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old Grump
07-21-2010, 12:11 PM
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA13197_modest.jpg

January 15, 2010 11:10 AM PST
Mars rover Spirit's days may be numbered
by Jennifer Guevin

The Spirit rover had been cruising around the Red Planet, along with its companion, Opportunity, since they both arrived six years ago this month. (Spirit landed on January 3, 2004, while Opportunity landed on January 24 of that year.) Their mission to send back photos and data about the Martian surface was expected to last a mere 90 days. Instead, the two traveling research bots blew away all expectations, continuing their treks year after year.

However, scientists warn that Spirit's most recent anniversary might have been its last. The rover became stuck in a sand trap nine months ago, after one of its wheels broke through a crusty layer of soil into a pocket of loose sand. It wasn't the first time Spirit has run into trouble. Its right-front wheel stopped working in 2006, and a month ago, its right-rear wheel began to fail.

Scientists continue to try to get Spirit out of the sand pit, but so far those efforts have been unsuccessful. Wiggling the wheels and rotating them very slowly have resulted in only minimal improvements in the situation. Next, NASA could try having Spirit drive backward or use its robotic arm to sculpt the ground directly in front of one of its wheels. But expectations are low, and on Wednesday, NASA said it is running out of maneuvers to attempt.

All of this is worsened by the fact that the rovers are solar-powered, which means they need to collect sunlight with their onboard solar panels in order to power their operations and create enough heat to survive the frigid winters on Mars.

In the southern hemisphere of Mars, where Spirit is trapped, it is currently autumn--so precious sunlight is declining with each day. The rover also happens to have settled into a position that's far from ideal for collecting what sunlight remains. It's tilted five degrees to the south, but the sun is in the north.

Even if Spirit cannot escape its sandy prison, all isn't necessarily lost--at least for now. Ray Arvidson, who's from Washington University in St. Louis and who also serves as deputy principal investigator for the rovers, says that if scientists can improve Spirit's tilt, it might be able to collect enough power to keep doing research right where it is.

"We can study the interior of Mars, monitor the weather, and continue examining the interesting deposits uncovered by Spirit's wheels," said Arvidson in a statement.

If the team cannot free Spirit or improve its angle, NASA estimates that the rover will run out of power in May--if not sooner.

Meanwhile, Spirit's sister rover, Opportunity, keeps rolling on. It is currently making the seven-mile trek from Mars' Victoria crater to the Endeavour crater to continue its research.

El Jefe
07-21-2010, 12:22 PM
Pretty damned impressive, kinda sad the little guys are gona croak eventually, silly I know.

swampdragon
07-21-2010, 02:19 PM
90 days became 6 years?
That's excellent!

El Jefe
07-21-2010, 02:29 PM
90 days became 6 years?
That's excellent!

They musta been built in the Ford truck plant in Kansas City. :dancing-banana-red-

Lysander
07-21-2010, 02:30 PM
I thought you meant "Land Rover" at first, which I would have found A) Shocking and B) Impossible (at least for anything not a Series I-III or Defender).

AK-J
07-21-2010, 02:33 PM
I thought you meant "Land Rover" at first, which I would have found A) Shocking and B) Impossible (at least for anything not a Series I-III or Defender).

LOL, I thought the same thing at first myself.

ATAK, Inc.
07-21-2010, 02:34 PM
24 times it's life expectancy, way impressive!!:thumbup:

Too bad Obama's shelf life was the reverse of that!

L1A1Rocker
07-21-2010, 02:38 PM
6 years and not one photo of that American flag that our astronauts put up there?! WTF man?

raxar
07-21-2010, 02:51 PM
90 days became 6 years?


typical government......

whiskeyman
07-21-2010, 10:38 PM
6 years and not one photo of that American flag that our astronauts put up there?! WTF man?

When did the astronauts go to Mars?

El Jefe
07-21-2010, 11:00 PM
When did the astronauts go to Mars?

You know in that one movie...

L1A1Rocker
07-21-2010, 11:04 PM
When did the astronauts go to Mars?

