Wanted: Space-Age Dust Removal

[JohnBoucher]

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotl...20_Spirit.html

Spirit can also use a timeout

[basicxman]

you'd think that of all the ppl NASA engineers would have solved a problem like this before-hand!?

[DonRotolo]

I wonder what the maximum angle that the rover can manage 'up' a hill - if it's something like 45 degrees, maybe they can get some of the 'sand' to just roll off downhill? I don't know, but wonder if they could drive it right up to a rock and let the rover climb up 4 feet?

Or maybe just send someone up there with a can of spray air?

Don

[Alex Golec]

Originally Posted by basicxman

you'd think that of all the ppl NASA engineers would have solved a problem like this before-hand!?

Yes, had the machine been intended to go 4 years longer than expectation.

I wonder if there's any geological feature that would make a windstorm more likely - some sort of rocky valley - nearby. Head for the hills, Spirit!

[Lions for First]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

I wonder what the maximum angle that the rover can manage 'up' a hill - if it's something like 45 degrees, maybe they can get some of the 'sand' to just roll off downhill? I don't know, but wonder if they could drive it right up to a rock and let the rover climb up 4 feet?

Or maybe just send someone up there with a can of spray air?

Don

Ive got my trusty can of air ill go NASA call me!! All I ask is for one of those grants for my team

[GaryVoshol]

Maybe if they went up an incline and then jiggled back and forth some would shake off.

[Lions for First]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Maybe if they went up an incline and then jiggled back and forth some would shake off.

Im not shure they move fast enough for that. Like i said ive got my can of air

[Protronie]

Sounds like a good fund raiser for a resourceful team...

They could hold a car wash on MARS!

What you reckon the charge would be to give a Galaxy class starship a wash and wax job?

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Protronie

Sounds like a good fund raiser for a resourceful team... They could hold a car robot wash on MARS!

heh. I volunteer to chaperone.

[Dan Richardson]

Probably should have just had everyone at Championship face the heavens raise both hands to the sky like everyone was holding an old NES cartridge and blow as fervently as they did when trying to play a rousing game of Duck Hunt. Where are those darned Martians when you need them?

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Stud Man Dan

Where are those darned Martians when you need them?

Back in Goodrich preparing for IRI and Kettering Kickoff.

[Molten]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Maybe if they went up an incline and then jiggled back and forth some would shake off.

Am I the only person that thinks this is rather unscientific? I was thinking more along the lines of magnetizing the robot to repel dust particles. Perhaps have a charged rod that would pull the dust off and onto the rod? I don't know, but I think using electricity to clean it off would definitely be cool.

[tdlrali]

jiggled back and forth

I don't think the NASA engineers have that kind of control over the rovers, I think it's mostly autonomous with commands such as "Go to point XY" and "Take a picture". Besides, the command to feedback lag would be insane if they had direct control. I'm just guessing though, based on the description of this year's hybrid mode.

[David Brinza]

Spirit had a lot of dust removed by strong Martian winds, a "Dust devil once-over", just over three years ago. BTW, dust appears to cling to surfaces very tightly due to electrostatic charging. I don't think driving around on an incline would be very effective at removing dust.

[DonRotolo]

I am pretty sure they could send a command that pulses the motors forwards and backwards as quickly as necessary. (I think the motor speed is slower than we think)

I'm also pretty sure the guys who do this are smart enough to have come up with such an idea on their own; surely if they rejected it they know something more about the rovers than I do. (Heh. Even if they accepted it, they know more...)

Don