Spirit and Opportunity are still doing well.

[Heyo]

I am a space nut, so I followed their progress during theirlandings and intial exploration and stuff which I thought was very cool.

They were designed to last at least 90 days each on the planet's surface in order for the mission to be deemed successful.

Well it's been about 9 months, and despite some decrease in available power dude to dust collecting on the solar panels, and Spirit having "arthritis" in one wheel, and a slight recurring steering problem, they are alive and well.

They are still roving around, still taking pictures, still grinding rocks and taking spectra. They have travelled multiple kilomters on the surface between them, and Spirit is even climbing some hills.

What a damn fine pair of little spacecraft those things are! Considering the conditions there, the cold and the 100+ degree difference in temperature between night and day on Mars.

Who knows how much longer they will last, but already the data set that have returned is enough to keep scientists busy for many years.

I think it's just fantastic those things worked so well for so long. I know they will eventually die, it is inevitable, but I would be damn proud if I was an engineer who had anything to do with constructing those little "golf carts".

Ultimately the dust will collect on the solar panels enough to where they no longer can generate sufficient power to run the rovers, and eventually the harsh, frigid day/night cyles will take their toll, the electronics will fail and we will cease to hear from our little interplanetary proteges. After that, they will sit in situ on Mars indeffinetely. And, I believe, in the future when humans go to the moon and Mars, Spirit and Opportunity will be there waiting, and will be enshrined as a piece of our history, as the Appolo landing site will be. It will be a place toursits can go someday, to see where Spirit and Opportunity finally ended up, because "they were two of our first probes that we sent here many decades ago, and are what helped all of us to get here now."

The same with the Appolo site, particularly the undisturbed footprints of Neil Armstrong. It is a great tribute to what mankind is capable of, to look at a full moon at night and think to yourself "Wow, people have actually walked aruond up there."

Heyo

[trotsky]

1. Great post.

Truly a testament to the ingenuity and skill of the engineers of our space program. I've been duly impressed by the service life of both rovers as well! In just their first few days the rovers provided us with exactly what we were hoping for: evidence of water in Mars' past, and the wealth of info since has been the proverbial icing on the cake.

About the dust on the solar panels - whenever I hear that I wonder why they don't design a little squeegee or something to wipe it off!

[Heyo]

2. Thanks..

..amen to that!

I must admit that, as I watched TV, and had my NASA-TV going on the computer.. and was listening to the radio transmissions as the rovers came in. (both times)

.."roger heat shield seperation.." etc.. all the way down...

I was emotional, literally to the point having tears in my eyes.. I was just so proud of humanity as a whole for what we are able to do when we set our minds to great things. Since I am only 29 and am too young to have been around in '69, this was sort of my "moon landing".

I remember after Spirit first landed..around midnight I suppose, we got signals all the way down, confirming the retros had fired and stuff.. then we got a signal indicating it may have been bouncing on the surface in it's air-bag shell..

...and then we didn't hear from it for about 10 minutes.

I was literally pacing around the house, all worried. My girlfriend was pacing with me, she's not much a space nut like me, but she knew how much it meant to me and was watching it with me.

Then all of a sudden the control room erupted in applause as word came they had gotten a really strong signal and all was well.

I literally jumped up and down and clapped and cheered and hugged my girlfriend, and she cheered with me, bless her heart.

As for the question of why they don't figure out a way to wipe the dust off the panels, I always thought about that, too. It was asked at a NASA press conference what I was trying to watch but was at work so barely caught any of it. There was an answer for that, but I am not sure what it was, also weight was a factor, and the fact that it's one more component that can fail. Seems to me like the should have done that.

I know that the engineers were smart, and would have thought of that, so there must be some valid reason why they didn't use some kind of windshield wiper-like device, or even some small fans to blow the dust off.

I will do some research and see if I can't come up with a better answer for you on that one.

thanks for the reply! :bounce:

Heyo