You missed that joke - maybe I should have put it in quotes. It was some dem woman in congras (shela jackson lee maybe) that made that statement on the House floor.

El Jefe
07-21-2010, 11:08 PM
You missed that joke - maybe I should have put it in quotes. It was some dem woman in congras (shela jackson lee maybe) that made that statement on the House floor.

Makes sense, she was talking about south and north vietnam the other day in a real time setting. She's oblivious to the 40 years since the north took over the south. Sheesh.

l921428x
07-22-2010, 02:33 AM
This is one of the most impressive things that engineers have ever done. I remember where I was when the first one landed and they were scared they
would not be able to get it off the lander. DARTH VADER voice " Impressive, Most Impressive. " Too bad Americas science light seems to be dimming.

swampdragon
07-22-2010, 02:41 AM
You know in that one movie...

"Mission to Mars" when they went inside the "face."
That was actually a really good movie.
I liked it anyways...

swampdragon
07-22-2010, 02:43 AM
This is one of the most impressive things that engineers have ever done. I remember where I was when the first one landed and they were scared they
would not be able to get it off the lander. DARTH VADER voice " Impressive, Most Impressive. " Too bad Americas science light seems to be dimming.

That's because there are too many people like Arnulf now who think NASA sucks.
It's a crying shame.

Oswald Bastable
07-22-2010, 03:52 AM
Probably the last NASA mission to Mars, now that they're focused on reaching out to muslims rather than space exploration...

old Grump
07-22-2010, 06:21 AM
Probably the last NASA mission to Mars, now that they're focused on reaching out to muslims rather than space exploration...

Obviously not headline news now but they backed away from that position quicker than they went into it. Seems like the tax paying public didn't much care for that. Apparently Obama was wrong when he declared to the French press that we were not a Chrisitan nation anymore and we are one of the worlsds largest Muslim nations.

old Grump
07-22-2010, 06:43 AM
March 24, 2010

Mars Rover Examines Odd Material at Small, Young Crater

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University


http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20100324a/Aloya_Sol2150_MI_th200.jpg



PASADENA, Calif -- Weird coatings on rocks beside a young Martian crater remain puzzling after a preliminary look at data from examination of the site by NASA's Opportunity rover.

The rover spent six weeks investigating the crater called "Concepción" before resuming its long journey this month. The crater is about 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter. Dark rays extending from it, as seen from orbit, flagged it in advance as a target of interest because the rays suggest the crater is young. An image from orbit showing Opportunity beside Concepción is at PIA12969 in the Photojournal.

The rocks ejected outward from the impact that dug Concepción are chunks of the same type of bedrock Opportunity has seen at hundreds of locations since landing in January 2004: soft, sulfate-rich sandstone holding harder peppercorn-size dark spheres like berries in a muffin. The little spheres, rich in iron, gained the nickname "blueberries."

"It was clear from the images that Opportunity took on the approach to Concepción that there was strange stuff on lots of the rocks near the crater," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit. "There's dark, grayish material coating faces of the rocks and filling fractures in them. At least part of it is composed of blueberries jammed together as close as you could pack them. We've never seen anything like this before."

Opportunity used tools on its robotic arm to examine this unusual material on a rock called "Chocolate Hills." In some places, the layer of closely packed spheres lies between thinner, smoother layers. "It looks like a blueberry sandwich," said Matt Golombek, a rover science-team member at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. An image of the coating material is at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA12970 .

Initial analysis of the coating's composition does not show any obvious component from whatever space rock hit Mars to dig the crater, but that is not a surprise, Golombek said. "The impact is so fast, most of the impactor vaporizes," he said. "Thin films of melt get thrown out, but typically the composition of the melt is the stuff that the impactor hit, rather than the impactor material."

The composition Opportunity found for the dark coating material fits at least two hypotheses being evaluated, and possibly others. One is that the material resulted from partial melting of blueberry-containing sandstone from the energy of the impact. Another is that it formed from filling of fractures in this type of rock before the impact occurred.

