Mars rover news - Page 19

jlhredshift · #**541** (**permalink**) 18-October-2007, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonClarke

Which white rock? It takes weeks to determine composition you know.

Jon

The ones on the left in John D's post above.
Immediate gratification is my motto.

01101001 · #**542** (**permalink**) 02-November-2007, 02:05 AM

Planetary Society MER Update: Spirit Homes in on Winter Site as Opportunity Examines Victoria's Ring, October 31

Quote:

The Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) logged another major milestone in October as they completed a second Martian year of field geology and now may rove on through 2009.
[...]
The fallout from the big summer storm has continued to rain dust on both rovers' solar arrays. While Spirit did benefit from a small gust of wind this month, the rover's average energy levels of about 345 watt-hours are about half of Opportunity's current 600+ watt-hours. Always the "lucky" rover, Opportunity has been reinvigorated on numerous occasions in the last two months as Martian winds have blown in and around Victoria, effectively clearing off much of the accumulated dust on its arrays and giving it considerable boosts in energy. With the fallout continuing -- and Spirit's non-functioning right front wheel inhibiting its pace -- finding a winter haven became suddenly urgent in October.

[...T]he team made its decision. Spirit will head north across Home Plate, drive a little way down the north facing edge, and winter there.

There was an extended bit about the University of Guelph results of bound water measurements, how and what:

Quote:

“Finding [such] samples with the rovers in an otherwise dry and arid environment helps us to understand what happened to the water in the Martian past," added Gellert, who noted the team plans to conduct more analyses from the rovers' APXS data.

Opportunity's progress in Victoria was described.

Health issues: the residual dust has bothered both Mini-TES instruments.

Quote:

Until recent weeks, all instruments on both rovers had been operating. In October, however, the Mini-TES on both Spirit and on Opportunity were turned off. "It's been getting progressively more difficult for the team to get the spectral features in the data coming down from the instrument on Spirit," said Banerdt. "We think perhaps it's getting dust in its optics, so we've stopped using it for now and closed up optics. The Mini-TES on Opportunity hasn't been giving any useable data at all since the beginning of the dust storm and so it's now in hibernation as well [...]

There was much more on detailed activities of Spirit at Home Plate and Opportunity inside Victoria Crater.

01101001 · #**543** (**permalink**) 02-November-2007, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlhredshift

What is the composition of the white rock at Victoria?

NASA JPL: Opportunity Update:: sol 1301-1308, Nov 01, 2007: Opportunity Studies "Bathtub Ring" In "Victoria Crater" (details from about a month ago):

No answer yet, but slippery drama...

Quote:

Below Victoria's raised rim is a light-colored band nicknamed the "bathtub ring." Scientists hypothesize that this band is the dividing line between the original surface and the ejecta blanket above it. Opportunity has now reached this area -- but not without difficulty.

To reach the ring, Opportunity drove across a slope of about 25 degrees, nearly the maximum allowable tilt for the rover. The rover approached the ring on sol 1302 (Sept. 22, 2007) and then partially drove and partially slipped into closer position. On sol 1305 (Sept. 25, 2007), the rover unstowed the robotic arm and began studying the rocks that make up the top, or "Alpha," layer of the ring. Below that are two more layers, known as "Beta" and "Gamma," respectively.

Halfway through the last short drive of about 20 centimeters (8 inches), Opportunity automatically stopped when the rover violated the tilt limit. As a result, the rover drove laterally about 10 centimeters (4 inches) and then slid downslope 10 centimeters (4 inches). Subsequent analysis suggested that one of the downslope wheels rolled off a slight curb, producing a jolt that caused the rover to slip. Images showed that the rover had stopped on a hard outcrop of rock rather than sand or soil and was unlikely to slip farther.

Given the steep slope, Opportunity was extremely careful about moving the robotic arm. Before placing it on Alpha Layer, Opportunity moved the arm out, to the left, and to the right, while also checking for any vehicle motion with both the inertial measurement unit and cameras. The first rock target was dubbed "Steno."

Also available is NASA JPL: Spirit Update :: sol 1355-1362, November 02, 2007: Spirit to Head North for the Winter

01101001 · #**544** (**permalink**) 05-November-2007, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

NASA JPL: Opportunity Update:: sol 1301-1308, Nov 01, 2007: Opportunity Studies "Bathtub Ring" In "Victoria Crater" (details from about a month ago):

Maybe the Oppportunity team is trying to catch up...

NASA JPL: Opportunity Update :: sol 1309-1315, Nov 05, 2007: Rover Gets Energy Boost, Compensates for Stalled Joint

NASA JPL: Opportunity Update :: sol 1316-1321, Nov 05, 2007: Opportunity Studies Rock Composition and Changes in Atmosphere

Good to October 12 (sol 1321) now.

Edit: Another:

NASA JPL: Opportunity Update :: sol 1322-1328, Nov 05, 2007: Opportunity Descends Deeper into "Victoria Crater"

Now good to October 19.

01101001 · #**545** (**permalink**) 07-November-2007, 12:59 AM

Another Opportunity update:

NASA JPL: Opportunity update :: sol 1329-1335, Nov 06, 2007: Opportunity Prepares for Arrival of Phoenix While Exploring "Victoria Crater"

Now good to October 26. They must have unclogged the update pipe.

Noclevername · #**546** (**permalink**) 07-November-2007, 01:10 AM

Quote:

On sol (Martian day) 1327 (Oct. 18, 2007), the rover backed away from the "Steno" rock layer inside "Victoria Crater" to move within reach of the "Smith" rock layer a few meters deeper into the crater. However, the rover terminated the drive earlier than planned when stereo images in the visual odometry system, which enables the rover to use computer smarts to compare stereo images and accurately determine the rover's location, failed to line up properly. Opportunity re-pointed the cameras, acquired new stereo images for visual odometry, and completed the drive to Smith on sol 1329 (Oct. 20, 2007).

