Questions tagged [mars]
Questions about the science or exploration of the planet Mars. See wiki for related tags.
135
questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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What could be strong arguments against Ingenuity following Perseverance at a safe distance when the flight test program has been a success?
This answer to the question "How long could the Mars helicopter Ingenuity keep up with the Perseverance rover if it wanted to?" reasons that indeed it could for years !
But according to the ...
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Is there any official Chinese website where we can follow the actions of the Zhurong rover?
Zhurong, China's first Mars rover, soft landed on Utopia Planitia on May 14, 2021.
Coordinates of the landing site are: 25.1⁰ N 109.7⁰ E
The planned operational lifetime is only 90 sols.
(Why should ...
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What CPU does China's Zhurong rover use?
The Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, and the InSight lander, all use the BAE RAD750 processor.
The Ingenuity helicopter uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor.
The only other active spacecraft on ...
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94 views
Is the charge on Martian dust positive or negative?
Martian dust tends to cling to surfaces such as solar panels due to electrostatic charge.
Martian dust is extremely small and fine-grained. Atmospheric dust on Mars is approximately three microns in ...
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117 views
Why are Perseverance's wheels flatter?
As visible in the image above (and as most of you would have noticed!) the wheels on the upcoming NASA/JPL rover Perseverance seems to be largely different from Curiosity's wheels. A notable ...
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580 views
How is retropropulsion by the Falcon 9 first stage being used to design retropropulsion entry on Mars?
Much has been made of how the reentry burns of Falcon 9 first stages occur at an altitude where the atmosphere is similar in density to the atmosphere of Mars, and so they demonstrate that supersonic ...
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57 views
Has Curiosity ever taken a good hard look at the dirt covering its top surface? Can it? Have individual particles been sized?
I added some dirty pictures of Curiosity to Curiosity is still dirty! after August 9, 2018 (Sol 2137), and in this March 2021 selfie PIA24543: Curiosity's Selfie at Mont Mercou things still look ...
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134 views
Could the SS520 be used to return a payload from Mars to Earth?
The Japanese SS520-5 nanosat launcher has a payload of 5kg or so to LEO on an all solid fuel rocket with a total mass of about 2.6 tons. To reach LEO its delta-V totalled over all three stages must be ...
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214 views
Low energy cements for Mars and Callisto. Waterless cement for the Moon. Any good candidates?
In the non-polar regions of the Moon and Mercury there is a shortage of volatiles, including hydrogen and nitrogen, so they might be regaded as too valuable to be "wasted" to prepare concrete. ...
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87 views
How do they know the sub-surface radar reflections (potential underground ice or 'lakes') on Mars are not natural dielectric or metallic in origin?
Gizmodo's NASA Scientists Find More Subsurface Lakes on Mars links to Characteristics of the Basal Interface of the Martian South Polar Layered Deposits (paywalled, but there is this 52nd Lunar and ...
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What would happen to an astronaut on the surface of Mars if a Carrington-event-like superflare hit the red planet?
If a coronal mass ejection with the intensity of the Carrington event1 or more hit Mars, what would happen to an astronaut on its surface who is too far from their base to return to in time? Assuming ...
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165 views
Did the Perseverance sky crane kick up more dust than expected?
The video of the Perseverance landing showed the rover descending into a cloud of dust kicked up by the landing rockets. This is not surprising, but I always had the understanding that one of the ...
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90 views
Has a satellite or spacraft orbiting the Moon or Mars been spotted from the surface of that body?
In reading this question (Lowest possible lunar orbit and has any spacecraft achieved it?), it prompts the question if any orbiting satellite/spacecraft around the Moon or Mars (the only heavenly ...
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59 views
Eyes on Mars; are these craters mentioned or described in any paper or (scientific) article?
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
HiRISE ESP_025334_2035
For a closer view, click on the image, and then, click again.
This pair of similar craters is located in the northern part of Oyama crater,...
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91 views
How much pressure would the raptor engines experience when Starship does an atmosphere entry burn at Mars?
The Starship second stage has 3 sea level engines and 3 vacuum engines.
When doing the atmosphere entry burn to mars, how many Bars will the raptor engines experience?
I'm thinking that because of the ...
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58 views
Engine configuration for lander
Which is a more stable lander design:
1.Single central engine.
