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Size comparison between Curiosity rover and previous mars rovers, Opportunity and Spirit (i.imgur.com)

submitted ago by danobo

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[–]maskredd 56 points57 points ago

you know, if there were martians, and i was one, i would be shitting myself when curiosity lands. Think about it.

"Today marks the beginning of the end. Another machine has come from the sky, bigger than the last two. This one was dropped by some sort of flying machine and is MUCH bigger than before. It has been rolling around all day, vaporizing rocks with some sort of weapon on its head. It's only a matter of time before we can no longer hide ourselves.

It's been approximately 4 years since the landing of the second and third machines. We still don't know where they are coming from. We don't know what they are. But we do know 2 things: They are getting bigger, and they are not friendly."

[–]Tecknation 7 points8 points ago

This sounds like a movie plot.

Directed by M. Night Shamalan...

[–]MatieuGuy 10 points11 points ago

The Aliens were dead all along.

Edit: Spoiler's tag

[–]Skullcrusher 7 points8 points ago

The aliens were Bruce Willis the whole time.

[–]mattoly 8 points9 points ago

You could have included a spoilers tag, ass.

[–]Louis_vuitton 1 point2 points ago

You assume that the martians will think they are machines. Na, as far as they are concerned, multiple species of aliens have been visiting them for the past few years now.

[–]kindpastor 0 points1 point ago

What about viking?

[–]QualityEnforcer 19 points20 points ago

Link to a higher quality version of the posted image:

Image (5723 x 2889, 7515 kB)

[–]bmg50barrett 91 points92 points ago

TITLE IS WRONG:

Curiosity is the largest rover.

The mid-sized one is a replica of the twin rovers Opportunity and Spirit.

Sojourner is the smallest one (also a replica).

[–]darkops32 10 points11 points ago

It doesn't actually specify which is which. Thanks for pointing them out, though.

[–]Dukelicious 2 points3 points ago

The point is that is is Sojourner, not Spirit.

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]Alwayzwatchin 0 points1 point ago

it

[–]SWgeek10056 0 points1 point ago

That's what I figured, not even knowing what opportunity and spirit looked like. I thought "that looks ridiculously close to sojourner.." Thank you for verifying this :)

[–]Dubbys -3 points-2 points ago

OP never said which one it is in the title, Common sense dictates it's the largest of the three.

[–]ypro 8 points9 points ago

Title didn't mention Sojourner and instead named the mid-sized one twice. That's why it's wrong ;)

[–]LordCatfishcity 8 points9 points ago

If those guys are on mars why didn't we just have them send us pictures... duh. They're wearing white coats which indicates to me that they are capable human beings.

[–]Sumpm 6 points7 points ago

That's an episode of BattleBots I definitely wouldn't want to miss.

[–]derwinter 6 points7 points ago

They sure as hell would analyze each other to death.

[–]ZankerH 1 point2 points ago

Oppurtunity has a little robotic arm with a drill that can penetrate 3 milimetres into rock. Spirit managed to get trapped in a sand dune and froze over winter.

Curiosity weighs a ton and has a nuclear reactor and a laser that can vaporise rocks. We sent a fucking futuristic battle tank to Mars.

[–]Sumpm 1 point2 points ago

We sent a fucking futuristic battle tank to Mars.

So, this is how the interplanetary wars begin..

[–]MyKarmaKilledURDogma 15 points16 points ago

Nice, but could use some name labels for the less informed

[–]T_O_G_G_Z 3 points4 points ago

There will never be any doubt about Curiositys location. The crater will be freaking huge.

[–]coredev 6 points7 points ago

Just like Beagle 2 :-( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beagle_2#Mission_progress

[–]teefletch 12 points13 points ago

No solar panels on Curiosity, how is that thing powered?

[–]HannsGruber 24 points25 points ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Mission_Radioisotope_Thermoelectric_Generator

[–]Fisheries_Student 5 points6 points ago

Russia used the same technology to power automated lighthouses along their coast. They've since forgotten about them (the breakup of the USSR apparently lost some paperwork), and they've decayed in place, or been scavenged by nomadic herders. Nothing like sleeping next to a hunk of metal that stays warm by itself!

[–]zzj 2 points3 points ago

Wow that's really cool.

[–]Genocidicbunny 7 points8 points ago

Same way the voyagers did it, and frankly the smarter way especially now that we know how much of an effect Martian wind storms and the dust they kick up have on solar panels.

[–]SpaceDog777 6 points7 points ago

Indeed, Opportunity rover has only been going for 3115 days since landing.

[–]Quantos 2 points3 points ago

Actually, if I'm not mistaken, the action of the wind was actually beneficial. They expected dust to cover the panels; the wind blowing off some of that dust off the solar panels was actually not accounted for. That's why the rovers kept going way past their original mission duration.

[–]Lz_erk 3 points4 points ago

I'm sure there's some brilliant explanation as to why this is stupid, but every time I think about Spirit and Opportunity I have a mental image of a group of engineers in white lab coats, standing in a circle over a blueprint of windshield wipers and repeatedly facepalming.

