Don't you think that driving 4-7 miles in 3 years a little too little? I mena, of course they are not Bugattis, but 4 miles is just seems like too slow. A reasonable distace would be 50-100 miles. Keep in mind, that's during 3 years!
Why do you think they are that slow?
2007-10-18 08:13:26 · 7 answers · asked by rockability 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
They were designed that way, in part because the JPL guys controlling them will only trust an advance of a few inches to a few feet at a time. Also, during much of this time, they are stopped while they perform photography and their limited amount of experiments.
While we think they're slow & haven't covered much territory, remember - they're performing 1200% better than expected.
And, frankly, this is another reason why manned space travel is so important. A man on the surface of mars, while expensive, can accomplish more in shorter amount of time, and the things we'd learn by creating the means of sending him there would be invaluable.
2007-10-18 08:19:53 · answer #1 · answered by quantumclaustrophobe 7 · 4⤊ 2⤋
They aren't trying to win a race, they are looking at rocks. One rock is as good as another, so why should they go a long way away to find other ones.
Also, the rovers are sort of independent. They have to make reactions on their own in small steps. The trips are planned out in advance with the NASA engineers programming the route in, but there might be problems the engineers don't foresee, so they set a low speed so the rover doesn't have huge problems. If the rover does encounter a problem it calls for help.
Rememebr Mars is about 3 light minutes away at its closest, this means when it cries for help, NASA doesn't get the call for 3 minutes, they have to solve the problem, then their solution takes another 3 minutes to get back to the rover. They can't have the rover going across the landscape at anything other than a crawl or it could crash before they could do anything about it.
2007-10-18 15:20:22 · answer #2 · answered by mr_moose_man 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
They are solar powered and sunlight on Mars is only half as strong as it is on Earth. During the 4 hours in the middle of the day the solar panels generate a maximum of 140 watts. That is only about one fifth of a horsepower. They generate less in the morning and afternoon and of course nothing at night. That tiny amount of power has to charge the batteries to last through the night, power the camera and other science instruments, power the radio that sends signals back to Earth, AND move the rover. They just don't have enough power to move any faster.
2007-10-18 15:31:18 · answer #3 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
There is a lag time of several seconds for a signal being sent from Earth to Mars. This needs to be taken into account when wanting to make adjustments to the direction of the rover, so the slower the speed the less distance the rover has to cover. This avoids most mishaps.
This is why older people tend to drive slower than others. Since it takes more time to react and adjust their driving accordingly, then the slower they are going the more time they have before they happen upon the area they have spotted up ahead which they need to adjust for.
2007-10-18 15:18:47 · answer #4 · answered by Jacob A 5 · 3⤊ 2⤋
There's a delay of anything up to 20 minutes for a command to reach those things. Given their value, I'd want to know that the thing wasn't driving itself into a crater. I'd move it very slowly indeed.
2007-10-18 17:40:17 · answer #5 · answered by Jason T 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They operate on very little power, and they are "driven" extremely carefully. Sometimes, they take days to decide just how to move them. They don't want to drive one over a cliff, or into a hole it can't get out of.
2007-10-19 02:10:27 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are solar powered and there isn't a lot of sun out there. Also they have to be careful not to flip it. They calculated every move before making it.
2007-10-18 15:22:13 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