2.Multiple engines located near the corners
Following is the design for Tianwen-1, the Chinese Mars lander:
And following is the design ...
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86 views
How long would a plasma trail last during a lander's Mars atmospheric entry?
In this video of the Orion reenty, ᴴᴰ Full Onboard Re-entry into Earth’s Atmosphere ● New NASA Spacecraft, the plasma trail appears to last about 90 seconds.
Screenshot from video
Considering how ...
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162 views
Design considerations for a space suit going to Mars?
Essentially, I am trying to design a heat exchanger for a space suit traveling to mars. From my understanding, I assumed that the energy generated from the space suit relates to the astronaut as well ...
5
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109 views
Why is Curiosity's rocker-bogie mounted in it's current configuration
In this question, it is stated that by driving Curiosity backwards they could get more mileage out of it's wheels, as the rocker bogie puts less pressure on them that way.
Now, the obvious question is:...
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377 views
How many sundials, Sun compasses and gnomons are there on solar system bodies?
According to https://www.seis-insight.eu/en/public-2/seis-instrument/rweb
Sundial
Around the handle is a small sundial, which enables geophysicists to estimate the azimuth— i.e. the orientation of ...
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141 views
Are Peace Vallis and it's alluvial fan on Mars classified as special regions or not?
According to the answer for this question, that was not accepted, alluvial fans might have water and thus a IVc category mission would be required to visit such an area.
Curiosity meets only the IVa ...
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126 views
Does NASA, or any other group, have any plans to directly explore caves on Mars or the moon?
The importance of Martian caves for life past and present, volatiles being trapped, and for future habitats would seem to put their exploration high on the list but I don't see any missions to do so. ...
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290 views
Mars curiosity rover's Maxon drive motors
I am trying to get information on the maxon drive motors on the Curiosity Rover.
Does anyone know
know what model of DC brushless motors are used
what kind of gear speed reducer is used. Is it a ...
4
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68 views
Why does ESA's TGO satellite not permanently serve as relay for Perseverance?
This question is about the orbital parameters of ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), so I am optimisitic that it belongs on astronomy SE. More specifically, it is about the orbital geometry of TGO ...
4
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156 views
Has there ever been an attempt or serious consideration for spacecraft to land on Mars without an ablative-type heat shield?
My answer to Do exploration spacecraft enter Mars atmosphere against Mars rotation, or on the same direction? lauds the use of ablative heat shields for minimizing radiative heating of a spacecraft by ...
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122 views
Scientific value and feasibility of a local Martian weather experiment by uncovering the near surface ice in Nier crater?
From NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars:
"You wouldn't need a backhoe to dig up this ice. You could use a shovel," said the paper's lead author, Sylvain Piqueux of NASA's Jet ...
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149 views
Is Perseverance's heat shield's thickness radially symmetric?
I came across this video1 about the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission, especially the atmospheric entry phase.
It says between about 03:50 and ...
4
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0answers
122 views
How sharp are the bits of sand and rock on mars?
Lunar regolith is quite sharp, so abrasive it can cut kevlar.
This is because there is no flowing water or substantial atmosphere to erode the material and smoothen it out, so meteorite impacts break ...
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113 views
Is this digitally created ESA image of a Mars landscape incorrect to what the human eye would see?
This ESA image below of Noctis Labyrithus was created with data obtained from the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), onboard ESA’s Mars Express, seems to depict a time near either sunrise or sunset....
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128 views
Why will the NASA Mars drone helicopter use off the shelf batteries?
I read from this paper under section G. that the JPL Mars helicopter scout will use standard 18650 cells from Sony. I’m sure that a company like NASA has the capability of acquiring much more advanced ...
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78 views
Are there any past or present plans or proposals to explore martian lava tubes?
Lava tubes on Mars are the prime target for human or robotic missions. They provide protection from radiation, surface conditions, and are thought to have stable internal temperatures. Lava tubes are ...
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66 views
What is the current state of knowledge regarding embryology (from an animal husbandry perspective) in Mars-g gravity?
Before anyone comments - obviously, we don't have any experimental data. But do perhaps we have ISS or other data that can be extrapolated from?
What I'm asking specifically is, what do we currently ...
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595 views
Are there any free return trajectories for a manned Mars flyby mission between 2018 and 2024?
I am looking for a mission profile including the delta-v for burns for an interplanetary mission to Mars. I have been unable to find any free return trajectories between 2018 and 2024, are there any?
