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VIRTUALISATION Three-month Martian journey turns into five years
VIRTUALISATION Three-month Martian journey turns into five years | Three-month Martian journey turns into five years |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Friday, 27 March 2009 | |
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NASA supplied a “Mars Rover Update” on Thursday, March 26, 2009, where it talked about the latest status of the two little rovers still roaming around on Mars. The article states, “The twins were primed for a brief 3-month mission to tell us a story of water and possibly life itself in the planet's past. More than five years later, the dynamic duo are still roving the Red Planet, engaged in a saga of overachievement that has transformed Mars exploration." The principal investigator for the MER mission is U.S. astronomer Steven W. Squyres (from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York). Dr. Squyres states that Spirit and Opportunity have done more than just explore Mars. He explains, "Spirit and Opportunity helped invent a whole new discipline -- robotic field science. They've taught us how to organize large teams of scientists and engineers to operate robotic rovers on a distant planet. We all had to learn to work together effectively year after year to squeeze the most possible science from the rovers." The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission has advanced the future of Mars exploration more than ever thought was possible for one mission. Besides finding out the Mars was once warmer and wetter than it is today, the two rovers have showed scientists and ground controllers how to navigate around on Mars. Squyres explains again, "We now know how to negotiate sand dunes and piles of rocks, and perhaps more importantly – how to avoid them. We've translated five years of experience into new and improved maps and driving software that will help us in the remainder of our mission, and will also help future rovers." Page two talks about the downside to the Mars mission. |
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