[meteorite-list] Mars Rovers Advance Understanding of the Red Planet

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Jan 24 17:55:18 2006
Message-ID: <200601242253.k0OMrZB28387_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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

Guy Webster (818) 354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
                                                                                        
George Deutsch/ Erica Hupp (202) 358-1324/ 1237
NASA Headquarters, Washington

News Release: 2006-015 Jan. 24, 2006
                                                            
Mars Rovers Advance Understanding of the Red Planet

NASA's Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have been working
overtime to help scientists better understand ancient environmental
conditions on the red planet. The rovers are also generating
excitement about the exploration of Mars outlined in NASA's
Vision for Space Exploration.

The rovers continue to find new variations of bedrock in areas
they are exploring on opposite sides of Mars. The geological
information they have collected adds evidence about ancient
Martian environments that included periods of wet, possibly
habitable conditions.

"The extended journeys taken by the two rovers across the surface
of Mars has allowed the science community to continue to uncover
discoveries that will enable new investigations of the red planet
far into the future." said Mary Cleave, associate administrator
for the Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters.

NASA's third mission extension for the rovers lasts through
September 2006, if they remain usable that long. During their
three-month primary missions, the rovers drove farther and
examined more rocks than the prescribed criteria for success.

Opportunity begins its third year on Mars today. It is examining
bedrock exposures along a route between "Endurance" and "Victoria"
craters. Opportunity found evidence of a long-ago habitat of
standing water on Mars.

On Jan. 3, Spirit passed its second anniversary inside the
Connecticut-sized Gusev Crater. Initially, Spirit did not find
evidence of much water, and hills that might reveal more about
Gusev's past were still mere bumps on the horizon. By operating
eight times as long as planned, Spirit was able to climb up those
hills, examine a wide assortment of rocks and find mineral
fingerprints of ancient water.

While showing signs of wear, Spirit and Opportunity are still
being used to their maximum remaining capabilities. On Spirit, the
teeth of the rover's rock abrasion tool are too worn to grind the
surface off any more rocks, but its wire-bristle brush can still
remove loose coatings. The tool was designed to uncover three rocks,
but it exposed interiors of 15 rocks. On Opportunity, the steering
motor for the front right wheel stopped working eight months ago. A
motor at the shoulder joint of the rover's robotic arm shows
symptoms of a broken wire in the motor winding. Opportunity can still
maneuver with its three other steerable wheels. Its shoulder motor
still works when given extra current, and the arm is still useable
without that motor.

The rovers are two of five active robotic missions at Mars, which
include NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor and the European
Space Agency's Mars Express orbiters. The orbiters and surface
missions complement each other in many ways. Observations by the rovers
provide ground-level understanding for interpreting global observations
by the orbiters. In addition to their own science missions, the
orbiters relay data from Mars.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the
California Institute of Technology, manages the Mars Exploration Rover,
Odyssey and Global Surveyor projects for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate.

For information about NASA and other agency exploration programs
on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/home

For images and information about the rovers and their discoveries
on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mars

-end-
Received on Tue 24 Jan 2006 05:53:35 PM PST