3
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67 views
What are the challenges in terraforming a portion of Mars as opposed to the entire planet?
To be clear, I'm not talking about creating human-livable conditions, just the minimum required to support microbial life and possibly begin the process of creating an environment to support more ...
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75 views
Did the Human Mission to Inner Space (HUMIS) experiment ever take place?
The final report of the 2003 Caves of Mars Project, formally ''Human Utilization Of Subsurface Extraterrestrial Environments'' (PDF), talks a lot about the "Human Mission to Inner Space" (...
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51 views
Which is currently further from their landing site: Ingenuity or Perseverance? How far away are they from each now?
Ingenuity has flown seven times now and I'm not certain but I think for at least one of the flights it traveled some distance and landed in a new site.
Perseverance has done some traveling as well.
...
3
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67 views
Did they figure out what caused the “high-pitched scratching noise” that Perseverance recorded with its microphone? Was it static discharge?
In NASA's SoundCloud account there is Sounds of Perseverance Mars Rover Driving – Sol 16 (16 minutes) (for example between 01:30 and ...
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68 views
Who said, “Take that, Jezero!” during the Perseverance landing?
During the Perseverance landing broadcast, many of us heard a voice call out, "Take that, Jezero!" Every article I can find simply identifies the speaker as "a controller" (or just ...
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42 views
Could a Mars rover reliably navigate using the local magnetic fields?
Mars does not have a global magnetic field which guides charged particles entering the atmosphere. Mars has multiple umbrella-shaped magnetic fields mainly in the Southern Hemisphere, which are ...
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93 views
Are there any illustrations / animations which show how Ingenuity is stored on Perseverance & how to it is perpared for launch?
While I found some articles which provide some information on how the Ingenuity helicopter is stored on Perseverance (e.g here), I did not found any illustrations or animations which show more details....
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68 views
Sources for Mars rover sensor data
Is it possible to get sensor data from past or present martian rovers sent by NASA?
Specifically, I'm looking for accelerometer and wheel torque data from the rovers. I've searched their "...
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87 views
Trying to modify a JPL guidance algorithm for the Mars Sky Crane and Mars 2020
I've been trying to implement a modification to the JPL guidance law that was used (or very similar to what was used) for the powered descent portion of the MSL mission and I'm struggling to figure ...
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50 views
How to get MSL coordinates during EDL from SPICE kernel?
Upon trying to extract MSL position above surface by decoding a SPICE kernel, I am gettin this error:
At epoch 3.9750216818313E+08 TDB (2012 AUG 06 05:16:08.183 TDB), there
is insufficient ...
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46 views
Can it be estimated when a first settlement near the equator would become more economical than one at the midlatitudes of Mars?
Choosing the right place on Mars for a settlement would be of course an important decision because once it's there it would take much time and money to move on to another, better location.
Because the ...
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81 views
What is the lowest possible stable Mars orbit?
Due to atmospheric drag, the lowest altitude above the Earth at which an object in a circular orbit can complete at least one full revolution without propulsion is approximately 150 km (93 mi) while ...
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39 views
Is there any current imagery of Mars2020?
Are there any current photos or video from the Mars2020 spacecraft, or since the first burn? It would be cool to check on this daily/weekly.
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81 views
Is there a specific reason why NASA put MOXIE on a rover?
MOXIE or The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment is to be sent to Mars as a part of Perseverance's scientific payload.
Sure the experiment is much needed and very anticipated, and ...
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227 views
Kinematic and Dynamic viscosity on Mars
I've been looking at the Mars helicopter (Ingenuity) that will be onboard the Mars 2020 rover and I am having trouble figuring out how they determined the size of the rotor blades. Specifically, I'm ...
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47 views
What does “clumps and streams” of hydrogen leaving Mars' atmosphere really mean? Are there images of them?
This excellent answer to Just how huge is Mars' cloud of hydrogen? links to the 14 October 2014 Nature News item "Hydrogen Cloud Blows Off Mars", by Alexandra Witze, https://www.nature.com/...
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How applicable can Martian soil samples from a handful of sites be to Mars at large?
Martian soil samples have been said to be heavily contaminated with perchlorate salts, which will obviously have tremendous impact on efforts to colonize Mars. But what reason do we have to believe ...
