6-legged Robots Heading to Mars, Building Outpost

[jellico]

[citation][nom]TA152H[/nom]The carrying capacity of something would be limited by the weight of the object, not the mass. In a weightless environment, I could carry any amount of mass that I could wrap my arms around.[/citation]
You are very much in error. Newton's Second Law tell us that F = M x A (Force = Mass x Acceleration). The amount of force you can deliver is finite, and we will assume fixed at the upper limit of your strength. We can rewrite the force equation as follows:
A = F/M (the result of dividing both sides by M: F/M = (M x A)/M)

Then consider the case:
lim (M -> infinity) A = F/M

As M (mass) approaches infinity, the acceleration you can impart to that mass approaches 0. With a sufficiently large mass, the acceleration you could impart to it would be so small as to be imperceivable. Hence your statement about being able to move (you used the word, "carry") any mass that you could wrap your arms around is incorrect.

 

[teodoreh]

Why don't they use StarCraft technology? What they really need is a command center, not some lame robot.

Also have in mind that some robots already can walk fast - although they have a creepy form:

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHJJQ0zNNOM

 

[decrypted]

Now you just need to thrown on some smoke stacks, call up Will Smith, and you're set for a certain movie sequel.

 

[inglourious basterd]

A 10 foot tall robot with 6 wheeled legs and all the nerds want to do is engage in a puerile arguement about units of measurement? This thing is f****** awesome! Hook this thing up with some RTGs and let it stomp across the Martian wasteland. No longer shall our multi-million dollar rovers get stuck in the dirt, lame and despondent!

 

[scifi9000]

Now tat the tit for tat arguement over whether weight or mass was implied is over, I am truly excited (though skeptical) about this. I thought the Obama administration had canned the Mars and Moon stuff for one reason or another... it broke my heart. I have been on the edege of my seat waiting for ppl to get off this pretty rock all my life. I thought we were close, then taken away.. now back again. I am getting old,I want to see it happen

 

[Guest]

Awesome! Maybe NASA can help plug the hole BP has created in the gulf? BP can't seem to do it. WTF

 

[DVFinn]

Maybe NASA could get back to real science. Sending humans to Mars is the dumbest idea since the Space Shuttle program, which was invented to be a safe, economical way to move things into space and turned out to be a ridiculously expensive and innefficient mess. It was a failure by any measure. There's nothing at present a human can do on Mars that can't be done better and for longer by an umanned probe, except die. This is as assinine as the international space station, an immensly expensive floating deathtrap that so far has produced 0 meaningful scientific studies. The Hubble and it's successors, the martian rovers, those are good, practical programs that were cost effective and produced real results. The hubble provides more of value in a single day than the ISS has in it's whole existence. Oh, and cosmic radiation would rip the DNA of any prospective Martian astronaut to shreds long before they got anywhere near the planet. It's a huge technical hurdle to reproduce the protection we get from earth's magnetic field and atmosphere, and until it's solved, probably not this century, manned flights beyond the local system are simply not possible.

 

[scifi9000]

DVFinn, you my frient are what I would call a defeatist. You think that because there is a challange that it can't be done. Yes radiation is a serious problem, but it means we have to find solutions (like all the other pioneers did in the past). I assume you don't bother stepping out of your house other than for work, as you can visit anywhere from the internet. I personally like to go there myself. The idea that sending a probe is the same as going is absolutely ridiculous. Sure it is very usefull for preparing the way and getting basic scientific data, but that is all. It is people like you with no vision that keeps killing our progress. I'm surprised we ever made it out of the caves. I suppose you think Columbus was a fool and was wasting time. We need to get off this rock

 

[DVFinn]

Actually I believe that there is a very real chance that the human race might someday move off the planet. I would love to travel to another world, but the way to get there is by doing the real science. Scientists are our last pioneers, the people who strip back the mysteries of the universe and drag the rest of us along on their coat tails. The thing is, the way to get us to Mars and beyond simply doesn't involve human voyages at this stage. Sorry if reality is tough to face, but it's going to take a great deal of time, effort and innovation. The current push to put a human being on Mars didn't originate with the scientific community, it came from an administration that was profoundly ignorant of science and famous for ignoring what scientists had to say. I don't think it makes me a defeatist to believe that we should actually listen to the overwhelming majority of that scientific community, who are saying that NASA's Mars initiative is sheer stupidity.

I dream of a wondrous future, I just believe the way to get there is by spending our time and resources on projects that actually pay off. While Bush was outlining this plan to go to Mars he was also killing off projects like the Deep Space Climate Observatory and several repair trips to the Hubble.

In 1997 real scientists landed a sent a probe bouncing down onto the martian surface, cushioned by airbags. It was brilliant, effective and one of the most rewarding missions of the decade. That kind of innovation is what will get us to another world, coupled with endless hours and countless late nights spent by real scientists.

You accuse me of having no vision. I'd say your own vision is too narrowly focused. You need to pull back and look at the bigger picture. You also need to accept that if we want to have the adventures we also have to do the work. We will go to Mars, and I think it's absolutely a worthwhile pursuit. I just accept the fact that the pioneers of our generation will be making the discoveries that help future generations get there. I'm the kind of person that believes if you want to fly you need to build a plane. It sounds like you want to believe that if you have an adventurous spirit you can just flap your arms really fast.

 

[scifi9000]

DVFinn, you make some good points and I largely agree. However, bear in mind that although you are correct in the comment that an adventurous spirit alone will not get us there, constant nay saying will kill something faster than a speeding photon. Yes, I do have a larger sense of optimism for grand projects than reality may sometimes warrant, but a certain amout of this is sometimes needed to get a project off the ground. A real engineer wouldn't dare initiate a project until every last detail is worked out to the nearest width of an electron, however, as someone educated in the ways of chaos, sometimes you have to weigh up acceptable risk and set your limits a bit wider. Do you think we were truly prepared to go to the moon... I tell you now we were not, but we got there didn't we, and the world was in awe and we still herald it as one of our greatest achievements ever. We can do it again, we will be ever more cautious, but we can never be perfect, it is just not possible. I say we have the technology today, we are also armed with even more knowledge of the dangers such a mission will face, but this should not stop us, we cannot hold off such a project until we solve all of the mysteries of the universe.

 

[zak_mckraken]

[citation][nom]jellico[/nom]I believe you're confusing mass with weight. It's an unfortunate tendency to use the two terms interchangably. Mass refers to the product of an object's volume and density. Weight is the affect of gravitational acceleration on that mass. So when we say it can lift 14.5 tons (short tons, I assume), what we are saying is that machine produces enough force to overcome the pull of gravity and lift an object of that mass. In a lower gravity environment, the effect of gravity on that same mass is not as pronounced, but the robot is still able to generate an equivalent force. F = M x A. The F is fixed (the amount of force the robot can generate). A (the acceleration of gravity) is now lower which means the robot is now able to lift a greater mass M.[/citation]
Magic. Got it.