Spirit, Opportunity live up to their names

In January 2004, NASA successfully landed two robotic rovers on the surface of Mars. The plucky little vehicles, originally scheduled to have a functional life of three months, have been functioning since.

The pair, on opposite sides of the planet, have sent back tons of photographs and data about the Red Planet and have kept the teams operating them and planetary scientists agog with the new and exciting discoveries.

They are named Spirit and Opportunity and have lived up to their names. They have been plugging along across the sandy and rocky terrain of Mars looking for objects of interest the exploration team have directed them to.

According to Steve Squyers, the principal investigator for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, "One of the most remarkable findings during the last five years is that Mars wasn't always as cold and dry as it is today." That fact alone makes for some very interesting speculation on the part of planetary scientists.

Of course, after five years some things are not going well for the little robotic rovers. One of the biggest problems both vehicles suffer from is dust, and Mars is a dusty place. Since they are solar powered, any dust on the surface of their solar cells causes a reduction in available power to operate the equipment and the motor for traveling.

The rover called Opportunity is currently crater hopping on its way to a target of interest, a crater named Endeavor, which will take it about two years to reach. Now that is optimism. Besides problems with dust, Opportunity suffers from a broken electrical wire that has reduced the usefulness of its robotic arm.

Spirit, on the other hand, is in somewhat worse shape. One of its drive wheels has failed and in order to travel it has to drive backward. It is also suffering much more from the dust problem than Opportunity. Where Opportunity is located there are enough surface winds to keep most of the dust blown off. The spot where Spirit is now does not have sufficient wind to keep it clean.

Spirit is on the way to examine a rock named von Braun and a neighboring structure named Goddard, dragging its wheel behind it. These rocks are estimated to be about 250 kilometers from the rover, but that is still a trip that will take months to travel.

My attention was drawn back to these little robots when the good folks at a web site called "Astronomy Picture of the Day" posted a wonderful 360-degree panorama photograph of the Martian surface surrounding the Spirit rover.

The photograph is a compaction of 200 photographs stitched together to give one big view. One of the first thoughts I had when I saw the photograph and panned around its entire view--it looks like Nebraska. You can find the panoramic photograph at http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090120.html.

SKY WATCH:

First quarter moon April 2, there will be several very nice conjunctions this month. To start them off the moon and Regulus on April 4 in the evening; the moon and Saturn on April 6 also in the evening. However, that is also the day of the full moon so viewing may not be good. I didn't get to see Venus twice on the same day last week. Seems I was incarcerated in the hospital in Kearney and they wouldn't let me out to do any viewing and the room window faced north. But, dressed as I was (in hospital standard issue) it was probably better if I didn't go outside. Alas, now I will have to wait eight years.

NEXT TIME:

More astronomical blathering.