Mars Rovers Archives

May 12, 2010December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

One Moment, Two Worlds

Meridiani Planum on Mars, at 15:00 local Mars time on May 2. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell University

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The New York Times Lens Blog came up with a great idea: They called it “A Moment in Time,” and asked people everywhere to take a picture on May 2, 2010 15:00 UTC and submit it, to share the variety and complexity of life on our world. Emily Lakdawalla from the Planetary Society saw this and thought, “Why limit it to Earth?” she wrote on the Planetary Blog. “What about Mars? What will Opportunity be doing at 15:00 U.T.C. on May 2?” Emily approached Jim Bell, planetary scientist at Cornell University and lead for the rovers’ Pancam team, who was immediately enthusiastic about the idea of having Opportunity take an image to submit to the “Moment in Time” project.

“My immediate reaction when Emily suggested the idea was ‘Cool!'” Bell told Universe Today. “My second reaction was to wonder whether we’d be able to take the photo at the right time, given the low power situation that Opportunity is in right now. Then my third through tenth reactions were ‘Cool!'”

The image has now been posted on the Lens blog, with this caption:

“Two worlds, one sun: while humans’ lives unfolded on Earth, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity paused in its southward trek and captured this photomosaic. Dusty, reddish-brown sand dunes stretch to the horizon in a view taken around 15:00 local Mars time on May 2.”

Getting the image from Mars, though was not just as easy as pulling out a camera and taking a picture like people on Earth can do.

“The process of acquiring the image was perhaps just a bit more challenging than “normal” on the rover project,” said Bell, who asked us to remember–lest we all get jaded–how incredibly complex and amazing it is *whenever* we take images with robots on another planet!), — “because we were aiming for a specific time of day, and to try to get the data downlinked on that same day, very soon after taking the data. However, the rover engineering and science teams were very excited about participating in this global photo event, and that support was critical in helping to make it happen.”

Bell added that the image turned out to be a really lovely shot. The MarsDial (sundial) visible at the bottom of the image on Opportunity is engraved with the words “Two Worlds, One Sun” to mark the unity of Earth and Mars as part of the same solar system.

The timing was “a bit of a fudge” Emily admitted. “Our appointed hour would have been too late for Opportunity in midwinter. Besides, the data began arriving from Mars close to 15:00 U.T.C., so that’s when humans were first able to see the view.”

But the Lens blog folks thought, too, it was a really great idea and decided not to disqualify the picture.

I asked Emily if doing having this image taken at her request was even better than having a request approved for an image from HiRISE, with the “HiWISH” program (public suggestions for the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). “It was kind of a HiWish with the rovers!” she said with a smile. “Of course the rover image wouldn’t have happened if the whole rover team wasn’t excited about participating. But it’s important to remind people that those rovers, and all the other spacecraft, and all the people who support them, are out there working hard every day to bring back the data.”

Indeed – wonderful idea, Emily, and great execution on the rover team’s part, making the Mars rovers even more endearing to us Martian wannabes here on Earth.

See the image on the Lens Blog, Emily’s description on the Planetary Blog, and the Mars Rover website.

February 6, 2010February 6, 2010 by Nancy Atkinson

Movies of Spirit’s Last Moves Before Winter

Even though the Spirit rover is stuck in a Martian sandtrap, the rover drivers were actually able to move her quite a bit, and therefore improving her chances of surviving the winter. This video shows recent drives by the Spirit rover from Jan. 14 to Feb. 4, 2010 (Sols 2145 to 2165), where the center of the rover approximately 13.4 inches (34 centimeters) backwards. Since Jan 26 (sol 2157), drive commands have concentrated on placing Spirit into a favorable tilt toward the sun as the Martian winter approaches.

