One of Mars Rover's Wheels Stops Working

Breitbart (AP) ^ | 3/17/2006 | Staff

[NordP]

Awwwwh man.... I'm gonna have flashbacks to Duey, Huey, and Louie

in "Silent Running." Say it isn't so!

[Right Wing Assault]

They were built by JPL scientists.

Too bad they don't build cars. Of course, they would probably cost $165 million each and take 5 years to build. ;-)

[cripplecreek]

Even with the ecoliberati theme, Silent running is still one of my all time favorites.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

They did a good job on these rovers.

They did a fantastic job on these! These have outlived their projected capabilities by 865%. This project was amazing. And I agree with USNBandit. The first pitch to have a "bubblewrap" landing was gutsy.

[359Henrie]

But their good for 50,000,000 miles.

[Dallas59]

'Gibson' Panorama by Spirit at 'Home Plate' Mars



NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit acquired this high-resolution view of intricately layered exposures of rock while parked on the northwest edge of the bright, semi-circular feature known as "Home Plate." The rover was perched at a 27-degree upward tilt while creating the panorama, resulting in the "U" shape of the mosaic. In reality, the features along the 1-meter to 2-meter (3-foot to 6-foot) vertical exposure of the rim of Home Plate in this vicinity are relatively level. Rocks near the rover in this view, known as the "Gibson" panorama, include "Barnhill," "Rogan," and "Mackey."

Payson' Panorama by Opportunity



The panoramic camera aboard NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity acquired this panorama of the "Payson" outcrop on the western edge of "Erebus" Crater during Opportunity's sol 744 (Feb. 26, 2006). From this vicinity at the northern end of the outcrop, layered rocks are observed in the crater wall, which is about 1 meters (3.3 feet) thick. The view also shows rocks disrupted by the crater-forming impact event and subjected to erosion over time.

[DallasMike]

This is simply some of the most amazing science that has ever been done.

Stingray:  Conservative Christian News and Commentary

[cripplecreek]

The photos have been awesome but I want to get views overlooking some of the canyons, ice caps, and mountains of mars.

[beyond the sea]

LOL

[Dallas59]

The new orbiter should get some great overviews.

[Malsua]

The photos have been awesome but I want to get views overlooking some of the canyons, ice caps, and mountains of mars.

Google Mars

[cripplecreek]

The ESA has been getting some pretty good stuff from orbit but I still want to see this stuff from the ground.

[Phsstpok]

May I highlight the imporatnt portion of this story: 

Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, landed on opposite sides of the Red Planet in January 2004 and have long outlasted missions originally planned to span 90 Martian days, which are a different length than Earth days.

Spirit's new wheel problem occurred this week during the rover's 779th Martian day.

And then, may I point you to the story that contains this little tid bit.  James Cameron (Terminator, T2, Alien 2, etc.) is working on an extreme high definition stereo digital camera and he gave an interview about how he's going to use it in his next couple of movies, including this little side project:

Well, one of the side projects that he’s doing is working in conjunction with the MALIN SPACE SCIENCE SERVICES group… those are the guys that developed the M.O.C. Global Surveyor that’s been mapping Mars for the last couple of years. That’s completely changed everyone’s belief of what MARS is. Well, the next big NASA mission is going to have a Live Video Stereo Motion Image device that Cameron has been developing with M.S.S.S. to bring us back live 3D video images in full motion from the surface of Mars… all tied to the back of one of those nuclear powered Rovers that’ll be exploring, if all goes well, for years. See… Evangelical Techno-Fetishist.

 I think we have some worthy successors to "the little rovers that could" in the pipeline, so long as the Kennedys, Jacksons and successors to Proxmire don't have their way with the NASA budget. 

We will get to the stars with folks like Burt Rutan leading private enterprise on to find a profit, but we will learn about what we face thanks to underpaid techs at Langley, Huntsville and all of the other NASA centers out there.

[spanalot]

BRUSH'S FAULT!

[Lockbar]

[Dialup Llama]

You want canyons. Try this sunset pic of mars. Someone needs to play with the colors to bring out the foreground. You really can't tell its mars.

http://images.spaceref.com/news/2005/06.13.05.sunset.l.jpg

[Dialup Llama]

Note the color of the sky.

[Dialup Llama]

I've seen the same stuff flying over Arizona, including the crater.

[annie laurie]

Ping

[NordP]

Me too...cried like a baby when those cute little drones "died."