smolDreee t1_iu3deh0 wrote on October 28, 2022 at 6:55 AM

Why dont they make these types of craft have a device that can shake or blow the dust off of the solar panels? Seems weird to build craft that die to the same problem.

If its going to become space trash when it goes, doesnt it make sense to keep it going for as long as humanly possible? Wouldnt designing it to be able to correct something like this be better than putting more and more craft in space?

AbrahamKMonroe t1_iu3nccb wrote on October 28, 2022 at 9:19 AM

It’s NASA. If they haven’t added a feature like that it’s because they know it won’t work or isn’t worth it.

[deleted] t1_iu3p27i wrote on October 28, 2022 at 9:43 AM

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[deleted] t1_iu4h1dh wrote on October 28, 2022 at 2:12 PM

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Faranocks t1_iu3pplu wrote on October 28, 2022 at 9:52 AM

I believe that for the most part the dust on the rover is statically charged, which means mechanical motions tend not to remove much of the dust.

notrewoh t1_iu44cby wrote on October 28, 2022 at 12:33 PM

The answer is the same as it always is on threads about this lander: it takes more money and adds risk, and most importantly it already surpassed its design life by 2x so the solar panels already did their job. If they didn’t want it to lose charging power via dust they would’ve powered it via nuclear (like curiosity and perseverance). NASA knows solar panels will get dusty and less to slow death (Spirit, Opportunity rovers).