January 7, 2010December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Opportunity’s Vacation at Marquette Island

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Caption: Opportunity leaves a mark on the Marquette Island rock on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL/U of AZ, colorization by Stuart Atkinson

The Opportunity Mars rover has been sitting by a rock called Marquette Island since early November 2009. The stay has given the rover a bit of a respite from the “pedal to the metal” driving regimen in its attempt to get to faraway Endeavour Crater. But Oppy hasn’t been just soaking in the rays, or kicking back doing nothing. She’s been conducting a thorough examination of the rock, and on Sol 2110 (Dec. 24, 2009), Oppy’s Rock Abrasion Tool dug in and left a mark on Marquette Island, a 1.5 millimeters (0.06 inch) hole. Then subsequent observations of the hole were made by the microscopic imager, to create a close-up mosaic of the innards of the rock, and the Mössbauer spectrometer was positioned on a different rock target for a long integration. Stu Atkinson created this colorized version of Oppy’s latest look at Marquette. After the rover hits the dusty trail again, will humans ever see Marquette Island again?

Stu has a few thoughts on that: “In a hundred years this rock will be on display in the Museum of Mars – just down the hall from the “MER Gallery” where Spirit and Oppy are displayed in all their restored glory,” Stu told me, “and there’ll be an attendant on duty beside it all the time, to stop tall, pale-skinned martian kids on school trips from leaning over the barrier and poking their dirty, sticky fingers into the hole Oppy ratted in it.”

Ah, yes! I’ve always loved Stu’s optimism! Check out more of his thoughts on his blog, Cumbrian Sky.

But back to the here an now, the plan ahead for Oppy is to collect an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) spectrum and a MB spectrum from the RAT hole, before resuming the drive toward Endeavour crater. Obviously, the science team must find Marquette Island quite interesting to spend so much time there, and it will be interesting to hear the results of the observations.

As of Sol 2110 (Dec. 24, 2009), Opportunity’s solar-array energy production was 315 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (tau) of 0.491 and a dust factor of 0.509. Total odometry was 18,927.56 meters (11.76 miles).

Source: Mars Rover website

December 1, 2009December 24, 2015 by Nicholos Wethington

Mars Odyssey Goes into Safe Mode

An artist's impression of the Odyssey orbiter around Mars. . Image Credit: NASA

The Mars Odyssey orbiter went into safe mode on Saturday, November 28th because of a glitch in the “memory error external bus” of the satellite. Odyssey will remain in safe mode at least until the end of the week, effectively slowing down communication with the two rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.

Odyssey is still operating at normal temperatures and communicating with the control team back on Earth. It stayed in safe mode over the weekend. After a full reboot today, the craft is on the mend and expected to be fully operational later this week.

“This event is a type we have seen before, so we have a known and tested path to resuming normal operations,” said Odyssey Project Manager Philip Varghese of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a press release.

Odyssey has been orbiting Mars since January 2002, mapping the surface and taking global measurements of the planet. Odyssey has also been the link to the Earth for the two rovers since 2004, acting as a communications relay that speeds up the transference of signals between the robots and the control team. Though Spirit and Oppy have their own antennae for communication, Odyssey can communicate with the Earth at 10 times the speed and with a fraction of the energy usage.

This glitch is really nothing new for the satellite – it’s much like having to reboot your laptop when it freezes up. The Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter would be the obvious backup for Odyssey, but the MRO has been in safe mode since August 26th. The MRO rebooted itself four times in 2009, and after the last reboot the spacecraft has stayed in safe mode to prevent any catastrophic damage to its memory.

NASA had planned to uplink files to the MRO to restore it sometime this week, but the uplink and recalibration of the satellite would take over a week, meaning that if Odyssey isn’t back up by the end of the week Spirit and Opportunity are on their own for a little while longer.

Odyssey is a key player in the efforts to free the Spirit rover, which has been stuck in a sand trap since May 1st of this year but is making progress. Because of a wheel stall problem that the control team thinks may be internal, an extrication attempt made on November 28th wasn’t successful. The Spirit control team hadn’t planned on making any more maneuvers to free the rover this week, as they are still analyzing the recent attempts to plan for future efforts at freeing its wheel.

Hopefully, by the end of next week we’ll be seeing two fully-functioning orbiters and a freewheelin’ Spirit.

Source: NASA press release

November 7, 2009December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

One Strange Mars Rock

Opportunity has come upon another big rock on Mars. But what is it? Another meteorite? A big clump of ejecta from an old impact? There’s lots of other debris scattered around this area as well. The rock has been named “Marquette Island,” staying with the island theme for the other meteorites Oppy has come across, and the rover may take the “opportunity” to get closer to this rock and check it out, given the sand dunes surrounding it don’t provide too much of an obstacle. So maybe next week we’ll find out what it is. But in the meantime, enjoy these color and 3-D images (see more below) of the rock via Stu Atkinson from Unmannedspaceflight.com. Check out more great looks at Marquette Island at Stu’s blog about Oppy’s travels, Road to Endeavour.

