RIP Opportunity 2004-2019

[Puupi]

so why on Earth (huehue) would we want to settle on Mars...?

Because one day something will happen that makes this planet uninhabitable.

[kendro1200]

fairwell opportunity.


you'd think this might provide some basic insight and common sense, if the dust storms are this bad on mars, what fantasy hope do futurists have to ever building a viable civilization on there?
We can't even survive the worst conditions on earth right now, like building a viable living space on the north and south poles, or somewhere like death valley.

There are just some things human kind has to accept about its limitations.

Because of its thin atmosphere the dust storms on Mars are actually very mild. Similar to the temperature of the corona of the sun, which is measured in millions of the degrees (regardless of what scale you are using), but if you actually put your hand in that part it'd freeze, because the density of the plasma is so low. The only real problem with the dust storms is what has been mentioned a few times, the dust. Opportunity and Spirit were not meant to last more than three months, so there wasn't any good feature put in place to clean their solar panels. If Opportunity wasn't mobile it would have been buried underneath the dirt by now. The fact that it lasted as long as it did is kind of evidence of how easy it would be to maintain a habitat on Mars if you built it with the intent of long term functionality.

[Puupi]

...Who said anything about a surface mission?

A manned mission could go to Martian orbit, then return without ever touching down. Assuming by then a faster propulsion system is developed to make that worthwile anyway.

What you're thinking of is Colonization and THAT is 20+ years away. We'll all probably be too old to be volunteer by then so...yeah.

A trip around Mars isn't actually a manned mission to Mars.

[Chinese Bootlickers]

I'm a bit more pessimistic with my guess of somewhere between 2035-2050.
And yeah, we don't want to have all our eggs in one basket.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Because one day something will happen that makes this planet uninhabitable.

Whiiiiich is sort of what Mars is already, if you think about it...

I vote for a Wall-E solution, minus the obesity.

[Puupi]

Whiiiiich is sort of what Mars is already, if you think about it...

Yes, but it's more habitable than what Earth would be if a large asteroid hits it. Not to mention all the deaths that happen if such a thing happens.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Yes, but it's more habitable than what Earth would be if a large asteroid hits it. Not to mention all the deaths that happen if such a thing happens.

Luckily I'll be long dead and buried.

Screw that noise, no home planet and mankind clinging on poorly to planets even less hospitable.

[PACOX]

...Yeah. Folks need to remember there IS another NASA Rover on Mars right now: Curiosity, which arrived back in 2012 (Whose landing was EPIC). I'm pretty sure Curiosity--which is the size of a Volkswagen--will still be doing its thing when the first manned mission touches down on Mars.

One would think NASA--or another country or company--could probably design, build and send another Rover or Drone specifically to repair it. They could probably reroute Curiousity to go to where Opportunity is--I assume they could triangualate the coordinates--and give NASA an idea of what might have happned to it. Curiosity was built to traverse the entire planet and can hover for short bursts. I think sending another robot would make the most sense though. Sending one with the ability to do maintenance or repair work means longer or more complex unmanned missions are possible. We definitely need to get some satellites in Mars' orbit to improve communications with Earth though.

As an aside, I do think we are within 10 years of the first manned mission to Mars. The thing that needs to be figured out is the travel time. We do know that currently, it takes about 7 months to go from Earth to Mars. This is likely why NASA is offering $10k to volunteers to lie in bed for 30 to 60 days. We do know NASA is trying to develop a faster and more powerful propulsion system that will cut the travel time down to two or three months max. The next 10 years should be real interesting in the area of Space Exploration.

I read somewhere that theres no way for Curiosity to reach Opportunity even if they wanted to ignore the risks involved. Its already crippled a bit. But its amazing that Opportunity lasted this long considering its twin died a long time ago.

The biggest hurdles to a manned mission to Mars is logistics and returning home (so more logistics). A craft going to Mars will probably be built/assembled in space. Thats not going to happen until the next gen of heavy launchers are operational, even then you'd wanted a replacement for the ISS as well. If we can figure out how to get the necessary supplies into orbit the the actual transist vehicle shouldn't be hard to design/implement.

The next hhurdle would be how to get make sure the astronauts can survive the journey. We're used to shooting smaller craft across the solar system that don't have biology as a weakness. Who cares if they exposed to raditation as long as their instruments still work, who cares if they get a couple of dents and scrapes, who cares if the ride turbulaent. Humans need a habitatal environment that can protect them from cosmic radiation as well as their own boredom.

