From: jfindley@cinci.nospam.rr.com   
      
   In article ,   
   jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca says...   
   >   
   > On 2021-03-07 01:56, Snidely wrote:   
   >   
   > > The descent video cameras and microphones were minimally invasive, but   
   > > it still took months of planning to incorporate them in the craft.   
   >   
   >   
   > I know they stated that the lander must not, in any way hinder the   
   > rover.  But was surprised to learn that upon touching down, the rover   
   > activated guillotines to cut the support cables and the 1gbps Ethernet   
   > cable.   
   >   
   >   
   > I bet those guillotines wee tested a gazillion times because if just one   
   > failed, that would have been a really really bad time for the rover.   
      
   Guillotines operated by electrically actuated pyrotechnic charges have   
   been around since the early days of spaceflight.  They were even used in   
   crewed capsules to sever the connections between the capsule and the   
   upper stage or orbital module (also between orbital module and upper   
   stage).   
      
   A quick Google search and here is a cite for Gemini using guillotines   
   for multiple purposes (grep for "guillotine" on this page):   
      
   http://www.astronautix.com/g/geminitechnaldescription.html   
      
   There is a lot of technical documentation about the use of guillotines   
   on spacecraft if you search a bit.   
      
   Jeff   
      
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