[meteorite-list] Spirit Lowers Front Wheels, Looks Around in Infrared

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:00 2004
Message-ID: <200401100126.RAA06665_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster (818) 354-5011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Donald Savage (202) 358-1547
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

NEWS RELEASE: 2004-013 January 9, 2004

Spirit Lowers Front Wheels, Looks Around in Infrared

NASA's Spirit, the first of two Mars Exploration Rovers on the martian
surface, has stood up and extended its front wheels while continuing
to delight its human partners with new information about its
neighborhood within Mars' Gusev Crater.

Traces of carbonate minerals showed up in the rover's first survey of
the site with its infrared sensing instrument, called the miniature
thermal emission spectrometer or Mini-TES. Carbonates form in the
presence of water, but it's too early to tell whether the amounts
detected come from interaction with water vapor in Mars' atmosphere or
are evidence of a watery local environment in the past, scientists
emphasized.

"We came looking for carbonates. We have them. We're going to chase
them," said Dr. Phil Christensen of Arizona State University, Tempe,
leader of the Mini-TES team. Previous infrared readings from Mars
orbit have revealed a low concentration of carbonates distributed
globally. Christensen has interpreted that as the result of dust
interaction with atmospheric water. First indications are that the
carbonate concentration near Spirit may be higher than the Mars global
average.

After the rover drives off its lander platform, infrared measurements
it takes as it explores the area may allow scientists to judge whether
the water indicated by the nearby carbonates was in the air or in a
suspected ancient lake.

"The beauty is we know how to find out," said Dr. Steve Squyres of
Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the
mission. "Is the carbonate concentrated in fluffy dust? That might
favor the atmospheric hypothesis. Is it concentrated in coarser
material? That might favor the water hypothesis."

Spirit accomplished a key step late Thursday in preparing for rolling
off the lander. In anticipation, the flight team at NASA Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., played Bob Marley's "Get
Up, Stand Up" as wake-up music for the sixth morning on Mars, said
JPL's Matt Wallace, mission manager. In the following hours, the
rover was raised by a lift mechanism under its belly, and its front
wheels were fully extended. Then the rover was set back down, raised
again and set down again to check whether suspension mechanisms had
latched properly.

Pictures returned from the rover's navigation camera and front
hazard-identification camera, plus other data, confirmed success.

"We are very, very, very pleased to see the rover complete the most
critical part of the stand-up process," Wallace said. Next steps
include retracting the lift mechanism and extending the rear wheels.

A tug on airbag tendons by the airbag retraction motor Thursday
evening did not lower puffed up portions of airbag material that are a
potential obstacle to driving the rover straight forward to exit the
lander. The most likely path for driving off will be to turn 120
degrees to the right before rolling off. "This is something we have
practiced many times. We are very comfortable doing it," Wallace said.

The earliest scenario for getting the rover off the lander, if all
goes smoothly, is Spirit's 13th or 14th day on Mars, Jan. 16 or 17.

"We're proceeding in a measured, temperate way," said JPL's Peter
Theisinger, project manager for the Mars Exploration Rover project.
"This is a priceless asset. It is fully functioning. It is sitting in
a beautiful scientific target. We're not going to take any
inappropriate risks."

While preparing to learn more about what Mars rocks are made of,
Christensen announced an educational project to involve school
children and other people in getting rocks from all over Earth for
comparison. "Send me your rocks and we'll see if there are rocks in
your back yard that are similar to what we're seeing on Mars," he
said. Information about how to send rocks to Arizona State University
is on the rovers' Web site at

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Spirit's twin Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, will reach Mars on
Jan. 25 (Universal Time and EST; Jan. 24 PST). The rovers' main task
is to spend three months exploring for clues in rocks and soil about
whether past environments near the landing sites were ever watery and
possibly suitable to sustain life.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the
Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science,
Washington.

-end-

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http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotlight/spirit/a4_20040109.html

A Standing Ovation For Spirit's Stand-up
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
January 9, 2004

 [Image]
 Engineers in mission control cheer as they receive
 confirmation that Spirit has successfully achieved the
 first two steps of stand-up.

Amidst the hypnotic cadence of Bob Marley's inspirational reggae tune
"Get-up, Stand-up," engineers in mission control cheered the successful
completion of the first two stages of Spirit's stand-up maneuver.

"This was intense!" exclaimed Chris Voorhees, Lead Mechanical Engineer for
stand-up. "This is like Spirit's birth - it's getting up on its legs for the
first time."

    [Image]
    Chris Voorhees in mission control.

Like labor, stand-up comes in stages and after each "contraction" or
command, engineers must verify that their baby is still kicking. The
complicated, four-part exercise transforms the rover from a folded-up,
tightly packed bundle of wheels, latches, and actuators into a
fully-functioning vehicle that is ready to rove.

"I like to call it robotic origami," said Chris. "By the end of tonight,
we'll be half-way through the process of becoming a rover."

 [Image]
 This diagram graphically depicts the transition of the
 front wheels from their stowed, inverted position
 to their final driving position.

Stand Up: Part I & II

This first half of rover stand-up consisted of raising Spirit up on a lift,
which took about ten minutes. Then, within 15 seconds, with the help of two
motorized deployment mechanisms (one on each side of the rocker bogie
suspension system), the front wheels flipped out and over from an inverted
position to their latched driving position.

    [Image]
    This diagram demonstrates how the two back wheels will
    "drive" to pull themselves out seven inches.

The third and fourth steps of Spirit's journey to a fully mobile rover will
happen after positive confirmation of the first two steps. At this point,
the lift mechanism that is still supporting the rover will be retracted, and
the front wheels will be set down. These actions allow Spirit to stand on
her own and hold her own weight.

"This is a lot like lowering and removing a car jack after changing a tire.
Spirit will now be completely on her own after her middle wheels are
released," explains Chris.

Once the rover is secure, pyrotechnic devices will fire to release the two
back wheels. The wheels will "drive" on a small cogged platform that pull
them out seven inches toward the back of the rover so that Spirit is stable
on all six legs.

Now stretched out and ready to roll, Spirit should be feeling a little more
comfortable and ready for the challenging mission that lies ahead.
Received on Fri 09 Jan 2004 08:26:36 PM PST