Dust Storm Cuts Energy Supply Of NASA Mars Rover Spirit

MARSDAILY

The deck of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is so dusty that the rover almost blends into the dusty background. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 13, 2008
A dust storm on Mars has cut into the amount of sunlight reaching the solar array on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, leaving the rover in a vulnerable state.

Spirit's solar array produced only 89 watt hours of energy during the rover's 1,725th Martian day, which ended on Nov. 9. This is the lowest output by either Spirit or its twin, Opportunity, in their nearly five years on Mars, and much less energy than Spirit needs each day. The charge level of Spirit's batteries is dropping so low, it risks triggering an automated response of the rover trying to protect itself.

"The best chance for survival for Spirit is for us to maintain sequence control of the rover, as opposed to it going into automated fault protection," said John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., project manager for Spirit and Opportunity.

Mission controllers are commanding Spirit to turn off some heaters, including one that protects a science instrument, the miniature thermal emission spectrometer, and take other measures to reduce energy consumption. The commands will tell Spirit not to try communicating again until Thursday. While pursuing that strategy the team also plans to listen to Spirit frequently during the next few days to detect signals the rover might send if it does go into a low-energy fault protection mode.

Mars weather forecasts suggest the dust storm may be clearing now or in the next few days. However, the dust falling from the sky onto Spirit's solar array panels also could leave a lingering reduction in the amount of electricity the rover can produce.

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS
Solar Energy Solutions
Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ...

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

MARSDAILY

Farewell, Victoria, And On To Endeavour

Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 11, 2008
Opportunity took the last images of "Victoria Crater" before beginning the journey to Endeavour Crater. The final focus of the rover's cameras was a cliff at the edge of Victoria nicknamed "Cape Victory."

ROCKET SCIENCE NASA to test Orion launch abort system First Rocket Parts Of NASA's New Launch System Arrive In Florida More design flaws found in Ares I rocket Copenhagen Suborbitals Tests Hybrid Rocket	LAUNCH PAD ILS Proton Successfully Launches ASTRA 1M Satellite Ariane 5 Is Readied For Arianespace's Initial Mission Of 2009 Russia Set To Launch SES Telecoms Satellite Student Experiments On Board REXUS 4 Launched
SHUTTLE NEWS Shuttle's Fuel Cell Loading And Practice Landings Scheduled Endeavour shuttle ready for Friday launch: NASA STS-126 Focuses On ISS Crew Expansion Preparations NASA: Endeavour to launch Nov. 14	STATION NEWS Shuttle crew to outfit living quarters on space station Progress Cargo Module To Undock From ISS Friday Two US astronauts to cast votes from space Expedition 17 Set To Undock Today
SPACE TRAVEL Volan Escape System To Rescue Space Crews Second Japanese woman to blast into space: agency CU-Boulder To Launch Butterfly, Spider K-12 Experiments NASA Awards LockMart Facilities Development And Operations Contract	DRAGON SPACE China Puts Two Satellites Into Orbit The Chinese Space Industry Set For Take Off Souped-Up Rockets For Shenzhou China Successfully Launches Research Satellites
ROBO SPACE Honda unveils leg assist machine for elderly Germany's CESAR Crowned King Of Rovers In ESA's Robotics Challenge Cliffbot Goes Climbing VIPeR Robot Demonstrates Exceptional Agility	MARSDAILY Dust Storm Cuts Energy Supply Of NASA Mars Rover Spirit Farewell, Victoria, And On To Endeavour Spirit Begins Driving Uphill Phoenix probe mission on Mars ends: NASA

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement