Live Forum with Ashley Stroupe

[AshleyStroupe]

Hello Ashley, Would it be not a possibility to have the second rover steer towards spirit in the attempts of dislodging it? Maybe a bump or a side swipe or would be to risky or time consuming to attempt this?

The rovers are on completely opposite sides of the planet. Unfortunately, it would take many many years to drive that far at 200m/day. No AAA on Mars!

[silylene]

Hello Ashley,

Over the course of driving rovers there are many times when they have driven past intersting objects or surfaces, and we didn't realize until later that they had been bypassed (and I know several times, we have reversed back to study something in detail). What was the one thing we have bypassed in the drives which you wished in retrospect that we had taken more time to go back and study in detail?

[TariqJMalik]

Hi Ashley,

Spirit and Opportunity have spent more than five years (by Earth's calendar) exploring Mars so how surprising - if at all - has it been that they're so long-lived?

Also, since they are aging, what dangers do they face (other than getting stuck in deep sand) in terms of failing equipment that could end their missions now?

Thanks!

Tariq Malik

[AshleyStroupe]

Hello Ashley,

Over the course of driving rovers there are many times when they have driven past intersting objects or surfaces, and we didn't realize until later that they had been bypassed (and I know several times, we have reversed back to study something in detail). What was the one thing we have bypassed in the drives which you wished in retrospect that we had taken more time to go back and study in detail?

For the most part, when we see we have driven past something that is interesting or important, we go back to it. We did this many times when Spirit was exploring, and recently Opportunity drove quite a long way past an interesting looking rock which we did drive back to- and it it turned out to be the largest meteorite we've found on Mars. Since our main purpose is interesting science, if we see something, we go back.

[AshleyStroupe]

Hi Ashley,

Spirit and Opportunity have spent more than five years (by Earth's calendar) exploring Mars so how surprising - if at all - has it been that they're so long-lived?

Also, since they are aging, what dangers do they face (other than getting stuck in deep sand) in terms of failing equipment that could end their missions now?

Thanks!

Tariq Malik

Honestly, it is very surprising. While we knew they were designed and built to the absolute best of our ability (and we have a lot of very talented and smart people here!), Mars is a very dangerous place. The biggest surprise, and one without which we would not still be on Mars, is that it can also be friendly. The Martian winds have kept the solar panels clean, and without that we would have long ago past the time when we could no longer make enough power to survive.

At this point in their lives, it is impossible to tell what might fail next. Many thing we ca learn to work around (like the motors on the arm and wheel that have already broken) but other things we might not be able to work around. It depends on how it breaks, when, and where.

[silylene]

Hello Ashley,

As the rovers drove through the dunes, many times we have observed tiny craters on the dune surfaces, some of which appeared to be as small as 20 cm. We once had a great thread discussing varius hypothesis on how these were formed. They seemed to be formed more often on crests or near dune crests, which also seemed odd, and IIRC, Opportunity found many more than Spirit.

What do you think is the mechanism of the formation of the tiny craters?


Unfortunately, the thread where we collected many, many fine examples of pictures of these, but the thread got deleted a couple years ago. The best example i could quickly find was here: http://www.ztn.net/mars/solarsystem/04272005_tinyCrators_br.jpg

[AshleyStroupe]

Hello Ashley,

As the rovers drove through the dunes, many times we have observed tiny craters on the dune surfaces, some of which appeared to be as small as 20 cm. We once had a great thread discussing varius hypothesis on how these were formed. They seemed to be formed more often on crests or near dune crests, which also seemed odd, and IIRC, Opportunity found many more than Spirit.

What do you think is the mechanism of the formation of the tiny craters?


Unfortunately, the thread where we collected many, many fine examples of pictures of these, but the thread got deleted a couple years ago. The best example i could quickly find was here: http://www.ztn.net/mars/solarsystem/04272005_tinyCrators_br.jpg

I am not a geologist by any means, but crater form when things fall out of the sky. These could be meteorites (and we've seen a lot of little ones) or ejecta from volcanic or meteor activity elsewhere.

[MeteorWayne]

Topical for me, perhaps not as much for you, sorry. Where might we find out more about what Block Island has taught us about the Martian atmosphere in the past?

MW

[AshleyStroupe]

Topical for me, perhaps not as much for you, sorry. Where might we find out more about what Block Island has taught us about the Martian atmosphere in the past?

MW

I believe there was an article posted on the mars rover web site http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov
It would have been by Ray Arvidson.

[AshleyStroupe]

Well thanks everybody for your excellent questions! Thanks for your continued interest in Spirit and Opportunity - keep watching for updates on http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov!

[vogelsong]

Ashley,
What has the team learned about wheel or tire design that might help future rovers get out of simular situations?

[AshleyStroupe]

Ashley,
What has the team learned about wheel or tire design that might help future rovers get out of simular situations?

Unfortunately I am not a mechanical engineer, so I'm not sure what we can do to improve the wheels for sand. I also don't know whether this will likely be an important issue for the next rover - it will depend on where we choose to go.