Engineers definitely might design such a system, however including it will require sacrificing space or weight meant for science.
NASA’s Mars InSight lander was powered by two solar panels, one among which is imaged right here. The mission ended when the panels grew to become so dust-covered that they may not generate adequate energy to maintain the craft. Credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Inevitably, Mars rovers or landers get coated with dust and the solar panels now not perform, ending the mission. Why doesn’t NASA construct in a mechanism to scrub the solar panels?
Mike Hunnicutt
Woodridge, Illinois
This can be a nice query and to me, no less than, the reply is under no circumstances apparent.
It’s not that NASA engineers can’t design a brush or a wiper or an air-blasting system to scrub dust off solar panels or different Mars rover or lander components — that sort of engineering isn’t rocket science! The problem actually is in regards to the constraints on deep-space missions; many engineers refer to those constraints because the “useful resource field.” That’s, all missions are constrained to suit right into a metaphorical field outlined by assets like mass, bodily dimensions, energy, schedule, information quantity, and value. The dimensions of the field relies on many components, like which rocket will launch the mission and what price range is accessible to the workforce. And whereas the assets could be moved round and traded contained in the field, the entire system can’t go “out of the field.”
So, for instance, if a workforce needs so as to add a dust wiper blade to a rover solar panel, the engineers will say, “Certain, we are able to try this! However what do you wish to commerce to accommodate the mass, quantity, energy wants, and value of that wiper system?” Hmm… Would the workforce be OK, for instance, buying and selling a backup radio transmitter for that wiper system? Or dropping one of many science devices for it? In my expertise, we’ve determined to not make such trades as a result of we felt assured that the rovers might survive their required minimal lifetime even with dusty solar panels. And, whereas debatable, to most of us concerned that seems to have been an appropriate commerce for missions like Spirit, Alternative, Perception, and others.
We regularly hear about individuals or teams being praised for considering “outdoors the field.” However in deep-space mission programs engineering, the secret is truly to attempt to maximize science whereas staying inside the (useful resource) field!
Jim Bell
Principal Investigator for Mars 2020 Mastcam-Z, Deputy Principal Investigator for Science for Mars Science Laboratory Mastcam, Arizona State College, Tempe, Arizona
