美国航空航天局正开发一个夜间运转探测太阳仪器——宇宙空间设计师。
美国航天局说，这次的新探测工具有在白天一样的运转功能。不像以往的探测仪器当太阳升起来的时候，就停止工作。
到现在为止，在月球或火星探测车几乎都是完全在白天运作，保留能源消耗为每月一次或两次夜间任务。
“不这样做将需要更大的电池，在夜间营运行。这就会使探测器增加重量并且发射费用昂贵， “在加利福尼亚州帕萨迪纳宇航局喷气推进实验室火星探测漫游者研究员Matthew Keuneke说。
Unlike the solar-powered exploration vehicles being deployed on Mars, which have to bed down once the sun sets, the new rovers must function at a high level during the night as well as the day, NASA says.
The contest comes with a prize of $1.5 million and is open to private companies, student teams and independent inventors. It is one of three additions to NASA's Centennial Challenges competitions to spur innovation and interest in space technology and exploration.
Until now, rovers on the moon or Mars have operated almost exclusively during the day, reserving energy-draining nighttime tasks for once or twice a month.
"To do otherwise would require much larger batteries to operate during the nighttime hours. And that would have made the rovers heavier and the launch costs more expensive," said Mars Exploration Rover researcher Matthew Keuneke at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
Even a small increase in the mass of exploration vehicles would makes their spaceship liftoffs more expensive by "tens of millions of dollars," Keuneke said.
Benefits of night rovers
A rover better capable of storing solar energy for nighttime activities would immediately free up more energy for daytime uses such as photographic imaging, Keuneke said
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