News about Spirit and Opportunity on Mars...

[mickw]

The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) folks that operate the Spirit and Opportunity robots on the red planet have gotten some bad news.
A directive has come from NASA Headquarters to take a 40 percent financial cut in their program — some $4 million in the remaining months of fiscal year 2008.

More:  http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080324-mars-rovers-update.html

We're not the only ones then   

[Rick]

Nasa's robotic rover Opportunity is driving out of a giant crater on Mars nearly a year after its dangerous descent to examine exposed bedrock.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7584260.stm

[Rick]

NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity is about to set off on what may be its final odyssey - a seven-mile (11.3 km) jaunt to a crater around 20 times larger than the Victoria Crater from which it extricated itself earlier this month.

The distant feature, dubbed Endeavour, is 13.7 miles (22 km) across and 1,000 ft (300m) deep. It's described by Steve Squyres, principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and twin rover Spirit, as "staggeringly large compared to anything we've seen before".

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/23/opportunity_jaunt/

[Rick]

The US space agency is to send its Mars rover Opportunity on a two-year trek to try to reach a crater called Endeavour.

The robot will have to move about 11km to get to its new target - a distance that would double what it has already achieved on the planet.

Endeavour is much bigger than anything investigated to date, and will allow a broader range of rocks to be studied.

Opportunity arrived on Mars in January 2004 on a mission scheduled initially to last just three months.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7630617.stm

[Rick]

NASA's Mars rover Spirit passed the fifth anniversary of its arrival on the Red Planet on 3 January 2004 - an achievement which will be matched on 24 January by its twin Opportunity.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/05/mars_rovers_anniversary/

[Rick]

A former advertising copywriter and web-biz maven turned inventor and rocket entrepreneur has proposed a novel plan for disposing of NASA's soon-to-be-retired space shuttles. Eric Knight, perhaps most famous for temporarily mislaying the ashes of James "Scotty from Star Trek" Doohan, believes that a pair of shuttles should be lashed together and sent to Mars.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/07/scotty_ashes_man_mars_shuttle_plan/ 

[Rick]

NASA scientists are putting together diagnostic tests to find out why one of the space agency's two Mars rovers began failing to respond to instructions over the weekend.

The Mars rover Spirit started acting erratically early this week, according to NASA late on Wednesday afternoon. Spirit and its Mars rover companion, Opportunity, have been working on the red planet for five years despite initially being given an on-planet life span of three months.

More on Computerworld.com

[Rick]

The team controlling NASA's Mars rover Spirit is planning to carry out some diagnostic tests on the venerable vehicle after it earlier this week indulged in some "unexplained behavior", as the agency puts it.

On Sunday, Spirit reported that it had "received its driving commands for the day but had not moved" - a correct decision if it didn't know its orientation. Accordingly, NASA on Tuesday commanded the rover to re-establish its bearings by pinpointing the sun with its camera.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/29/rover_erratic_behaviour/

..and from the BBC: Glitch as Mars rover phones home

The rover Spirit failed to carry out directions it received on Sunday, its 1800th day on the Martian surface.

Another anomaly, according to Nasa, was that the day's activities were not saved to the rover's long-term memory.

As of Wednesday, the rover seems to have recovered and is responsive to commands from Earth.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7858125.stm

[mickw]

NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, which has been circling the red planet for nearly eight years, needs a risky reboot to address a long-known, potential vulnerability in its memory system.

The Odyssey team plans to perform the operation next week.

The chief concern about the potential memory vulnerability stems from the length of time that the spacecraft has been exposed to the accumulated effects of the space radiation environment since the last reboot, which occurred on Oct. 31, 2003.

More:   http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090305-odyssey-reboot.html

[Mac]

needs a risky reboot to address a long-known, potential vulnerability in its memory system.

Ha. that'll teach them to use windows.

potential vulnerability in its memory system

Any more info on what this vulnerability is?

[mickw]

SP3 has buggered it 

[mickw]

On its way toward its next destination on Mars, NASA's Spirit rover took a glance back at the tracks it has made on its journey, which exposed a bright patch of dirt.

Spirit is on its way from a low plateau called "Home Plate," where it spent the Martian winter, to two features dubbed von Braun and Goddard

More:   http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090401-spirit-tracks.html

[mickw]

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit mysteriously rebooted its computer twice over the weekend; mission controllers are examining data sent back by Spirit to see if they can diagnose the problem behind the glitch.

"While we don't have an explanation yet, we do know that Spirit's batteries are charged, the solar arrays are producing energy and temperatures are well within allowable ranges. We have time to respond carefully and investigate this thoroughly," said Spirit project manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "The rover is in a stable operations state called automode and taking care of itself. It could stay in this stable mode for some time if necessary while we diagnose the problem."

More:   http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090414-spirit-reboot.html

Vista, we have a problem....................................................   

[Rick]

In what could be an attempt to trump Jesus of Nazareth's record for divine Easter resurrections, NASA has said its Mars Exploration Rover Spirit mysteriously rebooted twice during the holiday weekend.

"While we don't have an explanation yet, we do know that Spirit's batteries are charged, the solar arrays are producing energy and temperatures are well within allowable ranges," said John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a statement.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/14/nasa_reboot_over_easter_weekend/

[mickw]

After more than five years on Mars, NASA's tireless Opportunity rover trundled past the 10-mile mark on its odometer while on its way to its next target, Endeavor Crater, the agency said today.

Opportunity reached this marker after a 50-meter (164-feet) drive on sol 1,897 (sols are Martian days, which are about 40 minutes longer than Earth days). The rover's total odometry now sits at 16,133.96 meters or 10.025 miles.

"For a vehicle that was designed to travel 1 km over its lifetime, going 16+ km is a pretty substantial accomplishment!" said Steve Squyres of Cornell University in an email to SPACE.com. Squyres is the lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Rover Project.

More:   http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090526-opp-10-miles.html