3 ms·

Yes and unlikely :-) The protocols are all documented but the ability to receive signals from the rover requires a pretty sensitive receiver and antenna combina

Yes and unlikely :-) The protocols are all documented but the ability to receive signals from the rover requires a pretty sensitive receiver and antenna combination. If you have the resources to build a 10m or 15m steerable radio antenna parabolic dish then you could probably manage it.

jacquesm 8y ago
That can't be that expensive unless you want it to be storm proofed. But it wouldn't be super cheap either, the receiver is probably going to be a bigger problem. http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/dish-antenna-building.htm http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/dish-antenna-building.htm Would be a good starting point. But keeping it stable under wind load is going to be the major challenge. That would be one heck of a project, it would likely take a few years of your time to pull it off.
- ChuckMcM 8y ago
  This quora answer (https://www.quora.com/What-bands-signals-and-protocols-are-used-in-the-communication-from-the-Mars-rovers-satellites-to-Earths-NASA-ISRO-and-other-agencies https://www.quora.com/What-bands-signals-and-protocols-are-u...) claims that even the 70m DSN antennas have a hard time hearing the rover to earth transmissions. That is 10x the diameter so 1000x the surface area of a 4.8m dish like the one the guy built. That said, there are no doubt interesting hacks you can do to help this but steerability is always going to be a concern to maximize the SNR of the very weak signal coming from the rover.
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    Yes, the precision required would be insane. That is also what makes this an interesting project, even if you fail you will still learn a ton about all kinds of engineering principles. Expensive lesson though! Another big factor would likely be how far Mars is away from Earth, at the close extreme it will probably be substantially easier to pull this off. What an interesting article by the way, thank you for that link.
lozaning 8y ago
I wonder if the Stanford Radio club could talk SRI into borrowing The Dish for a bit. Pinging a mars rover would be one hell of a DX, even if Opportunity won't be sending you a QSL card.

jacquesm 8y ago

That can't be that expensive unless you want it to be storm proofed. But it wouldn't be super cheap either, the receiver is probably going to be a bigger problem. http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/dish-antenna-building.htm http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/dish-antenna-building.htm Would be a good starting point. But keeping it stable under wind load is going to be the major challenge. That would be one heck of a project, it would likely take a few years of your time to pull it off.

ChuckMcM 8y ago
This quora answer (https://www.quora.com/What-bands-signals-and-protocols-are-used-in-the-communication-from-the-Mars-rovers-satellites-to-Earths-NASA-ISRO-and-other-agencies https://www.quora.com/What-bands-signals-and-protocols-are-u...) claims that even the 70m DSN antennas have a hard time hearing the rover to earth transmissions. That is 10x the diameter so 1000x the surface area of a 4.8m dish like the one the guy built. That said, there are no doubt interesting hacks you can do to help this but steerability is always going to be a concern to maximize the SNR of the very weak signal coming from the rover.
- jacquesm 8y ago
  Yes, the precision required would be insane. That is also what makes this an interesting project, even if you fail you will still learn a ton about all kinds of engineering principles. Expensive lesson though! Another big factor would likely be how far Mars is away from Earth, at the close extreme it will probably be substantially easier to pull this off. What an interesting article by the way, thank you for that link.

lozaning 8y ago

I wonder if the Stanford Radio club could talk SRI into borrowing The Dish for a bit. Pinging a mars rover would be one hell of a DX, even if Opportunity won't be sending you a QSL card.