Update on Spirit

spaceflightnow.com ^ | 1/22/2004 | Jet Propulsion Laboratory

[Keith]

Controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory believe the Mars rover Spirit has placed itself into "safe-mode" after experiencing some sort of problem, and officials remain hopeful that engineers can coax the craft back into operation.

"We are cautiously encouraged," JPL director Charles Elachi said on NASA Television a short time ago. "We are still concerned until we understand the problem and we address it."

Spirit abruptly stopped relaying its scientific and health data to Earth on Wednesday, sending a streak of fear through Mission Control when the rover went silent.

But earlier today, a signal was sent from Earth to Mars and Spirit responded with a simple tone.

"We did send a command to the spacecraft on a specific channel and we got a response back basically saying 'yeah, I am here' and we got exactly what we expected from it. So that gave us the indication, because it is on that specific channel that we got the response, is that the spacecraft is in safe-mode. Something kind of went wrong and it put itself into a safe-mode," Elachi said.

"The way we set the spacecraft is that if there is something abnormal, it goes into a certain safe-mode. The indication when we linked and it responded positively is that it is most likely in a certain safe-mode."

Controllers are now preparing for the next step in sorting out the problem and bringing Spirit back to useful life.

"We had to team go home and rest. At 5 o'clock tonight (8 p.m. EST; 0100 GMT) they come back and work a plan for the next communication opportunity which occurs at 3 a.m. Pacific time tomorrow morning (6 a.m. EST; 1100 GMT). We will be using the same channel that we used earlier this morning and we got the positive response."

Instead of asking for just a simple tone reply, controllers will instruct Spirit to play back some of its engineering data.

"We want some of its memory so we can do a diagnostic and understand what has happened, what are the corrective actions that need to be done and how do we bring it carefully and thoughtfully to its normal operational mode."

That direct Earth-to-Mars link occurs after Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey craft make overnight flights above the landing site. The orbiters will be in "listen-only" modes and not sending commands to Spirit. As a result, Elachi said he doesn't expect to hear anything from the rover during the passes if Spirit is in safe-mode.

Engineers are delving through the possible reasons that triggered Spirit to stop talking yesterday. Thus far, it is unknown exactly what caused the situation.

"There could be a possibility of some problem with the software in the spacecraft, similar to what happens in your computer," Elachi cited as one of many potential issues.

Options available to the team to fix the problem include correcting a software glitch, rebooting the entire spacecraft or, if it is a hardware failure, developing a plan to work around the faulty part.

"We have a very valuable asset up there that we did a lot of hard work to get it there safely. The public is all excited about it. So we need to do things methodically and carefully. There is nothing that is rushing us to actually go and do something immediately -- the spacecraft has power, the temperature seems to be appropriate," Elachi said.

"In any exploration you do, you always get anxious moments. Things had been working so well. When you are doing something which is 100 million miles away, roving on a different planet, there are going to be some anomalies or going to be some problems.

"So the key thing that is important is to stay calm, thoughtful and careful and not to react too quickly to when a problem actually occurs because sometimes you can do more harm than good by reacting too quick.

"It is a pretty smart machine that we have up there and the key thing that we are going to do next is to communicate with it tomorrow morning and ask it to send us some data down so we can do a diagnostic of what's the problem," Elachi said.

[pabianice]

First Martian: "Hey! There's another one!"

Second Martian: "Pull!!" *BLAM*!!

[IrishCatholic]

This is the problem with the whole robotics over man space exploration. We took a wrong turn when we gave space to the university profs and excluded the rest of the nation. Once we have man permanently in space this kind of scenario would be: "What? dang thing, hold on a moment- KICK- How about now? I'll take it back to the base if it isn't working."
Man is the most adaptable exploration software we have. Apollo 13 is a perfect example. The guys on the ground and the guys in space fixed an unfixable problem. It is the most noble spirit of man to boldly go where no one has gone before.... Hey, I've heard that line before!

[Senator Pardek]

UGH - only 256 colors for the images from now on!

[Brett66]

Is that for getting Moore ranked number one on that search? I wonder if putting it in your tagline would work.

[StockAyatollah]

Gee. NASA's $820 million dollar golf cart has gone mute.

[jaz.357]

HELP ON THE WAY!

[blam]

Rays of hope...they'll get it back up and running.

