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ZL2VAL > ROVERS 03.06.04 13:01l 111 Lines 5355 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Press release, 2nd June
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Sent: 040603/1017Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:41447 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : ROVERS@WW
Press Release 2004-140
June 02, 2004
Rovers Examining Hills And Crater In Bonus-Time Mission
More than a month into bonus time after a successful primary mission on
Mars, NASA's Spirit rover has sighted possibly layered rock in hills
just ahead, while twin Opportunity has extended its arm to pockmarked
stones on a crater rim to gather clues of a watery past.
Both robotic geologists of the Mars Exploration Rover Project remain
healthy. Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif., quickly restored Spirit from two unexpected computer reboots in
May triggered by low-probability software glitches. "We had bad luck to
hit two very unlikely scenarios just eight days apart, but in both cases
the software team was able to figure out the problem within a day," said
Joe Snyder, a Lockheed Martin software engineer on JPL's rover team.
Spirit has driven more than 2.9 kilometers (1.8 miles) since arriving at
Mars five months ago, more than three-fourths of that since completing
its three-month primary mission. It now has only about 400 meters (440
yards) to go -- possibly less than a week of driving -- before reaching
the base of a range of hills informally named "Columbia Hills," which
scientists identified in January as a desirable but potentially
unreachable destination for the rover.
"This is the first time we've ever had a close look at hills on Mars,"
said Dr. James Rice of Arizona State University, Tempe, a member of the
rovers' science team. In 1997, hills called "Twin Peaks" tantalized
scientists from only about one kilometer (1,100 yards) away from the
Mars Pathfinder landing site. "We could only observe Twin Peaks from a
distance and wonder about them, but now with a more capable rover we can
get to Columbia Hills," Rice said. He spoke at a press briefing today at
JPL.
Rocks in Columbia Hills may provide insight both into both how hills
form on Mars and whether the ancient environment at this part of Mars
was wet. Images Spirit has taken as it nears the hills already show
boulders and potential rock outcrops. "These rocks are much older than
what we've been driving across," Rice said. "We could find a lot of
geological history locked in them. They may be some of the oldest
material ever seen on Mars."
On the rim of stadium-sized "Endurance Crater," halfway around Mars from
Spirit, Opportunity has been using its microscopic imager to examine the
texture of rocks, adding information about a past lake or sea
environment that also left its mark in the smaller crater, "Eagle,"
where Opportunity landed.
"We're looking at rocks that have very interesting surface textures,"
said science-team member Dr. Wendy Calvin of the University of Nevada,
Reno. "These rocks appear to be from the same geological layer as the
outcrop at Eagle Crater, but they have some differences from what we saw
there." One rock called "Pyrrho" on the Endurance rim has a braided
ripple pattern. Another, "Diogenes," compared with rocks seen earlier,
has more of the disc-shaped cavities that scientists interpret as sites
where crystals formed in the rocks, then disappeared as the chemistry of
water in the rocks varied.
From an overlook point on the southeastern edge of Endurance,
Opportunity used its panoramic camera and miniature thermal emission
spectrometer to study the inside of the crater, supplementing a similar
survey made earlier from the western edge. Both instruments can be used
to assess mineral composition from a distance. "We see a strong basaltic
character in the sand at the bottom and in some of the rocks in the wall
of the crater," Calvin said. That is a contrast to the sulfate-rich
composition of the overlying layer, which resembles the Eagle Crater
outcrop. "We expect the basaltic material to tell us about environmental
conditions from an earlier time," she said.
Scientists and engineers are evaluating the potential science benefits
of sending Opportunity into Endurance Crater and assessing whether the
rover would be able to climb back out. A decision about whether to enter
the crater will be based on those factors.
Mission controllers have begun frequent use of a "deep sleep" mode for
Opportunity, reported JPL's Matt Wallace, mission manager. It is a more
complete overnight shutdown that conserves energy but at a calculated
tradeoff of risking damage to the miniature thermal emission
spectrometer. The strategy has approximately tripled the amount of time
the solar-powered rover can work during the day. So far, the
spectrometer has survived, but as the martian winter advances,
scientists expect to lose the use of that instrument.
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space
Science, Washington, D.C. Images and additional information about the
project are available from JPL at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov
and from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., at http://athena.cornell.edu
=========================
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