Mars Rovers Sent on Final Mission

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-03-20 02:38am

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/03/1 ... index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- With their primary goal of finding signs of water on Mars achieved, NASA's twin robot-geologists soon will make tracks across the Red Planet's barren surface until their batteries run out, NASA officials said on Thursday.

The rovers, each carrying a suite of scientific tools, were finishing tests in and around two craters on opposite sides of the planet where scientists have found hoped-for clues that liquid water played a part in forming rocks and soil.

Earlier this month, the rover Opportunity uncovered geologic evidence that its landing site on the flat, featureless Meridiani Planum once was covered with water.

Three days later, scientists announced that Opportunity's twin, Spirit, discovered signs that small amounts of water once welled up in the soil of Gusev Crater, the Connecticut-sized depression where the rover landed on January 3, and left behind small holes, or vugs, in rocks.

Both rovers are nearing the end of their planned 90-day missions with enough life left in their solar-powered batteries to attempt long drives across the planet's surface in search of more geologic information.

Spirit continued a tour of the edge of a small impact crater dubbed Bonneville, stopping periodically to sample the soil and to take photos.

The Spirit team was particularly intrigued by a high resolution image that seemed to show the lip of Gusev Crater which once may have held a lake, deputy project scientist Albert Haldemann said.

The rim appears to be about 50 miles away, and is visible for the first time since a dust storm clouded the martian sky in December, Haldemann said.
THE OPEN ROAD

Spirit, now in the 74th martian day -- or sol -- of its mission, will complete its study of Bonneville in a few sols and turn southeast toward a range of low hills that may hold further clues about the planet's geologic composition.

At Meridiani Planum, Opportunity spent its 53rd sol scuffing the dirt in the floor of its landing site in Eagle Crater, and measuring the disturbed soil with the spectrometers and microscopic imager on its robotic arm.

Opportunity has spent its life on Mars examining an outcrop of finely layered bedrock that scientists believe gave clear evidence that salt water once flowed or pooled in the area.

The rover spent the last few sols examining a shallow bowl formation where spherical rocks nicknamed "blueberries" have accumulated. Test results showed that the blueberries contained large amounts of the mineral hematite, which on Earth commonly forms in water, scientist Andrew Knoll said on Thursday.

"The story of hematite at this outcrop is the story of an interaction between water and rock," Knoll said. "We think we are going to find that those plains [outside the crater] are just littered with blueberries."

Opportunity is slated to climb out of the Eagle crater for the first time in about three sols and begin driving across the plains.

Mission manager Mark Adler said an upgrade in software planned for both rovers at the end of March will conserve the vehicles' dwindling energy and make them faster drivers by turning off their hazard avoidance systems.

The new software will enable Spirit to travel about 50 meters (164 ft) a day at rocky Gusev Crater, and Opportunity to go 100 meters (328 ft) daily on the smooth Planum, Adler said.

Copyright 2004 Reuters.

Salute to the engineers who were behind this truly great achievement. I'm still amazed that they were able to fix one from earth.

KrauserKrauser · Post by **KrauserKrauser** » 2004-03-20 01:41pm

Beware the martian liberation army!

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2004-03-20 02:01pm

God. I was in such a good mood before I saw this. THANKS A TON NATHAN! I do hope the batteries/solar cells last much much longer than their 90-day life. God...what an adventure this has been! The things we've learned not only about mars but planetary probing in general! I'm very excited for the future! Shutting up now.

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2004-03-20 02:35pm

When the Viking mission landed when I was a kid, it was both the most exciting and disappointing thing you can imagine.
Exciting because we reached and had photos from Mars, and disappointing because of the apparent barreness of the place, and lack of evidence for any possibility for life there.
But now....
Yippee!
Way to go guys!

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-03-20 03:52pm

Chardok wrote:God. I was in such a good mood before I saw this. THANKS A TON NATHAN!

I try.

And my mission is complete as well.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2004-03-20 04:10pm

Chardok wrote:God. I was in such a good mood before I saw this. THANKS A TON NATHAN! I do hope the batteries/solar cells last much much longer than their 90-day life. God...what an adventure this has been! The things we've learned not only about mars but planetary probing in general! I'm very excited for the future! Shutting up now.

After a while, the rovers get covered with dust, so they can't run on solar forever.

The Aliens · Post by **The Aliens** » 2004-03-20 04:23pm

NASA has done a brilliant job on this mission- let's hope it paves the way for more rovers and missions in the future.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2004-03-20 10:18pm

Yeah, hopefully this will pave the way for a manned mission within the next 20 years.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2004-03-20 10:22pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:After a while, the rovers get covered with dust, so they can't run on solar forever.

Have they ever thought about putting windshield wipers on the solar panels?

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2004-03-20 10:35pm

Crayz9000 wrote:
CaptainChewbacca wrote:After a while, the rovers get covered with dust, so they can't run on solar forever.
Have they ever thought about putting windshield wipers on the solar panels?