Oh, and rumor has it that the extrication process may have begun to free the Spirit rover. Latest images show she has moved every so slightly. More as it becomes available….

Marquette Island, from a distance. Credit: NASA/JPL, color by Stu Atkinson

Marquette Island in 3-D. Credit: NASA/JPL, 3-D by Stu Atkinson

October 19, 2009December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

MER Team Prepares to Extract Spirit

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit recorded this forward view of its arm and surroundings during the rover's 2,052nd Martian day, or sol (Oct. 11, 2009). Credit: NASA/JPL

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To prepare for an actual attempt to extract the Spirit rover from its sand-trapped predicament, engineers using test rovers on Earth have added a new challenge. Until last week, those commanding and assessing drives by the test rovers were usually in the same room as the sandbox setup simulating Spirit’s predicament, where they can watch how each test goes. That changed for the latest preparation, called an operational readiness test.

The team members commanding drives by a test rover last week stayed away from the building with the sandbox. They assessed the results of each commanded drive only from the images and other data communicated from the test rover, the same way the team does for daily operations of the rovers that are on Mars.

“We conducted this round of testing under more flight-like conditions to test the team’s ability to make very complex extraction driving decisions using only the data sent back from the rover,” said Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager John Callas of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The test began on Oct. 12 and ran five days on an accelerated schedule of two Martian days’ worth of commanding every day. The rover team also operated both Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, while conducting this readiness test at JPL.

Spirit became embedded in soft soil at a site called “Troy” five months ago, more than five years into a mission on Mars that was originally scheduled to last for three months. The rover team suspended further driving attempts with Spirit while evaluating possibilities from tests performed at JPL simulating the Troy situation.

Current plans call for an independent panel to review Spirit driving plans in late October, following analysis of results from the readiness test. Unless that review recommends any further preparations, Spirit will probably begin extraction moves within two weeks after the review.

Spirit has spent much of its time at Troy actively examining its surroundings, including analysis of layered soil at the site. In September, a new issue began affecting operations. Data from Spirit indicated that a brake on the motor that rotates the rover’s dish-shaped high-gain antenna was not working correctly. The team has been getting more diagnostic data and developing a work-around strategy similar to work-arounds already used for rover-motor brakes that showed similar symptoms earlier.

Source: JPL

October 9, 2009December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Here Be Dragons on Mars!

Image from Opportunity's Panoramic camera on sol 2029. Credit: NASA/JPL, colorized and annoted by Stu Atkinson

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Oh no! Hopefully the same folks who went nuts over the Bigfoot on Mars don’t see this one! Could there really be a dragon on Mars? Relax, its just a shadow from Opportunity’s camera mast, distorted by the unusual and bumpy fusion crust surface of the Shelter Island meteorite that the Mars rover has been studying the past few days. But it seems rather fitting: “Here Be Dragons” is a phrase used to denote unexplored territories, and that is certainly where Oppy and Spirit are in their explorations of Mars.

Thanks to Stu Atkinson for the colorized version of this rover image.

October 2, 2009December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Opportunity Finds Another Big Meteorite

Another Mars meteorite seen by Opportunity. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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It’s amazing what a rover can find laying by the side of the road. The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found a rock that apparently is another meteorite. Less than three weeks ago, Opportunity drove away from a larger meteorite called “Block Island” that the rover examined for six weeks. Now, this new meteorite, dubbed “Shelter Island,” is another fairly big rock, about 47 centimeters (18.8 inches) long, that fell from the skies. Block Island is about 60 centimeters (2 feet) across and was just 700 meters (about 2,300 feet) away from this latest meteorite find. At first look, the two meteorites look to be of a similar makeup; Opportunity found that Block Island was is made of nickel and iron.

This image was taken during Oppy’s 2,022nd Martian day, or sol, (Oct. 1, 2009).

See below for a 3-D version of this image created by Stu Atkinson.

