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NASA Rover Confirms First Drilled Mars Rock Sample
- ghshephard 14y agoI love how they are taking precautions with the 150-micron screen based on a failure at JPL of one of their test system. "In response to information gained during testing at JPL, the processing and delivery plan has been adjusted to reduce use of mechanical vibration. The 150-micron screen in one of the two test versions of CHIMRA became partially detached after extensive use, although it remained usable. The team has added precautions for use of Curiosity's sampling system while continuing to study the cause and ramifications of the separation."
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- ccozan 14y agoIndeed, the start of extra-terrestrial mining ( the exploration part - no exploitation ATM ). Altough this is mining on a planet ( with gravity and atmosphere) , I am keen on asteroid mining, physics could be quite different there. Even the Moon could be quite difficult to mine ( due to the dust ).
- JoeAltmaier 14y agoIndeed, different. No gravity or wind to blow away dust - it will just hang there, for 10,000 years, a growing problem as mining activities continue. Gripping a rock to drill becomes a major problem - no weight to press the drill into the surface. Then, when a chuck of material is gotten loose, it will just drift away - how to tether it, guide it into a smelter? How does the smelter keep the material contained, how does it separate metal from slag in zero gravity? There are half a dozen major engineering hurdles before asteroid mining can be attempted. Add to that transportation and energy hurdles - also unprecedented in mining history. Finally, control delay of minutes make remote operation impossible - will have to be completely automated. Right now asteroid mining is a pipe dream. It would be far easier to do deep-core mining right here on Earth for instance - none of those issue apply. I don't say it would be easy - just easier than asteroid mining.
- muyuu 14y agoWouldn't the dust just slowly deposit itself? 10,000 years sounds a bit much. The moon does have some gravitational pull, and there being no air resistance or viscosity, my guess would be much shorter than 10,000 years... maybe just hours or days. (Talking about the moon, not small asteroids - for these I guess dust can even escape them).
- JoeAltmaier 14y agoAsteroids have negligible gravity. Solar wind is miniscule so far from the Sun (twice as far as the Earth, 1/10 the radiant effects). Mining generates prodigious amounts of dust. It would grow linearly until you were operating essentially in a dense field of dust. It would stay - maybe not 10,000 years, but forever for mining purposes.
- willismichael 14y agoMy first reaction to this conversation was to imagine some kind of vacuum hose attachment. My second thought was "oh yeah... that won't work at all" :)
- S4M 14y agoI had the same reaction - actually, I was thinking in some sort of spatial hoover - but I am still trying to work out in my mind if it would work. Can you explain how you came to the conclusion it wouldn't?
- pranjalv123 14y agoThere's no air.
- willismichael 14y agoExactly, I almost facepalmed when I realized the absurdity of a vacuum hose... although I do wonder if something along the lines of a CO2 compression canister would work to blow away dust. I'm assuming that it would be prohibitively expensive to have to constantly ship compressed gas to the mining site though.
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- octagonal 14y agoIt really shows we're still in our very early baby steps of space exploration when drilling a hole in a different planet is considered marvelous news.
- Aardwolf 14y agoI with they had gone for a more spectacular title, e.g. "Robot drills hole in Mars!".
- uvdiv 14y agoI actually submitted this story as "Curiosity robot drills hole in Mars rock. Unprecedented in history". HN altered it to match the press release.