Tires on the ground ...

Do you think it's too early to get onto Tamaya and enquire about front wheel drive differentials? I think the idea is sound but I'd like to check the gear ratios of their model cars. We don't want the car body to spin round the axle [] As a toy it sounds great, I can imagine radio controlled ball racing catching on. Though it might damage the "beautiful game" of football (soccer.)

Here's a least route using a map of Sydonia I got from someplace. On a dem map the bubble film would find the real least route but I've just drawn on a red wriggly line to show, very roughly, the route it might take.

<b>[Stoat] "Do you think it's too early to get onto Tamaya and enquire about front wheel drive differentials?"</b>

We need to look at specifications, costs, availability, etc. in order to refine the design and do forecasting. But we might want to think about the basic design a little more before start thinking about the detailed design. For instance, we still haven't worked out a basic scheme to protect the ends of the axel on the ball rover design.

<b>[Stoat] "I think the idea is sound but I'd like to check the gear ratios of their model cars. We don't want the car body to spin round the axle"</b>

True. Keep in mind that TBD parameters like the mass of the hanging rover package will play a part in potential problems like that. So will the the power output of the driving motor(s).

But it probably will do no harm to begin collecting data about specific hardware.

Any suggestions about where this data will be stored? This message board is not suitable for that sort of thing.

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<b>[Stoat] "As a toy it sounds great, I can imagine radio controlled ball racing catching on."</b>

I've been thinking the same thing. $500 million dollars is a lot of money, and investors are going to want to see something more than some 3D renderings of an idea. And they will want to know what sort of track record the principals have.

It makes sense to start with a smaller project. A ball rover toy, leading to some spirited racing events could go a long way toward giving us some credibility. We could learn a lot about problems to avoid. And work out some issues like how to navigate.

Stage One - a radio controlled ball rover designed for use here on Earth.

SCENARIO:

We hit the market with Model A, a simple ball that can be driven around within eyesight, like an R/C car or truck. No on-board cameras, etc. And it can be designed for speed to give it some initial appeal, though we don't need speed for Mars. And it is very rugged, so almost no amount of abuse will harm it. Even so, parking it in the drive way is probably not going to be a survival strategy. Kids (like me) could use them in their back yards or at the park. In the advertising and in the package inserts we could talk about the ultimate purpose of the ball rover project. And about Model B. Before you know it, racing events are springing up all over the place.

Customized balls would show up in short order. Some for show, some for go.

Then we introduce Model B, which would be more like the one that will go to Mars. On-board cameras, slow speed. When someone buys (or rents) a B, they don't take physical possession. Instead they operate it over the internet using a digital map and the cameras, like they would the real thing. We find a large hill and a dry river canyon in the desert somewhere, and nick-name them Olympus Mons and Valles Marinaris, and let the pilots practice in a kind-of-Mars-like environment. We could even introduce a delay in the radio link to make the experience more realistic.

Races are still possible, but they would not be exciting (to spectators) due to the slow speeds. Perhaps other forms of competition would be invented?

Stage Two might be one or more models designed for Lunar sightseeing. The environment is more harsh in some ways, but the shorter distance will make some aspects of the project easier.

Stage Three, Mars.


<b>[Stoat] "Though it might damage the "beautiful game" of football (soccer.)"</b>

X

New forms of competition, as I suggested, will probably come into existence. But rover B pilots will also probably come up with ways to cooperate as well.

Suppose you get stuck between a rock and a hard place on Mars. You are stuck too tight for rocking to help. What will you do?

By the time we get there, someone will have had this happen to them with the desert B version and as a result the rovers on Mars may well have special equipment (a tow rope?) for this situation. Another rover shows up and saves you.

LB

I like the idea of belt and braces, so I would want the mars ball rovers to also have umbrella spokes in case of punctures. On that, what about making the skin of the ball a sandwich material. If we have a thin layer of some viscous material that would sublate and harden on contact with the very low air presure of Mars, then it could self seal any small puncture holes.

To make the toy version, we don't need to think too much about the gear ratios. We also get with the standard chassis an extra drive shaft. These nitro cars are front wheel diff four wheel drive. Don't know what to do with that extra power take off though, maybe drive a gyro wheel?

Real ball racing would be fun but so would x box ball racing. X box racers would quickly learn tricks like bouncing the thing of vertical walls to pass the competition.

I suppose we could put two balls together and mount a little platform between them, to create a sort of radio controlled skate board.

Hey [] a human size one would be the ultimate dangerous sport. A two metre ball, with something like a luge sled slung from the axle, maybe a flexi pipe from the engine to dump the exhaust out at the hub. Then belt down a hill. Scares me [8D]

Protecting the ends of the axel:

Shorten the axel by about 10% or 15% on each end.
Attach a (hemisphere or a cone) between the tire and the end of the axel.
The attachment (hemisphere or cone) should probably be made of the same material as the tire, but perhaps a little thicker. The stiffness of this "suspension" could be controlled by the relative pressure within the (hemisphere or cone).

Trade off - now there is no external place to mount the cameras.