PeterRoss
Our friendly neighborhood Putinist
I guess Tiger meant not geological forces but atmospherical ones.
News Spirit Mars rover 'stuck for good'
- Thread starter Bj
- Start date
JamesG
Orbinaut
Erosion and sedimentation are geological forces.
indeed...Corrosion is very slow on Mars- there is no liquid water, and the atmosphere is very thin and rather inert.
There is also quite little regolith movement. There are no flash floods, and no plant or animal life to disturb the rover. The only thing that would bury the rover would a dunefield, and this depends on location etc.
If, for comparison, Spirit got stuck in my native Highveld climate, it would have things much worse- water and air would corrode it, rain would wash away soil and bury it, grass would grow underneath it, birds would roost on the camera mast, insects would nest in the wheels, criminals would steal the gold foil and wiring, etc etc.
Machinery on Mars actually has it good.
As much as I would want to see Spirit returned to a Terran museum, Mars-to-Earth shipping would probably be prohibitive and occupied mostly by geological samples.
Perhaps the best solution would be to place the rover in an environmentally sealed transparent case, in a dune-preventative region, such as the summit of one of the Columbia Hills, if planetarily shipping it to a Martian museum is impossible.
I see an attempt to cannibalise Mars probes for a manned colony utterly futile. Seriously, what are you going to use these rovers for?
And marooned astronauts? Come on. Red Planet was not real life, people.
RisingFury
OBSP developer
Well, her job is not done yet. Now she's gonna investigate the atmosphere, the effect of water and the core 
SiberianTiger
News Sifter
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2008
- Messages
- 5,398
- Reaction score
- 8
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Khimki
- Website
- tigerofsiberia.livejournal.com
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jul/HQ_10-182_Spirit_Hibernation.html
July 30, 2010
RELEASE : 10-182
NASA's Hibernating Mars Rover May Not Call Home
WASHINGTON -- NASA mission controllers have not heard from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit since March 22, and the rover is facing its toughest challenge yet -- trying to survive the harsh Martian winter.
The rover team anticipated Spirit would go into a low-power "hibernation" mode since the rover was not able to get to a favorable slope for its fourth Martian winter, which runs from May through November. The low angle of sunlight during these months limits the power generated from the rover's solar panels. During hibernation, the rover suspends communications and other activities so available energy can be used to recharge and heat batteries, and to keep the mission clock running.
On July 26, mission managers began using a paging technique called "sweep and beep" in an effort to communicate with Spirit.
"Instead of just listening, we send commands to the rover to respond back to us with a communications beep," said John Callas, project manager for Spirit and Opportunity at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "If the rover is awake and hears us, she will send us that beep."
Based on models of Mars' weather and its effect on available power, mission managers believe that if Spirit responds, it most likely will be in the next few months. However, there is a very distinct possibility Spirit may never respond.
"It will be the miracle from Mars if our beloved rover phones home," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program in Washington. "It's never faced this type of severe condition before -- this is unknown territory."
Because most of the rover's heaters were not being powered this winter, Spirit is likely experiencing its coldest internal temperatures yet -- minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit. During three previous Martian winters, Spirit communicated about once or twice a week with Earth and used its heaters to stay warm while parked on a sun-facing slope for the winter. As a result, the heaters were able to keep internal temperatures above minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Spirit is designed to wake up from its hibernation and communicate with Earth when its battery charge is adequate. But if the batteries have lost too much power, Spirit's clock may stop and lose track of time. The rover could still reawaken, but it would not know the time of day, a situation called a "mission-clock fault." Spirit would start a new timer to wake up every four hours and listen for a signal from Earth for 20 minutes of every hour while the sun is up.
The earliest date the rover could generate enough power to send a beep to Earth was calculated to be around July 23. However, mission managers don't anticipate the batteries will charge adequately until late September to mid-October. It may be even later if the rover is in a mission-clock fault mode. If Spirit does wake up, mission managers will do a complete health check on the rover's instruments and electronics.
Based on previous Martian winters, the rover team anticipates the increasing haziness in the sky over Spirit will offset longer daylight for the next two months. The amount of solar energy available to Spirit then will increase until the southern Mars summer solstice in March 2011. If we haven't heard from it by March, it is unlikely that we will ever hear from it.
"This has been a long winter for Spirit, and a long wait for us," said Steve Squyres, the principal investigator for NASA's two rovers who is based at Cornell University. "Even if we never heard from Spirit again, I think her scientific legacy would be secure. But we're hopeful we will hear from her, and we're eager to get back to doing science with two rovers again."
Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, began exploring Mars in January 2004 on missions planned to last three months. Spirit has been nearly stationary since April 2009, while Opportunity is driving toward a large crater named Endeavour. Opportunity covered more distance in 2009 than in any prior year. Both rovers have made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life.
July 30, 2010
RELEASE : 10-182
NASA's Hibernating Mars Rover May Not Call Home
WASHINGTON -- NASA mission controllers have not heard from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit since March 22, and the rover is facing its toughest challenge yet -- trying to survive the harsh Martian winter.
The rover team anticipated Spirit would go into a low-power "hibernation" mode since the rover was not able to get to a favorable slope for its fourth Martian winter, which runs from May through November. The low angle of sunlight during these months limits the power generated from the rover's solar panels. During hibernation, the rover suspends communications and other activities so available energy can be used to recharge and heat batteries, and to keep the mission clock running.
On July 26, mission managers began using a paging technique called "sweep and beep" in an effort to communicate with Spirit.
"Instead of just listening, we send commands to the rover to respond back to us with a communications beep," said John Callas, project manager for Spirit and Opportunity at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "If the rover is awake and hears us, she will send us that beep."
Based on models of Mars' weather and its effect on available power, mission managers believe that if Spirit responds, it most likely will be in the next few months. However, there is a very distinct possibility Spirit may never respond.
"It will be the miracle from Mars if our beloved rover phones home," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program in Washington. "It's never faced this type of severe condition before -- this is unknown territory."
Because most of the rover's heaters were not being powered this winter, Spirit is likely experiencing its coldest internal temperatures yet -- minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit. During three previous Martian winters, Spirit communicated about once or twice a week with Earth and used its heaters to stay warm while parked on a sun-facing slope for the winter. As a result, the heaters were able to keep internal temperatures above minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Spirit is designed to wake up from its hibernation and communicate with Earth when its battery charge is adequate. But if the batteries have lost too much power, Spirit's clock may stop and lose track of time. The rover could still reawaken, but it would not know the time of day, a situation called a "mission-clock fault." Spirit would start a new timer to wake up every four hours and listen for a signal from Earth for 20 minutes of every hour while the sun is up.
The earliest date the rover could generate enough power to send a beep to Earth was calculated to be around July 23. However, mission managers don't anticipate the batteries will charge adequately until late September to mid-October. It may be even later if the rover is in a mission-clock fault mode. If Spirit does wake up, mission managers will do a complete health check on the rover's instruments and electronics.
Based on previous Martian winters, the rover team anticipates the increasing haziness in the sky over Spirit will offset longer daylight for the next two months. The amount of solar energy available to Spirit then will increase until the southern Mars summer solstice in March 2011. If we haven't heard from it by March, it is unlikely that we will ever hear from it.
"This has been a long winter for Spirit, and a long wait for us," said Steve Squyres, the principal investigator for NASA's two rovers who is based at Cornell University. "Even if we never heard from Spirit again, I think her scientific legacy would be secure. But we're hopeful we will hear from her, and we're eager to get back to doing science with two rovers again."
Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, began exploring Mars in January 2004 on missions planned to last three months. Spirit has been nearly stationary since April 2009, while Opportunity is driving toward a large crater named Endeavour. Opportunity covered more distance in 2009 than in any prior year. Both rovers have made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life.
Orbinaut Pete
ISSU Project Manager
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2008
- Messages
- 4,261
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 0
Some more stories on this:
Spaceflight Now: "Will Mars rover Spirit eventually phone home?".
SPACE.com: "Mars Rover Spirit May Not Survive Martian Winter".
Discovery News: "Mars Rover Spirit May Never Wake from Deep Sleep".
The Planetary Society Blog: "JPL begins actively hailing Spirit -- but is trying to manage your expectations (an editorial)".
Spaceflight Now: "Will Mars rover Spirit eventually phone home?".
SPACE.com: "Mars Rover Spirit May Not Survive Martian Winter".
Discovery News: "Mars Rover Spirit May Never Wake from Deep Sleep".
The Planetary Society Blog: "JPL begins actively hailing Spirit -- but is trying to manage your expectations (an editorial)".
NASA TV Video: "Spirit Hibernating, May Not Call Home".
Orbinaut Pete
ISSU Project Manager
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2008
- Messages
- 4,261
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 0
Unstung
Active member
Speaking of Spirit... an update.
