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Latest news on Mars Rovers and Mars

Spirit and Opportunity, the two robots roving the red planet, have lasted more than 22 months, far longer than anyone anticipated and signs of fatigue are beginning to show. Around 10 days ago, the mechanical arm on Opportunity stopped moving. If it has failed, it will be a significant hit. It is the contact arm of the mission. One of the steering actuators has also blown on Opportunity, but it can still be driven.

Spirit, which has roamed Mars for 684 days, is faring better. The only complication right now is with the rock abrasion tool. It has worn out. Made to only take three samples, Spirit has conducted 15 rock scrapings. The mission was supposed to last only 90 days, and most of the components were stress-tested for a lifetime of 270 days. With temperatures that can swing 100 degrees Celsius in a day, Mars is a tough environment for electrical components.

The two vehicles have brought a wealth of information about the planet back to Earth. A climb up the Columbia Hills on Mars, for instance, has revealed an astounding variety of rocks in a small area.

So far, Spirit has traveled 5.5 kilometers, while Opportunity has gone 6.5 kilometers. Together they’ve captured 130,000 images.

Scientists asserted that the clay in Martian soil and other geological and seismic evidence points to the existence, at least sporadically, of water on Mars. Mars likely had large bodies of water on its surface 3.5 billion years ago, but climatic changes dried up the vast majority of it. Mars lost most of its atmosphere and, with it, its water. Since then, water has been limited to certain periods of time and it was local.

Around 2.6 billion years ago, for instance, a volcanic explosion created a lava flow. It caused part of a glacier to melt, thereby freeing up water. The glacier, however, eventually won that contest and formed a structure called the Enigmatic Ridge, a long, straight line across the Martian surface. It was so called because scientists in the early 1970s studying the structure couldn’t figure out how it got formed.

However, Mars still likely has pockets of water.

posted by: kyawoo at 20:01 | link | comments |
unmanned missions, mars

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