Boy, that really makes you realize just how hard it is for a robot to get around on its own. We sure can take our own human abilities for granted sometimes.

01101001 · #**547** (**permalink**) 14-November-2007, 02:53 AM

Updates:

Spirit: sol 1363-1369, November 12, 2007: Spirit Continues Drive As Power Levels Decline
Opportunity: sol 1336-1342, Nov 12, 2007: Rock Abrasion Tool Shows Anomalous Behavior
Opportunity: sol 1343-1348, Nov 13, 2007: Rover Finds Way to Brush Rock Surfaces Despite Setbacks

01101001 · #**548** (**permalink**) 20-November-2007, 12:49 PM

Updates:

Opportunity: sol 1349-1354, Nov 19, 2007: Opportunity Peers Beneath Surface of "Bathtub Ring"

Quote:

During a test of the wire brush on the rock abrasion tool in a new mode of operation developed to work around recent encoder failures, Opportunity was mistakenly commanded to rotate the brush in the wrong direction. As a result, the brush appears to have been bent outward, perpendicular to the plane of rotation. The engineering team is currently testing strategies for mitigating the bent brush.

01101001 · #**549** (**permalink**) 04-December-2007, 08:38 PM

I'm sorta glad I didn't realize this Spirit drama was happening:

Planetary Society: Planetary News: Mars (2007): Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Thrashes with Tartarus, Opportunity Wrestles RAT at Victoria's Ring (November 30)

Quote:

"We drove into this crater not realizing what it was until we were in it," Steve Squyres, of Cornell University, principal investigator for rover science, informed during an interview yesterday. "It wasn't a big, steep-sided hole the ground. These were gentle slopes. But Spirit has trouble with gentle slopes."
[...]
"This was just an insidious trap waiting for us. We sunk well down into this bowl-shaped crater with a lot of loose soil in it, all six wheels. We were stuck. It was a bad situation."
[...]
After a week and a half of thrashing, popping at least one wheelie, the rover was only digging in deeper. On Wednesday, November 28, RPs sent up a series of commands instructing Spirit to do the dangerous -– drive forward. "If [Wednesday's] drive didn't work, I don't think we had too many other cards to play," Squyres said. "We were basically out of tricks."

Read the rest.

Long report. Lots of stuff.

ToSeek · #**550** (**permalink**) 11-December-2007, 06:38 PM

Software help Mars rovers find winter havens

Quote:

New software is helping NASA find safe places for the Spirit rover to ride out future Martian winters -- and also plan where Spirit and its companion rover, Opportunity, will explore in the future.

The steep Martian mesa dubbed “Von Braun” would be a safe haven, the software and data analysis determined -- but the path that Spirit would have to follow to get there is a little too risky to travel with winter on the way, explained Ron Li, professor of civil and environmental engineering and geodetic science at Ohio State University.
...
The Mars Exploration Rover team expects it may find some very interesting geologic features on Von Braun, so Spirit may travel there next year -- after winter's danger has passed.

Mars rover finds signs of possible microbial life

Quote:

Researchers using NASA's twin Mars rovers are sorting out two possible origins for one of Spirit's most important discoveries, while also getting Spirit to a favorable spot for surviving the next Martian winter.

The puzzle is what produced a patch of nearly pure silica -- the main ingredient of window glass -- that Spirit found last May. It could have come from either a hot-spring environment or an environment called a fumarole, in which acidic steam rises through cracks. On Earth, both of these types of settings teem with microbial life.

Swift · #**551** (**permalink**) 11-December-2007, 09:10 PM

I realize the linked article had the title "Mars rover finds signs of possible microbial life", and you didn't pick it ToSeek. But that title, IMO, is deceptive. While the findings are interesting, they did not find any signs of possible life. They found a formation that if formed on Earth would have formed in an environment that would have supported life. There are several huge leaps to saying that is a sign of life - that this formation formed as it did on Earth (thus indicating water) and that if there was water, then life had formed.

Superluminal · #**552** (**permalink**) 12-December-2007, 02:02 AM

Swift's correct. ToSeek must serve two minutes in time out.

01101001 · #**553** (**permalink**) 12-December-2007, 04:58 AM

Spot Spirit:

Planetary Photojournal: Dusty Solar Panels on Spirit

Quote:

The deck of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is so dusty that the rover almost blends into the dusty background in this image assembled from frames taken by the panoramic camera (Pancam) during the period from Spirit's Sol 1,355 through Sol 1,358 (Oct. 26-29, 2007).

Dust on the solar panels reduces the amount of electrical power the rover can generate from sunlight each sol. Earlier self-portraits by Spirit, such as one taken on Sol 586 (PIA03272), offer a comparison view of cleaner solar panels.

Dirty, dirty Spirit.

Swift · #**554** (**permalink**) 12-December-2007, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

Dirty, dirty Spirit.

Its not dirt, its camouflage.

KaiYeves · #**555** (**permalink**) 12-December-2007, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Dirty, dirty Spirit.

I saw that today at lunch in the library. The picture is so clear you feel as if you could just walk over and wipe off the dust with your shirtsleeve, and two seconds later, you go "Oh, right, it's on Mars."

ToSeek · #**556** (**permalink**) 12-December-2007, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superluminal

Swift's correct. ToSeek must serve two minutes in time out.

I report. You decide.

novaderrik · #**557** (**permalink**) 12-December-2007, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToSeek

I report. You decide.

just keep it fair and balanced..

ToSeek · #**558** (**permalink**) 13-December-2007, 02:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by novaderrik

just keep it fair and balanced..

Always.