Re: Soccer Balls to Saturn's Rings

[James McEnanly]

I know. It seems that NASA has a habit of developing technology prototypes, using them once or twice, then turning them over to the NASM for storage. The Fett-looking astrobot comes to mind.

LARRY KLAES <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Funny you should mention that James:

 

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/US/shuttle030630.html

 

NASA tested the Sprint bot in 1997 (on Columbia ironically

enough), then it's ignored and not thought of again until after

the tragedy struck.  Very frustrating. 

 

 

Other relevant sites on the Sprint bot, to help in our designs

of the soccer ball probe:

 

http://vesuvius.jsc.nasa.gov/er_er/html/sprint/index.htm

 

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/assembly/sprint/

 

http://www.skyrocket.de/space/index_frame.htm?http://www.skyrocket.de/space/doc_sdat/aercam-sprint.htm

 

Larry

 

----- Original Message -----

From: James McEnanly

Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2003 8:57 AM

To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Subject: Re: Soccer Balls to Saturn's Rings

 

I am wondering why they can't use that device to inspect the tiles on the Shuttle during orbit.

LARRY KLAES <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Here is a mission concept I have been thinking about for a while.

It does not have a direct connection to Europa exploration, but

some of the ideas could be applied to future missions there.

 

Besides, whenever we start talking about something besides

Icepick and Europa on this list, we always get someone new

asking where the Icepick-Europa info is, and that leads us back

to the main topic. :^)  I promise, though, if you read through

this article, you will see it connect back to Icepick and our

favorite Galilean moon.

 

Now about my idea:  The rings of Saturn have always been

fascinating and - until 1977 with the discovery of similar ones

around Uranus - unique objects in the Sol system.  Around

1980 I envisioned a well-armored probe that would fly among

the rings, scoop up some debris (in 1970 radar examinations

had shown the ring particles to average 3 feet in diameter),

and return them to Earth.

 

While such an idea still has appeal, perhaps by the time we

have the capabilities and resources for such a mission that

we won't need to bring ring samples all the way back to Earth

but can examine them thoroughly on site or at a nearby Saturn

colony.  Plus we would need a bunch of such samplers to get

a real cross-section of the rings and that would be costly.

 

My recent idea envisions a group of spherical robots released

into the rings, where they would gently bounce around, off,

and through the debris, sampling the surfaces as they alight, and

imaging the ice blocks both from a distance and at a microscopic

level when they briefly land.  They could even follow the rings

around the planet, displaying orbital patterns and determining

what the different colored ring lanes are made of.  They could

even examine the famous and mysterious spokes in detail. 

 

For lack of a better description, the probes would look like soccer

balls bouncing among the ring debris for as long as their batteries last. 

 

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971210.html

 

They could relay their findings to a larger and more sophisticated

orbiter located outside the rings - the very vessel that brought them

to Saturn - which would send the data to Earth.  These soccer ball

probes could even be landed on some of the smaller moons or dropped

into Saturn's atmosphere to relay data before being extinguished deep

into the clouds.  Or they could be sent into the planet's magnetosphere.

 

I can see these probes being modified for exploration all over the

Sol system.  And with so many being deposited, if a few are lost

the mission is not.  Plus they can be modified for specific data-

gathering tasks.  For example, I can envision a bunch of soccer

ball probes being released into the ocean of Europa and relaying

data to the probe that bored its way through the ice crust,

which would in turn be able to get the data back to the surface

without having to leave the vicinity.

 

So what do you think?  Think we can convince a space agency

to look into this more?  Think we can design a detailed prototype?

This is how Icepick got its start.

 

Thanks,

 

Larry

 

 

 

Sincerely

 

James McEnanly

---

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Sincerely

 

James McEnanly

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