Human started with just wheels for travelling & transportation purposes at first. Then came bikes, cars & trains which could be driven on land. The next difficulty was to overcome the vast oceans & seas which led to invention of ships. Engineers are still finding ways to make today’s vehicles more better & efficient even though we have achieved success in almost every mode of travelling & transportation. One of the extraordinary machine in history of vehicles is hovercraft. Lets see how does a hovercraft work ?more “How does a hovercraft work ? | Design & Application”
The carriage drivers whipcrack (we’ll get to this term soon) the whip. And as a kid, I always thought that the whip must be hitting the poor animal or perhaps must be hitting itself & that might be the reason why we are able to hear the loud sound! But aa-aa, that’s not the reason and also there isn’t a small sound speaker to produce sound (humor me & ignore it 😛 ). Everyone must have observed this… but ever thought about it that how & why does a whip make a cracking sound ?
In my previous article, we learned how 4 stroke engines work ! This time we will learn about the second type of engine i.e 2 stroke engine. The 2 stroke engine is a type of Internal combustion engine where one power cycle is completed with two strokes of the piston during only one rotation of crankshaft. The first commercial two-stroke engine involving in-cylinder compression is attributed to Scottish engineer Dugald Clerk.
The 2 stroke engine performs all the same steps which are performed by 4 stroke engine – suction, compression, expansion & exhaust; but the 2 stroke engine performs these all steps in only 2 stroke unlike the 4 stroke engine which completes one power cycle in 4 strokes. more “How does a 2 stroke engine work ?”
These are the most basic engines used in cars & bikes i.e Four stroke cycle petrol engine OR 4 stroke engine(often called). It is very easy to understand until & unless you wanna do all the thermodynamic calculations & all that stuff ! more “How does a 4 stroke engine work ?”
After an overwhelming success of Mars rover mission 2012, NASA’s next nuclear powered Mars rover is planned to launch in 2020. Scientists say that – it is gonna be way smarter & efficient than Curiosity, which is currently exploring the red planet.
I mean seriously, this thing is the GOD of robots… just look at it & it’s complexities!
Curiosity had an awesome design, heck lot of instruments, also its launch & entry into atmosphere of Mars & its landing – all went perfect as planned.
The rover 2020 mission is planned to explore a selected site which is geologically diverse & gives signs of having a past life.
This rover will collect samples of soil & rock and drop them at a selected point. Later those samples will be scooped up another mission to deliver the specimens collected back to Earth. The development of this mission is a combination of the “old” and the “new,” said Gentry Lee, chief engineer for Solar System Exploration at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. Mission engineers said that the rover is going to get a new refined design.
Curiosity has been battling wear & tear on its wheels.
Damage caused to the wheels of Curiosity ! (source:- mars.nasa.gov)
The 2020 rover wheels are going to become heavier along with the rover’s body becoming a little longer. That may change the rover’s mobility system.
“We are really looking at ways to make this large heritage, build-to-print rover drive faster and do more science on the surface of Mars” said Jennifer Trosper, JPL’s mission manager on Mars 2020.
The future rover would have machines which will increase the speed of it even on rough terrains, Trosper said.
Instruments selected for the rover 2020 mission are also assembled on Curiosity. (source:- NASA)
The mechanical design & additional instruments would make mission efficiency jump from Curiosity’s roughly 55% to 80% !! Eagerly waiting for _______ !
The Mars Space Laboratory mission rover names – 1st was SOJOURNER; 2nd was OPPORTUNITY & it’s twin SPIRIT; 3rd was CURIOSITY; all giving a positive inspirational, motivational feeling !
What do you think would be 2020 rover’s name ? Share with us in the comment section below…
Why only red ? Why not blue, orange, purple, pink or any other colour ? In case, if you think that red was the favorite colour of the one who had this idea (humour me) then you’re… WRONG ! Seriously, when I came to know about it, I realised that – Yes, everything has a reason ! & the brake lights having red colour has a reason too !more “Why are brake lights red ?”
Seriously, what would have happen if there were no elevators & if people were to walk up & down a 50 or 100 storey building everyday in cities like NY ! I can’t even imagine the fatigue.
