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Spirit Seeks Alternate Wintering Location
Pasadena CA (SPX) Apr 10, 2006 NASA's Spirit rover has run into more trouble: On the way to the north-facing slopes on the peak called McCool in the Columbia Hills - and between outcrops called Oberth and Korolev, Spirit encountered an impassable, sandy area, which threatened to bog down the hobbled craft before it could reach a more sunny location from which to ride out the approaching Martian winter. To increase the sunlight falling on its solar power cells, Spirit's handlers at Jet Propulsion laboratory redirected the rover to a closer north-facing slope in an area known as Low Ridge or Low Ridge Haven, about 20 meters (65 feet) away from its position on April 5, on Martian sol 802 of its mission. Mission controllers said despite the loss of its right-front wheel to mechanical failure, Spirit now continues to make progress in that direction after escaping the sandy area on sol 799, on April 2.
Spirit sol-by-sol highlights: Sol 797: Spirit recharged the batteries and conducted atmospheric remote sensing. Sol 798: Spirit conducted targeted remote sensing, which included observations of the rover's own tracks using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer and 13 filters of the panoramic camera. Sol 799: Rover planners designed a drive that finally got Spirit out of the sandy stuff. Spirit drove 5.8 meters (19 feet) to firmer ground. Sol 800: Spirit recharged the batteries and conducted atmospheric remote sensing. Sol 801: Rover handlers transmitted drive commands to Spirit via the Odyssey spacecraft. Uplink time, however, was shorter than expected, and only 10 of 16 drive sequences made it on board. The rover remained healthy but did not execute the plan. Sol 802: Spirit successfully drove 8.2 meters (27 feet), experiencing maximum slip of only 11 percent. Sol 803: Drive plans call for moving the rover closer to "Low Ridge Haven," using post-drive images to design a safe approach. Sol 804 (April 7): Planned activities included recharging the batteries, monitoring dust and observing clouds. Odometry: As of sol 802 on April 5, Spirit had traveled a total of 6,853.98 meters or 4.26 miles. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Mars Rovers Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
The Soggy Sands of Mars
Davis CA (SPX) Apr 10, 2006Cracks and fins in the sand in an American desert look very similar to features seen on Mars and may indicate the recent presence of water at the surface, according to a new study by researcher Greg Chavdarian and Dawn Sumner, associate professor of geology at UC Davis. |
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