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ZL2VAL > SPIRIT 12.01.04 12:48l 110 Lines 5327 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Rover nearly ready to roll
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From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : SPIRIT@WW
January 11, 2004
Spirit Rover Nearly Ready to Roll
NASA's Spirit rover now has its arm and all six of its wheels free, and
only a single cable must be cut before it can turn and roll off its
lander onto the soil of Mars. As that milestone is completed, scientists
are taking opportunities to take extra pictures and other data.
During the past 24 hours -- the rover's 8th martian day on the planet,
or "sol 8" -- pyro devices were fired slicing cables to free the rover's
middle wheels and releasing pins that held in place its instrumented
arm. The arm was then locked onto a hook where it will be stowed when
the rover is driving.
Because one airbag remains adjacent to the lander's forward ramp, the
rover will turn about 120 degrees to its right and exit the lander from
the side facing west-northwest on the planet -- also the direction of an
intriguing depression that scientists have dubbed Sleepy Hollow.
Current plans call for the rover to complete that turn in three steps,
said Arthur Amador, one of the mission managers at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. As currently envisioned, during the coming
martian day engineers will complete ground tests and execute dress
rehearsals of the drive-off, or "egress."
On sol 10 -- the night of Monday-Tuesday, Jan. 12-13, California time --
engineers expect to sever the umbilical cord that connects the rover to
it's lander by firing a pyro device, the last of 126 pyro firings since
Spirit separated from its cruise stage shortly before landing on Jan. 4
(Jan. 3 in U. S. time zones). Also on that day, the rover will execute
the first of three parts of its turn when it moves clockwise (as viewed
from above) about 45 degrees.
After taking and analyzing pictures to verify the first part of the
turn, engineers anticipate completing it on sol 11 (night of
Tuesday-Wednesday, Jan. 13-14). First, the rover will turn an additional
50 degrees and stop to take pictures. Then, if all is well, it will turn
a final 20 to 25 degrees to position it precisely in front of one of its
three exit ramps.
If no issues crop up as those steps are completed, the rover could drive
off onto the martian soil no earlier than sol 12 (night of
Wednesday-Thursday, Jan. 14-15). "But we adjust our schedule every day,
based on flight events, so this remains an estimate," said Amador.
The rover's status overall is "pretty darn perfect," said Amador. He
described the communication link from Mars to Earth as excellent,
allowing the team to receive 170 megabits of data during the past day.
All science data stored on the rover has been sent to Earth. The rover
is generating 900 watt-hours of power per day and using 750 watt-hours,
and its thermal condition is good, he added.
While engineers are completing and testing commands to execute the
rover's turn and egress, the science team is enjoying an "unexpected
dividend" of time to collect data, said Dr. John Callas, Mars
Exploration Rover science manager at JPL.
Until now, all science observations have been planned far in advance,
but the unfolding schedule of rover activities gave the team the
opportunity to do their first on-the-fly planning for observations
driven by previous results, Callas explained. In doing so they segued to
a working style that they will practice on a day to day basis as the
rover rolls across the surface of its landing site in Gusev Crater,
named the Columbia Memorial Station.
In the next 24 hours, the team will collect 270 megabits of science
data, considerably more than on any previous martian day. This will
include a high-quality, 14-color mosaic taken by the panoramic camera of
a third of the horizon toward Sleepy Hollow, the direction in which the
rover will leave its lander.
In addition, they plan to complete two remaining "octants" (each a pie
slice showing an eighth of the horizon) with the rover's miniature
thermal emission spectrometer. These areas will also be rephotographed
with the rover's panoramic camera in order to allow the camera and
spectrometer data to be co-registered. Plans also call for the
spectrometer to "stare" at three selected sites to collect very
low-noise data, as well as calibration of another science instrument,
the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer.
Spirit's twin Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, will reach Mars on
Jan. 25 (Universal Time and EST; Jan. 24 PST). The rovers' main task is
to spend three months exploring for clues in rocks and soil about
whether the landing sites may have had abundant water for long enough in
the past for life to appear. Pictures and detailed information from the
mission is available at the project's Web site:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov .
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the
Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science,
Washington.
###
73 de Alan
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