[meteorite-list] Both Mars Rovers Keep on Rolling, Despite Spirit's Recent 'Benign Event'

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:15:08 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200902162315.PAA14927_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Feb09/SpiritUpdate.ws.html

Chronicle Online e-News

Both Mars rovers keep on rolling, despite Spirit's recent 'benign event'
Feb. 16, 2009
By Bill Steele
ws21 at cornell.edu

The Mars rover Spirit is ambling along just fine, after a recently
reported glitch that turned out to be a minor "benign event,"
according to Steven Squyres, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Planetary
Science and science team leader for the Mars rover mission.

That means that both rovers, designed to explore Mars for a mere 90
days, are still up and running some five years after landing.

Exactly what happened to Spirit recently may never be resolved,
Squyres said, "Right now we're proceeding as if everything's fine."

On sol 1800 (the 1,800th Martian day after Spirit landed), the
rover's computer booted up in a mode that prevented it from writing
to its memory, so there was no record of what it had been doing for a
period of time.

"This makes it hard to troubleshoot," Squyres said.

The most likely explanation, he said, was that a cosmic ray passing
through the chip briefly disrupted processing.

Spirit is currently at the northern edge of a plateau informally
called Home Plate, where it spent the recent Martian winter
essentially hibernating, because there was not sufficient sunlight to
allow the solar-powered rover to drive. With the advent of Martian
spring, Spirit is now driving again, heading toward unexplored
terrain south of Home Plate. A recent wind gust removed some of the
Martian dust that has coated Spirit's solar arrays, increasing the
power output by about 15 percent.

On the other side of the planet, rover Opportunity is in good health,
according to Jim Bell, Cornell professor of astronomy and leader of
the Pancam (panoramic camera) team for the rover mission. There has
been some fraying of the cables on the robot arm, a result of overuse
of a machine originally expected to last only three months.

"These are just inconveniences, and the team has figured out ways to
work around them," Bell said. "I don't think there's anything
mission-threatening."

Opportunity continues to drive southeast toward the huge Endeavour
Crater, with another 10 kilometers or so to go. The drive will take
at least two years, Squyres said.

Even if it doesn't get there, the journey is worth a try, Squyres
said. "[Endeavour is] the deepest window into the subsurface of Mars
that we could possibly ever see," he said.

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Received on Mon 16 Feb 2009 06:15:08 PM PST