NASA's InSight Mars lander bounces back from dust storm, but its days are numbered

[Admin]

NASA's InSight Mars lander has shaken off the effects of a recent dust storm, likely allowing the spacecraft to collect science data for a few more months.

NASA's InSight Mars lander bounces back from dust storm, but its days are numbered : Read more

 

[Beauxdensteiner]

It's too bad that NASA won't put us a little car robot with a broom on it to go out there and sweep those solar panels off when they get dusty since we already have a toy helicopter up there. Rover service bots, similar to R2D2 but smaller. Yeah? Like a $13.99 dollar Growsly from Walmart with a broom on it. Yeah? An $813.6 million dollar rover lost because we forgot to put a $13.99 dollar Growsly toy car with a broom on it. Oh sure, they could spend a little more money on it and make it out of stainless steel like Musk would do but why not do it? How many Rovers have we lost because of dust on solar panels? Hello! I bet China will if they get told...

 

[Pogo]

Windshield wipers on the panels? Or a little compressor and an air nozzle on a programmable arm?

Stop in at the car wash :lol

 

[diamondexpert]

Why can't each Mars rover have a "chopper" which can both fly scientific tasks and remove the dust from the rover as needed? May require redesign of the rotor blades.

 

[Pogo]

Or tilt the panels vertical so the dust can fall off.

 

[Catastrophe]

I think what has been done already is a wonderful achievement, but it does highlight the gap between where we are today, and the infrastructure to set up, for example, a fully functioning mining operation or chemical plant.

Cat