New Phase of Exploration Beginning for Mars Rovers

ToSeek · #1 (**permalink**) 30-March-2004, 02:12 AM

Both rovers will be making tracks shortly, according to the NASA press release below. Estimates are that it will take 60-90 sols for Spirit to make it to the Columbia Hills. It's not stated, but Opportunity will probably take much less time to get to Endurance Crater.

Quote:

NEWS RELEASE: 2004-092 March 26, 2004

New Phase of Exploration Beginning for Mars Rovers

NASA's Spirit will begin trekking toward hills on its eastern horizon in the next few days, entering a new phase of the rover's exploration of Mars just before its prime three-month mission ends and its extended mission begins, rover team members said today.

The range of peaks named "Columbia Hills" is an island of older rock surrounded by a younger volcanic layer which surfaces the plain that Spirit has been crossing, said Dr. Ray Arvidson of Washington University, St. Louis. He is deputy principal investigator for the science payload on both Spirit and its twin rover, Opportunity.

Older rocks may hold evidence of an ancient body of water thought to have once filled Gusev Crater. Spirit landed inside that 150-kilometer-wide (95-mile-wide) crater 12 weeks ago, and the rover's main task is to find geological clues about whether the region ever had a wet environment. Spirit has spent much of its time since landing driving toward a 200-meter-wide (660-foot-wide) crater nicknamed "Bonneville." Rover scientists had anticipated that the impact that excavated Bonneville might have ejected rocks old enough to hold clues about whether Gusev held water.

"The ejecta from Bonneville didn't get excavated from deep enough to get below the volcanic layer," Arvidson said. So, after finishing an examination of a light-colored rock on the crater's rim, Spirit will head for the hills.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., built each of the two Mars Exploration Rovers for a prime mission of 90 martian days of operation. Both rovers are healthy and could operate for several additional months, said JPL's Matt Wallace, mission manager. A martian day, or sol, lasts about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day, and Spirit's 82nd sol began on Friday. "Spirit will start driving toward the hills on sol 84 or a little after that," Wallace said.

Scientists have examined the terrain between Bonneville Crater and Columbia Hills in photographs taken from orbit by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and found several features to inspect along the route. These include some small craters and a dark streak apparently left by a whirlwind that removed dust.

Science team member Dr. Larry Crumpler of New Mexico Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque, said, "It won't be a continuous drive, like a bad road trip. We'll actually get out and do some touristy things along the way."

With stops for "traverse science" along the way, the trip of about 2.3 kilometers (1.3 miles) to the near edge of Columbia Hills will probably take 60 to 90 sols, Arvidson said.

Beginning next week and continuing into the extended mission, Spirit's controllers will switch from working on Mars time - with schedules set to coincide with day or night at Gusev crater - to an Earth time schedule easier to maintain for the long haul. The Opportunity team will shift the following week, Wallace said.

Opportunity is also at the start of a trek. This week, it climbed out of the small impact crater informally named "Eagle Crater" that it had been examining since it landed nine weeks ago. Rocks in an outcrop within the crater have provided evidence that the site was once under flowing water. In coming weeks, Opportunity will drive about 750 meters (nearly half a mile) to a crater nicknamed "Endurance," where scientists hope to find and examine a thicker set of bedrock layers to learn more about the duration of the region's wet history.

Before leaving Eagle Crater, Opportunity inspected the soil at five sites in the opposite half of the crater from the outcrop. The target patches show a diversity of particle sizes and shapes on the surface. "We're seeing the effects of differences in wind speed," said Bethany Ehlmann, a science team collaborator from the University of Washington, St. Louis. In some patches more than others, winds have removed small particles and left large particles behind, she said.

Spherical gray particles that have been fancifully called blueberries are plentiful in some soil patches higher on the inner slope of the crater than near the center of the crater. A reading by Opportunity's Moessbauer spectrometer on one of the higher patches found the highest concentration of hematite seen so far in the mission, reported Dr. Goestar Klingelhoefer of the University of Mainz, Germany. He is the lead scientist for that instrument, which is used for identifying iron-containing minerals. The type of hematite Opportunity has been finding usually forms on Earth under wet environmental conditions.
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Images and additional information about the project are available from JPL at <http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=SoMvnPo9WfNO-3BCLCXxIg..>http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov and from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., at <http://jpl.convio.net/site/R?i=1G2fVEtx15VO-3BCLCXxIg..>http://athena.cornell.edu .

