NASA’s Spirit rover is being forced to winter in an alternate location because a broken wheel has slowed the Martian vehicle down so much that it can’t reach its intended spot before winter hits, according to NASA. The rover needs to spend the planet’s dark, cold winter months on a north-facing slope so its solar panels can get enough energy to power it. And with the Martian winter approaching, getting the rover to a safe location has taken precedence over scientific research, principal investigator and Cornell University geologist Steve Squyres said in a statement.
April 12th, 2006
NASA’S Mars Rovers Head for New Sites After Studying Layers of Terrain AScribe
NASA’s Mars rover Spirit has reached a safe site for the Martian winter, while its twin, Opportunity, is making fast progress toward a destination of its own. The two rovers recently set out on important — but very different — drives after earlier weeks inspecting sites with layers of Mars history. Opportunity finished examining sedimentary evidence of ancient water at a crater called “Erebus,” and is now rapidly crossing flat ground toward the scientific lure of a much larger crater, “Victoria.”
April 4th, 2006
Mars rover’s broken wheel is beyond repair The New Scientist
Mission managers have given up hope of fixing a broken wheel on NASA’s Spirit rover and will simply have to drag the wheel on future drives. The glitch means NASA must avoid terrain with loose soil as it maps out a route to a safe winter haven for the rover.
The rover’s right-front wheel stopped turning about two weeks ago – apparently because of a broken circuit in the motor that powers the wheel. The same wheel had experienced a surge in current in 2004 but later returned to normal.
March 19th, 2006
Spirit Mars Rover In ‘Drive Or Die’ Situation
NASA’s Spirit Mars rover has wrapped up exploration of a baffling feature called “Home Plate” but now faces the onset of martian winter while dealing with dropping power levels and fighting a balky right front wheel.
“Our current focus is to drive like hell … and try to get [Spirit] to safe winter havens before the power situation gets really bad,” said Steve Squyres, lead Mars Rover Exploration scientist at Cornell University.
February 21st, 2006
Roving The Red Planet
NASA’s Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have been working overtime to help scientists better understand ancient environmental conditions on the red planet. The rovers are also generating excitement about the exploration of Mars outlined in NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration.
February 16th, 2006
Mars rover to seek safe winter haven The New Scientist
While Spirit busily studies a finely layered outcrop dubbed Home Plate, mission planners say the rover’s daily power supply is steadily dropping. And with the Martian winter looming and dust accumulating on Spirit’s solar arrays, the team is preparing to drive Spirit to a safe haven.
The Martian winter does not officially begin until August, but Byron Jones, rover mission manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, US, says the team would like to get Spirit situated on a slope called McCool Hill, with its solar arrays tilted northward, in plenty of time.
That tilt maximises the sunlight falling on the arrays and worked well for the rovers during their first Martian winter, which peaked in September 2004.
January 2nd, 2006
Mars rovers keep exploring Red Planet
The warranty expired long ago on NASA’s twin robots motoring around Mars. In two years, they have traveled a total of seven miles. Not impressed? Try keeping your car running in a climate where the average temperature is well below zero and where dust devils can reach 100 mph. These two golf cart-sized vehicles were only expected to last three months. “These rovers are living on borrowed time. We’re so past warranty on them,” says Steven Squyres of Cornell University, the Mars mission’s principal researcher. “You try to push them hard every day because we’re living day to day.”
December 28th, 2005
Most Spectacular Mars Photo Yet! Addict 3D
Scientists and engineers celebrated when they saw the first pictures NASA’s Opportunity sent from the rim of a stadium-sized crater that the rover reached after a six-week trek across martian flatlands.