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JPL Mars Sandbox Testing Continues For Spirit Extraction
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 27, 2009 Mars rover team members have begun a new phase of testing at JPL - using longer-duration experiments - in their preparations for driving Spirit again on Mars. They have completed assessments of individual maneuvers, using the test rover in a box of sloped, soft soil that simulates conditions at the patch of Martian ground called "Troy," where Spirit's wheels have dug themselves hub-deep. Tests have began last week that are using combinations of the individual maneuvers and longer-duration drives. These tests will evaluate a full escape strategy for Spirit. With the test rover temporarily removed from the box on Friday, July 24, the rover team members renewed the test setup. They tamped the soil in the uphill half of the box with more pressure than the soil on the downhill side. This was done to offer a closer simulation to the conditions at Troy, where Spirit's wheels have not churned up the soil as much on the uphill side. At Troy, meanwhile, Spirit is continuing to use all of its tools to examine the environment around it.
Poking 'Cyclops Eye' - sols 1968-1974, July 16-23, 2009: The embedding of the rover back on Sol 1899 (May 6, 2009) has exposed a subsurface emplacement of likely remobilized minerals with a strong water association. On Sol 1968 (July 16, 2009), the microscopic imager (MI) collected images for a mosaic of the surface target "Olive." Then, the Mossbauer (MB) spectrometer was placed on target "Cyclops_Eye_4" for a multi-sol integration over the weekend. On Sol 1972 (July 20, 2009), the rock abrasion tool (RAT) performed a seek-scan procedure in preparation for a RAT grind of a surface target. On the next sol, the RAT ground the target "Cyclops_Eye_5" and then the APXS was placed for an integration. The rover's panoramic camera (Pancam) and miniature thermal emission spectrometer (Mini-TES) continue to collect observations of selected remote targets, including detailed images of the vertical section of the west side of Home Plate. As of Sol 1974 (July 23, 2009), Spirit's solar array energy production is 935 watt-hours with atmospheric opacity (tau) of 0.376. On Sol 1973 (July 22, 2009), the dust factor was 0.819, indicating that 84.4 percent of sunlight hitting the array was penetrating the layer of dust on it. Total odometry remains at 7,729.93 meters (4.80 miles). Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Mars Rovers at JPL Mars Rovers at Cornell Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
Opportunity Heads Toward 'Block Island' CobblePasadena CA (SPX) Jul 24, 2009 Opportunity had been driving to the west to go around a large field of impassable dunes on her long way to Endeavour crater. On Sol 1947 (July 16, 2009), the rover drove a little over 70 meters (230 feet) to the west, slightly north. On the next sol, the rover performed a Mars quake experiment, reading the inertial measurement unit (IMU) accelerometers while stationary. Another westward ... read more |
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