-end-

BigJim · #2 (**permalink**) 30-March-2004, 02:48 AM

Do you think Spirit will discover water at the Columbia Hills? So far everything seems to point to a volcanic origin, with a bit of water mixed in (or so Humphrey [the rock] tells us). Even if it does turn out to be entirely volcanic, I think it'll still be exciting to have Spirit there. Studying volcanic rocks can turn out to be exciting in its own right, and Opportunity has already shown that at least one place on Mars could have sustained life. Maybe we're really getting a bonus in disguise, by getting the opportunity (no pun, no pun) to study landscapes of both sedimentary and volcanic origin on Mars.

stelmosfire · #3 (**permalink**) 30-March-2004, 03:10 AM

The geologists are thinking--or at least hoping--that the hills represent much older terrain than the more recent lava flow material that Spirit has observed so far.

EFossa · #4 (**permalink**) 30-March-2004, 12:14 PM

Unless they adopt a radically different driving strategy to the one they have now (drive 20m stop for 2 weeks) the chances of reaching those hills are extremely remote, in fact, i'd say they'd be lucky to make it half way. And where did the daily rover updates go?

Amadeus · #5 (**permalink**) 30-March-2004, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFossa

Unless they adopt a radically different driving strategy to the one they have now (drive 20m stop for 2 weeks) the chances of reaching those hills are extremely remote, in fact, i'd say they'd be lucky to make it half way. And where did the daily rover updates go?

It's so anoying isn't it? They keep finding interesting things to look at along the way. :wink:

EFossa · #6 (**permalink**) 30-March-2004, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amadeus

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFossa

Unless they adopt a radically different driving strategy to the one they have now (drive 20m stop for 2 weeks) the chances of reaching those hills are extremely remote, in fact, i'd say they'd be lucky to make it half way. And where did the daily rover updates go?

It's so anoying isn't it? They keep finding interesting things to look at along the way. :wink:

You mean it might not be another piece of basalt?

:wink:

ToSeek · #7 (**permalink**) 30-March-2004, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFossa

Unless they adopt a radically different driving strategy to the one they have now (drive 20m stop for 2 weeks) the chances of reaching those hills are extremely remote, in fact, i'd say they'd be lucky to make it half way. And where did the daily rover updates go?

From Humphrey to Bonneville, Spirit made good time - on the order of 30 meters a day for several consecutive days. I would expect that that would be the default mode of operation once they get going.

Amadeus · #8 (**permalink**) 30-March-2004, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFossa

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amadeus

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFossa

Unless they adopt a radically different driving strategy to the one they have now (drive 20m stop for 2 weeks) the chances of reaching those hills are extremely remote, in fact, i'd say they'd be lucky to make it half way. And where did the daily rover updates go?

It's so anoying isn't it? They keep finding interesting things to look at along the way. :wink:

You mean it might not be another piece of basalt?

:wink:

Some of us happen to like Basalt.
:wink:

RGClark · #9 (**permalink**) 30-March-2004, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigJim

Do you think Spirit will discover water at the Columbia Hills? So far everything seems to point to a volcanic origin, with a bit of water mixed in (or so Humphrey [the rock] tells us). Even if it does turn out to be entirely volcanic, I think it'll still be exciting to have Spirit there. Studying volcanic rocks can turn out to be exciting in its own right, and Opportunity has already shown that at least one place on Mars could have sustained life. Maybe we're really getting a bonus in disguise, by getting the opportunity (no pun, no pun) to study landscapes of both sedimentary and volcanic origin on Mars.

