OT: Opportunity makes successful landing on Mars
Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
Sunday, January 25, 2004 Posted: 1:11 AM EST
Opportunity lands on Mars
Spirit 'upgraded from critical to serious'
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/01/25/mars.rovers/index.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3427045.stm
---
Excerpts:
PASADENA, California (CNN) -- Opportunity, the second
of NASA's twin rovers, has made the descent to the surface
of Mars, touching down successfully at 0505 GMT Sunday
(12:05 a.m. ET). NASA now has two rovers on the ground,
after Spirit landed on the red planet exactly three weeks ago
on January 3.
...
Opportunity is an exact replica of Spirit but was programmed
to land about 6,600 miles (10,620 km) away on the opposite
side of the planet, in an area known as the Meridiani Planum
-- a smooth plain near Mars' equator, believed to be full of
iron-bearing hematite.
The semi-precious mineral usually forms on Earth in the pres-
ence of liquid water -- leading scientists to think that water
once flowed there. The area is believed to be quite different
from the reddish soil of Gusev Crater, where Spirit landed
earlier this month. ... Instead, the landscape is thought to be
dark grey, or black - rich in a mineral called grey haematite.
Scientists believe water may have once flowed there.
...
NASA engineers found a work-around Saturday for Spirit's
problems, re-established communication and regained the
ability to control it.
...
Mars Landings (1976-2004)
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39776000/gif/_39776391_mars_landings2_info416.gif
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Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
Planum, where the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity
successfully landed at 9:05 p.m. PST on Saturday. This is
one of the first images beamed back to Earth from the rover
shortly after it touched down. The image was captured by the
rover's panoramic camera.
http://tinyurl.com/23qyo
- - -
Opportunity Lands on Mars
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 07:15 am ET
25 January 2004
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/opportunity_lands_040125.html
Excerpts:
...
After the parachute ride and retro rocket firings, Opportunity
made a "casual bounce" after being cut free to fall onto Mars.
... Preliminary data suggested that the spacecraft hit Mars at
a relatively slow velocity -- some two to three times the force
of gravity. The airbag system is designed to sustain a 40 g's
collision with Mars.
Opportunity came to a stop "side-petal" down. That meant the
craft first had to right itself on the red planet and then deflate
its airbags -- a first for this type of landing system. The earlier
landings of Mars Pathfinder in 1997 and Spirit rolled to a base-
petal down position - a situation much easier for the spacecraft
to unfold itself on Mars.
...
Roughly 4 hours after landing, the first images from Oppor-
tunity were being reviewed by anxious scientists staring at large
screens at JPL. "The data is flowing," cried out a voice from
mission control.
As first images appeared, it was clear that the landscape was
dark in color, very different from the Spirit landing site in Gusev
Crater. "It looks like a very different site, said John Callas mis-
sion science manager. "The scientists must be running wild."
Matt Wallace, MER rover Deputy Surface Development Man-
ager, called Meridiani Planum "the promised land," and scien-
tists here could not agree more.
...
"I'm astonished.I'm blown away, said Steve Squyres, Principal
Investigator for the MER effort from Cornell University. "Oppor-
tunity has touched down in a bizarre, alien landscape." Squyres
said he was hard pressed to describe what he is seeing in the
first set of images. It is possible that Opportunity has come to
rest in a crater, or a large depression, he explained.
...
Added Squyres: "It looks like nothing that I've ever seen in my
life. Holly smokes. I've got nothing else to say. I just want to look.
I've got no words for this."
= = =
"Pro-Humanist FREELOVER" <p...@ghg.net> wrote in message
news:40136...@news.ghg.net...
NFLGURU
> This color image shows the Martian landscape at Meridiani
> Planum, where the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity
> successfully landed at 9:05 p.m. PST on Saturday. This is
> one of the first images beamed back to Earth from the rover
> shortly after it touched down. The image was captured by the
> rover's panoramic camera.
