Would humans be able to traverse the areas traveled by MERs?

[willpittenger]

Suppose humans were to land where Spirit and Opportunity landed. (Forget the landing system like the rovers used. It would be too unsafe.) Would they be able to traverse the paths that the rovers used. Failing that, could they reach the same places of interest?<br /><br />Next, are we talking about being limited to where astronauts on their feet could go or would a manned-vehicle could go? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

Very easily.<br /><br />I would suggest that a human rover could cross the the Meridiani plains at ~30 kph quiet easily, maybe slowing to 20 over the dunes, which are quite small. The Gusev plains would easily sustain 20 kph. <br /><br />The Columbia Hills would be much slower going but with care you could probably get a human rover to the top. But it would be much more effective exploring them on foot anyway, as you would want to cover the ground in great detail. A good rover and good driver could get in an out of Endurance crater, I suspect, but I can't imageine any circumstances that you would want to. The crater is less than 200 m across. and you want want to look at the walls in great detail.<br /><br />On foot an astronaut would be able to get to any the MERs could and probably a few more. No parts of Burns cliffs would be off limits to an astronaut as they were to Opportunity. Even steeper slopes on crater walls could be negoitated if you had a top rope.<br /><br />I suggest that the limiting factor would not be the terrain but the lower gravity. On the moon 15 kph was fast enough to get 2-3 wheels of the LRVs of the ground, on Mars, with twice the gravity, 30 kph will probably be as fast as you would want to go anyway!<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[mattblack]

Humans could do in a few days what the MERs did in two years. Though, I certainly don't mean to denigrate their fantastic achievements!! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>One Percent of Federal Funding For Space: America <strong><em><u>CAN</u></em></strong> Afford it!!  LEO is a <strong><em>Prison</em></strong> -- It's time for a <em><strong>JAILBREAK</strong></em>!!</p> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

<font color="yellow">"Humans could do in a few days what the MERs did in two years."</font><br /><br />Maybe on Earth they could, but the enormous safety requirements -- endless checklists, suiting up and down, etc. would greatly slow things down. I watched the spacewalk on the last shuttle mission to remove loose separators between the shuttle tiles. What could be imagined as a quick proceedure for a human took hours. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

There certainly needs to be considerable streamlining of proceedures and checklists when EVAs move from being a once in 6 monthly event to a weekly or even daily event. There also needs to be considerable improvements in suit technology. But that is another topic.<br /><br />Jon<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

Indeed. That is the one reason why autonomous (or semi-autonomous) rovers (MER) manage 20 m, teleoperated rovers (Lunakhod) 111 m, and crewed rovers 15 km per day.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[kdavis007]

Yes...

 

[quasar2]

i think this idea & similar ones should be discussed far more often than they are. it`s probably ones of the most overlooked aspects of in situ resource utilization. that of interacting w/ unmanned equipment. the possibly that the artifacts could be melted down & recycled. i`d go even further & say this should be a strictly required standard for manned crews. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[askold]

Of course, the Mars rovers have the advantage of actually being on Mars, while humans are not.