[Rebelbase]

Is that for getting Moore ranked number one on that search? I wonder if putting it in your tagline would work.

Great Idea!

[ngc6656]

Another possibility: someone on an earlier thread posted a photo from Spirit of the Martian landscape with a big-eyed robot checking out the camera. That photo is making the rounds on the Net with the Martian robot assigned the named "Marvin." Maybe Marvin and Spirit have fallen in love and eloped. Spirit: "Yeah, I'm here but I'm not telling what I'm doin."

[JoJo Gunn]

Lemme guess. It's using Big Brother XP and they're gonna have to get some former fry cook to activate it again.

[TMSuchman]

Just one more reason to send real life people instead of machines only. A machine can not fix it's problems on the fly!

[John H K]

Man is the most adaptable exploration software we have. Apollo 13 is a perfect example. The guys on the ground and the guys in space fixed an unfixable problem. It is the most noble spirit of man to boldly go where no one has gone before.... Hey, I've heard that line before!

I'm in favor of a manned mission to Mars but manned missions are essentially worthless, monetarily, for space science missions.

The costs of keeping men alive and safe are so enormous there's no cost-benefit.

If, say, the Space Shuttle had been canceled 10 years ago and the International S***, er, Space Station never built, we'd have enough money to pave Mars over with rovers...so many each one is essentially disposable.

And when there's a critical technical failure on a manned mission, people die. They don't with a robotic mission.

Go to any planetary scientist and say you can either have 200 billion dollars for manned missions or 200 billion dollars for robotic missions and ever last one of them will go for the robotic missions.

Of course, the problem is you'll never get Congress to spend that much for unmanned missions.

Considering no manned Mars mission will launch before 2020, consider 1) how much money that will cost 2) how many HUNDREDS of robot rovers that would pay for and 3) Where robotic and artificial intelligence tech will be by 2020 it's easy to do the cost-benefit analysis, from a pure science perspective.

[LibWhacker]

That's what I was thinking. China, Russia, France, N. Korea, plus several others, all have the ability to cause problems for us on Mars. I'm sure NASA is using good encryption, but we're talking about hostile nations here, with unlimited resources for all intents and purposes, at their disposal. Not to mention, infinite ill will. Reboot that darned thing and change the keys!

[Professional Engineer]

I guess I won't have to go give it a swift kick after all. Durn, I was looking forward to breaking out my road and reel.

[ngc6656]

That's what I was thinking. China, Russia, France, N. Korea, plus several others, all have the ability to cause problems for us on Mars. I'm sure NASA is using good encryption, but we're talking about hostile nations here, with unlimited resources for all intents and purposes, at their disposal.

Wonder if our satellites and space probes are programmed to alert their handlers if someone attempts to hack into their on-board programs?

[IrishCatholic]

So what. All the money spent so far on space exploration has meant...what? Pictures? Data? Who cares? You could save all the money and just have an artist and a computer make it all up. Save a couple of hundred million.
The benefit so far in space has been the side benefits of the technology. What has been developed in the space program but used here on Earth is where the value is so far. That is a sad comment when the true value comes not from it's intended use but by it's byproduct.
Cost benefit analysis. You can't be serious. Put a manned colony on the moon with private industry and create new technologies and jobs. More advancement has been made in science and technology by futzing around than on purpose. The more you do it the more cost goes down. Sure ask a hundred scientists what they want and they want all the money. But ask anyone that isn't a space aficionado about the results of these scientific endeavors and they won't know what you are talking about. You can knock that but you also demand they pay for it. "Just give us your money and go back to watching TV. You wouldn't understand what we are doing anyway."
Space is a new frontier. We have been held back by the snobby elites who want to keep space for themselves. Sorry, no. The shuttle and the space station are examples of the elites mess. Had you continued with the Apollo missions and put a base on the moon we might have been colonizing Mars by now.
Ask you scientists this. Would you like to go to the colony on Mars and drive around in a Mars rover for six months studying geology? How many would say no?
Ask the common man if he would work in space. Most would say yes. Most people I know would give their right eye to go into space just once. Even on the shuttle where you know the design is flawed. I would in a second.
No, man's destiny is in the stars and we are damned sick of being held back.

[Keith]

...what you said...I am there in a heartbeat...in spite of Challenger and Columbia...

[LibWhacker]

Huh? . . . Please elaborate.