NASA Announces Mars 2020 Rover Payload

[Waspie_Dwarf]

NASA Announces Mars 2020 Rover Payload to Explore the Red Planet as Never Before

The next rover NASA will send to Mars in 2020 will carry seven carefully-selected instruments to conduct unprecedented science and exploration technology investigations on the Red Planet.

NASA announced the selected Mars 2020 rover instruments Thursday at the agency's headquarters in Washington. Managers made the selections out of 58 proposals received in January from researchers and engineers worldwide. Proposals received were twice the usual number submitted for instrument competitions in the recent past. This is an indicator of the extraordinary interest by the science community in the exploration of the Mars. The selected proposals have a total value of approximately $130 million for development of the instruments.

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[shrooma]

2020.

by then we should be getting PEOPLE to go to Mars, not another probe.

if we were just putting millions of [insert relevant currency here] towards watching an alien planet on a tv screen, might i suggest giving the money to James Cameron.

he does a far better job for less than half the cost.

we should stop p**sing about and get serious.

folk complain about space budgets- we should use the money to combat disease, hunger, etc. but put a man on Mars?

the complaints would dry up as quick as the viewing figures climbed....

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[paperdyer]

I was surprised that only another probe was going until I read the link in Waspie's post. It sounds like NASA wants to get enough info to send an extended mission to MArs and not just a "weekend trip". Did "Rover" find something that NASA hasn't passed on? Looking for extraterrestrial life is great, but will be able to tell something is alive if it isn't carbon-based?

[reidh]

this shows tremendous optimism on part of NASA and the U.S. Gov't that either of them will be around if and when any live outer space mission is planned, built, projected, paid for, and launched.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

2020.

by then we should be getting PEOPLE to go to Mars, not another probe.

You clearly have absolutely no clue as to how long a lead time even an unmanned mission has.

Space missions like this don't just use of the shelf equipment. Ever component has to be individually manufactured and tested to ensure that they can survive the launch, the nine month flight, the landing and then operate in the harsh Martian conditions for years. All this takes time.

NASA now has a spacecraft that will be capable of a flight to Mars, the Orion, but this has not had even an unmanned flight yet, it certainly won't be ready for an 18 month manned flight by 2020. Add to this that there is not a single heavy lift rocket on the planet currently capable of launching such a mission (NASA's SLS won't make it's debut until 2017 (and it's first manned flight in 2021). NASA is managing all this whilst it's budget is falling in real terms.

Unfortunately time is an issue with Mars flights. Mars and the Earth are only aligned for such missions every six months. 2020 is the next but one launch opportunity.

if we were just putting millions of [insert relevant currency here] towards watching an alien planet on a tv screen, might i suggest giving the money to James Cameron.

he does a far better job for less than half the cost.

May I suggest that if that is how you feel you should concentrate on watching Avatar and Terminator and leave the science to those with a firm grip on reality.

If you believe that all these missions are doing is transmitting pretty tv pictures then you really have drastically missed the point. The wealth of scientific discoveries that have been made by unmanned probes up until now and those that will come with Mars 2020 and the European/Russian ExoMars rover will lay the ground work for future manned exploration.

we should stop p**sing about and get serious.

NASA ARE serious, it's hardly there fault that you don't understand that.

Your post demonstrates that you are as clueless about the past exploration of the Moon as you are present exploration of Mars. NASA didn't just throw a few humans in the direction of the Moon and hopem they didn't kill them. They sent an awful lot of unmanned spacecraft there first, so that they would have an idea of potential dangers and where the safest regions to land were. Have you never heard of the Ranger, Lunar Orbiter and Surveyor series of missions of the 1960's? These missions allowed NASA an advanced idea of what the astronauts should be looking for before they arrived. It is precisely this sort of preliminary exploration that NASA is carrying out on Mars.

folk complain about space budgets- we should use the money to combat disease, hunger, etc. but put a man on Mars?

the complaints would dry up as quick as the viewing figures climbed....

.

Easy for you to say. You, like me, come from a nation that spends not a single penny on manned exploration. A manned programme to Mars will cost tens, probably hundreds of billions of dollars, that is not an easy thing to sell. People are all for greater spending but watch how they change their vote when they realise that there taxes will be increased to pay for it.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Did "Rover" find something that NASA hasn't passed on?

By rover did you mean Curiosity? NASA has sent four rovers to Mars; two, Curiosity and Opportunity, are still functioning.

Regardless, what gave you that idea?

It is in the natural order of science that you progress in small steps. You observe and experiment. You makes discoveries and reach conclusions. Then you make new experiments and observations based on the previous discoveries. It may seem slow to non-scientists but it is the only logical way to proceed. If you miss steps out then you risk missing vital discoveries. As Sir Isaac Newton put it:

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Looking for extraterrestrial life is great, but will be able to tell something is alive if it isn't carbon-based?

Chemistry tells us that the chances of non-carbon based life, whilst not zero, are slim.

No other element is capable of forming the long complex molecules that are necessary for life. There are more types of carbon based molecules in the universe than of the other 91 naturally occurring elements combined. Take a look at your avatar, that's the most likely place to find non-carbon elements.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Waspie_Dwarf
punctuation and formatting.

[MJNYC]

this shows tremendous optimism on part of NASA and the U.S. Gov't that either of them will be around if and when any live outer space mission is planned, built, projected, paid for, and launched.

And why ever wouldn't the United States be around?

