Solar radiation versus lunar robots

Stiffler2

We are fed crap on tv on how our magnetisphere protects us from solar radiation and without it our electronics would be burned out so how come the lunar robots don't stop working since the moon doesnt have one ?



Thoughts anyone ?

Captain Chaos

They are magnetically shielded to a limited extent.

BTW there are no lunar robots, there are a few probes orbiting the moon. Mars has no magnetic field either but the rovers are working away there fine, it's the dust that's killing them.

And it's not crap, a solar storm a few years ago took out half the of the US power grid, the storm was so large it got through our magnetic field and overloaded a load of transformers which in turn took out a crap load of the electricity grid and it took days to fix.

Stiffler2

Captain Chaos wrote: »

They are magnetically shielded to a limited extent.

BTW there are no lunar robots, there are a few probes orbiting the moon. Mars has no magnetic field either but the rovers are working away there fine, it's the dust that's killing them.

There are lunar bots driving around like Cars collecting data unless they've stopped working

Captain Chaos

Stiffler2 wrote: »

There are lunar bots driving around like Cars collecting data unless they've stopped working

Not on the moon. Not since the '60s and' 70s with the Soviet and US buggies they only worked for a short while and the US ones were driveable while the Soviet's ones were remote controlled and most didn't work. You're thinking of Mars with one rover left working there, one got stuck, lost power and was shut down, another is on the way.

Chuck Stone

Stiffler2 wrote: »

There are lunar bots driving around like Cars collecting data unless they've stopped working

No.

That's Mars and there's only one (it's twin stopped working some time back).

deandean

Because the brain of the lunar robot, which comprises the cerebellum & upper spinal cord removed from a still-alive chinese political detainee sentenced to death, along with associated electronics & life-support, is enclosed in a radiation hardened structure i.e. radiation armour.

Stiffler2

Ok I can see on wiki that there is only 1 back in the 70's so u are correct but that still doesn't explain why the radiation doesn't get to them

Senna

Chuck Stone wrote: »

No.

That's Mars and there's only one (it's twin stopped working some time back).

Yeah Wolowitz trying to impress a fat chick.

gbee

One can harden electronics against EMC it has a cost factor as well as a design factor.

An interesting thing about our EM Fields is that they are vital in allowing life to form and develop ~ so much so that astronomers now look for the tell-tale EM signature in looking for life on other planets.

We can go to to other planets and set up shop and live there with toughened electronics and shielded work room and living quarters and it might even be pleasant enough

Humanoid life and possibly intelligent life cannot form on these other planets though. Whilst other criteria need to exist to facilitate life, without the EM Shields it would be little more than tough bacteria.

This does not rule out life migrating to these planets where we live underground and have a nocturnal surface existence. Undoubtedly we'd use robotic machines quite a bit as the size of a people carrier on the Moon would be pretty massive, it would be too much to fit everyone with their own space suit as is currently the practice for our minuscule manned space program.

Chuck Stone

Stiffler2 wrote: »

Ok I can see on wiki that there is only 1 back in the 70's so u are correct but that still doesn't explain why the radiation doesn't get to them

They're machines and are not a sensitive animal expected to last 70 to 80 years.

Actually there are concerns about astronauts being exposed to radiation on long stays on the ISS.

Gazing out of their space capsules, Apollo astronauts witnessed sights that humans had never before seen. They saw the breathtaking view of the Earth's bright blue disc against the inky black of space. They saw the far side of the Moon. They also saw strange flashes of light inside their eyeballs!

Since then, astronauts aboard Skylab, the Shuttle, Mir, and the International Space Station have all reported seeing these flashes. No need to call Agents Mulder and Scully of The X Files, though: what the astronauts are experiencing is space radiation zipping through their eyes like subatomic bullets. When a "bullet" strikes the retina, it triggers a false signal that the brain interprets as a flash of light.

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2004/22oct_cataracts/

pdbhp

@ Chuck stone, watched a programme about those particles of radiation just before Christmas, you can even see the flashes on video of the Apollo missions, great programme had that Brian Cox bloke doing it.

marketty

If you look up the computer specs (processor speed etc) of the latest mars rover you'll notice it's not exactly bleeding edge technology, it's even possible to buy faster equipment for your pc. Part of the reason for this is that rovers need to use 'battle-proven' reliable and tested hardware which can be shown to work under extreme conditions with available shielding. This sort of development and testing takes several years so the performance lags the commercial terrestrial market by several years. So a lot of work and expense goes into protecting this hardware.
And the magnetosphere is not 'crap'!!

The King of Moo

Thought thread would be about how I'd prefer humanity to be destroyed .

44leto

Stiffler2 wrote: »

We are fed crap on tv on how our magnetisphere protects us from solar radiation and without it our electronics would be burned out so how come the lunar robots don't stop working since the moon doesnt have one ?



Thoughts anyone ?

LOL

I would say the OP has sussed NASA this is proof they never went to the moon.

TheUsual

The only lunar robots are Transformers on the dark side of the moon, and they are shielded by being away from direct sunlight.

They will however invade us if we don't all get killed by the Mayan zombies first.