"It's possible that when you melt this rock, the sandstone melts before the blueberries do, leaving intact blueberries as part of a melt layer," Squyres said. "As an alternative, we know that this type of rock has fractures and that the sandstone can dissolve. Long ago, water flowing through fractures could have dissolved the sandstone and liberated blueberries that fell down into the fracture and packed together. In this hypothesis, the impact that excavated the crater did not play a role in forming this material, but split rocks along fractures so the material is exposed on the exterior like a coating."

Golombek said, "One consideration that jumps out is that we've been driving around this part of Mars for six years and never seen this stuff before, then we get to this young crater and it's coating rocks all around the crater. Sure looks like there's a connection, but it could just be a coincidence."

The observation that the rocks thrown from the crater have not yet eroded away much is evidence that the crater is young, confirming the suggestion from the dark rays. Squyres said, "We're not ready to attach a number to it, but this is really young. It is the youngest crater we've ever seen with Opportunity and probably the youngest either rover has seen."

One question Opportunity's visit did answer was about the dark rays: "We wondered before getting to Concepción why the rays are dark," Golombek said. "We found out that the rays are areas with blocks of light-toned sandstone ejected from the crater. They look dark from orbit because of the shadows that the blocks are casting when the orbital images are taken in mid-afternoon."

Since departing Concepción on March 9, Opportunity has driven 614 meters (2,014 feet) farther along the route to its long-term destination at Endeavour Crater, about 19 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter and still at a drive distance of more than 12 kilometers (7 miles).

Squyres said, "We're on the road again. We have a healthy rover and we have enough power for substantial drives. We want to get to Endeavour with a healthy rover. It takes a compelling target for us to stop and study. And Concepción was a compelling target."

###
Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov
NEWS RELEASE: 2010-096
http://marsrover.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20100324a.html

Just watched the PBS show about the NASA moon mission when we first sstepped on the surface. I thought about the technology and guts they had at the time. American made mostly. Now our technology is made in Where? Our guts are being spilled in Iraq for what? We can't protect our own borders or keep violent criminals in prison yet here comes the old Rover still chugging along as a reminder of what we used to be and could be again. No balls left in government and yet people still think we should vote for the same two parties because....................

I'm a crippled old man slowly losing my sight and hearing, legs shot, back hurts but still incredibly good looking. I would let them send my old carcass up in space to work on whatever I was still able to do even if I couldn't come back if it would help us get our squirrely asses back into space again.

Just give me a day off once in awhile, a 22 pistol and a target to shoot at and I would be a happy man. Anybody here think we would have pacemakers if we hadn't gone to space? That is where it is at. Out there is where our school is and where the future of our back sliding pathetic liberal nation. We need to get our asses back on those big honking rockets and do something before we get taken over by the outlaws and barbarians of Africa and Mexico. We need to get some real cooperation between us and France, Japan, India, anybody with gutsy scientists and a willingness to get their hands dirty with real science.

Or we can follow handjob Gore and the Climate change people and wring our hands pathetically while we cry in our chamomile tea.

Mark Ducati
07-22-2010, 07:04 AM
Yeah, I know its NASA... how much you wanna bet those failing wheels/parts were made in China? Knowing the government... it wouldn't surprise me.

cevulirn
07-22-2010, 10:26 AM
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/spirit.png
http://xkcd.com/695/

El Jefe
07-22-2010, 11:32 AM
Ah man, that's kinda sad.

HDR
07-22-2010, 08:21 PM
Yeah, I know its NASA... how much you wanna bet those failing wheels/parts were made in China? Knowing the government... it wouldn't surprise me.

