20 2018, @03:52AM
They used it at my second Psychiatric Hospital. I asked my Therapist to set me up with it but he said Biofeedback wasn't really what I needed at the time.
I expect it works best for chronic anxiety. I get so anxious sometimes I want to crawl out of my own skin but that's uncommon.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 19 2018, @04:46PM
Ahhh, there we go. I feel better already.
MDC is the Black Adder of SN.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday August 19 2018, @10:17PM
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Sunday August 19 2018, @11:30AM (5 children)
I can certainly see where they programmed Opportunity to make the best of a bad situation; actually I am quite impressed by the care and thought they put into something that has lasted far longer than planned.
Opportunity is doing exactly what I would do, if I were faced, stranded, with a depleted battery in my van in the middle of nowhere during a storm... I would wait until I had sufficient power in the engine start batteries before making futile attempts and destroying the cells by trying to run 'em empty. I can get some current off of solar panels, and it may take me several days to store up enough energy to start the thing if I got stranded with bad weather.
Here's hoping the best for Opportunity... it sure looks like she got the best of education while here on Earth.... hoping her survival skills pay off.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Sunday August 19 2018, @11:47AM (3 children)
Seems like you read that XKCD comic [xkcd.com].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday August 19 2018, @12:22PM (2 children)
I remember seeing that. Thanks for the link. It actually trips off emotion in me for the machine. Even though I should know better.
I seem to have a tendency to anthropomorphize certain things... a house, a vehicle, favorite machines, damn near as much as I get attached to living things.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Funny) by RS3 on Sunday August 19 2018, @11:48PM (1 child)
Me too. Well, not that kind of "me too". Yes, I often talk to machines. Usually it's to tell them I can pull their plug if they don't behave, and sometimes I do. They understand.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Monday August 20 2018, @07:16AM
Usually I just threaten to kick it.
It seems the printer where I work sometimes really has it in for me.
My own laptop had it in for me big-time till I fed it NoScript. So did my phone until I loaded Brave.
They still get temperamental from time to time, but not nearly as bad as they used to.
I never remember my old PC ever giving me so much trouble, until all this stuff requiring proprietary drivers became the way things are done.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Sunday August 19 2018, @03:08PM
My fear is Opportunity is now buried under a sand dune. Do we know if that's the case?