> http://tinyurl.com/23qyo
They got the other one working too. : )
Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the view of the
Martian landscape southwest of the rover. The image
was taken in the late martian afternoon at Meridiani
Planum on Mars ...
http://tinyurl.com/2usnh
---
This sweeping look at the unusual rock outcropping near
the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was captured by
the rover's left panoramic camera. Scientists believe the
layered rocks are either volcanic ash deposits, or sedi-
ments laid down by wind or water. ...
http://tinyurl.com/2mltq
---
The interior of a crater surrounding the Mars Exploration
Rover Opportunity at Meridiani Planum on Mars can be
seen in this color image from the rover's panoramic
camera. This is the darkest landing site ever visited by
a spacecraft on Mars. The rim of the crater is approxi-
mately 10 meters (32 feet) from the rover. The crater
is estimated to be 20 meters (65 feet) in diameter. ...
http://tinyurl.com/yvvzj
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Opportunity Closing in on Scientific Jackpot
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/opportunity_update_040127.html
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 03:00 pm ET
27 January 2004
Excerpts:
Scientists are closing in on what could be a major discovery
for the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) program.
NASA's Opportunity rover appears to have hit a scientific
jackpot sitting in a crater at the Meridiani Planum on Mars.
Expectations are running high here at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) that the spacecraft should be able to
deliver on the Holy Grail of Mars research: Where's the
water and could life have ever existed on the Red Planet?
In front of the Opportunity rover is just that -- opportunity to
discover a new Mars, one unlike any seen before by previ-
ous landers. Images from Opportunity were displayed today
at an early morning press briefing. A sweeping look at the
unusual rock outcropping near Opportunity was captured by
the rover's panoramic camera. Those pictures show layered
rocks. But are they the result of either volcanic ash deposits
or sediments laid down by wind or water?
Intriguing outcrop
Meridiani Planum is rife with deposits of a mineral called crys-
talline hematite, which usually forms in the presence of liquid
water. Thanks to the robot, scientists have the tool mix to
examine on-the-spot surface layers rich in hematite and an
underlying geological feature of light-colored layered rock.
The small crater in which the robot rover now rests appears
to have exposures of both, with soil that could be the hematite
unit and an exposed outcropping of the lighter rock layer.
Speculation that such an outcrop could be limestone would
give scientists the eureka moment they've been looking for
-- clear evidence of water, and with water comes the prospect
for biology.
...
Spectacular landscape
"We're looking out across a pretty spectacular landscape,"
said Jim Bell of Cornell University, lead scientist for the panor-
amic cameras on Spirit and Opportunity. "It's going to be a
wonderful area for geologists to explore with the rover," he
said at a press briefing shortly after Opportunity landed.
The color view shows dark soil that brightened where it was
compacted by the rolling spacecraft, and an outcropping of
bedrock on the inside slope of the 66-foot (20-meter) crater
in which the rover sits.
...
On the lookout for astrobiology
Astrobiology research at Meridiani Planum is also possible,
said Joy Crisp, MER project scientist. Hydrothermal activity
found within this region could mean an environment existed
that was favorable for life, she told SPACE.com . "Life does
form in extreme environments here on the Earth. But it's
easier to envision life getting started in a place where it was
more favorable," she added.
Ray Arvidson, Deputy Principal Investigator from Washington
University in St. Louis, said the hematite and other minerals
found at Meridiani Planum may offer exciting clues as to past
life on Mars. "If we can pin down either there was hot water
or low temperature percolating through this stuff, and we can
demonstrate this through the minerals in association with the
hematite.then the potential for astrobiology goes way up,"
Arvidson concluded.
= = =
Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
highlights the puzzling rock outcropping that scientists are
eagerly planning to investigate. These layered rocks mea-
sure only four inches (10 centimeters) tall and are thought
to be either volcanic ash deposits or sediments carried by
water or wind.
http://tinyurl.com/264ny
---
Opportunity Ready to Rock and Roll
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/opportunity_update_040128.html
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 04:15 pm ET, 28 January 2004
Excerpts:
Operators of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity
have successfully deployed its wheels and completed the
first half of a stand-up process -- all part of readying the rover
to do what it was built to do best, rove.
If all continues on track, the robot may wheel itself onto the
flat and dark terrain of its landing spot, inside a small crater
at Meridiani Planum this coming Sunday. That drive is eagerly
awaited by scientists gathered here at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL).
Within easy driving range is a perplexing rock outcropping.
These layered rocks measure only 4 inches (10 centimeters)
tall and are being hotly debated as being either volcanic ash
deposits or sediments carried by water or wind.
Meridiani Planum "is the smoothest, flattest place we've ever
investigated on Mars," said Matt Golombek, JPL Science
Team Member for the MER endeavor. But in a roll of the dice
-- or airbags in this case -- Opportunity made a figure-eight
traverse within a small crater. It tumbled end-over-end, down-
and-up, up-and-down the crater's walls before coming to full-
stop.
