Posted on 01/09/2005 4:53:58 AM PST by billorites
The Spirit and Opportunity rovers - still chugging across the face of Mars - a year after they landed and nine months beyond their expected lifespan - have utterly changed human understanding of the Red Planet, scientists say.
``What we've gotten out of them in the first year has wildly exceeded our hopes and dreams,'' said Harvard biology professor Andrew Knoll, a NASA team member whose study of Martian rocks helped prove that a vast sea once covered the ground where Opportunity now rolls.
Opportunity, with Martian winds on the Meridiani Planum apparently clearing dust off its solar panels, remains at near full battery strength. Though Spirit in the Gusev Crater is weaker, both might continue to work for months or longer in the harsh Martian environment.
``They just keep on ticking,'' Knoll said. After initially operating day-by-day, NASA scientists now expect a gradual mechanical breakdown.
``It's a tribute to the engineers. These things were just designed and built beautifully,'' Knoll said.
Spirit recently completed a 3-mile trek from its landing zone to the so-called Columbia Hills, looked out at the view and is now exploring the area, full of rocks from Mars' earliest period, 4.5 billion years ago. Opportunity has gone a little more than a mile, climbed down a steep crater and back out, and is now aiming for new terrain a mile away.
``None of us would have predicted the kinds of things they've told us about Mars,'' Knoll said. ``This is the first time in human history we've been able to examine in detail and close up the sedimentary history of another planet.''
The rovers' probes of rocks and sediments have shown that the history of Mars - initially volcanic and wet - appears to have gone dry and cold as much as 3 billion to 4 billion years ago while Earth remained dynamic. If life was able to develop there, he suggests, it was probably only briefly and if it remains, it is probably deep in crevices.
NASA watcher Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said the rovers have given NASA a much-needed boost after the Columbia shuttle disaster and the failure of other Mars probes. And he said their success could dramatically change the scope of the next Mars rover mission, Mars Science Laboratory in 2009. The Bush administration has proposed a return to the Moon, with manned missions to Mars as the ultimate goal.
``It's certainly great news for the Mars program,'' McDowell said. ``The ability to have some robustly designed rovers that can survive for a long time is essential if you're going to have long-term exploration.''
regards,
I'll second that! So who built them?
AMERICANS! Say it loud, say it proud! We are the only country that has the "can do" attitude, and the brains and ability to back it up.....
This Hamilton Ventura, circa 1957, used the first commercial watch batteries. It's part of the Smithsonian's "On Time" exhibit.
Timex keeps exhibition ticking at Smithsonian
http://www.professionaljeweler.com/archives/articles/1999/oct99/1099tn6.html The National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, will kick off its "On Time" permanent exhibit Nov. 18.
As noted in our January issue (page 65) the exhibit will feature hundreds of clocks, watches and other timekeepers (see example in box). The exhibit, exclusively supported by Timex, explores timekeeping and its increasing importance in everyday life in the U.S. Traditional timepieces will be interlaced with items from daily life used to tell time.
Included among the hundreds of items is the first quartz watch and first prototype quartz movement. Look also for a collection of U.S.– made timepieces from the 19th and 20th centuries. Contact the Smithsonian Institution, (202) 357– 2379, or its public affairs office, (202) 357– 3129, www.si.edu/lemelson/Quartz.
– by Michael Thompson
Timely Facts:The Battery
Miniature batteries were developed during World War II by Samuel Ruben and manufactured by P.R. Mallory (this pair later formed the Mallory Battery Co.). But these batteries were neither leak– proof nor long– lasting enough for use in watches.
A team of researchers at Hamilton Watch Co. first tried to develop a battery for watches. After initial setbacks, Hamilton joined forces with National Carbon Co. (later Union Carbide) in 1954 to develop a battery for Hamilton's first electric watch, the Ventura. <
Was watching a special about the rovers on Nova the other night, must have been made some months ago as the engineers believed that they would loose the rovers during the martian winter. Amazing what they have been able to accomplish.
I had a 'shock' when I took my Tag to get the battery replaced at the local jewelry on Friday. 8 weeks and $100. I'm glad it lasts a few years.
The seventeenth annual Monoosnoc Brook cleanup on August 7th in Leominster revealed that the brook is really improving! In the first year of cleanup, volunteers pulled about 60 tons of material from the brook. This year, we cleaned 1580 pounds of debris from in and around the brook! Click for larger image Perfect weather and about 40 volunteers made for a very pleasant and productive morning. With buckets and bags in hand, teams set out to pick up debris in the Monument Square area of Leominster. We removed plastic bags, bottles, papers, metal scraps, and other types of trash. A bicycle, a large metal cart, and a wrought iron candelabra were some of the more unusual articles found. A completely submerged watch, covered with brown slime and stuck under a rock, surprisingly had the correct time! As advertised, a Timex keeps on ticking.
http://www.ourbrook.org/gallery/clean04.htm
http://members.iinet.net.au/~fotoplot/accspace.htm
Tag and the jeweler are both getting a piece of this pie. To maintain the warranty, you have to send it back to Tag. Ah, well.
You can rebuild the whole watch for that hundred....screw the warranty!
Maybe you can. A garden hose is heavy machinery to me.
Since I cannot advertise on this site, I can only tell you that there is good watchmaker at the Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, VA,, an Indian fellow (dots, not feathers, as my darling quoted some guy), who can fix timex to Rolex. He takes care of my goodies...
Timepiece nirvana.. =)
I buy watches I can use! I could buy 20 or 30 more for the price of that thing!!!
Agree. That jeweler probably also told you the watch needed to be pressure-tested in order to guarantee watertight performance. Do you wear it diving or swimming? Then no need to spend the money.
Opportunity, with Martian winds on the Meridiani Planum apparently clearing dust off its solar panels,
I love the look of that "Stauer" watch that i see in The NRA's 'First Freedom" magizine and in 'The National Geographic".
They claim they built a factory right accross from Switzerland in Monaco to save on the licensing but that otherwise the watch compares to watches costing tens of thousands.
The reason I haven't bitten is that I have the lurking suspicion that the watch isn't very different from the 39.95 models advertised in The NRA mag.
I may just buy it for the looks.
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