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ZL2VAL > ROVERS 22.09.04 20:45l 71 Lines 2721 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 4E0179ZL2VAL
Read: GUEST
Subj: Rovers come out of blackout
Path: DB0FHN<DB0FOR<DB0SIF<DB0EA<DB0RES<ON0AR<ZL2BAU<ZL1AB<ZL2AB
Sent: 040922/1043Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:48210 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : ROVERS@WW
Sep 22, 2004
Mars rovers ready to continue journey as blackout concludes
BY CHRIS KRIDLER
FLORIDA TODAY
CAPE CANAVERAL -- The Mars rovers emerged from a communications blackout
and the low point of winter Tuesday with new funding and big plans for
the journey ahead.
Engineers hope to put Spirit atop Husband Hill so it can get a view all
the way to the edge of vast Gusev Crater, in which it landed.
On the other side of the planet, Opportunity will soon leave Endurance
Crater, visiting its discarded heat shield along the way, and make a
three-mile journey to Victoria Crater.
"There are things I look forward to, and one of them is getting out of
the crater and starting the monumental trek south," project manager Jim
Erickson said. "Being able to make that happen is still cool."
Both of NASA's robotic geologists are probing the history of water on
Mars. They were back in full communication Tuesday with the team at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California after several days of the sun
blocking communications.
"We got little snippets of data through the noise," Erickson said.
They also marked the winter solstice on Mars, an important landmark
because it means that days will get longer and the rovers will get more
sunlight, which they use for energy. Dust collecting on the solar panels
has apparently leveled off, Erickson said.
Though it may get a little colder before it gets warmer, he said, "the
real important factor is how much solar energy we get, and that's
looking great."
Spirit's sticky wheel seems to have stabilized, he said, and its
instruments appear fine. "We're so happy on Spirit, we're going to see
if we can punish these things a little further," Erickson said.
Opportunity's mini-thermal emission spectrometer, which identifies the
composition of rocks, so far has survived the cold. The team is keeping
an eye on it because a stuck heater forced engineers to shut down the
rover's electronics -- including heaters -- in "deep sleep" each night
to conserve energy.
The rovers landed on Mars in January, anticipating a 90-day, $820
million mission. The team got a $15 million, six-month extension last
spring, then funding for longer-term data analysis.
NASA just authorized an additional $2.8 million a month for six more
months of operations, Erickson said.
73, Alan, ZL2VAL @ ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC (Sysop)
IP: zl2val@qsl.net
APRS: 3906.34s/17406.45e]
Message timed: 22:41 on 2004-Sep-22
Message sent using WinPack-AGW V6.80, by Roger Barker G4IDE, SK 9/9/04.
Old Age
-------
First you forget names, then you forget faces. Then you forget to pull up
your zipper. It's worse when you forget to pull it down.
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