Landing and getting humans off of Mars is a huge problem as well. We can't just drop people in airbag or pull of the crazy skycrane manuever like with current gen missions. Not when people are involved. None of current methods of landing humans would work due to Mars' lack of a robust atmosphere.

I think the next 10 years will be figuring out the ground work to land on Mars, assuming we finally move past LEO.

[arandomuser]

TDS strikes again.

SORRY which part of my statement wasn't factual, go ahead.

[Kellhound]

It exceeded its expected life by 60X. One of the greatest successes for NASA ever. It deserves its rest, and eventual tourist attraction status!

[McFuu]

Opportunity didn't die, it completed it's mission.

[avitush]

Mission that was planned to last 90 days ended up lasting close to 15 years. That's definitely a GG.

Random thought: I wonder if there will be anything left of these abandoned rovers and landers by the time we actually get humans on Mars? Especially some of the really old stuff like the Viking landers. It'd be pretty awesome to bring one back and put it in a museum or something.

[Canpinter]

Mission that was planned to last 90 days ended up lasting close to 15 years. That's definitely a GG.

Random thought: I wonder if there will be anything left of these abandoned rovers and landers by the time we actually get humans on Mars? Especially some of the really old stuff like the Viking landers. It'd be pretty awesome to bring one back and put it in a museum or something.

Oh ya the weather on mars is actually mild enough that there is no real risk to the rovers being destroyed, so they will just get buried in sand and sit there for however long it takes.

[Zenith US Horde]

As an aside, I do think we are within 10 years of the first manned mission to Mars. The thing that needs to be figured out is the travel time. We do know that currently, it takes about 7 months to go from Earth to Mars. This is likely why NASA is offering $10k to volunteers to lie in bed for 30 to 60 days. We do know NASA is trying to develop a faster and more powerful propulsion system that will cut the travel time down to two or three months max. The next 10 years should be real interesting in the area of Space Exploration.

The radiation is more the issue. Pretty much anyone that goes on the current manned mission with current technology is going to walk away from it with like a big increased chance of cancer because of exposure and time combined. Some people spend a lot of time in the space station for example but that is still within a level of strength of the Earth's magnetic field that protects them (even though its still a much higher dose than you get on Earth from the Sun). Between Earth and Mars you will be exposed to much higher levels. On Mars, still very high levels as well. It would pretty much be a half year of being exposed to 100s of xrays an hour if the sun is being a good boy. Worse if it spits a bit in your direction. From some show I saw on the Discovery channel they think they could cut that in half with current radiation shielding tech but they either weight a lot (lead for example) or use a lot of power (making a powerful magnetic field). But even with BOTH it would be something like 25-30 xrays an hour instead of the 100 (still really bad).

People can live in space for the time being asked with current speeds. Of course faster is better. But shielding is the big one. Figure out how to keep the rads out and Mars isn't that hard.

[Danner]

In my headcanon, it's not dead.

It's just gone feral.

[Skulltaker]

...Who said anything about a surface mission?

A manned mission could go to Martian orbit, then return without ever touching down. Assuming by then a faster propulsion system is developed to make that worthwile anyway.

What you're thinking of is Colonization and THAT is 20+ years away. We'll all probably be too old to be volunteer by then so...yeah.

That's not a manned mission to Mars, that's a manned mission to Mars's Orbit. What exactly would that achieve?

[Puupi]

That's not a manned mission to Mars, that's a manned mission to Mars's Orbit. What exactly would that achieve?

100 billion dollar radiation sickness for the pilot.

[Zuben]

fairwell opportunity.


you'd think this might provide some basic insight and common sense, if the dust storms are this bad on mars, what fantasy hope do futurists have to ever building a viable civilization on there?
We can't even survive the worst conditions on earth right now, like building a viable living space on the north and south poles, or somewhere like death valley.

There are just some things human kind has to accept about its limitations.

Well, the bot managed to keep going for 15 years, one would assume there were more dust storms during that time. What made this one fatal is anyone's guess, but I think it's something for us to look into rather than declare Mars a lost cause over it.

[XDurionX]

[Livnthedream]

SORRY which part of my statement wasn't factual, go ahead.

You need to clean your room bucko.