Or using miniture nuclear batteries?

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2004-03-20 11:47pm

ggs wrote:
Crayz9000 wrote:
CaptainChewbacca wrote:After a while, the rovers get covered with dust, so they can't run on solar forever.
Have they ever thought about putting windshield wipers on the solar panels?
Or using miniture nuclear batteries?

Didn't the Voyager series use nuclear power?

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-03-20 11:50pm

Nuclear-decay based power takes up considerable space, is mechanically rather fragile, gives little power and weighs a great deal. It is a very bad choice for a small rover that lands by bouncing for a half mile.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2004-03-21 12:01am

Howedar wrote:Nuclear-decay based power takes up considerable space, is mechanically rather fragile, gives little power and weighs a great deal. It is a very bad choice for a small rover that lands by bouncing for a half mile.

Exactly. They put nuclear decay on 1200 pound probes that are going to be flying through space for many years. On something as small as a rover, its overkill.

And I guess wipers are impractical, though I'm not sure why.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2004-03-21 12:13am

I'm still waiting for some photos of the little green men.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2004-03-21 12:46am

ggs wrote:
Crayz9000 wrote:
CaptainChewbacca wrote:After a while, the rovers get covered with dust, so they can't run on solar forever.
Have they ever thought about putting windshield wipers on the solar panels?
Or using miniture nuclear batteries?

They got away with sticking an RTG on Viking because it made a softer landing than either of the rovers, and they didn't have to go anywhere after they landed. And some estimates I heard place the life expectancy of the rover power systems at upwards of 240 days.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2004-03-21 03:04am

CaptainChewbacca wrote:And I guess wipers are impractical, though I'm not sure why.

Probably because of weight concerns. The wiper blade and motor are just additional bulk, and they are not required for operation of the rover; they can just maybe extend its operational life.

The Albino Raven · Post by **The Albino Raven** » 2004-03-21 03:11am

Or using miniture nuclear batteries?

Did anyone ever hear what happened to the probes Deep Space One and Deep Space 2, the ones that were supposed to run on the new "Ion Engines". This was about 5 years ago, but I never heard much about it since. I just remember them being allegedly much faster than traditional engines.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-03-21 03:14am

The Albino Raven wrote:
Or using miniture nuclear batteries?
Did anyone ever hear what happened to the probes Deep Space One and Deep Space 2, the ones that were supposed to run on the new "Ion Engines". This was about 5 years ago, but I never heard much about it since. I just remember them being allegedly much faster than traditional engines.

Ion engines accelerate probes or ships over very long distances very slowly, but they accelerate for such long periods that they are able to accumulate much higher speeds than traditional chemical motors. I'm not sure about the inner workings of them.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2004-03-21 03:21am

Nathan F wrote:Ion engines accelerate probes or ships over very long distances very slowly, but they accelerate for such long periods that they are able to accumulate much higher speeds than traditional chemical motors. I'm not sure about the inner workings of them.

They work by passing chemical ions through a charged grid, achieving insane exit velocities for said ions. However, the force produced is only enough to hold up a piece of paper if you were at Earth's surface.

I don't know if Deep Space 2 has launched yet -- might want to check Space.com -- but Deep Space 1 finished its mission a while ago, and even did an extended mission. Both were successful in testing the experimental hardware aboard the probe, and the ion engine did as it was supposed to.

Shadowhawk · Post by **Shadowhawk** » 2004-03-21 08:14pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:And I guess wipers are impractical, though I'm not sure why.

Try using wipers to wipe off dry, fine-grained, sharp-edged, statically-attached dust from a glass surface. Without scratching it.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2004-03-21 08:18pm

Shadowhawk wrote:Try using wipers to wipe off dry, fine-grained, sharp-edged, statically-attached dust from a glass surface. Without scratching it.

So? Windex will fix that. Windex fixes anything

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2004-03-21 10:50pm

Would some sort of compressed air blower be better suited? Or a brush of some sort?

Ravenwing · Post by **Ravenwing** » 2004-03-21 11:48pm

maybe could have fitted it with tearoffs like the motorcross people use on their goggles when its raining. they dont need the rover to last forever so that may work for the time its up there

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2004-03-22 12:26am

Nathan F wrote:Would some sort of compressed air blower be better suited? Or a brush of some sort?

Ehh, probably the most practical solution for a theoretical future rover is to have it fold up its solar panels at night, like some species of flowers do here on Earth. While it won't eliminate the problem of dust collecting on the solar arrays, it will cut in half the amount of time each day the solar arrays can collect dust.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-03-22 02:22am

Nathan F wrote:Would some sort of compressed air blower be better suited? Or a brush of some sort?

The atmosphere is pretty thin, I'd bet the power requirements for that would be prohibitive. It would also weigh a fair amount. And the heavier the rover, the heavier the overall Lander is and that makes it harder to land.

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