
NASA rushing to complete Mars launch before planet moves out of range - dctoedt
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/17/mars-rover-nasa-launch/
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jacobush
I still find it perplexing that one can fly a helicopter, or anything really,
in such a thin atmosphere.

Especially considering one needs power which is not magical. In X-plane one
can equip the plane with magical jets, but in real life?

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jcims
Totally agree. It's obviously a high risk portion of the mission but I'm glad
someone had the guts to propose it.

Derek from Veritasium did a nice little story on it last summer -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhsZUZmJvaM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhsZUZmJvaM)

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klmadfejno
What's the utility of doing this besides being cool? It is very cool, but
given the weight restrictions, I'm not sure there's any clear use case for
this tech besides camera drones. The article implies the aerial pictures are a
secondary goal.

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wolfram74
This particular mission is a technology proving mission, future missions will
use it for forward scouting type stuff, use the copter to find best courses
forward, heavier ground probe with all the experiments can take a path with
the advantage of foresight. At least that's my understanding.

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klmadfejno
The title implies they're behind schedule and need to rush more than expect.
Is that the case, or is it simply stating there's a hard deadline by natural
forces?

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jvanderbot
I'm not on the team, but this is the first I've heard of any _unexpected_ or
_abnormal_ rush. Schedules are always a little tight, especially with a
pandemic on.

The rover is basically a brand new self-driving tank with a helicopter
launcher and a robotic arm with a swiss-army-science tool and a laser cannon.
That's a lot of stuff to get working properly and packed into a rocket. Oh, it
has to land like the Falcon 9 as well, except hovering and lowering itself on
a tether, like the Air Cav for Mars.

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perryizgr8
> Oh, it has to land like the Falcon 9 as well, except hovering and lowering
> itself on a tether, like the Air Cav for Mars.

Here's a video that blows my mind every time I watch it.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2I8AoB1xgU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2I8AoB1xgU)

Such a complicated landing sequence, and needs to work correctly the first
time, all autonomously. And it worked!

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NikolaeVarius
They don't call them flagship missions for no reason

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alex_young
NASA rushing a Mars mission. What could possibly go wrong?

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arnaudsm
As long as it does not involve astronauts, rushing the mission and risking
Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly is fine I guess.

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spiritplumber
I'm so glad I lost that "You can't fly a helicopter in Mars atmosphere" bet.

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Prey4Jesus
You haven’t lost it yet...

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wolfram74
Well, they've tested it in mars equivalent atmosphere and gravity (through the
clever use of pulleys) soooo, hasn't he? he didn't bet you couldn't fly a
helicopter on /mars/, just it's atmosphere.

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jvanderbot
I think it's fairly well established you can. The problem is about whether we
will.

