[meteorite-list] NASA's Mars Rovers Set Longevity Record On The Red Planet

[Ron Baalke]

May 19, 2010

Dwayne Brown      
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-1726 
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 

Guy Webster 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 
818-354-6278 
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov   


RELEASE: 10-117

NASA'S MARS ROVERS SET LONGEVITY RECORD ON THE RED PLANET; 
SATELLITE INTERVIEWS WITH EXPERT AVAILABLE

PASADENA, Calif. -- 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. 

NASA will offer live satellite interviews with Mars Exploration 
Project Manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 
Pasadena, Calif. Interviews are available from 9:30 to 11:20 a.m. EDT 
on Thursday. To participate, reporters should contact Mark Petrovich 
at 818-393-4359 or Elena Mejia at 818-393-5467 by 8 p.m. EDT on 
Wednesday. 

Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit, began working on Mars three weeks 
before Opportunity. However, Spirit has been out of communication 
since March 22. If it awakens from hibernation and resumes 
communication, that rover will attain the Martian surface longevity 
record. Spirit's hibernation was anticipated, based on energy 
forecasts, as the amount of sunshine hitting the robot's solar panels 
declined during autumn on Mars' southern hemisphere. Unfortunately, 
mobility problems prevented rover operators from positioning Spirit 
with a favorable tilt toward the north, as during the first three 
winters it experienced. 

The rovers' fourth winter solstice, the day of the Martian year with 
the least sunshine at their locations, was Wednesday, May 12. 
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. "Passing the solstice means we're over the hump for the cold, 
dark, winter season."   

Unless dust interferes, which is unlikely in the coming months, the 
solar panels on both rovers should gradually generate more 
electricity. Operators hope that Spirit will recharge its batteries 
enough to awaken from hibernation, start communicating and resume 
science tasks. 

Unlike recent operations, Opportunity will not have to rest to regain 
energy between driving days. The gradual increase in available 
sunshine will eventually improve the rate of Opportunity's progress 
across a vast plain toward its long-term destination, the Endeavour 
Crater. 

This month, some of Opportunity's drives have been planned to end at 
an energy-favorable tilt on the northern face of small Martian plain 
surface ripples. The positioning sacrifices some distance to regain 
energy sooner for the next drive. Opportunity's cameras can see a 
portion of the rim of Endeavour on the horizon, approximately eight 
miles away, across the plain's ripples of windblown sand. 

"The ripples look like waves on the ocean, like we're out in the 
middle of the ocean with land on the horizon, our destination," said 
Steve Squyres of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Squyres is the 
principal investigator for Opportunity and Spirit. "Even though we 
know we might never get there, Endeavour is the goal that drives our 
exploration." 

The team chose Endeavour as a destination in mid-2008, after 
Opportunity finished two years examining the smaller Victoria Crater. 
Since then, the goal became even more alluring when orbital 
observations found clay minerals exposed at Endeavour. Clay minerals 
have been found extensively on Mars from orbit, but have not been 
examined on the surface. 

"Those minerals form under wet conditions more neutral than the wet, 
acidic environment that formed the sulfates we've found with 
Opportunity," said Squyres. "The clay minerals at Endeavour speak to 
a time when the chemistry was much friendlier to life than the 
environments that formed the minerals Opportunity has seen so far. We 
want to get there to learn their context. Was there flowing water? 
Were there steam vents? Hot springs? We want to find out." 

Launched in 1975, Project Viking consisted of two orbiters, each 
carrying a stationary lander. Viking Lander 1 was the first 
successful mission to the surface of Mars, touching down on July 20, 
1976. It operated until Nov. 13, 1982, more than two years longer 
than its twin lander or either of the Viking orbiters. The record for 
longest working lifetime by a spacecraft at Mars belongs to a later 
orbiter: NASA's Mars Global Surveyor operated for more than 9 years 
after arriving in 1997. NASA's Mars Odyssey, in orbit since in 2001, 
has been working at Mars longer than any other current mission and is 
on track to take the Mars longevity record late this year. 

Science discoveries by the Mars Exploration Rover have included 
Opportunity finding the first mineralogical evidence that Mars had 
liquid water and Spirit finding evidence for hot springs or steam 
vents and a past environment of explosive volcanism. 

Thursday's interviews will be conducted on the NASA TV Live 
Interactive Media Outlet Channel and carried live on the NASA TV 
Public Channel. For NASA TV coordinates and downlink information, 
visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv 

JPL manages the Mars rovers for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in 
Washington. For more information about the rovers, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/rovers   
	
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