[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Spirit Remains Quiet as Dust Storm Weakens

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:40:39 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200811132040.MAA24762_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-210

Mars Rover Spirit Remains Quiet as Dust Storm Weakens
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
November 12, 2008

PASADENA, Calif. -- A dust storm that has reduced power to NASA's Mars
Exploration Rover Spirit is clearing, but the Spirit's status remains
unknown on Wednesday.

Mission controllers sent a set of commands to the rover early Tuesday,
Nov. 11, telling it to follow several energy-saving steps, including not
trying to communicate before Thursday. The team's immediate goal was to
keep Spirit out of a pre-programmed protective mode that is triggered
when battery charge is depleted below a safety level. The new commands,
if received, would allow the team to keep more active control of Spirit
than is possible when the rover is in the low-power protective mode.

"Like concerned parents, if we can stay in communication with the rover,
we are in a better position to help," said John Callas of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., project manager for Spirit and
its twin, Opportunity.

Controllers listened overnight Tuesday to Wednesday in case Spirit had
entered the protective mode and attempted to communicate. It could be a
favorable sign that Spirit was not heard from, because that could mean
that the rover has received and is following the commands sent Tuesday.
However, another possibility is that Spirit has not only entered the
low-power protective mode, but that its battery power is so low it would
not wake up to communicate.

"We likely won't know anything definitive until Thursday," Callas said.
"The good news is that we have indications from Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter that the dust storm on Mars is clearing over Gusev." (Spirit is
working in a range of hills inside Gusev Crater, which is about the size
of Connecticut.)

Meanwhile, controllers will continue to listen for communication from
Spirit at the times the rover would be expected to communicate if it has
entered the low-power protective mode but still has enough power to
transmit a signal.

Spirit has been operating on Mars for nearly five years in an
exploration mission originally planned to last three months. A coating
of dust on its solar panels is reducing its ability to generate
electricity even when the sky is clear.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for the NASA Science Mission
Directorate, Washington.

Media contact: Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Guy.Webster at jpl.nasa.gov 2008-2
Received on Thu 13 Nov 2008 03:40:39 PM PST