William Atkins
Sunday, 01 February 2009 22:10
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 2
Beginning on January 24, 2009, NASA scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory became worried when the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit began having problems recording its Martian activities onto its memory as it and its sister rover Opportunity continue to explore the planet's surface.
Consequently, on Wednesday, January 28, 2009, the JPL issued a press release that stated Spirit was not communicating with ground controllers on Earth. Specifically, the little rover was not forwarding its activities over the past few days with respect to its movements on the Martian surface.
The JPL article
Mars Exploration Rover Mission Status Report: Mars Rover Team Diagnosing Unexpected Behavior, states,
“On Sunday [January 25], during the 1,800th Martian day, or sol, of what was initially planned as a 90-sol mission on Mars, information radioed from Spirit indicated the rover had received its driving commands for the day but had not moved. That can happen for many reasons, including the rover properly sensing that it is not ready to drive.”
It added,
“However, other behavior on Sol 1800 was even more unusual: Spirit apparently did not record the day's main activities into the non-volatile memory, the part of its memory that persists even when power is off.”
Further problems occurred on Monday [January 26], which led Sharon Lauback, one of the members of the MER command team to say,
“We don't have a good explanation yet for the way Spirit has been acting for the past few days. Our next steps will be diagnostic activities." [JPL]
Thus, the ground team is analyzing the data on the rover, which is roving on the Martian surface along with its twin Opportunity.
The mission of the MER program was expected to last about three months on Mars. It is now over five years in duration, making these rovers especially vulnerable to age-related problems.
Page two continues with comments from MER scientists throughout the past week.
