Mission to Mars

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amethyst Mars Breaks Wind! I didn't think Mars had enough atmosphere these days to create strong enough wind to make a wind-gust noise.

It has strong and relentless winds.

https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitio...tem/mars/wind/

Quote:

Many factors influence how Martian winds develop, including seasonal temperature variations, global atmospheric circulation patterns, and topography. Because the atmosphere is so thin, high wind velocities are needed to move sand and dust. Surface winds typically move about 16 to 32 kilometers (10 to 20 miles) per hour. The Viking Landers measured speeds of up to 113 kilometers (70 miles) per hour during dust storms.

[ls99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by doneat54 ............. another spacecraft pluck it from orbit and bring it back to earth. I'm just wondering with what the last 12 months have been like on earth, if bringing stuff back from other planets is a good idea. I did see most of the "Alien" movies.

If that stuff won't kill us hopefuly it will cure us. So far humanity seems like a failed experiment.

[Markola]

^^^^^^Wow! I’m glad to be here, so I can’t agree it’s a failure. I’m somewhat bearish on society as we know it surviving climate disruptions over the next few centuries, but I think the human species will be around for a while. As long as there is bacteria in hot springs at the bottom of the ocean, I’m completely bullish on life on planet earth thriving in the face of anything humans can throw at it and continuing to evolve until something planetary gets out of whack at the Solar System scale. YMMV 🤡

[ncbill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by doneat54 I saw in another NASA video/presentation today that P will take martian soil samples, cache them on the planet, NASA will launch a "fetch" rover in 2026, it will collect them, put them into Mars orbit, to then have yet another spacecraft pluck it from orbit and bring it back to earth. I'm just wondering with what the last 12 months have been like on earth, if bringing stuff back from other planets is a good idea. I did see most of the "Alien" movies.

Ever see "The Andromeda Strain" or read the book?

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncbill Ever see "The Andromeda Strain" or read the book?

Sure. No problem. Acid rain will wipe out any stuff we bring back from Mars. We're safe.

[Gumby]

There was a message from JPL hidden in the supersonic parachute. Pretty clever.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/dare-migh...160939346.html

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Go-NoGo Grabbed a screenshot:

So I didn't even think of that as a problem. I think all those shots from various space programs of booster separation have me thinking that debris is normal. This is different.

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby There was a message from JPL hidden in the supersonic parachute. Pretty clever. https://www.yahoo.com/news/dare-migh...160939346.html

Cool, a message, and also JPL's coordinates on earth. The martians will know exactly where to go when they complain about this littering.

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan It has strong and relentless winds. https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitio...tem/mars/wind/

So, lots of potential for wind farm? All we’d need is a really long cable to get it back to earth.

[Gumby]

When I was a senior at the Naval Academy in 1980, I took Meteorology, which came to be my very favorite class. At the end of the semester, we each had to write and present a paper on a meteorological topic of our choice. Most students picked something like "Our Friend the Hurricane" or "Famous Tornadoes," but that didn't quite satisfy me.

I presented a paper on "Frontal Systems on Mars". I got primary data from the Viking landers which had landed in 1976. By comparing wind speed, wind direction, atmospheric pressure, temperature, and atmospheric clarity/opacity over time, I demonstrated that Mars has frontal systems just like the Earth and that, with the notable exception of clouds and (mostly) precipitation, all parameters on Mars change just as they do on Earth when a warm or cold front passes a specific location.

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB So, lots of potential for wind farm? All we’d need is a really long cable to get it back to earth.

In the trilogy of fictional books by Kim Stanley Robinson on the settlement and terraforming of Mars wind power was a major feature.

[yakers]

One nice thing about the wind is that after a lander gets buried in sand a while later the wind blows off the sand the solar cells recharge and the lander phones home

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yakers One nice thing about the wind is that after a lander gets buried in sand a while later the wind blows off the sand the solar cells recharge and the lander phones home

Perseverance and its cousin Curiosity are powered by RTG's (radioisotope thermoelectric generators), not by solar panels. The now-defunct Opportunity and Spirit were solar powered.

[ls99]

If rovers on Mars meet up, which end do they sniff?

[Boho]

The green stuff on these two rocks is only on the top, where there's the most sunlight and least wear from sand blowing into it. If it were part of the rock then you'd also see it on the sides where the rock wears faster. What element would turn green in the presence of light? It could be plant matter. If it's life, they should name it after me.

I increased the color saturation in the image on the bottom right.

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boho What element would turn green in the presence of light?

Copper turns green in the presence of light and air. Maybe plumbers are a life form that used to exist on Mars.

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Copper turns green in the presence of light and air. Maybe plumbers are a life form that used to exist on Mars.

To the best of my knowledge, the air needs to have oxygen in it to oxidize the copper and cause the verdigris (green color).

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby To the best of my knowledge, the air needs to have oxygen in it to oxidize the copper and cause the verdigris (green color).

Even today oxygen makes up 0.16% of the atmosphere on mars. Who knows how much there was in the distant past before the mars atmosphere leaked into space. As per the Curiosity Rover in 2019.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard...new-one-oxygen

Quote:

For the first time in the history of space exploration, scientists have measured the seasonal changes in the gases that fill the air directly above the surface of Gale Crater on Mars. As a result, they noticed something baffling: oxygen, the gas many Earth creatures use to breathe, behaves in a way that so far scientists cannot explain through any known chemical processes. Over the course of three Mars years (or nearly six Earth years) an instrument in the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) portable chemistry lab inside the belly of NASA’s Curiosity rover inhaled the air of Gale Crater and analyzed its composition. The results SAM spit out confirmed the makeup of the Martian atmosphere at the surface: 95% by volume of carbon dioxide (CO2), 2.6% molecular nitrogen (N2), 1.9% argon (Ar), 0.16% molecular oxygen (O2), and 0.06% carbon monoxide (CO).

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB So, lots of potential for wind farm? All we’d need is a really long cable to get it back to earth.

Actually, that may be the best way to create enough energy to turn water (or more likely CO2) into O2. We'll need 10's of tons of LOX to return from Mars.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras Cool, a message, and also JPL's coordinates on earth. The martians will know exactly where to go when they complain about this littering.

Heh, heh, the "space junk" is a minor nuisance compared to all the radioactive fuel on board. That might really honk off the "neighbors" now that we've told them where we live. It's a bit worse than the flaming bag on the front porch trick. YMMV