 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Spirit Sitting Pretty On A Martian Hillock
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 06, 2006 Since arriving at the rover's current location April 10, on its 807th sol, or Martian day, of exploration, Spirit's knowledge of its attitude relative to the Sun has drifted. The NASA rover uses an onboard computer to keep track of attitude changes, but errors can accumulate in the measurement over time. On May 30, on sol 855, mission controllers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory transmitted an attitude update of 1.97 degrees to correct for the drift. After the update, Spirit re-acquired images from the same location to allow the science team to target future observations accurately. Meanwhile, Spirit continued to compile a 360-degree image controllers are calling the McMurdo panorama, and the rover removed another 2 millimeters of soil as part of a layer-by-layer soil study. Sol-by-sol summaries Sol 855 (May 30): Spirit completed a quick get-fine attitude, which is a procedure completed every couple of weeks to correct any error in the rover's knowledge of its attitude relative to the sun. Spirit also took a 360-degree view of its surroundings with the navigation camera and a forward-looking view through the front hazard avoidance camera. The rover conducted remote sensing with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer during the overhead pass of the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Sol 856: Spirit acquired column 16 (a one-by-five mosaic) of the McMurdo panorama. Sol 857: Spirit spent 80 minutes brushing away another 2 millimeters from the soil target controllers call Progress. This layer of the study is known as Progress 3. Sol 858: Plans called for Spirit to take microscopic images of Progress 3, conduct remote sensing with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer during the afternoon overhead pass of the Odyssey spacecraft, and take two panoramic-camera images during the Martian sunset. Sol 859 (June 3): Plans called for Spirit to acquire column 17 (a one-by-three mosaic) of the McMurdo panorama. Odometry: As of sol 857, on June 1), Spirit's total odometry remained at 6,876.18 meters (4.27 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 Lunar Dreams and more
NASA Awards Mars Science Lab Launch Contract
Washington DC (SPX) Jun 05, 2006NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida has selected Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services Inc. to deliver an Atlas V rocket for the Mars Science Laboratory mission, which aims to land a large rover on the red planet in the fall of 2009. |
|
|
| 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 |
