Next Mars Rover Launch Delayed | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-04.22.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.16.24

Airborne-FlightTraining-04.17.24 Airborne-AffordableFlyers-04.18.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.19.24

Join Us At 0900ET, Friday, 4/10, for the LIVE Morning Brief.
Watch It LIVE at
www.airborne-live.net

Thu, Apr 17, 2003

Next Mars Rover Launch Delayed

'Guillotine' Could Short Boards

'In case of trouble, cut wires.' That's the mandate of a little 'guillotine-like' device that's built into the two Mars Rovers, that are scheduled to launch this Spring and Summer. The problem with guillotines is... they can cut things.

In the case of the Rovers, there is an obscure failure mode in which the blades could short out surrounding circuitry, effectively blowing the brains out of the expensive little vehicles as they approach the Red Planet's surface, with expected (catastrophically negative) results.

NASA is taking both Rovers apart to correct the problem; that R&R will delay the first Rover's launch a bit more than a week. The new launch date can be no earlier than June 8. (The second machine's launch, scheduled for the June 25~July 15 window, is unaffected.)

The last two Mars missions, in 1999, didn't work well: one was doomed by a premature shutdown of the retrorockets on landing; the other's calculations were done in both metric and English units -- and the overseers didn't catch the mixup until... poof happened.

FMI: www.nasa.gov

Advertisement

More News

Airborne 04.16.24: RV Update, Affordable Flying Expo, Diamond Lil

Also: B-29 Superfortress Reunion, FAA Wants Controllers, Spirit Airlines Pulls Back, Gogo Galileo Van's Aircraft posted a short video recapping the goings-on around their reorganiz>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (04.20.24): Light Gun

Light Gun A handheld directional light signaling device which emits a brilliant narrow beam of white, green, or red light as selected by the tower controller. The color and type of>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (04.20.24)

"The journey to this achievement started nearly a decade ago when a freshly commissioned Gentry, driven by a fascination with new technologies and a desire to contribute significan>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (04.21.24)

"Our driven and innovative team of military and civilian Airmen delivers combat power daily, ensuring our nation is ready today and tomorrow." Source: General Duke Richardson, AFMC>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (04.21.24): Aircraft Conflict

Aircraft Conflict Predicted conflict, within EDST of two aircraft, or between aircraft and airspace. A Red alert is used for conflicts when the predicted minimum separation is 5 na>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC