 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Spirit Rests During Dust Storm
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jan 04, 2007 A sudden dust storm cut short Spirit's investigation of a volcanic rock and kicked enough dust into the Martian atmosphere to drive solar power levels to an all-time low. Spirit's team of scientists and engineers decided to move the rover to a spot where the solar panels would be tilted toward the sun to increase the amount of electrical power available. The southern hemisphere dust storm lowered power levels to 267 watt-hours on Spirit's 1,061st sol, or Martian day, of exploring Mars (Dec. 27, 2006). Spirit had been using its Moessbauer spectrometer to analyze the mineral composition of a rock nicknamed "Esperanza," a piece of lava full of tiny holes and known as vesicular basalt. Due to concern about low power, the team prepared to drive Spirit to a north-tilted spot on the way toward a new target, a layered outcrop known as "Troll." Spirit spent the New Year's weekend in one place, monitoring dust and actually resting on a holiday. Sol-by-sol summary: Sol 1058 (Dec. 24, 2006): Spirit completed 4 hours and 42 minutes of analysis of a target known as "Palma" on the rock Esperanza using the Moessbauer spectrometer. The rover tested Step No. 2 of a software program to watch for dust devils and studied a target known as "Boudouin" with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. Sol 1059: Spirit spent an additional 3 hours and 48 minutes collecting information about Palma with the Moessbauer spectrometer, scanned rock outcrops known as "Gurruchaga" and "Oberth" with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer, and acquired super-resolution images of a rock target known as "Molodezhnaya." Sol 1060: Spirit acquired an additional 4 hours and 47 minutes worth of Moessbauer spectrometer data from Palma and surveyed the Martian horizon with the panoramic camera. Sol 1061: Spirit completed 3.5 hours of Moessbauer spectrometer analysis of Palma, bringing the total number of hours spent collecting data about the rock to 25. Spirit then acquired data from a rock target known as "Scott_Base" with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer and acquired a full-color image of a soil target known as "Tyrone" using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera. Sol 1062 (Dec. 28, 2006): The team prepared to send Spirit driving about 4 meters (13 feet) to a shallow slope selected because it would tilt the rover's solar arrays toward the sun, which was still fairly low above the northern horizon and dimmed by atmospheric dust. Odometry: On sol 1062 (Dec. 28, 2006), Spirit's total odometry reached 6,891.34 meters (4.28 miles). Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Mars Rovers at JPL Mars Rovers at Cornell Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
Five Volunteers Picked For Simulated Mars Mission In Russia
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Jan 03, 2007Five volunteers have been selected for a simulated Mars mission, expected to be launched in Russia late next year, a spokesman for the Russian Space Agency said Friday. "The Russian Institute of Medical and Biological Studies has completed the selection of participants for the Mars-500 experiment," Igor Panarin said. "There are five of them, all are male, and they come from Russia as well as other countries." |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
