A decade rolling on Mars

Question

A decade rolling on Mars

Answer 1

It was designed to run three months on Mars and been there for a decade, facing the harsh conditions of the surface of another planet. It is an immense success of engineers and scientists at NASA who are celebrating an anniversary with not dreamed that January 25, 2004 (the 24th in California), when the autonomous suv Opportunity touched down on the red planet after space travel 456 million kilometers from Earth. On January 4 reached its twin, Spirit, which also lasted much longer than expected, more than six years, but with whom contact was lost in 2010. Who has a car rolling without going through the workshop, not a replacement, without maintenance for so long? And operating at ultralow temperatures and sandstorms in uncharted territory. NASA engineers and Mars Exploration Program now celebrate with pride this logical record crossing shot ever made ​​in automatic space exploration.

Opportunity has traveled 38.7 miles in a decade by the Martian soil. It seems little, but was not designed to cover long distances, but for testing technologies and taking scientific data, such as a field geologist, and here the discovery of past water in the world neighbor said. The vehicle is now on the edge of Endeavour crater and " has great health for a vehicle of that age," says project manager John Callas. "Maybe even ahead the best science [ of the mission ] to do," he adds. Yet this week, the journal Science published the latest data from the robot indicating the area where is was a geochemical environment (more suitable for microbial life where there is greater acidity) over 3,600 million years ago neutral pH

Callas brings more than 13 years in charge of this program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California (Caltech dependent), but in a decade there have been numerous changes to the computer. Some have gone to other missions, such as the robot Curiosity (which arrived at Mars in August 2012), and incorporated young blood. NASA picks these days Bekah testimony Sosland, a brood of 14 when the Spirit and Opportunity Mars, who saw the event on television and discovered the vocation came through space. Now, 10 years later, is an engineer and works at JPL precisely active robot operations.

The Spirit and Opportunity left Earth in July 2003 at two opposite points of the Martian Ecuador. They were each folded into a capsule that landed on Mars bouncing wrapped in airbags, one of the most original ideas of space engineering and successfully tested - once, a few years before. Shortly after arriving, the Spirit had a problem with your computer (memory saturation) and was speechless few days stirring up those responsible. But it was sorted and prevented the crisis recur in the Opportunity, which came soon after. Since then, not without mishaps that were solved (a wheel that is stuck in the sand, some computer glitch, part wear...), they worked much better than expected. The cost of the mission to date, totaling some 738 million euros.

The scientific information they get these vehicles (in combination with contributing ships in orbit of Mars), the development of engineering essential if you want to explore in situ the multiple objects in the Solar System and the fascination produced in millions Photos otherworldly taken on the ground, as snapshots you do when you travel, they have a huge popularity these missions.

With the Opportunity, " in the Columbia Hills we found evidence of a warm, wet Mars violent in the past, volcanic eruptions, hydrothermal activity, steamy... nothing like Mars today, "summarizes the mission 's chief scientist, Steve Squyres, a geologist at Cornell University. "In the Opportunity landing site we find evidence of an early Mars with acidic water in the basement that sometimes emerged to the surface and evaporated leaving a trace salts. It was an environment with liquid water, but very different from that showed us the Spirit, " he continues. Then Opportunity has reached Endeavour crater, where it has identified clay minerals that spoke of an environment "more favorable for microbial life, if there ever was on Mars," Squyres said.

These two rover inherited the experience gained in 1997 with the first fully satisfactory rolling vehicle on Mars Pathfinder Sojourner mission, NASA also. The twins, with 174 kilos each, are 17 times heavier than the little device the size of a microwave, with six wheels. Spirit and Opportunity, with 1.6 meters long and 1.5 high, were endowed with large solar panels and five scientific instruments, including cameras and spectrometers to analyze samples of rock and soil. The following has been Curiosity as a true rolling laboratory sized small car.

These vehicles, while incorporating more advanced technologies in each, are controlled with the same basic strategy. They are equipped with autonomous movement systems with cameras and obstacle detection systems. They do a field survey at any time and send data to Earth, where so-called drivers, at JPL, and taking into account the objectives of scientific - They elaborate the work plan and shift each day. Sent the plan to the vehicle, that meets independently and at the end of the day, send the records of what he has done.

The longevity of Opportunity (and Spirit), in addition to good work of engineers, has favorably influenced the wind on Mars that rages from time to time and clean the solar panels that provide electricity to function. Yes, the experts who command him from Earth have learned, for example, to take advantage of terrain slopes for vehicle position favors the orientation of the panels toward the sun

Mars of scientific, technological Mars as bench trials, Mars immense curiosity of people... Donna Shirley, the head of that pioneer Sojourner 17 years ago, it was very clear: "What why Mars? Everyone loves Mars ".