Gosh, does it really take a "rocket scientist?"
Posted on 03/21/2005 7:47:14 PM PST by Termite_Commander
LEAGUE CITY, Tex., March 17 - Nearly a year past its planned three-month lifetime, the Mars rover Spirit has found itself rejuvenated and is now making some of its most significant discoveries about Mars' waterlogged past.
Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, on the other side of Mars have continued working so well that managers have requested that the mission be extended up to another 18 months. NASA reported that one of the mineral-identifying instruments on Opportunity had been turned off because of a malfunction, but the rovers appear otherwise healthy.
"Today is Sol 427 of our 90-Sol mission to Mars," Dr. Steven W. Squyres, the mission's principal investigator, said Wednesday, to laughter and applause of scientists at the Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference here on the outskirts of Houston. "Things continue to go well."
A Sol is a Martian day, slightly longer than an Earth day at 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds.
Even serendipity is aiding Spirit as it roams around Gusev Crater, a 95-mile wide depression that looks as if it may have once been a lake.
To even out the wear and tear on the rovers, mission managers having been driving them backward much of the time, and as Spirit was driving backward up the hill, "We hit a break in slope, and we kind of churned," Dr. Squyres said. "I was very disappointed when I saw these images, because it's all churned up, and we didn't complete our drive. And then we looked carefully and noticed that soil looked awfully bright."
That turned out to be various types of salt, presumably left as water evaporated on ancient Mars. Opportunity was the first to find such salts last year, but "the record for the saltiest place on Mars now belongs to Gusev Crater," Dr. Squyres said. "This stuff is more than 50 percent salt."
When the rovers arrived in January last year, luck favored Opportunity, which ended up in a tiny crater and almost immediately found evidence of past water of Mars.
Meanwhile, a computer programming glitch waylaid Spirit for a week and a half, and when it resumed its work it found the rocks around it to be made of unremarkable lava. It then made a two-month, two-mile trek to hills that appeared older and more geologically intriguing.
Once it arrived at the hills, Spirit also started finding evidence of past water.
"In many ways, the Spirit mission began on Sol 156," Dr. Squyres said. "We're seeing a bewildering diversity of composition in the Columbia Hills." They were named in memory of the Columbia space shuttle astronauts who died in 2003.
Some of Spirit's aches of age have also gone away. In June, the motor driving its right front wheel started drawing two to three times as much electrical current and appeared in danger of burning out. Mission controllers limited the use of the wheel, driving on the other five. Then, three months ago, the motor returned to its normal functioning.
Dust gathering on Spirit's solar panels had cut the amount of energy they generated each day from 900 watt hours initially to just over 400. "The death zone for this vehicle is about 280," Dr. Squyres said.
As Spirit made its way up through the hills, mission controllers had to be careful that the panels stayed tilted toward the Sun. Then on March 9, the power output suddenly jumped up to 800 watt-hours, nearly as good as new. Spirit's cameras detected several dust devils - mini-tornadoes - in the area, and apparently one passed directly over the rover, blowing away the dust.
"We are back to power levels we were at on Sol 30," Dr. Squyres said. Opportunity experienced a similar cleansing of its solar arrays last year.
After exploring the small crater it landed in and then a larger stadium-size one, Opportunity is now making a long drive across the Martian surface. It stopped to examine pieces of its discarded heat shield.
"Then it's become drive like crazy," said Dr. Raymond Arvidson, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and a member of the science team. On Thursday, Opportunity drove 624 feet in one day, the longest drive to date.
This is too cool!
I love all the things our country is able to do.
I can't wait for Richard Hoagland to suggest that they are actually being repaired.
Maybe mars is inhabited by beings that are more ghost then gravy and, just like in the Mario Bava classic Planet of the Vampires, they've been awaiting bodies of some sort all this time and now an empire of unorganic beings is being forged on mars from little radio control cars not much different from those you can buy at radio shack, the main difference being, the ones at radio shack aren't bent on the conquest of the earth!
So, mebbe a Martian pit crew installed some Energizer batteries. :-)
And perhaps they move around like the Roadrunner does in the cartoon...forming dust devils because of their speed.
(I gotta stop with one vodka/tonic after dinner...)
This is no less than a modern miracle.
So, mebbe a Martian pit crew installed some Energizer batteries. :-)
And perhaps they move around like the Roadrunner does in the cartoon...forming dust devils because of their speed.
(I gotta stop with one vodka/tonic after dinner...)
BTTT
Speaking of dust devils, Spirit just photographed one in action.....
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20050314a.html
It looks like the $820 million price tag is paying off, huh?
Maybe Mars has some skillful mechanics...
It took them some time to study this primitive construction - but they figured it out
Woo-hoo! Hat tip to NASA and their bot controllers! Well done!
Unemployed Martian windshield cleaner.........when he doesn't get a tip, "War of the Worlds"..............
I wish they designed cars on their coffee breaks! :)
Gosh, does it really take a "rocket scientist?"
Hehe.... you lightweight. ;)
I think this is just amazing. One thing i'll gladly pay more in taxes for is our space program. If they had a nationwide proposition saying that if it passes, every American would be taxed an extra $10.00 and it will go to NASA (or a more competent organization), i would be more than happy to vote yes.
... or perhaps these Jack and Cokes are getting to me.... ;)
Mars Rover.
The rovers were a magnificent accomplishment of KISS engineering. Simple, proven, workable.
But that said, the million-mile warranty service is gonna be a bugger.
NASA needs to try to revive American interest in space. Maybe some sort of TV ad campaign/school educational program.
I'd like to see a fund where people could donate money to the space program of their choice, like one could pick if they want to fund the program to build the next generation of space shuttles, or donate to a moon colony project. But I digress...
Go, Space Buggies, Go!
Although, my dad mentioned, "why weren't they named Lewis and Clark?"
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