It wouldn't surprise me either.

old Grump
07-22-2010, 08:30 PM
Wheels in the Sky

Engineers testing the rover in JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility
Mobility engineers Christopher Voorhees (left) and Brian Harrington test the rover's suspension and wheel capability on staggered ramps in JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility.
When Chris Voorhees thinks about wheels, he doesn't imagine the rubber hitting the road, but aluminum crawling across the surface of Mars. In fact, he has already seen some of his handiwork making its way across the red planet. One of the first jobs Voorhees was handed as an intern was stamping out over 1,000 stainless steel cleats for the Sojourner rover on NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission. Fast-forward six years and tack on a 365-pound weight-gain and mobility specialists are dealing with a whole new animal --the large twin "robot geologists" known as the Mars Exploration Rovers, launching in early summer 2003.

"We started with the Sojourner wheels as a base to work from," Voorhees said. "Because of many different engineering demands on the wheels, the wheels for our new rovers didn't mature until late in the game."

Mobility engineers were tasked with making the wheels lightweight, so as not to add any more weight to an already hefty spacecraft; compact, so that when the rover is stowed in the lander they would fit; and capable, so the twin geologists can maneuver off of the lander safely and climb rocks up to ten inches high. Basic parameters were set, based on the weight of the rover and the contact area on the surface and then the challenge began to make the wheels deliver on all requirements.

A Design to Keep on Turnin'

The rocker-bogie suspension that was developed for Sojourner, the first vehicle to rove on another planet, will be used again in a modified design. This flexible mobility system allows the wheels to conform to obstacles like rocks, strengthening their grip and maximizing their ability to clear any "road blocks." At 26 centimeters in diameter (a little over ten inches), these aluminum wheels are twice the size of those on Sojourner and are missing the recognizable sharp cleats.

"A big challenge is to be able to get enough traction to get through soil and over rocks but also to be benign enough to get off of the lander without getting entangled in the deflated airbags," Voorhees said. The design is "basically like a paddlewheel that is machined onto the outside of the wheel, providing both safety and capability."

Each wheel has its own drive and steering actuators, which control movement and direction. The internal volume that each wheel can hold was increased to house both systems within the wheel's crown-shaped design. When steered, the wheel's unique shape bears the load continuously from inside to outside and prevents it from riding up on its outside edge.

close-up of the Rovers wheels
This up-close photo shows the spiral flectures which act as shock absorbers and the orange Solimide that fills the flectures, preventing rocks and debris from interfering with the driving and steering actuators.

Hubcaps to Minimize the Shock

Inadvertently adding to the rovers' panache are the spiral flectures. The futuristic-looking "hubcaps" were chosen over dozens of other flecture and spoke options and are designed to absorb shock and to protect the rest of the vehicle during driving. Next Intent, a company in San Luis Obispo, California that specializes in machining complex shapes, manufactured the wheels. The overall wheel design allowed them to machine each wheel from one piece (or billet) of aluminum. Being able to use just one piece of aluminum minimizes what's called scar mass, or useless leftover material where parts would join and makes the wheel stronger, Voorhees noted.

The outside of the wheels are anodized, or covered with a black coating, to provide additional strength. This smooth surface also minimizes the threat of the wheels getting caught up in the deflated airbags.

The "orange filling" between the spaces in the spiral flecture is an open-cell foam called Solimide. It was cut into crescent shapes and bonded to the wheel.

"The idea came from a concern that because the wheel has an open geometry design to the drive and steering actuators, it could pick up rocks and debris and cause a problem," Voorhees said. "We needed to fill the gaps but still be flexible - we couldn't use a solid for shock absorption. Solimide maintains its flexibility even at very low temperatures so it's ideal for conditions on Mars."

Test Tracks: A Race against Time

rover wheel
View a video of Randy Lindemann, Mars Exploration Rover Mechanical Lead, discussing the design of the wheels.
Planning such a complex mission is, as Voorhees said, a race against time. Designs are fluid and subject to intense testing and subsequent change. While nothing can substitute for being on Mars, the next best thing is to run trials in simulated martian environments at the JPL's test beds. An obstacle course dubbed the "rock gauntlet" challenged test wheels to scale everything from small rocks to concrete blocks. Engineers also conducted airbag interaction tests in which they drove the wheels into the deflated airbags again and again until they had enough information to proceed with wheel design changes. The mobility team and the assembly test and launch operations team gathered to conduct ramp tests with the flight rovers to make sure the rover brains were communicating effectively with its legs and wheels.

