Question about the rover airbags.

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llivinglarge

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How did they make sure the rovers landed right side up?
 
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vogon13

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It didn't matter. The bags deflated, and the tetrahedral (there is that word again) shaped container flipped open so as to right itself. I saw some animation on NASA Select, it was pretty clever.<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>
 
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llivinglarge

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Hmm, that is pretty clever. I'm just annoyed that the Phoenix lander won't be using airbags.
 
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pathfinder_01

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The trouble with the air bag system is it a rough landing. Not all science intraments can be designed to wistand bumping around. The other problem is the MER rovers are about as much mass as that sort of system can stand. The air bag landing just does not scale well. <br /><br />In the case of the MER they wished to reuse the system used on Pathfinder, but the added weight of the MER made it impossible to do without modifications. They had to add an inner bag to the air bag, as well as use stronger matterials in the parachute and redesign the parachute itself.
 
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bpfeifer

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When they tested the airbag system for MER, they tried to prove it was capable of handling larger masses, but it failed spectacularly. They had to go back and redesignn some stuff as well as accepting that MER represented the highest mass the aribag system could handle.<br /><br />There are some great video documentaries of the MER development process. I think I saw them on NASA TV, which means they may be available on the MER website. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Brian J. Pfeifer http://sabletower.wordpress.com<br /> The Dogsoldier Codex http://www.lulu.com/sabletower<br /> </div>
 
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MeteorWayne

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I also saw something on PBS, probably a NOVA episode. It was a hair raising, up the the last minute design scramble, since the bus leaves for Mars every two years, so you can't wait! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>
 
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