SPACE.com: "NASA Trying Again to Awaken Silent Spirit Rover on Mars"
SPACE.com: "NASA Trying Again to Awaken Silent Spirit Rover on Mars"
agentgonzo
Grounded since '09
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2008
- Messages
- 1,649
- Reaction score
- 4
- Points
- 38
- Location
- Hampshire, UK
- Website
- orbiter.quorg.org
Nasa are going to give her one more month before pulling the plug and wishing a final (and probably unheard) goodbye to Spirit.
Pinguinboy
50.000 years old lifeform
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2008
- Messages
- 219
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Mare Infinitus; 55 Cancri
- Website
- www.facebook.com
May The Probe start the vessel Spirit to continue his good job of gathering galactic information. May The Probe bless the Spirit! 
agentgonzo
Grounded since '09
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2008
- Messages
- 1,649
- Reaction score
- 4
- Points
- 38
- Location
- Hampshire, UK
- Website
- orbiter.quorg.org
Nasa have finally conceded to the death of Spirit. May her soul be committed to the heavens and her metallic body rest as a monument to her formidable achievements. The transmissions today will be NASA's last attempt to re-establish communication with her.
N_Molson
Addon Developer
Spaceflight Now
[FONT=VERDANA, ARIAL, HELVETICA, SANS-SERIF][SIZE=+2]NASA closes book on Spirit rover's historic mission[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=VERDANA, ARIAL, HELVETICA, SANS-SERIF][SIZE=-2]BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: May 24, 2011
[/SIZE][/FONT]NASA's immobilized, crippled Spirit rover likely succumbed to cold temperatures during the last Martian winter, and officials will cease attempts to regain contact with the intrepid robot this week, the agency announced Tuesday.
More than 14 months after last hearing from the rover, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory believe the robot's internal components and electrical connections were damaged from cold temperatures in frigid Martian winter.
Temperatures inside the rover likely dipped to minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit, or perhaps even colder, according to NASA.
Spirit last communicated with Earth on March 22, 2010.
"Engineers' assessments in recent months have shown a very low probability for recovering communications with Spirit," a NASA statement said.
Officials predicted the best opportunity to hear from Spirit again would be by March of this year, when the sun was highest in the sky during the Red Planet's southern summer solstice. But repeated listening attempts and radio transmissions to Spirit resulted in no signal.
"With inadequate energy to run its survival heaters, the rover likely experienced colder internal temperatures last year than in any of its prior six years on Mars," NASA said in a written statement. "Many critical components and connections would have been susceptible to damage from the cold."
Spirit departed Earth on top of a Delta 2 rocket in June 2003 and successfully parachuted to a bouncy, airbag-cushioned landing on Mars in January 2004.
The rover accumulated 4.8 miles of driving across the basin of Gusev Crater and climbed the Columbia Hills, stopping to study numerous rocks and geologic features. Spirit ultimately found evidence Mars may have once harbored a habitable environment for microbial life.
Spirit radioed data back to Earth for more than six years, vastly eclipsing the 90-day duration of its baseline mission. The probe carried a suite of cameras, a robot arm with a tool to grind into rocks, a microscopic imager and several spectrometers to measure mineral composition.
But two of Spirit's six wheels stopped rotating, and the rover stalled out in a sand pit in May 2009. Months of analysis and extraction attempts failed to get Spirit moving again, stranding the rover on a slope with its solar panels facing away from the sun for the Martian winter.
During previous winters, NASA positioned Spirit on north-facing slopes to maximize electricity production and power critical heaters keeping the craft's internal systems warm.
Spirit's twin rover, Opportunity, continues driving across a flat plain on the other side of Mars, having racked up more than 18 miles on its odometer since landing in January 2004.
Both rovers exceeded their design lifetimes and returned much more science than expected, according to researchers.
NASA says its network of deep space communications antennas and two Mars orbiters that can relay communications need to prepare for the launch of the agency's next mission to the Red Planet in November.
The Mars Science Laboratory is scheduled to blast off Nov. 25 and land on Mars in August 2012. The mission's Curiosity rover is nearly five times heavier than Spirit and Opportunity.
"We're now transitioning assets to support the November launch of our next generation Mars rover, Curiosity," said Dave Lavery, NASA's program executive for solar system exploration. "However, while we no longer believe there is a realistic probability of hearing from Spirit, the Deep Space Network may occasionally listen for any faint signals when the schedule permits."
