Georgia Fiero Club Forum

General Discussion and Announcements => General Discussion => Topic started by: TopNotch on February 20, 2021, 10:37:46 am

Title: Mars rovers
Post by: TopNotch on February 20, 2021, 10:37:46 am
NASA has now sent 5 rovers to mars (besides non-roving missions). If you have ever wondered how big they are, this picture should help.

The latest one, Perseverance, is the same size as the last one, Curiosity (which is still in operation), but it weighs about 1000 pounds (380 Mars pounds) more, due to having more scientific instruments on it.
Title: Re: Mars rovers
Post by: GTRS Fiero on February 20, 2021, 10:40:13 am
I figured you'd be along to share this soon.

Wouldn't those be fun to control?
Title: Re: Mars rovers
Post by: TopNotch on February 20, 2021, 11:01:23 am
Quote from: GTRS Fiero on February 20, 2021, 10:40:13 am
Wouldn't those be fun to control?
Because it takes up to 14 minutes to send a signal to Mars (depending on its position), the rovers are partly autonomous, like self-driving cars. If the operators see something they want to study in pictures sent back by the rover, they will send commands to it to drive to the object and do whatever they want to it (drill a hole, shoot it with a laser, etc.). The rover then executes the commands by itself and sends back a report.
Title: Re: Mars rovers
Post by: GTRS Fiero on February 20, 2021, 11:27:32 am
My son was in a class that simulated this.  They had to pre-program certain things.  5 minutes per batch.  For the more advanced classes required that the tasks be cumulative.  So, if the things were out of place after one batch, they would be unable to complete the next batch.

My son was rather upset after awards.  His team aced their interviews, completed all the tasks, met all the goals, had their booth set up properly, got the highest peer/visitor scores, and completed the bonus.  Everyone got the same award--even those who did not show up or make any effort on their project.

The project was to demonstrate water recycling, energy storage/retention, and building 7 separate structures, using items from the spacecraft.  One team member had to present the project (my son did this).  One team member had to build the robot (the team did this).  One member programmed the robot (my son did this).  The team set up the booth.  My son fielded all the questions, and the bonus task.