The British are planning to create a jumping rover
The Americans were able to create reliable Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which many times extended the estimated time of its operation on Mars. Now the laurels of American engineers do not give rest to developers from other countries who work in the field of space exploration. So, the British offered their own project jumping rover, which, according to the developers, will be able to go much more than Spirit and Opportunity, the distance. Plus, such a rover, in theory, will not be afraid of any sand traps and other obstacles that hinder the American rovers. The British project was called the Mars Hopper, Mars Hopper.
Mars Hopper will jump using jet engines designed for this purpose. One jump will carry the rover over a distance of more than a kilometer (according to the information provided to the British, it is calculated to complete 312 jumps, covering 530 kilometers). In order to make the spacecraft sufficiently stable, it was decided to equip the Marsopryg with jet engines.
The question arises - where to get fuel for the engine? The British offer an interesting solution - the force of the Mars will be provided by the Martian atmosphere, or rather carbon dioxide, which is very abundant in this atmosphere (96%). Mars Hopper will be equipped with a radioisotope energy source that will provide this energy to an electric pump that sucks in carbon dioxide. Further, the gas will be compressed in the high-pressure tank by an electric pump. The next step is to heat the compressed gas, which should increase the jet thrust. According to British experts, this will be enough to make a kilometer-long jump.
')
Note that the planned mass of the probe will be 400 kilograms, which, you see, will allow a large number of scientific equipment to be placed on board. In order for the probe not to go astray, or not to fall into the trap, three-dimensional maps of the surface of Mars in high resolution will be loaded into its memory. This is necessary in order for the probe to be able to avoid danger on its own, because the passage of the radio signal between our planets is 4 to 20 minutes, depending on the relative position of the planets.
Thus, the operator will not be able to help the device to avoid danger, in the form of surface irregularities or any other obstacles. And thanks to the loaded map, the device will determine the landing place during the jump independently, choosing the most acceptable area for this.
Mars Hopper will jump using jet engines designed for this purpose. One jump will carry the rover over a distance of more than a kilometer (according to the information provided to the British, it is calculated to complete 312 jumps, covering 530 kilometers). In order to make the spacecraft sufficiently stable, it was decided to equip the Marsopryg with jet engines.
The question arises - where to get fuel for the engine? The British offer an interesting solution - the force of the Mars will be provided by the Martian atmosphere, or rather carbon dioxide, which is very abundant in this atmosphere (96%). Mars Hopper will be equipped with a radioisotope energy source that will provide this energy to an electric pump that sucks in carbon dioxide. Further, the gas will be compressed in the high-pressure tank by an electric pump. The next step is to heat the compressed gas, which should increase the jet thrust. According to British experts, this will be enough to make a kilometer-long jump.
')
Note that the planned mass of the probe will be 400 kilograms, which, you see, will allow a large number of scientific equipment to be placed on board. In order for the probe not to go astray, or not to fall into the trap, three-dimensional maps of the surface of Mars in high resolution will be loaded into its memory. This is necessary in order for the probe to be able to avoid danger on its own, because the passage of the radio signal between our planets is 4 to 20 minutes, depending on the relative position of the planets.
Thus, the operator will not be able to help the device to avoid danger, in the form of surface irregularities or any other obstacles. And thanks to the loaded map, the device will determine the landing place during the jump independently, choosing the most acceptable area for this.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/111502/
All Articles