Edit: oh wait, I bet it's a combination of ablation or scoring and temperature. No liquid to wash dust out of tiny cracks, and the dust is probably extremely fine like in that Red Mars book.

[–]Steven2k7 0 points1 point ago

Yep, this is correct.

Didn't they lose contact with one of the rovers for a few months a year or so ago? I believe the solar panels got covered with dust/dirt and it was unable to charge until a wind storm came through and cleaned them off and it recharged and started sending a signal again. Not sure on how true that was or if I just made all of that up...

[–]Genocidicbunny 0 points1 point ago

I would imagine the dust still abraded the panels somewhat, and I was referring more to wind storms in general which seem to kick up quite a bit of dust.

So while the wind would have removed dust from the panels, the damage would have reduced their efficiency somewhat.

[–]specialk16 1 point2 points ago

Nuclear batteries.

[–]Beakerbite 0 points1 point ago

"...would allow it to operate for at least one Mars year..."

Why so short?

"...(687 Earth days)..."

Oh.

[–]joker1972 0 points1 point ago

Nuclear power

[–]DistantWizard 5 points6 points ago

I bet in 5 years this picture will surface on conspiracy sites claiming the mars landings were all faked.

[–]Scaryclouds 5 points6 points ago

It's crazy, Curiosity's "multi-tool" is nearly as big as Sojourner itself!

[–]kwitit 4 points5 points ago

HOW DO WE HAVE TWO MEN ON MARS WITHOUT A SPACESUIT ON?!

[–]fuzzylizard 2 points3 points ago

I hope the probe they send to uranus is a bit smaller.

[–]mattoly 5 points6 points ago

Thanks! I hope the probe they send to Uranus is huge.

[–]DrapeTheApe 0 points1 point ago

Really Shepard?

[–]Zorbick 0 points1 point ago

The renamed it to Urectum.

[–]7om 2 points3 points ago

This may sounds like a silly question, but I am curious; why are some components/parts on each Rover an orange/copper colour? Is there a reason for this or is it merely aesthetic?

[–]elint 5 points6 points ago

Insulation

[–]7om 1 point2 points ago

Thank you very much for the answer.

[–]Imuuu 0 points1 point ago

Size doesn't matter!

[–]gorbok 2 points3 points ago

You missed some out.

[–]mtman86 1 point2 points ago

Size isn't the only thing that matters. The curiosity shoot fucking Lasers out of it's head!

[–]Hypponaut 0 points1 point ago

I've actually never known how big the rovers were. I just assumed they were all about as big as the middle sized one here.

[–]advtorrin 1 point2 points ago

I'm really excited about the Curiosity rover, I mean c'mon, it has a nuclear powered laser!

[–]RaoulDuke92 0 points1 point ago

What are those two scientists doing on mars?!?!

[–]Sokonomi 0 points1 point ago

Ohhhhh yis... As a robotics fanatic this is giving me a stiffy.

[–]Gnork 0 points1 point ago

I remember when the tiny one Sojourner landed. I was in the 6th grade and we all stopped what we were doing to listen to the NASA transmissions.

[–]bajablazer85 0 points1 point ago

The wheel style of these rovers match the trend of custom auto wheels of their time.

[–]Chopperguy 0 points1 point ago

Maybe this time we'll spot a damn transformer.

[–]F2a 0 points1 point ago

Another high-res image:

http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20120117a/PIA15278_3rovers-lo_D2011_1215_D515.jpg

[–]fregu149 0 points1 point ago

How kind of you to make a description of the damn thing so we know which one is which.

[–]magnumbi 0 points1 point ago

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why they use the gold/yellow color for the wire covering? It seems consistent across all models so I assume there must be a reason.

[–]xcud 0 points1 point ago

Post this to /r/curiosityrover/

[–]Seymour__Asses 0 points1 point ago

It's amazing how things just keep getting smaller and smaller؟

[–]profduck 2 points3 points ago

Actually it's the opposite. They've gone from smallest to largest. The smallest being Sojourner in the 90's to Spirit/Opportunity in early 2000's, and Curiosity landing tonight the largest.

[–]Seymour__Asses 2 points3 points ago

Is there a sarcasm font? There should be. I guess I'm not as funny as I thought.

[–]doiveo 0 points1 point ago

؟

source

[–]Seymour__Asses 0 points1 point ago

Duly edited.

[–]1x4x9 1 point2 points ago

Sojourner was 1997

[–]DeLoreanMotorCars 1 point2 points ago

Sojourner was born in 1797.

[–]profduck 1 point2 points ago

Whoops you're right. I meant to write 90's not 70's. Thanks I'll edit.

[–]Wayfarer21 -2 points-1 points ago

Wow it's a lot bigger than the previous models. BUT.

Will it blend?

[–]Pentastisch 0 points1 point ago

Ok reddit, which is which?

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