Natalie Cabrol an expert on Gusev has argued there may be frost mounds in Gusev:

Title: Perennial frost mounds in Gusev crater (Mars)
Authors: Cabrol, N. A.; Grin, E. A.; Pollard, W. H.
Journal: Conference Paper, 28th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, p. 193.
Publication Date: 03/1997
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/np...PI....28..193C

Title: Possible Frost Mounds in an Ancient Martian Lake Bed
Authors: Cabrol, Nathalie A.; Grin, Edmond A.; Pollard, Wayne H.
Journal: Icarus, Volume 145, Issue Icarus, pp. 91-107.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/np...car..145...91C

In her examples taken from MOC images of Gusev, some of the proposed frost mounds have a sinuous shape not just a conical shape. Then these could match the shape of the Columbia Hills.
The areas where the proposed frost mounds lie also include the Columbia Hills.

Bob Clark

ToSeek · #10 (**permalink**) 30-March-2004, 04:56 PM

Spaceflight Now article repeats much of this information but also shows the planned route.

BigJim · #11 (**permalink**) 23-October-2004, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFossa

Unless they adopt a radically different driving strategy to the one they have now (drive 20m stop for 2 weeks) the chances of reaching those hills are extremely remote, in fact, i'd say they'd be lucky to make it half way.

What was that? :wink:

ToSeek · #12 (**permalink**) 23-October-2004, 04:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigJim

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFossa

Unless they adopt a radically different driving strategy to the one they have now (drive 20m stop for 2 weeks) the chances of reaching those hills are extremely remote, in fact, i'd say they'd be lucky to make it half way.

What was that? :wink:

But they did adopt a radically different driving strategy. As I recall, they were driving 60-80 meters a day.

ToSeek · #13 (**permalink**) 25-October-2004, 06:16 PM

Opportunity Ready To Make "Climb" To Burns Cliff

Quote:

Opportunity finally completed observations on the rock "Wopmay," and is ready to begin its trek towards "Burns Cliff" on the way to exiting Endurance Crater.

EFossa · #14 (**permalink**) 25-October-2004, 08:07 PM

The rover seems to be struggling with major slippage on these slopes, I really can't see them making it to Burns Cliff. Also, they appear to be going up backwards for some reason. The wheels seem to digging some very deep holes too.

SOL 268:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...P1210R0M1.HTML

jumpjack · #15 (**permalink**) 26-October-2004, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFossa

The rover seems to be struggling with major slippage on these slopes, I really can't see them making it to Burns Cliff. Also, they appear to be going up backwards for some reason. The wheels seem to digging some very deep holes too.

SOL 268:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...P1210R0M1.HTML

Where the hell is it supposed to be going?!?

It didn't dig into the dune at the bottom of the crater!!! [-X (Or did it? I am no more following the mission since several weeks...

ops: )

ToSeek · #16 (**permalink**) 26-October-2004, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jumpjack

Where the hell is it supposed to be going?!?

It didn't dig into the dune at the bottom of the crater!!! [-X (Or did it? I am no more following the mission since several weeks...

ops: )

They haven't tried digging into the dune because they were afraid Opportunity might get stuck.

jumpjack · #17 (**permalink**) 27-October-2004, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToSeek

Quote:

Originally Posted by jumpjack

Where the hell is it supposed to be going?!?

It didn't dig into the dune at the bottom of the crater!!! [-X (Or did it? I am no more following the mission since several weeks...

ops: )

They haven't tried digging into the dune because they were afraid Opportunity might get stuck.

Ice. It was ice.

They could at least put the robotic arm on it!!!

aurora · #18 (**permalink**) 27-October-2004, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jumpjack

It was ice.

They could at least put the robotic arm on it!!!

I wondered this in the glacier thread.

How could it be surface ice in a location where the ice would sublimate?

jumpjack · #19 (**permalink**) 28-October-2004, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aurora

Quote:

Originally Posted by jumpjack

It was ice.

They could at least put the robotic arm on it!!!

I wondered this in the glacier thread.

How could it be surface ice in a location where the ice would sublimate?

I just can't find any other explanation for the "impossible" colors of the formation,at any time of the day, despite of all discussions about false-true colors of Mars.

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