[FONT=VERDANA, ARIAL, HELVETICA, SANS-SERIF][SIZE=-2]
[/SIZE][/FONT]
---------- Post added at 11:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:09 AM ----------
That was a brave, good little probe.
May its electronic soul join the Probe in the afterlife
[FONT=VERDANA, ARIAL, HELVETICA, SANS-SERIF][SIZE=+2]NASA closes book on Spirit rover's historic mission[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=VERDANA, ARIAL, HELVETICA, SANS-SERIF][SIZE=-2]BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: May 24, 2011
[/SIZE][/FONT]NASA's immobilized, crippled Spirit rover likely succumbed to cold temperatures during the last Martian winter, and officials will cease attempts to regain contact with the intrepid robot this week, the agency announced Tuesday.
More than 14 months after last hearing from the rover, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory believe the robot's internal components and electrical connections were damaged from cold temperatures in frigid Martian winter.
Temperatures inside the rover likely dipped to minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit, or perhaps even colder, according to NASA.
Spirit last communicated with Earth on March 22, 2010.
"Engineers' assessments in recent months have shown a very low probability for recovering communications with Spirit," a NASA statement said.
Officials predicted the best opportunity to hear from Spirit again would be by March of this year, when the sun was highest in the sky during the Red Planet's southern summer solstice. But repeated listening attempts and radio transmissions to Spirit resulted in no signal.
"With inadequate energy to run its survival heaters, the rover likely experienced colder internal temperatures last year than in any of its prior six years on Mars," NASA said in a written statement. "Many critical components and connections would have been susceptible to damage from the cold."
Spirit departed Earth on top of a Delta 2 rocket in June 2003 and successfully parachuted to a bouncy, airbag-cushioned landing on Mars in January 2004.
The rover accumulated 4.8 miles of driving across the basin of Gusev Crater and climbed the Columbia Hills, stopping to study numerous rocks and geologic features. Spirit ultimately found evidence Mars may have once harbored a habitable environment for microbial life.
Spirit radioed data back to Earth for more than six years, vastly eclipsing the 90-day duration of its baseline mission. The probe carried a suite of cameras, a robot arm with a tool to grind into rocks, a microscopic imager and several spectrometers to measure mineral composition.
But two of Spirit's six wheels stopped rotating, and the rover stalled out in a sand pit in May 2009. Months of analysis and extraction attempts failed to get Spirit moving again, stranding the rover on a slope with its solar panels facing away from the sun for the Martian winter.
During previous winters, NASA positioned Spirit on north-facing slopes to maximize electricity production and power critical heaters keeping the craft's internal systems warm.
Spirit's twin rover, Opportunity, continues driving across a flat plain on the other side of Mars, having racked up more than 18 miles on its odometer since landing in January 2004.
Both rovers exceeded their design lifetimes and returned much more science than expected, according to researchers.
NASA says its network of deep space communications antennas and two Mars orbiters that can relay communications need to prepare for the launch of the agency's next mission to the Red Planet in November.
The Mars Science Laboratory is scheduled to blast off Nov. 25 and land on Mars in August 2012. The mission's Curiosity rover is nearly five times heavier than Spirit and Opportunity.
"We're now transitioning assets to support the November launch of our next generation Mars rover, Curiosity," said Dave Lavery, NASA's program executive for solar system exploration. "However, while we no longer believe there is a realistic probability of hearing from Spirit, the Deep Space Network may occasionally listen for any faint signals when the schedule permits."
[FONT=VERDANA, ARIAL, HELVETICA, SANS-SERIF][SIZE=-2]
[/SIZE][/FONT]
---------- Post added at 11:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:09 AM ----------
That was a brave, good little probe.
May its electronic soul join the Probe in the afterlife
Rtyh-12
Member
:hail: Spirit!
May he rest in peace...
Sure, this probe contributed a lot to the scientific community. But it's still just a piece of metal and plastic that gets data and sends it back to us. (don't kill me:shifty
May he rest in peace...
Sure, this probe contributed a lot to the scientific community. But it's still just a piece of metal and plastic that gets data and sends it back to us. (don't kill me:shifty
dougkeenan
Addon Developer
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2007
- Messages
- 617
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 16
- Location
- Indianapolis
- Website
- www.orbithangar.com
Spirit shall be an inspiration to little probes everywhere.
Hail Probe!
Hail Probe!
Similar threads
