Pair Of Little Troopers Get New Missions

NASA's Mars rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, have taken a licking and... well, you know the rest. The dynamic duo continue to amaze the engineers who designed, built and operate them. The pair have already exceeded their planned three-month mission lengths by almost eleven times!

Both robots have responded to NASA communications following the most recent superior conjunction -- the time when the sun blocks communication between Mars and Earth -- and are ready to go back to work.

Scientists intend to send Opportunity on a clockwise traverse of Victoria Crater, a destination the crawling robot reached last September after a 21-month journey.

Lead scientist with the Mars Exploration Rover mission at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY Steve Squyres told Space.com, "We haven’t decided how far we’ll go in that direction, but it seems clear that some of the most intriguing geology we can see from the rim is to be found that way. So that’s where we’re headed for now."

Spirit also has new marching orders, but a glitch with its right front wheel is slowing it down a bit. The wheel has stopped turning. To get around the impediment, Spirit just powers along with its five remaining wheels dragging the bad one through the terrain.

Mission member Larry Crumpler, from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque said, "It makes approaches for studies of targets with the instruments tricky, requiring a crab-like motion to put targets within the instrument work space. So the first drives are tentative and very carefully considered for their value in learning anew how to drive on Mars."

Spirit is also recovering from a long winter which limited power storage gleaned from its solar panels. "Hopefully, we will have a solar panel cleaning event somewhere in the future. That will make the power situation better even as the atmosphere becomes dustier and the Sun's rays are dimmed," said Crumpler.

Scientists hope to get Spirit back to a region called "Home Plate," an area with unusual formations worth further study says mission member Jim Rice.

Rice, from Arizona State University, said, "I am personally looking forward to seeing new cross sectional views of the layered rock outcrops along the southern margins of Home Plate. How long we will stay at Home Plate is unknown...it sort of depends on what we find there. This is the nature of exploration."

Rice says he would very much like Spirit to continue to another region called the "Promised Land" following its exploration of Home Plate. He says origin of materials in the area are unknown and scientists would like a closer look.

All of that depends, of course, on how long the little troopers can hold out. Spirit's balky wheel might preclude a nearly 2/3 mile trip to the Promised Land.

"But we should at least try. It would be a shame if we only see it from afar. We will not know what possible geologic treasures the Promised Land holds until we enter its domain," opined Rice.

For now, Opportunity and Spirit have their work cut out for them.

FMI: www.nasa.gov