...
= = =
Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
Healthier Spirit Gets Back to Work
While Opportunity Prepares to Roll
http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20040129a.html
Excerpts:
NASA's Spirit rover on Mars has resumed taking pictures
as engineers continue work on restoring its health. Mean-
while, Spirit's twin, Opportunity, extended its rear wheels
backward to driving position last night as part of prepara-
tions to roll off its lander, possibly as early as overnight
Saturday-to-Sunday.
Spirit shot and transmitted a picture yesterday to show
the position of its robotic arm. "The arm is exactly where
we expected," said Jennifer Trosper, mission manager
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
It is still extended in the same position as when the rover
developed communication and computer problems on
Jan. 22. A mineral-identifying instrument called a Moess-
bauer spectrometer, at the tip of the arm, is positioned
at a rock nicknamed Adirondack.
Engineers have been carefully nursing Spirit back toward
full operations for the past week. They are sending com-
mands today for the rover to begin making new scientific
observations again, starting with panoramic camera
images of nearby rocks. Today's commands also tell
the rover to send data stored by two instruments since
they took readings on Adirondack last week -- the Moess-
bauer spectrometer and the alpha particle X-ray spectro-
meter, which identifies the chemical elements in a target.
...
Halfway around Mars from Spirit, Opportunity's lander
platform successfully tilted itself forward by pulling airbag
material under the rear portion of the lander then flexing
its rear petal downward. "What this did is drive our front
edge lower," said JPL's Matt Wallace, mission manager.
"The tips of the egress aid (a reinforced fabric ramp) are
now in the soil. That makes egress look perfect. It's going
to be an easy ride." The rover also retracted a lift mech-
anism underneath the rover, to get it out of the way for
the egress, or drive-off.
During Opportunity's sol 6, the martian day that started
today at 10:26 a.m. PST, the rover will be commanded to
lower the middle pair of its six wheels and to release its
robotic arm from the latch that has held it since before
launch.
Yesterday, Opportunity used its minature thermal emis-
sion spectrometer on a portion of the landing neighbor-
hood that includes a rock outcrop. The instrument identi-
fies the composition of rocks and soils from a distance.
Opportunity did not return the data from those observa-
tions before going to sleep for the martian night, but may
later today.
The rovers' main task in coming weeks and months is to
explore their landing sites for evidence in the rocks and
soil about whether the sites' past environments were ever
watery and possibly suitable for sustaining life.
... 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 .
- - -
This image from Spirit was taken and sent to Earth on
Wednesday, Jan. 28. It is the first picture to be returned
by the rover since computer problems began last week.
http://tinyurl.com/2kmcc
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Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
posted: 03:20 pm ET, 30 January 2004
Opportunity to Roll Onto Mars Surface Saturday
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/opportunity_update_040130.html
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
---
Excerpt:
Engineers have moved forward plans to unleash Opportunity
from a parked position atop its lander, then roll off onto Mars
surface in Meridiani Planum early tomorrow morning.
Scientists here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are
hungrily awaiting the output from new scans of martian real
estate and a rock outcrop at Opportunity's home within a
small crater.
Opportunity's lander platform successfully tilted itself forward
by pulling airbag material under the rear portion of the lander
then flexing its rear petal downward. The result: The tips of
a reinforced fabric off-ramp for the rover are now in the soil.
This means Opportunity can be commanded to perform a
simple, straight-ahead drive-off.
The rover's six wheels have been positioned to start driving
duties. Getting Opportunity's wheels down and dirty on Mars
is now slated for early Saturday.
...
----------------
Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
the rover after it rolled onto Mars' surface.
http://tinyurl.com/2tc4l
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posted: 09:10 am ET, 31 January 2004
Opportunity Successfully Rolls Onto Mars' Surface
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/opportunity_rolling_040131.html
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
---
Excerpts:
There are now two rovers with their wheels firmly planted
on Mars. Early this morning, NASA's Opportunity rover
rolled off its stationary platform, down a reinforced fabric
ramp and touched down on the surface of Mars. The ro-
bot drove a short distance before parking itself on martain
soil.
Opportunity now joins its sister ship, Spirit which rests on
the other side of Mars at Gusev Crater. Even before Oppor-
tunity begins its roving, scientists have announced a key
finding -- and why the robot was sent to the Meridiani Planum
region of Mars in the first place -- the mineral hematite, which
usually forms on the presence of water, has been found in
the area the spacecraft landed.
