exomars in 2013

[watermelony2k]

and man, is this new rover ugly or what?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7093172.stm

i hope it has better luck than beagle2!

 

[Brent]

When we finally get to Mars we HAVE to build monuments next to each rover where it ended its life, that will be way cool. That would be way cool to see each one, and see the path that it took from landing until death.

 

[Gepard]

and man, is this new rover ugly or what?

Yeah. Ick. But we won't have to worry, because as we all know, the world will be ending in 2012, thus sparing us all the sight of this ugly-ass rover.

 

[TerriO]

And can we please actually discuss the science aspects of the mission instead of the spammy editorializing on the rover's physical appearance?

Thanks. :thumbsup:

 

[Mark de Vries]

Well, I think it looks cute.

Mars has rapidly become a hotbed of new scientific discoveries over the last few years, and it looks to remain so for the years to come. With the Phoenix lander on the way and the rovers still going strong (Spirit will have been trundling about for four years next January, right?), I'm looking forward to it. Here's to hoping the manned exploration program of the Moon, Mars and the asteroids can keep up. I've always thought that manned and unmanned mission should complement each other.

 

[Mallory]

While I wish this project the best, that looks awfully top-heavy to me. At least in any rough terrain or scaling/descending grades.

 

[Mark de Vries]

It might be top heavy, but the six wheels are quite far apart (or at least can be maneuvered enough) to cover that. And it also depends on the actual weight-distribution within the main body. If all the heavy equipmet is located near the bottom, and the light-weight wiring and such in the top, it should be no problem.

By the way, ESA itself shows a somewhat different design than the BBC does.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I find the comment "This is a European project and it has to be launched by a European rocket" by Jean-Yves Le Gall to be quite curious. Is not Russia geographically part of Europe? I guess I'm missing something here.

 

[Noname Given]

137th Gebirg said:
I find the comment "This is a European project and it has to be launched by a European rocket" by Jean-Yves Le Gall to be quite curious. Is not Russia geographically part of Europe? I guess I'm missing something here.

Remeber:

1) The person saying this is French

2) The Ariane 5 is a French built rocket. The ONLY competition it has are rockets from the U.S., China and Russia.

Thus when this Frenchman is saying 'it MUST use a European rocket...'; he knows FULL WELL the only European made rocket is his country's Ariane 5.

 

[TerriO]

Russia still has its own space agency, but I'm guessing that that's referring to a need for an ESA launch vehicle.

 

[Mark de Vries]

137th Gebirg said:
I find the comment "This is a European project and it has to be launched by a European rocket" by Jean-Yves Le Gall to be quite curious. Is not Russia geographically part of Europe? I guess I'm missing something here.

Yes, but Russia has long had a separate history from Europe when it comes to space travel. Le Gall also says that the Russian Proton doesn't have the launch capability for Exomars. Which I find a bit odd because Russia is fully capable of launching probes to Mars and Venus (or it used to be, and should be again in the coming years).

All the same, I can understand that ESA wants to use their own hardware for this mission. And why not? ESA has the hardware (Ariane is a very reliable launch vehicle) and the launch site in Kourou (which is better suited for launches than Baikonur or Plesetsk, due its location close to the equator).