Author Topic: "Tank on the Moon"  (Read 16890 times)

Offline Blackstar

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Re: "Tank on the Moon"
« Reply #20 on: 02/20/2008 12:31 am »
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Rifleman - 19/2/2008  2:21 PM

In all fairness, NASA did send three rovers to the moon, they just where not remote controlled. ;)

I think the definition of "rover" requires that it move.

Offline hop

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Re: "Tank on the Moon"
« Reply #21 on: 02/20/2008 12:39 am »
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Blackstar - 19/2/2008  5:31 PM

Quote
Rifleman - 19/2/2008  2:21 PM

In all fairness, NASA did send three rovers to the moon, they just where not remote controlled. ;)

I think the definition of "rover" requires that it move.
I suspect he's talking about the lunar roving vehicle which most certainly did move ;)

Offline Blackstar

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Re: "Tank on the Moon"
« Reply #22 on: 02/20/2008 03:35 am »
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hop - 19/2/2008  7:39 PM

Quote
Blackstar - 19/2/2008  5:31 PM

Quote
Rifleman - 19/2/2008  2:21 PM

In all fairness, NASA did send three rovers to the moon, they just where not remote controlled. ;)

I think the definition of "rover" requires that it move.
I suspect he's talking about the lunar roving vehicle which most certainly did move ;)

Please go back and read the sentence that I was responding to.  Note especially the phrase "send three rovers to the moon."

Offline Avron

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Re: "Tank on the Moon"
« Reply #23 on: 02/20/2008 03:48 am »
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Blackstar - 9/2/2008  10:34 AM

http://science.discovery.com/tv/tank/tank.html

I think it is an Americanized version of a program that appeared in Canada in December.  They probably removed all the references to beavers.


Ah good.. my tax dollars hard at work... could always be spend on fixing "billions of potholes" .. nice very nice.. enjoy...

Offline simonbp

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Re: "Tank on the Moon"
« Reply #24 on: 02/20/2008 07:05 pm »
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texas_space - 19/2/2008  10:43 AM
For all the desire to build a moon base, it sure would be nice to send a lunar rover to the polar regions of the Moon to see if water ice is ACTUALLY there.  Seems like a good rover task to me.

Well, problem 1) is that the permanently shadowed craters are permanently shadowed. So, solar power is out, and a nuclear power source has to be used. Unfortunately, the DoE's Plutonium supply isn't that huge, and so it's really hard these days to propose an RTG-powered mission, especially one with the power requirements of a rover. Problem 2) is that most modeling studies put most of the ice 0.5-1 meters below the ground. A rover can't get that deep without a drill, and drills and rovers don't usual mix. So, it's possible, but not likely.

Simon ;)

Offline madscientist197

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Re: "Tank on the Moon"
« Reply #25 on: 02/21/2008 10:28 am »
The big problem with sending a mission to the lunar poles is communication - especially from the bottom of a crater at a pole. This would require some sort of relay satelite system be set up (it's going to be needed for human exploration anyway).

A lunar pole rover would be cool - I'm a bit more dubious about human exploration of the lunar poles, I suspect it's going to be a much harder than the equator to navigate.
John

Offline JonClarke

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Re: "Tank on the Moon"
« Reply #26 on: 02/23/2008 04:47 am »
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Blackstar - 12/2/2008  12:32 PM

Lunokhod was in many ways a disappointing program because it could have been so much more.  The Soviet Union wanted a propaganda victory after Apollo.  So they turned Lunokhod into a demonstration of engineering, rather than a science program.  They wanted to be able to brag about how many kilometers they drove each day.  So the science got relegated to second priority.  As Spirit and Opportunity have demonstrated, the point of having a rover is to go to interesting stuff, not simply to _go_.

There were hundreds of papers on the Lunokhod results, hardly disapointing for the era and context.

Jon

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