...
Hematite discovered
At a post-egress press briefing here at JPL in the early morn-
ing hours, a major finding from Opportunity was announced,
revealed during initial scans of the Mini-Thermal Emission
Spectrometer (Mini-TES) as the rover sat atop its landing
perch.
"We came to Meridiani in search of a particular mineral called
hematite," said Phil Christensen, Lead Scientist for the Mini-
Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) from Arizona State
University in Tempe. "I'm here today to say that Mini-TES has
indeed discovered hematite on the surface of Mars."
Mini-TES works in the infrared and has yielded the spectra
associated with hematite. Christensen said it is not pure hema-
tite, but is carried within other material that still has not been
identified. "We're working hard to figure out what that other
material is," Christensen said.
The strongest signature of the hematite is a dark, loose mater-
ial that is on top of the bedrock not too distant from Opportunity.
"It's very likely that the source of the hematite is a rock layer that
sits on top of that bedrock," Christensen said.
...
In time, the rover will be commanded to wheel itself up and out
of the crater and begin new rounds of scurrying across the flat-
lands of Meridiani Planum.
...
Spirit: up and running too
Halfway around the planet, the Spirit rover is recuperating after
software problems curtailed its work at Gusev Crater. Over the
last several days, software specialists have helped alleviate
the computer bug in the robot. It appears that a workaround
computer patch will permit Spirit to restart active roving and
science gathering at various sites.
With Spirit being put back in working order, NASA has two oper-
ational rovers on Mars. The main task for the twin rovers is to
explore their respective landing regions for evidence in rocks
and soils about whether those areas ever had environments
that were watery and possibly suitable for sustaining life.
"This is the culmination of so many years of work by so many
people. It's a wonderful moment," said Steve Squyres, Principal
Investigator of the MER program from Cornell University.
...
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Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
Feb. 6, 2004
Healthy Spirit Cleans a Mars Rock; Opportunity Rolls
http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20040206a.html
---
Excerpts:
NASA's Spirit has returned to full health and resumed doing
things never attempted on Mars before. "Our patient is healed,
and we're very excited about that," said Jennifer Trosper of
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., mission
manager for Spirit.
...
Spirit's first day of science operations after the memory refor-
matting featured the first brushing of a rock on a foreign planet
to remove dust and allow inspection of the rock's cleaned sur-
face. Steel bristles on the rover's rock abrasion tool cleaned a
circular patch on the rock unofficially named Adirondack. The
tool's main function is to grind off the weathered surface of rocks
with diamond teeth, but the brush for removing the grinder's cut-
tings can also be used to sweep dust off the intact surface.
The brushing on Thursday was the first use of a rock abrasion
tool by either Spirit or its twin rover, Opportunity. The brush
swirled for five minutes, said Stephen Gorevan of Honeybee
Robotics, New York, lead scientist for the rock abrasion tools
on both rovers.
"I didn't expect much of a difference. This is a big surprise,"
Gorevan said about a picture showing the brushed area is much
darker than the rest of the rock's surface. "Ladies and gentlemen,
I present you the greatest interplanetary brushing of all time."
...
After the grinding, the turret of tools at the end of the rover's
robotic arm will be rotated to inspect the freshly exposed interior
of the rock. Controllers plan to tell Spirit tomorrow to begin driv-
ing again.
Meanwhile, halfway around Mars, NASA's Opportunity drove early
Friday for the second day in a row. It arrived within about a half a
meter (20 inches) of the northeastern end of a rock outcrop scien-
tists are eager for the rover to examine. "We expect to complete
that approach tomorrow," said JPL's Matt Wallace, mission man-
ager for Opportunity.
...
The main task for both rovers is to explore the areas around their
landing sites for evidence in rocks and soils about whether those
areas ever had environments that were watery and possibly suit-
able for sustaining life.
- - - - - - - -
This image shows the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's "hand," or
the tip of the instrument deployment device, poised in front of the
rock nicknamed Adirondack, the rover's first science target since
developing communication problems over two weeks ago. In
preparation for grinding into Adirondack, Spirit cleaned off a por-
tion of the rock's surface with a stainless steel brush located on
its rock abrasion tool and seen here at the end of the yellow arrow.
http://tinyurl.com/yu9ft
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