Preparing for the Rover's First "Steps"

Preparing a robot to perform to exact specifications on a harsh planet 460 million kilometers (286 million miles) away is no easy task. Still the excitement of sending a spacecraft to another planet has not waned. While engineers are anxious to see Mars through the eyes of a rover again, they know that the deployment process will be slow and precise once the rovers land on Mars in January, 2004. Once the lander petals open and the rover "wakes up," it may take up to five days for it to drive off the lander.

"It's hard to explain the minutiae - everything has to work exactly as you plan," Voorhees said. "After every command sequence we give the rover, we have to wait to make sure everything is working properly before we proceed. And due to the delay in sending and receiving signals from Earth to Mars and back, it's like taking 20 minutes just to talk to yourself!"

When ground controllers confirm that all systems are working as they should, they will tackle the decision of which direction to go. Nearby obstacles like rocks or deflated airbags will determine the safest route to leave the tetrahedron-shaped lander. As it emerges from the lander, its interplanetary cocoon, the rover will not be breaking any speed records to conduct its research. Top speed for the rovers is five centimeters (two inches) per second. However, as many scientists and engineers are quick to point out, the goal is not to travel as far and fast as possible, but to uncover the most interesting science wherever it presents itself. And as long as the wheels do their job, Voorhees and the mobility team can live without wheelies.

Next Intent, a company in San Luis Obispo, California, home made wheels right here in the US of A and you have to admit they have done pretty amazing considering the conditions they had to work in.

swampdragon
07-22-2010, 08:41 PM
NASA should team up with those guys on that Robot Wars TV show.
They could make some cool stuff!

mriddick
07-22-2010, 08:45 PM
They musta been built in the Ford truck plant in Kansas City. :dancing-banana-red-

I heard louisville... :)

l921428x
07-23-2010, 02:15 AM
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/spirit.png
http://xkcd.com/695/

Yes Hal.

1 Patriot-of-many
07-23-2010, 03:43 PM
Anybody read Dark Mission by Richard C. Hoaglund? NASA's hiding a lot from us.

El Jefe
07-23-2010, 03:51 PM
Anybody read Dark Mission by Richard C. Hoaglund? NASA's hiding a lot from us.

Are you serious?

1 Patriot-of-many
07-23-2010, 04:06 PM
Ever read it? What is it you think he wrote incorrectly?

El Jefe
07-23-2010, 04:10 PM
Ever read it? What is it you think he wrote incorrectly?

I'm pretty sure he's a conspiracy kook. Ask yourself this; how could he possibly know what he claims to know?

cciota
07-23-2010, 04:25 PM
NASA should team up with those guys on that Robot Wars TV show.
They could make some cool stuff!

It's pretty sad but with Obama calling the shots, that's probably the only thing they will be able to do!

old Grump
07-23-2010, 05:02 PM
Whats really sad is the program started going to hell under the Republican administration. Bunch of frigging Luddites who are worse than the liberals. Want NASA to work right, get in their offices and clear out all the federal bureaucrats. I'd better quit here, this is a sore spot for Old Grump.

1 Patriot-of-many
07-24-2010, 08:59 AM
I'm pretty sure he's a conspiracy kook. Ask yourself this; how could he possibly know what he claims to know?

Well let's see. He was a NASA consultant to the Goddard Spaceflight Center in the post Apollo era, science advisor to Walter Cronkite and CBS news?

printerman
07-24-2010, 09:06 AM
Of course 6 years playing with robots doesn't imply that you think we've put man on the moon does it ....

old Grump
07-24-2010, 02:55 PM
Well let's see. He was a NASA consultant to the Goddard Spaceflight Center in the post Apollo era, science advisor to Walter Cronkite and CBS news?

Go to your room and eat a bar of soap you dummy you.