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If budget was not an issue is there a reason that we don't launch multiple rovers during the mars window? Would one rover team be able to manage multiple rover

by t7s 6y ago

If budget was not an issue is there a reason that we don't launch multiple rovers during the mars window? Would one rover team be able to manage multiple rovers?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
OnACoffeeBreak 6y ago
Good question. I imagine that communication infrastructure would have to be taken into consideration, but I don't know much of the details. The rover has the following capabilities for comms, but I don't know what the limits are in Mars orbit for relays: - UHF up to 2 Mbps - X-band High Gain 160/500 bits per second - X-band Low Gain about 10 bits per second https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/communications/ https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/communicatio...
- JumpCrisscross 6y ago
  How do we communicate with the rovers when Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the Sun?
  - ckozlowski 6y ago
    Sounds like it doesn't last all that long. They have a keep-alive program running during, and then get back to work once the connection is restored: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/video/mars-in-a-minute-what-happens-when-the-sun-blocks-our-signal/ https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/video/mars-in-a-minute-wh...
  - jbay808 6y ago
    Relay the lasers at a Lagrange point somewhere?
- basementcat 6y ago
  There are allocations from the International Telecommunication Union for deep space communications in the S, X, K and Ka bands. This bandwidth (and parameters like transmit power of the relay spacecraft) effectively bounds how many bits per second you can get back from Mars. You can do better with optical communications and maybe some clever MIMO-like tricks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_space_bands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_space_bands
Sharlin 6y ago
They did that with Spirit and Opportunity, which did cost a lot less. If money really were not an issue, I'm sure they'd like to send twin rovers again, and also pay for two rover teams, and for extra telecommunications capacity in the form of a dedicated orbiter[1] or two, and so on. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Telecommunications_Orbiter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Telecommunications_Orbite...
t7s 6y ago
If you had unlimited budget, a large stockpile of PU for the power supplies, and a dedicated DSN to not have to share time with other missions would it be possible to operate 10's or 100's of these rovers? Not sure of the the weight but would it be possible to stack the rover payloads to send multiple rovers per launch?
khuey 6y ago
Part of it is that they learn something from mission N and use that information to design the science instruments and choose the location for mission N+1. If N and N+1 launch simultaneously there's no chance for improvement in mission N+1.

by t7s 6y ago

If budget was not an issue is there a reason that we don't launch multiple rovers during the mars window? Would one rover team be able to manage multiple rovers?

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

OnACoffeeBreak 6y ago

Good question. I imagine that communication infrastructure would have to be taken into consideration, but I don't know much of the details. The rover has the following capabilities for comms, but I don't know what the limits are in Mars orbit for relays: - UHF up to 2 Mbps - X-band High Gain 160/500 bits per second - X-band Low Gain about 10 bits per second https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/communications/ https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/communicatio...

JumpCrisscross 6y ago
How do we communicate with the rovers when Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the Sun?
- ckozlowski 6y ago
  Sounds like it doesn't last all that long. They have a keep-alive program running during, and then get back to work once the connection is restored: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/video/mars-in-a-minute-what-happens-when-the-sun-blocks-our-signal/ https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/video/mars-in-a-minute-wh...
- jbay808 6y ago
  Relay the lasers at a Lagrange point somewhere?
basementcat 6y ago
There are allocations from the International Telecommunication Union for deep space communications in the S, X, K and Ka bands. This bandwidth (and parameters like transmit power of the relay spacecraft) effectively bounds how many bits per second you can get back from Mars. You can do better with optical communications and maybe some clever MIMO-like tricks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_space_bands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_space_bands

Sharlin 6y ago

They did that with Spirit and Opportunity, which did cost a lot less. If money really were not an issue, I'm sure they'd like to send twin rovers again, and also pay for two rover teams, and for extra telecommunications capacity in the form of a dedicated orbiter[1] or two, and so on. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Telecommunications_Orbiter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Telecommunications_Orbite...

t7s 6y ago

If you had unlimited budget, a large stockpile of PU for the power supplies, and a dedicated DSN to not have to share time with other missions would it be possible to operate 10's or 100's of these rovers? Not sure of the the weight but would it be possible to stack the rover payloads to send multiple rovers per launch?

khuey 6y ago

Part of it is that they learn something from mission N and use that information to design the science instruments and choose the location for mission N+1. If N and N+1 launch simultaneously there's no chance for improvement in mission N+1.