[meteorite-list] Team Runs Operational Test to Prepare for Extracting Spirit

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:41:06 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200910201641.n9KGf6SU006151_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2009-153

Team Runs Operational Test to Prepare for Extracting Spirit
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
October 19, 2009

Engineers using test rovers on Earth to prepare for extracting the
sand-trapped Spirit rover on Mars have added a new challenge to their
preparations.

Until last week, the engineers commanding and assessing drives by the
test rovers were usually in the same room as the sandbox setup
simulating Spirit's predicament, where they can watch how each test
goes. That changed for the latest preparation, called an operational
readiness test.

The team members commanding drives by a test rover last week stayed away
from the building with the sandbox. They assessed the results of each
commanded drive only from the images and other data communicated from
the test rover, the same way the team does for daily operations of the
rovers that are on Mars.

"We conducted this round of testing under more flight-like conditions to
test the team's ability to make very complex extraction driving
decisions using only the data sent back from the rover," said Mars
Exploration Rover Project Manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The test began on Oct. 12 and ran five days on an accelerated schedule
of two Martian days' worth of commanding every day. The rover team also
operated both Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, while conducting this
readiness test at JPL.

Spirit became embedded in soft soil at a site called "Troy" five months
ago, more than five years into a mission on Mars that was originally
scheduled to last for three months. The rover team suspended further
driving attempts with Spirit while evaluating possibilities from tests
performed at JPL simulating the Troy situation.

Current plans call for an independent panel to review Spirit driving
plans in late October, following analysis of results from the readiness
test. Unless that review recommends any further preparations, Spirit
will probably begin extraction moves within two weeks after the review.

Spirit has spent much of its time at Troy actively examining its
surroundings, including analysis of layered soil at the site. In
September, a new issue began affecting operations. Data from Spirit
indicated that a brake on the motor that rotates the rover's dish-shaped
high-gain antenna was not working correctly. The team has been getting
more diagnostic data and developing a work-around strategy similar to
work-arounds already used for rover-motor brakes that showed similar
symptoms earlier.

For more updates, please visit the Free Spirit site:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/freespirit/
Received on Tue 20 Oct 2009 12:41:06 PM PDT