News about Spirit and Opportunity on Mars...

[Rick]

NASA kills comms with deceased Mars rover

NASA will today end attempts to contact its Spirit Mars rover, killed by lack of sunlight during a "stressful" Martian winter.

The agency last heard from Spirit on 22 March 2010, when it transmitted from the sand trap in which it had been stuck since April 2009. The orientation of its solar panels led scientists to conclude it probably wouldn't be able to generate enough power to survive a harsh Red Planet winter, and as the rover's internal temperature fell to an estimated -55°C, it was doomed to an icy death.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/25/rip_spirit/

[Rick]

Opportunity Rolling Again After Fifth Mars Winter

With its daily supply of solar energy increasing, NASA's durable Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has driven off the sunward-tilted outcrop, called Greeley Haven, where it worked during its fifth Martian winter.

Opportunity's first drive since Dec. 26, 2011, took the rover about 12 feet (3.67 meters) northwest and downhill on Tuesday, May 8. The rover operations team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., received confirmation of the completed drive late Tuesday, relayed from NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-131

[Rick]

Dark Shadows on Mars: Scene from Durable NASA Rover

Like a tourist waiting for just the right lighting to snap a favorite shot during a stay at the Grand Canyon, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has used a low sun angle for a memorable view of a large Martian crater.

The resulting view catches a shadow of the rover in the foreground and the giant basin in the distance. Opportunity is perched on the western rim of Endeavour Crater looking eastward. The crater spans about 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter. Opportunity has been studying the edge of Endeavour Crater since arriving there in August 2011.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-143

[Rick]

Opportunity in Standby as Commanding Moratorium Ends

During a moratorium on commanding this month while Mars passed nearly behind the sun - a phase called solar conjunction -- NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity entered a type of standby mode.

Mission controllers learned of the changed status on April 27 when they first heard from Opportunity after the period of minimized communication during the solar conjunction. They prepared fresh commands today (April 29) for sending to the rover to resume operations.

Update: NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project received confirmation from Mars this morning (May 1) that the Opportunity rover is back under ground control, executing a sequence of commands sent by the rover team. Opportunity is no longer in standby automode and has resumed normal operations.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-151

[Mike]

Now nearly a decade into her planned 3 month only expedition to Mars, NASA's longest living rover Opportunity, struck gold and has just discovered the strongest evidence to date for an environment favorable to ancient Martian biology – and she has set sail hunting for a motherlode of new clues amongst fabulous looking terrain!!

Barely two weeks ago in mid-May 2013, Opportunity's analysis of a new rock target named "Esperance" confirmed that it is composed of a "clay that had been intensely altered by relatively neutral pH water – representing the most favorable conditions for biology that Opportunity has yet seen in the rock histories it has encountered," NASA said in a statement.

The finding of a fractured rock loaded with clay minerals and ravaged by flowing liquid water in which life could have thrived amounts to a scientific home run for the golf cart sized rover!
"Water that moved through fractures during this rock's history would have provided more favorable conditions for biology than any other wet environment recorded in rocks Opportunity has seen," said the mission's principal investigator Prof. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/102224/opportunity-discovers-clays-favorable-to-martian-biology-and-sets-sail-for-motherlode-of-new-clues/

[Rick]

Overhead View of Mars Rover 10 Years After Launch

An image from Mars orbit taken 10 years after the launch of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the long-lived rover on its trek to a new destination on Mars.

The color image taken July 8, 2013, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter catches Opportunity crossing relatively level ground called "Botany Bay" on its way to a rise called "Solander Point."

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-224

[Rick]

Mars Rover Opportunity Working at Edge of 'Solander'

NASA's Mars rover Opportunity is studying the area of contact between a rock layer formed in acidic wet conditions long ago and an even older one that may be from a more neutral wet environment.

This geological contact line recording a change in environmental conditions billions of years ago lies at the foot of a north-facing slope, "Solander Point," that the rover's operators chose months ago as Opportunity's work area for the coming Martian southern hemisphere winter.

Opportunity has survived five Martian winters since it landed on Mars in January 2004. A northern slope would tilt the rover's solar panels toward the winter sun, providing an important boost in available power.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-250

[Rick]

Phantom rock suddenly 'appears' on the surface of Mars

"It's about the size of a jelly doughnut," Squyres told Discovery News. "It was a total surprise, we were like 'wait a second, that wasn't there before, it can't be right. Oh my god! It wasn't there before!' We were absolutely startled."

More: http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/1.569230

[Rick]

...and on APOD.

[Rick]

Opportunity Heads Uphill After Solving 'Doughnut' Riddle

Researchers have determined the now-infamous Martian rock resembling a jelly doughnut, dubbed Pinnacle Island, is a piece of a larger rock broken and moved by the wheel of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in early January.

Only about 1.5 inches wide (4 centimeters), the white-rimmed, red-centered rock caused a stir last month when it appeared in an image the rover took Jan. 8 at a location where it was not present four days earlier.

More recent images show the original piece of rock struck by the rover's wheel, slightly uphill from where Pinnacle Island came to rest.

More: http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/mer/mer20140214/

[Tony G]

And what? Are we now suppose to believe that.
This has got conspiracy written all over it.





Tony G

[Rick]

NASA Long-Lived Mars Opportunity Rover Passes 25 Miles of Driving

NASA's Opportunity Mars rover, which landed on the Red Planet in 2004, now holds the off-Earth roving distance record after accruing 25 miles (40 kilometers) of driving. The previous record was held by the Soviet Union's Lunokhod 2 rover.

"Opportunity has driven farther than any other wheeled vehicle on another world," said Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager John Callas, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "This is so remarkable considering Opportunity was intended to drive about one kilometer and was never designed for distance. But what is really important is not how many miles the rover has racked up, but how much exploration and discovery we have accomplished over that distance."

A drive of 157 feet (48 meters) on July 27 put Opportunity's total odometry at 25.01 miles (40.25 kilometers). This month's driving brought the rover southward along the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover had driven more than 20 miles (32 kilometers) before arriving at Endeavour Crater in 2011, where it has examined outcrops on the crater's rim containing clay and sulfate-bearing minerals. The sites are yielding evidence of ancient environments with less acidic water than those examined at Opportunity's landing site.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-245

[Rick]

Memory Reformat Planned for Opportunity Mars Rover

An increasing frequency of computer resets on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has prompted the rover team to make plans to reformat the rover's flash memory.

The resets, including a dozen this month, interfere with the rover's planned science activities, even though recovery from each incident is completed within a day or two.

Flash memory retains data even when power is off. It is the type used for storing photos and songs on smart phones or digital cameras, among many other uses. Individual cells within a flash memory sector can wear out from repeated use. Reformatting clears the memory while identifying bad cells and flagging them to be avoided.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-292

[Rick]

Mars Rover Opportunity's Vista Includes Long Tracks

From a ridgeline viewpoint, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recently recorded a scene looking back over its own tracks made from nearly half a mile (more than 700 meters) of southbound driving.

Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) recorded the component images on Aug. 15, 2014, from an elevated portion of the west rim of Endeavour Crater. A brief video places the scene into context with the rover's entire driving route of more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) since the mission's 2004 landing in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-304

[Rick]

Opportunity's Heading to a Small Crater Called 'Ulysses'

Opportunity is on the west rim of Endeavour Crater heading towards "Marathon Valley," a putative location for abundant clay minerals.

Recently, there were more Flash-related events. Two more "amnesia" events occurred on the evenings of Sols 3786 and 3789 (Sept. 17 and Sept. 20, 2014).

More: http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/status_opportunityAll.html#sol3792