[Waspie_Dwarf]

And why ever wouldn't the United States be around?

Let's not get too far off the topic shall we.

[Atuke]

Take some beans and rice for the Cydonians

[pallidin]

Nice. Hope it lands safely and the new instruments will give us a greater understanding.

[Aten]

Hang on this is the same old story they said last time, newer better etc. The one thats there already is all you need according to the last lot of blurb they said. as for 'new instruments will give us a greater understanding' hmm i dont think so, its a rock!!! ooh lets drill a hole in another one, (the new drill will drill deeper of course), hey that one over there is all shiny..wooo ok lets move on now.

[Imaginarynumber1]

Hang on this is the same old story they said last time, newer better etc. The one thats there already is all you need according to the last lot of blurb they said. as for 'new instruments will give us a greater understanding' hmm i dont think so, its a rock!!! ooh lets drill a hole in another one, (the new drill will drill deeper of course), hey that one over there is all shiny..wooo ok lets move on now.

Do you have any idea what you can learn from just one rock? The wealth of information that can be found in just one shiny rock? On another planet, no less.

[Twin]

Hopefully, the new camera will not have the well documented, random (?), multiple, blurred out areas that are found in current images.

[shrooma]

You clearly have absolutely no clue as to how long a lead time even an unmanned mission has.

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of course i have Waspie, i isn't stoopid.

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Space missions like this don't just use of the shelf equipment.

(sic)

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Ever component (sic) has to be individually manufactured and tested to ensure that they can survive the launch, the nine month flight, the landing and then operate in the harsh Martian conditions for years. All this takes time.

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(hello?! Engineer....)

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NASA now has a spacecraft that will be capable of a flight to Mars, the Orion, but this has not had even an unmanned flight yet, it certainly won't be ready for an 18 month manned flight by 2020.

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so it haven't got a craft capable of going to Mars then.

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Add to this that there is not a single heavy lift rocket on the planet currently capable of launching such a mission

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so that's a definite no then....

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(NASA's SLS won't make it's debut until 2017 (and it's first manned flight in 2021).

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thank's for that.

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NASA is managing all this whilst it's budget is falling in real terms.

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i weren't blaming them specifically, if it weren't for NASA & the Chinese (i'd hate to include Russia, in light of current events-i reckon they can consider their budget well and truly fu.... withdrawn...)

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Unfortunately time is an issue with Mars flights. Mars and the Earth are only aligned for such missions every six months. 2020 is the next but one launch opportunity.

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what i was trying to get at Waspie, is that we should be getting a MANNED flight ready by 2020, not just a probe.

if we don't set ourselves proper challenges, we'll never get off our collectives.....

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May I suggest that if that is how you feel you should concentrate on watching Avatar and Terminator and leave the science to those with a firm grip on reality.

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of course you may 'suggest', but whether or not my, ahyuh, grip on reality is strong enough to encompass such things as 'suggest' and 'science' or 'and', is an other thing altogether

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If you believe that all these missions are doing is transmitting pretty tv pictures then you really have drastically missed the point.

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i don't think that. you know i don't think that.

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The wealth of scientific discoveries thatg have been made by unmanned probes up until now and those that will come with Mars 2020 and the European/Russian ExoMars rover will lay the ground work for future manned exploration.

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i know.

but it hardly grips the public's imagination like 'boots on the ground ' does it.

mention 'marsrover' to just about anybody, and watch how fast their eyes glaze over.

we ain't goin' nowhere without massive public support my friend, and in today's media-obsessed celebrity culture, we need a JFK to push it forward.

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NASA ARE serious, it's hardly there fault that you don't understand that.

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of course i understand that Waspie- or from what i could gather from your spolling....

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Your post demonstrates that you are as clueless about the past exploration of the Moon as you are present exploration of Mars.

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how did you glean that little nugget man? i never mentioned the moon?

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your knowledge of my knowledge of the moon would either be in error, based on a false premise, a feat of clairvoyancy, which would put this post in some weird, woo-woo thread, or some kind of creepy stalker thing, so let's be quiet on that one eh....

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NASA didn't just throw a few humans in the direction of the Moon and hope they didn't kill them.

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but they DID send an awful lot of dogs & monkeys.

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They sent an awful lot of unmanned spacecraft there first, so that they would have an idea of potential dangers and where the safest regions to land were.

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yaay for them!

go NASA! go NASA! go NASA!

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Have you never heard of the Ranger, Lunar Orbiter and Surveyor series of missions of the 1960's? These missions allowed NASA an advanced idea of what the astronauts should be looking for before they arrived. It is precisely this sort of preliminary exploration that NASA is carrying out on Mars.

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of course i have Waspie, the ink on my birth certificate isn't THAT wet....

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Easy for you to say. You, like me, come from a nation that spends not a single penny on manned exploration.

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to our mutual humiliation....

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A manned programme to Mars will cost tens, probably hundreds of billions of dollars, that is not an easy thing to sell.

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betcha Barnam could....

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People are all for greater spending but watch how they change their vote when they realise that there (where?) taxes will be increased to pay for it.

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shame this isn't the '60s then huh.....

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Edited August 1, 2014 by shrooma

[qxcontinuum]

Oh God , please not again ....

[seeder]

From the OP article

"and demonstrate technology to process carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to produce oxygen. These experiments will help engineers learn how to use Martian resources to produce oxygen for human respiration and potentially as an oxidizer for rocket fuel.

That will be very interesting if the experiments work