Shelter Island in 3-D. Dimensionalized by Stu Atkinson

September 23, 2009December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Columbia Hills Flyover 2.0; Awesome Meridiani Mosaics

Opportunity's drive mosaic from sol 2009. Compiled by James Cavin. Used by permission.

About 18 months ago Doug Ellison from UnmannedSpaceflight.com created a flyover of the Columbia Hills on Mars using data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Spirit, the Mars rover. He’s now done a 2.0 version to mark Spirit’s recent birthday — she’s been on Mars for 3 Martian years. Ellison made the skies a little hazier to mark the moderate dust storm that occurred recently and put Spirit in her current predicament, stuck in the sandy soil near Home Plate. Additionally, he added music and an intro credit page to avoid it being badly credited, (which happened when it was posted on Astronomy Picture of the Day in May of 2008) as well as a map at the end to show where Spirit has been all this time. If you saw the first version, this one is even better. If you haven’t seen it before, prepare to be amazed.

Not to leave out Opportunity, below you’ll find some incredible drive mosaics put together by James Canvin, also from UnmannedSpaceflight.com. Oppy is putting the pedal to the metal to reach Endeavour Crater and is covering a lot of territory these days.

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This looks like a very interesting location, with rocks and scarps and all sorts of interesting stuff littering the dunes. James told me this mosaic was created with three different images and colorized by using R21 filters (red & blue then with artifical green made by mixing the two).

Opportunity drive mosiac from sol 2011. Compiled by James Canvin. Used by permission.

Canvin told me that the crater near the center-left, off in the distance, is Nautilus. The rocks in the near-field are the surroundings to Nereus crater to which is Oppy was right next to and is out of frame to the left. The rover has already driven in the direction of the center of the image (this is a ‘drive direction’ mosaic after all!), and a much larger mosaic of this is still being downlinked from the rover, which should be even more spectacular.

Sources: Doug Ellison, Martian Vistas

August 26, 2009December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Mars Kicking Spirit When She’s Down

This full-circle view from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the terrain surrounding the location called "Troy," where Spirit became embedded in soft soil during the spring of 2009. Credit: NASA/JPL

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The Spirit rover has been stuck in loose soil on Mars for several months now, and just as the rover team is preparing to execute maneuvers to attempt to free Spirit, a dust storm hits. Is Mars an unforgiving planet or what? The amount of electricity generated by the solar panels on Spirit has been declining for the past several Martian days, or sols, because of the storm, and Spirit’s daily activities have been trimmed. Those watching over the rover are keeping an eye on weather reports from observations by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. While the rover team at JPL are keeping their “spirits” up, a recent image from the rover indicates Spirit herself might be getting frustrated with her string of bad luck:

Get me out of here! Credit: NASA/JPL, image enhancement by Stuart Atkinson

Thanks to Stuart Atkinson from Cumbrian Sky for his image spoof!

Spirit’s solar panels generated 392 watt-hours during the mission’s Sol 2006 (Aug. 24, 2009), down from 744 watt-hours five sols earlier, but still generous compared with the 240 watt-hours per sol that was typical before a series of panel-cleaning events about four months ago.

“We expect that power will improve again as this storm passes, but we will continue to watch this vigilantly,” said JPL’s John Callas, project manager for Spirit and its twin, Opportunity. “Spirit remains power positive with healthy energy margins and charged batteries. The weather prediction from the Mars Color Imager team is that the storm is abating, but skies will remain dusty over Spirit for the next few sols.”

Recent images from the Mars Color Imager camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter showed this regional storm becoming less extensive Monday even as it shifted southward so that its southern edge covered the Gusev Crater area where Spirit is working. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, which operates that camera, provides frequent weather updates to the rover team. Check out weekly weather reports here.

Meanwhile, in JPL’s In-Situ Instrument Laboratory, the rover team is continuing testing of strategies for getting Spirit out of a patch of soft soil where it is embedded on Mars. On Sol 2005 (Aug. 23, 2009) Spirit used its panoramic camera to examine the nature of how soil at the site has stuck to the rover’s middle wheels. The team has also used Spirit’s rock abrasion tool as a penetrometer to measure physical properties of the soil around Spirit by pressing into the soil with three different levels of force. The team is aiming to start sending drive commands to Spirit in September.

Source: JPL