Astounding! Mars rovers, Spirit & Opportunity (expected lifespan of 90 days from Jan 3 '04), roving on into 5 yrs

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The US space agency's (NASA) Mars rovers are celebrating a remarkable five years on the Red Planet. The first robot, named Spirit, landed on 3 January, 2004, followed by its twin, Opportunity, 21 days later. Their longevity in the freezing Martian conditions has surprised everyone.

The unmanned rovers Spirit and Opportunity are showing serious signs of wear after an astounding five years roaming Mars, U.S. space agency officials say. Scientists initially thought the remote-controlled machines would last only three months in Mars' freezing climate, said John Callas, rover project manager at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"These rovers are incredibly resilient considering the extreme environment the hardware experiences every day," Callas said, noting information sent by the rovers have proved water existed on Mars billions of years ago.

The twin Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) -- Spirit and Opportunity -- were designed to study the history of water on Mars at their landing sites and to uncover geologic clues about whether Mars had any environments wet enough in the past to have been hospitable to life. Spirit launched for the Red Planet on June 10, 2003, Opportunity followed on July 7, 2003, each blasting-off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. After nearly 7 months, Spirit landed at Gusev Crater on January 3, and Opportunity bounced to a stop in Meridiani Plaunum on January 24, Pacific Standard Time (PST).

The names Spirit and Opportunity were selected by NASA in a student essay contest that drew nearly 10,000 entries, sponsored by The Planetary Society. Larger than their toy-wagon size predecessor, Sojourner, the MER rovers are about the size of a small dune buggy. Each is equipped with a robotic arm that features a drilling tool, and three spectrometers, as well as four pairs of stereo cameras mounted in different positions on their frames, one of which allows them to have a human-like, 3-D view of the terrain. With the capability of traveling 100 meters a day, the MER rovers function as robot field geologists exploring the cold, barren Martian environment where humans cannot yet go.

By the end of April 2004, Spirit and Opportunity successfully completed their 90-day primary missions. Now, more than a year and a half after landing, the rovers continue exploring, gaining renown as one of the most remarkable Mars missions in space exploration history. From all cameras combined, the rovers have together returned more than 75,000 images so far, which, along with other geologic data from the rovers, have provided unprecedented evidence about wet environmental conditions in Mars' past.

Spirit is exploring a 150km-wide bowl-shaped depression known as Gusev Crater. It has found an abundance of rocks and soils bearing evidence of extensive exposure to water. Opportunity is on the other side of the planet, in a flat region known as Meridiani Planum. Some of the rocks seen by Opportunity were once "drenched" in water. Its data has shown conclusively that Mars sustained liquid water on its surface. The sedimentary rocks at its study location were laid down under gently flowing surface water.

No one knows how long the rovers will continue to operate. They are now showing some serious signs of wear and tear. Spirit has to drive backwards everywhere it goes because of a jammed wheel; and Opportunity's robotic arm has a glitch in a shoulder joint because of a broken electrical wire. There have been times also when the vehicles' have been dangerously short on power because of the dust covering on their solar panels.

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Photos courtesy of NASA / JPL-Caltech / Maas Digital, The Onion, robotics.youngester.com, NASA / JPL / Cornell, NASA / JPL-Caltech,

Original Source: Science News, The Planetary Society, and BBC

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