Mars rover Spirit makes important 'œlife' find, now scrambling for its own life

William Atkins
Tuesday, 11 December 2007 21:57

Science - Space

SPIRIT and "Survival"

Dust has settled on the solar panels that provide electrical power for Spirit, and its sister rover, Opportunity. The solar panels are generating less than half the power normally generated by the rover when it first started its mission on Mars.

Mission managers are hoping they can position Spirit so that it will be able to survive the long winter on Mars, hoping to generate enough electricity to pick up its mission after the winter season has passed.

However Spirit and Opportunity are both past their prime. They were only supposed to have a three-month mission on Mars. They have now been on Mars for almost four Earth years.

Mission managers for Spirit are trying to relocate Spirit to a sunny spot on Mars for the winter season. However, a large amount of dust has been deposited on the solar panels of Spirit, thus, reducing the amount of electrical power it can generate. (Opportunity had the good luck to have its dust removed by a recent dust storm.)

For the next two weeks the tiny rover Spirit will move for one day, but then have to rest on the second day to replenish its energy reserves. Seven such two-day cycles will occur before it ends its trip. Hopefully, at the end of this time Spirit will be able to point its solar panels toward the Sun and go into a hibernation-like state for about seven months in order to preserve as much power as possible.

At 42% power efficiency, Spirit is in its worst position for the beginning of a winter. Two years ago it was operating at 70% efficiency, and last year at 50% efficiency as winter approached. Mission managers hope that Spirit can maintain at least 30% efficiency during the winter.

Spirit is on a plateau called Home Plate, the location where it discovered silica-rich soil earlier in 2007. Opportunity is on the opposite side of Mars, near its equator.

You can find where they are located on the Martian surface by going to: http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/mission/traverse_maps.html.

The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory website of Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit and Opportunity is: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/daily.cfm.