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ZL2VAL > ROVERS 03.02.04 12:27l 92 Lines 4353 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Rovers update, 2 Feb
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From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : ROVERS@WW
NEWS RELEASE: 2004-049
February 02, 2004
Opportunity And Spirit Reach Out
Each of NASA's two Mars Exploration Rovers is using its versatile
robotic arm for positioning tools at selected targets on the red planet.
Also, a newly completed 360-degree color panorama from Opportunity shows
a trail of bounce marks coming down the inner slope of the small crater
where the spacecraft came to rest when it landed on Mars nine days ago.
Opportunity extended its arm early today for the first time since
pre-launch testing. "This was a great confirmation for the team," said
Joe Melko of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Melko is
mechanical systems engineer for the arm, which is also called the
instrument deployment device.
Mission controllers at JPL are telling Opportunity to use two of the
instruments on the arm overnight tonight to examine a patch of soil in
front of the rover. A microscope on the arm will reveal structures as
thin as a human hair and a Mössbauer Spectrometer will collect
information to identify minerals in the soil, according to plans.
Tomorrow, the rover will be told to turn the turret at the end of the
arm in order to examine the same patch of soil with another instrument,
the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, which reveals the chemical
elements in a target.
Spirit is now in good working order after more than a week of
computer-memory problems. It is brushing dust off of a rock today with
the rock abrasion tool on its robotic arm. After the brushing, Spirit
will use the microscope and two spectrometers on the arm to examine the
rock.
"We're moving forward with our science on the rock Adirondack," said
JPL's Jennifer Trosper, Spirit mission manager. Reformatting of Spirit's
flash memory was postponed from today to tomorrow. The reformatting is a
precautionary measure against recurrence of the problem that prevented
Spirit from doing much science last week.
Later in the week, Spirit will grind the surface off of a sample area on
Adirondack with the rock abrasion tool to inspect the rock's interior.
After observations of Adirondack are completed, the rover will begin
rolling again. "We are already strategizing how to drive far and fast,"
Trosper said.
Observations by each rover's panoramic camera help scientists choose
where to drive and what to examine with the instruments on each rover's
arm. Dr. Jeff Johnson, a rover science team member from the U.S.
Geological Survey's Astrogeology Team, Flagstaff, Ariz., said that 14
filters available on each rover's panoramic camera allow the instrument
to provide much more information for identifying different types of
rocks than can be gleaned from color images such as the new panoramic view.
"By looking at the brightness values in each of these wavelengths, we
can start to get an idea of the things we're interested in, especially
to unravel the geological history of these landing sites," Johnson said.
The main task for both rovers in coming weeks and months is to find
clues in rocks and soil about past environmental conditions,
particularly about whether the landing areas were ever watery and
possibly suitable for sustaining life.
Each martian day, or "sol" lasts about 40 minutes longer than an Earth
day. Spirit begins its 31st sol on Mars at 1:23 a.m. Tuesday, Pacific
Standard Time. Opportunity begins its 11th sol on Mars at 1:44 p.m.
Tuesday, PST. The two rovers are halfway around Mars from each other.
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
==============================
73 de Alan
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Points to ponder
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ever notice that the people who are late are often much jollier than the
people who have to wait for them?
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