Spirit is a Rover no more

There was much sadness at NASA this past week when it was announced that the plucky little "rover that could," Spirit, was hopelessly stuck in the soft sands of Mars.

The determined little machine, which had stretched a 90-day mission into almost six years of exploring and finding new wonders on the red planet, is now stuck for good.

However, there was some good news. Instead of spending its days roaming over the Martian surface looking at rocks and craters and interesting spots of possible water-ice just under the surface of the ground, Spirit will now become what is being called a "stationary research platform." Examining its surroundings as far as it can see and reach.

That is, as long as the power lasts.

One of the things the frantic operators back here on Earth were trying to do is get the surface of the power generating solar panels tipped toward the distant sun.

Where the little rover is located will soon be entering the Martian winter and the power-generating rays of the sun will not be touching the solar panels in a direct enough angle to generate enough power to keep the instruments warm, let alone operating.

What earth-bound engineers are afraid of is that the instruments and batteries will freeze during the bone-chilling Martian winter and our little friend won't be able to "phone home" when spring returns.

As sad as that is, planetary scientists are probably going to spend the next 10 years trying to interpret the data already sent back by the little rover with a big heart.

Spirit's counterpart, Opportunity, is still roaming along on the opposite side of the planet. But it too is starting to show signs of wear and tear and age.

The investment in time and money in these two little rolling observatories is money well spent and has already recovered the initial layout many times over.

Sometime next year another rover will join the team. A larger, more powerful cousin named Curiosity will be landed on the Martian surface. Unlike its two predecessors, Curiosity will be nuclear powered and won't have to depend on solar panels to keep the instruments going.

There will also be many more experiments it will be equipped to do such as a laser to vaporize rock specimens to get a view of their organic makeup.

Tonight at about 7 p.m. local time go outside and face east. Look about halfway up the sky between Leo and Gemini for the very bright red dot that is Mars and wave to our little friend and wish it well.

SKY WATCH:

The conjunction of Venus and Jupiter last week was astounding. Too bad we were clouded-out here in Southwest Nebraska. I have, however seen photographs from other places which made me very sorry it was cloudy here.

Full moon, Sunday, Feb. 28. Very nice conjunction of the moon, Mars and the Beehive star cluster the evening of Feb. 25. Look high in the south after 7 p.m. MST. March 1 the moon and Saturn will be together in the east at about 9:30 p.m. On March 2 the moon moves on to near Spica, the brightest star in Virgo, the Maiden. Wednesday, March 3 look low in the west for a pairing of Venus and Uranus. Both will be in the same field of view in binoculars.

NEXT TIME:

More astronomical blathering.