Spirit and Opportunity...on MARS! (BIG HONKING PICS)

Even cooler, in ways -- the aeriel shot:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20061006c/rover-color-close-up2-annot_br.jpg

i LOVE these little guys

NASA announced it was extending for the fifth time the mission of Mars space probes Spirit and Opportunity

never stop

Going and Going
NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity uses its front hazard-indentification camera to capture this wide-angle view of its robotic arm extended to a rock in a bright-toned layer inside Victoria Crater in this image taken during the rover's 1,322nd Martian day (Oct. 13, 2007).

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/10/17/gallery/mars-rovers-540x540.jpg

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45342000/jpg/_45342003_298552main_solb1687nav-516.jpg

Five years and still trucking!

Oh noes! Microsoft Security Patches?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/science/6371972.html

Okay, maybe not MS then. http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20090413a.html
Don't ever stop, li'l dudes!

Haha, I was thinking about them the other day. Best rate-of-return on the original investment since the Voyagers, I figure.

A helping hand:

In May, the Mars rover Spirit became embedded in a patch of fluffy Martian soil, the worst such incident in the more than five years that Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, have been exploring the planet's equatorial region.

Since then, engineers have been trying to figure out the best way to extricate the rover, a project that has come to be known at the La Cañada Flintridge laboratory as the "Free Spirit" program. T-shirts are being made to memorialize the effort to liberate the rover.

This week, scientists finished replicating the situation on Mars in a 30-foot-square work room, mixing together 5,400 pounds of diatomaceous earth and clay to produce a fine powdery mixture the color of creme brulee and as fluffy and light as flour. Now comes trying to free the Earth Rover to figure out what might work for Spirit.

"This isn't the same as we have on Mars," cautioned Paolo Bellutta, a rover team member, of the powder. "Diatomaceous earth is made of fossils, and we have no evidence of fossils on Mars."

But it is "the closest thing" to the soil on Mars, Rover project manager John Callas said.

The engineers then drove the Earth Rover, about 5 feet tall by 7 feet wide, into an 8-foot by 12-foot sandbox. By Wednesday, the rover was stuck -- its six wheels embedded in 5 inches of the Martian soil analog. After sloping the sand so that the test rover was pitched on its side to match Spirit's predicament, the engineering team pronounced itself satisfied that it had succeeded in marooning two rovers on two planets.

The trick now, Callas said, is to put together a series of maneuvers on Earth that can be applied on Mars.

Yay! Good luck, rocket science guys who get paid to play in the sand! I think we even had pictorial evidence of this terrestrian setup in the Astronomy Picture Of The Day thread a couple of weeks ago.

Still stuck:

Besides the fluffy soil, rover scientists are concerned about a small rock under the robot. Further efforts to free the rover could cause the undercarriage to snag on the rock. Tests showed that if that happens, the wheels will lose traction and the rover could become permanently stuck.

In such a scenario, Spirit could still do science, but as a station, not a rover. Also, without the ability to move into a position that gets good sunlight to wait out the harsh Martian winter, its batteries could be drained, dooming the robot.

Even if the initial efforts Monday are unsuccessful, operators will continue their efforts to salvage Spirit at least through February, when a NASA review panel is scheduled to discuss the rovers' fate. If Spirit is still stuck, the panel could call off the rescue.

"If Spirit cannot make the great escape from this sand trap, this might be where Spirit ends its adventure on Mars," McCuistion said.

:-/

RIP as moving lab:

After six highly successful years of exploring the red sands of Mars, NASA's rover Spirit will rove no more.

With its six wheels stuck in powdery sand and two wheels no longer working at all, the resilient little explorer will become an immobile scientific observatory -- if it can survive the harsh temperatures of the upcoming winter.

"Its driving days are likely over," Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, said in a telephone news conference Tuesday.

If Spirit can be awakened after what could be a six-month hibernation, researchers will use it to attempt to answer one of their most pressing questions: whether the planet has a solid iron core or a liquid one.

If the vehicle can't be revived, it will still have far surpassed scientists' original expectations and its design life of three months, traveling nearly 12 miles across the barren surface of Mars and finding strong evidence that water once altered the planet's terrain.

Hell of a run. Opportunity's still chugging along just fine as well.

Thank you, little dude!

Um... I mean the robot! I don't know how tall Ned is! (Thank you, Ned, as well, of course)

I am towering or something.

opportunity, i <3 u, lil guy

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer20100519.html

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project will pass a historic Martian longevity record on Thursday, May 20. The Opportunity rover will surpass the duration record set by NASA's Viking 1 Lander of six years and 116 days operating on the surface of Mars. The effects of favorable weather on the red planet could also help the rovers generate more power.

Opportunity, and likely Spirit, surpassing the Viking Lander 1 longevity record is truly remarkable, considering these rovers were designed for only a 90-day mission on the surface of Mars," Callas said.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/455868main_pia13147-full.jpg

wall-e

My boss and CSO of the startup I work for worked on the batteries for Spirit and Opportunity, he was pretty chuffed about this today.

here comes Curiosity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wkq_Y2I2-M&feature=player_embedded

The Curiosity Rover will be launched in late 2011 and land on Mars in August of 2012.

Nice!

Meantime, the Spirit mission is about to come to a formal close. Opportunity still thrives.

Didn't know that Spirit was moonlighting as a nighttime telescope.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nasa-says-mars-mystery-rock-that-appeared-from-nowhere-is-like-nothing-weve-ever-seen-before-9070323.html

I, for one, welcome our new donut overlords etc

The view from the Opportunity rover a couple of days ago

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2014/03/13469862903_d57d32399c_o.jpg

Also some handy wind/dust devils cleaned off the solar panels so it's gained a lot of power

And now his watch is ended.

To the robot who turned 90 days into 15 years of exploration:

You were, and are, the Opportunity of a lifetime.

Rest well, rover. Your mission is complete.

(2004-2019)https://t.co/POzRmYauHo#ThanksOppy pic.twitter.com/oZLBc7XMJD

— Spirit and Oppy (@MarsRovers) February 13, 2019

rip big man

NYT article worth the scroll-through on a big screen
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/13/science/opportunity-rover-mars-map.html

I think this would be the last photo sent back. https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/all/1/f/5104/1F581290682EFFD2FCP1110L0M1.HTML

If I had a flying saucer I'd totally go out there with a couple cans of dust-off.