Since the beginning of January, the Cornell team running the panoramic cameras, or Pancams, on the two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, has been largely functioning out of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). That’s where instructions are uplinked, or sent, to the two roving vehicles. But as the mission ages — in April NASA extended its life until at least mid-September — demand is growing for space at JPL for other missions, such as Deep Impact and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (Both missions also have Cornell involvement: the first to study the interior of a comet, the second to get even higher-resolution orbital data on Mars.) In addition, the Mars science team members need to get back to their universities. As a result, the MarsLab at Cornell is gradually taking on a new mission: actually generating the instructions for uplink directly to the two twin-lensed panoramic cameras atop each rover’s mast.
Clouds Roll in for Martian Winter
Using its left navigation camera, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity sought to capture some clouds on its 153rd sol on Mars (June 28, 2004). The presence of morning clouds in the area of Endurance Crater was established by spacecraft orbiting Mars. Mars has three kinds of clouds: dust clouds low in the atmosphere; water clouds near the surface up to heights of 20 kilometers (about 12 miles); and carbon dioxide clouds at very high altitudes.
Rover ‘in training’ for hill trek
Nasa’s Spirit rover is gearing up for a challenging ascent on Columbia Hills, the high ground it will explore for clues to the history of water on Mars. Spirit is undergoing a “tune-up”, a kind of training regime to prepare it for the climb.
Imaging Masterminds Give Human-Scale View of Mars RedNova
The world gets to see the rusty, dusty martian terrain as if humans themselves were riding atop the rovers. Who’s responsible for our front-row seats on Mars? The masterminds working tirelessly behind the scenes in the Multimission Image Processing Lab (MIPL) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Maxon motors make Mars mission mobile swissinfo
If small is beautiful, then the motors from a small company in central Switzerland can boast being that and much more. The tiny drive units from the maxon motor firm are not only small, but also powerful and have even found a niche for themselves on planet Mars.
Analysis: End not in sight for Mars rovers
At a NASA-sponsored briefing for journalists last December, scientists with the Mars Exploration Rover missions described the various hazards that could cut short the planned, twin 90 (Earth) day operations on the red planet and limit the amount of data shipped home by the robotic vehicles from their respective landing sites. The biggest threat, the scientists said, was dust from the Martian surface, which would degrade the landers’ solar arrays, eventually cutting electric power and causing the batteries to fail.
Rovers roll on (and up and down) Mars
Months after their warranties have expired, both of NASA
‘Hank’s Hollow’ Sparkles
This false-color composite panoramic camera image highlights mysterious and sparkly dust-like material that is created when the soil in this region is disturbed. NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this image on sol 165 (June 20, 2004) in “Hank’s Hollow,” using filters L2, L5 and L7.
Double discovery on past Mars water New Scientist
Signs of past water on the surface of Mars just keep getting clearer, with new discoveries from both NASA rovers. Spirit has discovered hematite, an iron mineral that is usually formed in water. It is abundant at Opportunity’s site, but not seen before on the other side of the planet. Opportunity, meanwhile, has extended its evidence of water further back in time, through possible past cycles of wet and dry climate.
NASA’s Mars Rovers Moving Into More Aggressive Terrain Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers (MER), which have spent nearly double their scheduled mission time on Mars, still are performing well as they prepare to enter even more challenging territory, according to NASA. The Spirit and Opportunity rovers “are both still in very good health, but we’re approaching more aggressive terrain at both sites, which [is] going to require more planning and more thought,” Chris Voorhees, rover engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said at a press conference June 25. The rovers also are getting less power as the days get shorter and their solar panels accumulate dust. The rovers landed on Mars in January.