Dark days for Mars rovers

[Akyra]

Cut straight from Astronomy.com's newsletter :

Having explored Mars for over 3 years during missions originally designed for three months, NASA's Mars rovers are facing perhaps their biggest challenge.

For nearly a month, a series of severe martian summer dust storms has affected rover Opportunity and, to a lesser extent, its companion, Spirit. The dust in the atmosphere over Opportunity has blocked 99 percent of direct sunlight to the rover, leaving only limited diffuse sky light to power it. Scientists fear the storms might continue for several days, if not weeks.

"We're rooting for our rovers to survive these storms, but they were never designed for conditions this intense," said Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

The rovers use electric heaters to keep some of their vital core electronics from becoming too cold. If the sunlight continues to be cut back for an extended period, the rovers will not be able to generate enough power to keep themselves warm and operate at all, even in a near-dormant state.

Before the dust storms began blocking sunlight last month, Opportunity's solar panels had been producing about 700 watt hours of electricity per day, enough to light a 100-watt bulb for seven hours. When dust in the air reduced the panels' daily output to less than 400 watt hours, the rover team suspended driving and most observations, including use of the robotic arm, cameras and spectrometers to study the site where Opportunity is located.

On July 17, the output from Opportunity's solar panels dropped to 148 watt hours, the lowest point for either rover. The next day, Opportunity's solar-panel output dropped even lower, to 128 watt hours.

NASA engineers are taking measures to protect the rovers, especially Opportunity, which is experiencing the brunt of the dust storm. The rovers are showing robust survival characteristics. Spirit, in a location where the storm is currently less severe, has been instructed to conserve battery power by limiting its activities.

"We are taking more aggressive action with both rovers than we needed before," said John Callas, project manager for the twin rovers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

By Opportunity's 1,236th martian day last week, driving and all science observations had already been suspended. The rover still used more energy than its solar panels could generate on that day, drawing down its battery. "The only thing left to cut were some of the communication sessions," Callas said.

To further minimize the amount of energy Opportunity uses, mission controllers sent commands July 18 instructing the rover to refrain from communicating with Earth for the next two days. This is the first time either of the rovers has been told to skip communications for a day or more in order to conserve energy. Engineers calculate that skipping communications sessions should lower daily energy use to less than 130 watt hours.

A possible outcome of this storm is that one or both rovers could be damaged permanently or even disabled. Engineers will assess the capability of each rover after the storm clears.

Let's just hope those little buggers can stick it out, be a shame to lose them now. I also read somewhere that these storms might conceal most of the landscape detail of Mars this year if they are still raging come December.

[mpeniak]

I am sure they'll survive that. Both rovers are exceptionally good in surviving under hardest conditions. Lets hope for best

Martin

[Astroman]

If the solar panels are unable to generate power to charge the batteries, and the batteries discharge too far, the rovers will not be able to respond to commands to "wake up", or save energy or anything. Once the batteries go, it's over. These storms can rage for months, and already have. I hope they survive, too, but it doesn't look promising. It's all well and good to say, "Well, they lasted x-times longer than we thought, and we got lots of bonus science while it lasted", but anytime a mission ends in this fashion, it's hard on the teams that put them together.

I was at the "Farewell, Galileo" conference at U of A when they crashed that probe into the atmosphere, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house, even given the mountains of data returned, (and still being analyzed, btw).

It's tough.

[jonifive]

I hope I am still here to witness the first human to visit the rovers on Mars. It amazes me everytime I think about humans controlling machines on another planet. Incredible stuff. It is a shame that the general population don't seem to care at all and this astounding voyage of discovery seems to only inspire the scientific and astronomical community. What a shame that we have become so insular.

JV

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

If there were an option to vote one rover out, the interest would be "astronomical".

Kaptain Klevtsov

[Akyra]

[Annoying Big Brother Presenter Voice]

Today on the Mars landscape, Spirit rover has been out on the crater edge for 11 minutes and 43 seconds. Opportunity has been sleeping for the past 48 hours. All the rovers are out in the garden I mean open. Who goes.... you decide!

[/Annoying Big Brother Presenter Voice]

[barkis]

I have enormous respect for these wonderful robotic masterpieces, and their creators. So much so, I call on the bodies who decide such matters, to officially name them as the first Earth citizens of Mars. It will break my heart if either or both die. The science, and the visions of the red planet these wonderful little creations have supplied us, is nothing short of miraculous, and it's a damned shame that only a minute portion of the worlds population even care. Yes, I know there are more important things in the world to worry about is the usual cry. But in my estimation, these sort of outcries usually come from the more shallow of the belly achers.

I wish Opportunity and Spirit the best of health, and I pray they both survive. Now I'm going off to the garage for a good weep, and I don't care who knows it.

Ron.