Students - Name The Mars Rovers!!!
 

In the summer of 2003, NASA will launch two robotic Mars Exploration Rovers that will land on the Red Planet in January 2004. Students in grades K-12 throughout the United States are invited to submit names for these rovers. To enter the contest, think of names for one or both of the rovers, and submit an essay explaining why those names should be chosen for the rovers. The winner will earn a special place in space exploration history, as they determine the name of this historic pair of robotic explorers. The winner will also be invited to the launch of the first rover spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in May, 2003. For more information, see the Name The Rovers Website. The entry deadline is January 31, 2003!

(Look for a full-scale model of the rover at the party at Dean Kamen's house the evening before the 2003 Competition kick-off!)

-dave


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Y = AX^2 +BX + C

In case you live in a cave and haven't a clue what Dave is talking 'bout :D, I'd like to offer up a couple of really neat images from the MER project that haven't been widely disseminated.

First, this is a new, highly accurate digital rendering that Dan Maas has done for the project. The large image is a 3000x2400 JPEG, the small image is a 1024x768 JPEG.

Second, this is a photo taken in early November during a break in the mobility testing of MER #2. It shows the size difference between the MER and (flight spare) Sojourner Rovers. Sojourner was, of course, the little rover that landed on Mars in July '97 as part of JPL's Pathfinder spacecraft.

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover that we're going to send in 2009 is much larger than the MER :eek:.

Pretty cool, eh?

-Kevin

Hey! I like my cave thank you very much:D
But that looks really cool.

One of our engineers designed the wheels for the MER rover. They are all aluminum but still have some springy action to them to simulate air filled tires. This is due to the flex of the thin spokes of the wheel. Very cool stuff. Those wheels are over $3,000 apiece!

Something tells me that they wont be on your robot then. lol:)

I held one of the flight wheels, and let me tell you that they are really beautiful. Beautiful not only from an aesthetic point of view, but also from an engineering point of view. They are, in fact, so neat, that Dave took a flight-like wheel back to NASA headquarters to show it off. Maybe Dave could put it within view of the Amazing DaveCam (hint, hint) :D.

I have a pretty good idea what It costs to build flight hardware here at JPL, and I think that the cost of each wheel was much higher than $3,000. My guess at the cost of the materials plus cost of the machining would bring the cost to over $15,000 each. Of course, the Engineering time plus the milling machine setup costs are substantial, but spread across the cost of all the wheels made. I'll bet that the $3,000 was the cost of the void-less hunk of aluminum that they're cut from :eek:.

-Kevin

Edited to clean-up my icky grammer -RKW

Wheels.....
 

Are these the same ones?



I found that picture in an older post by Dave Lavery.

:)

Phew I got mine in, uggg I have to wait so long to find out.. oh well... /me Goes into suspended animation...

It is nothing to laugh about. All our engineers are on the MER project at JPL. We won't have nearly as much help from them this time around with the launch in June.

Our 5 engineers have all been doing some cool stuff like the gearboxes, solar panels, electrical, testing, etc. with the rover. The guy who designed the wheels actually showed me his CAD drawing on his JPL laptop before they were made. One of our engineers will be away at the launch site for flight systems stuff so we won't see him during the season.

I'm pretty sure those are the ones. The "spokes" are designed to torsionally flex in the circular pattern to have some "give" on the tread surface.


Sorry I got a bit off topic but it is such a cool machine. As for the name, I'm blank.:confused:

Re: Wheels.....
 

Yep, that's what they look like. Notice the built-in suspension? Pretty cool, eh?

-Kevin

5 JPL engineers of your team? That's totally awesome! We're sponsored by JPL, but they don't give us engineering help... I wish they did...

I was wondering. The way the wheels are mounted on thse rovers... where's the motor? Is it in the wheel? I don't see where else it could be... Just curious.

The 5 engineers was last year. Now we're down to three of them and they won't be able to help us nearly as much. You receive money from JPL? or do you mean the NASA grant for the LA area?

The motors are very very small and geared down a bunch. They are about equal or smaller in size than the Johnson ones provided in the FRC kit. There is one motor and gear train per wheel and yes, they do sit inside the wheel on the suspension arm thingy.

Fascinating... I'd fire up Inventor and try to mount a drill motor in an aluminum wheel, but I think it'd be extremely difficult/impossible to shift gears. Humn... after I've sent these applications, I think I'll try... Kickoff is sooo close :D :eek:

No, we only have a NASA grant... but don't some NASA grant teams get JPL engineer mentors?:

All robotics teams who bragged about how cool their wheels were last year just got schooled...that wheel is awesome.

Where are you in the L.A. area? Contact Steph Lievense at JPL (818-393-6729) and make sure She knows that you want engineering help from us. If She can't find someone for you, find me at the kick-off or e-mail me and I'll see if I can find someone in your area.

-Kevin