Spirit Rover on Mars

[MacSA]

Spirit has made it to the top of Husband Hill, in the Columbia Hills on Mars......

That looks more like a Tornado than a dust devil !!

Its extraordinary to think that the rover is now parked near the top of the tallest hill (Husband Hill) in the middle of the image below, taken on it's 9th day (sol) on Mars:

 

[PlaceofDis]

so how much longer are they expecting to receive data from the two rovers? i thought they weren't expected to last this long in the first place? they are still giving some beautiful and amazing pictures though, hope it lasts

 

[WildCowboy]

Their missions were supposed to be three months, and they've now been going for eighteen months. They've been approved to run for another 14 months if they should last that long. And of course another extension could be warranted as October 2006 approaches if they're still running well.

 

[PlaceofDis]

Their missions were supposed to be three months, and they've now been going for eighteen months. They've been approved to run for another 14 months if they should last that long. And of course another extension could be warranted as October 2006 approaches if they're still running well.

awesome thanks for that info, just for curiosity sake, is there an official site where one could watch the rovers' progress?

 

[clayj]

I'm glad to see that the two rovers are STILL going, after all this time.

Still, I am forced to wonder if perhaps the folks at NASA and JPL didn't totally low-ball the expected lifetime of the rovers. Perhaps they KNEW that they could last for more than a year, but came out with the 90 day estimate so that, like Scotty, they'd look like miracle workers when the rovers far exceeded the "expected" lifetime.

 

[WildCowboy]

awesome thanks for that info, just for curiosity sake, is there an official site where one could watch the rovers' progress?

The official site: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/

 

[Lord Blackadder]

IIRC, the two rovers use a ruggedized version of the PowerPC 603...

The rover missions have been a huge success for NASA, especially when one concerns the relatively low cost of the program.

 

[combatcolin]

And another bonus is one day thel'll run into Beagle!!

 

[MacSA]

These sites have a direct link to the pictures at JPL, they often have the latest images within a couple of hours of them being transmitted from Mars, sometimes even sooner.

Spirit: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/

Opportunity: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/

 

[krimson]

I'm glad to see that the two rovers are STILL going, after all this time.

Still, I am forced to wonder if perhaps the folks at NASA and JPL didn't totally low-ball the expected lifetime of the rovers. Perhaps they KNEW that they could last for more than a year, but came out with the 90 day estimate so that, like Scotty, they'd look like miracle workers when the rovers far exceeded the "expected" lifetime.

from what my friend said, they we built to last at least 90 days. the breeze that cleared off solar panels really increased the longetivity of the rovers (more specifically Spirit). I recall him saying they could last alot longer, if they could keep the panels clean, and the batteries charged.

 

[emw]

This is amazing stuff - I love the pictures we're getting. It would be funny if they found Beagle so that we'd know what happened to it. Or, at least, its fate.

 

[atszyman]

I figure they are going to keep them running until they can meet up and have Robot Wars on Mars. Of course they'd only be able to pull off one move every day but it would increase suspense...

 

[strider42]

I'm glad to see that the two rovers are STILL going, after all this time.

Still, I am forced to wonder if perhaps the folks at NASA and JPL didn't totally low-ball the expected lifetime of the rovers. Perhaps they KNEW that they could last for more than a year, but came out with the 90 day estimate so that, like Scotty, they'd look like miracle workers when the rovers far exceeded the "expected" lifetime.

Well, they have had some good luck to keep them going this long. One got stuck and took a long time to get unstuck. Another's solar panels were covered in dust so that it was effectively useless, but it miraculously got its power back (probably a strong wind or dust devil type phenomena cleared the solar panels). I mean, these things could go for a long time in perfect conditions, but obviously there are no ideal conditions on mars. So yeah, they probably low balled it, but probably because they couldn't reasonably garauntee they'd run this long.