G+_George Kozi Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Passing thought: They all want to put a crawling, rolling car like robot explorers on Mars... How come nobody wants to put a balloon in the thin Martian atmosphere? Something rugged that could stay floating at low altitudes for years. Something that could fire automated soil analyzing probes at the surface all over the planet... They wouldn't even have to land the balloon... it could deploy while falling towards the surface, at very high altitudes, then slowly descend to the cruising operational altitude. To move, it could use the winds, much like the Google Loon things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Trey Dismukes Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Probably because of the ridiculous storms on Mars, and the fact that you can't drill into the rocks from the sky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_George Kozi Posted December 20, 2013 Author Share Posted December 20, 2013 no, but you can fire something at the ground, You don't have to drill in a rock from the sky. As for the storms well... when it storms, it doesn't storm all over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Joe Morrison Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 The low atmospheric density probably makes this impractical. Based on the reference I looked at the average density of He atmosphere of Mars is 20g/m3 so you will need huge balloons to lift even a very small payload. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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