Rolling, rolling, rolling. Keep those Mars rovers rolling. You can almost hear the crack of a Martian whip. Since January, NASA
September 28th, 2004
Mars Orbiter Spots Rover’s Tracks from Space
A spacecraft orbiting Mars photographed one of NASA’s rovers and its tracks on the surface, the space agency said Monday. The image made by a camera aboard the Mars Global Surveyor shows a dark dot identified as the rover Spirit next to giant Bonneville Crater and the thin dark line of its tracks leading back to its lander. The picture was made by rolling the entire spacecraft, adjusting its rotation rate to match the ground speed under the camera, a process that produces sharper images.
September 22nd, 2004
UA Student Runs Remote Center for Mars Rover Mission University of Arizona
Like some phenomenal high school quarterback drafted into the NFL, University of Arizona undergraduate Nicole Spanovich has made it as a pro. But her skill is in helping run rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, on Mars. Spanovich, a UA astronomy senior, is running a remote operations center for NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission in Tucson. She set it up at the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory’s Phoenix Project building, 1415 N. Sixth Ave., last month.
September 21st, 2004
Spirit’s Travels During its First 238 Martian Days
This map shows the complete traverse of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit through the rover’s 238th martian day, or sol (Sept. 3, 2004). This was shortly before the rover stopped driving for about two weeks while Mars was nearly behind the Sun from Earth’s perspective. The background image consists of frames from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. Inset images along the route are from Spirit’s navigation camera. From its landing site, Spirit drove up to the rim of “Bonneville” crater on the far left and to the north rim of “Missoula” crater. Then it commenced a long drive across the plains, deviating to avoid large hollows. Upon arrival at the base of the “Columbia Hills”, Spirit drove north for a short distance before beginning its ascent onto the “West Spur,” where it is currently located.
September 21st, 2004
Opportunity’s Travels During its First 205 Martian Day
This map shows the traverse of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity through the rover’s 205th martian day, or sol (Aug. 21, 2004). The background image is from the rover’s descent imaging camera. Images inset along the route are from Opportunity’s navigation camera. Opportunity began its exploration inside “Eagle” crater near the left edge of the map. Following completion of its study of the outcrop there, it traversed eastward to a small crater (“Fram” crater) before driving southeastward to the rim of “Endurance” crater. After a survey partly around the south rim of Endurance crater, Opportunity drove inside the southwest rim of Endurance crater and began a systematic study of outcrops exposed on the crater’s inner slope.
September 21st, 2004
Rover Missions Renewed as Mars Emerges from Behind Sun
As NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity resumed reliable contact with Earth, after a period when Mars passed nearly behind the sun, the space agency extended funding for an additional six months of rover operations, as long as they keep working. Both rovers successfully completed their primary three-month missions on the surface of Mars in April and have already added about five months of bonus exploration during the first extension of their missions.
September 21st, 2004
Mars rovers’ mission extends with new goals, new funding Florida Today
The Mars rovers emerged from a communications blackout period and the low point of winter today with new funding and big plans for the journey ahead. Engineers hope to put Spirit atop Husband Hill so it can get a view all the way to the edge of vast Gusev Crater, in which it landed. On the other side of the planet, Opportunity will soon leave Endurance Crater, visiting its discarded heat shield along the way, and make a 3-mile journey to Victoria Crater.
September 15th, 2004
People on Mars Possible in 20 to 30 Years
People could land on Mars in the next 20 to 30 years provided scientists can find water on the red planet, the head of NASA’s surface exploration mission said on Wednesday. Two partially solar-powered “robot geologists” — Mars Exploration Rovers, or MERs — have been trundling across 3 miles of the planet and into craters since January, beaming back data about the makeup of what scientists believe is Earth’s sister planet. Asked how long it could be before astronauts land on Mars, Arthur Thompson, mission manager for MER surface operations, told Reuters in an interview in Lima, “My best guess is 20 to 30 years, if that becomes our primary priority.”
September 14th, 2004
Behind the Scenes Account of Mars Landing Scheduled at San Diego Space Event
Last January the people around the world were captivated by the landing of two robot geologists on Mars, Spirit
and Opportunity. At the Space 2004 Conference and Exposition, Dr. Firouz
Naderi, the head of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL), and Dr. Steve Squyres, the head of the Science Team on the
mission and a professor at Cornell University, will recount their experiences
on this mission through a highly engaging presentation. This fascinating
presentation begins at 6:00 p.m., 29 September 2004.
September 8th, 2004
Mars rovers to sit tight for 12 days
Starting Wednesday, the Mars rovers will go into an anticipated 12-day “loss of communication” period as the sun passes between the Earth and Mars, an alignment known as conjunction. The energetic environment around the sun is expected to interfere with radio communications between the two planets. The down time will begin Wednesday for the Rover Spirit and Thursday for Opportunity.