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Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2010/09/30 12:00 CDT
As Opportunity picked up the pace to Endeavour Crater this month and crossed the halfway point on the long journey from Victoria Crater and Spirit continued sleeping in hibernation mode, the Mars Exploration Rovers chalked up their 81st month of what was supposed to have been just a three-month tour of the Red Planet.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Hibernates Still, Opportunity Pulls into Cambridge Bay
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2010/08/31 12:00 CDT
With the Sun beginning to warm the landscape in the southern hemisphere of the Red Planet and winds whipping up here and there forming dust devils that kick the powdery, rust-colored topsoil into the atmosphere, the Mars Exploration Rovers have been experiencing sure signs of a Martian spring this month.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Sleeps Soundlessly, Opportunity Turns a Corner
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2010/07/31 12:00 CDT
Winter lingers in the southern hemisphere of the Red Planet, but the Sun is beginning to rise higher in the sky and temperatures are slowly rising, signs the Mars Exploration Rovers are heading into spring. While Spirit continued hibernating, Opportunity took in the warmth of the Sun, captured its first dust devil, and picked up the pace in Meridiani Planum on the long journey to Endeavour Crater. Together, the rovers marked six and a half years of exploration.
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2010/06/30 12:00 CDT
With winter still freezing the southern hemisphere of Mars, June might have been an uneventful month for your average working robot, but not the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs). In fact, from the sounds of silence to a major discovery to an injury scare, the rovers' latest trials, tribulations and achievements, have turned the last four weeks into something of an emotional roller-coaster for some members of the MER team.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Team Announces Major Water Discovery
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2010/06/17 12:00 CDT
Mars Exploration Rover Spirit continued to hibernate this month, parked in place near an old volcanic formation called Home Plate. At the same time though she managed to rove back into the planetary exploration spotlight when a group of the mission scientists announced they had found -- in data from an outcrop the rover visited more than four years ago -- evidence for a past watery environment more suitable for life than any other either Spirit or Opportunity have found, a place where near-pure water existed. 1
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2010/05/31 12:00 CDT
The Mars Exploration Rovers made it through their fourth winter solstice in what is the coldest, most challenging Martian winter the twin robot field geologists have experienced.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Snoozes Past Viking, Opportunity Snaps Endeavour on Horizon
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2010/04/30 12:00 CDT
The Mars Exploration Rovers' fourth Martian winter is proving to be the harshest one yet and Spirit and Opportunity are getting colder than ever before. With temperatures on the Red Planet dropping in April and the Martian winter solstice still two weeks away, the season has turned into a shivering nail-biter.
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2010/03/31 12:00 CDT
March seems to have come in like a lamb and gone out like a lion on the Red Planet this year as the Mars Exploration Rovers trudged deeper into their fourth winter. While Opportunity finished up work at Concepcin Crater and shifted into gear back on the road to Endeavour Crater, Spirit finished up winter preparations and carried out a limited winter agenda before shifting, it appears, into hibernation mode.
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Parks for Winter, Opportunity Tastes Chocolate Hills
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2010/02/28 11:00 CST
As winter put the freeze on in the southern hemisphere of the Red Planet, the Mars Exploration Rovers slowed down a bit, but continued throughout February to demonstrate the mettle that made them famous: Spirit successfully drove backwards, parked in place for the season, then continued working, as Opportunity roved through rock debris on a cruise around the rim of Concepcin Crater.
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2010/01/31 11:00 CST
Five and a half years after they were supposed to be history, the Mars Exploration Rovers celebrated their sixth Earth year on the Red Planet with Opportunity pulling up to a fresh, new crater on the road to Endeavour, and Spirit working on repositioning itself to settle in for the coming Martian winter, and perhaps the rest of its mission.
Opportunity's thousand-year-old crater
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2010/01/29 10:59 CST
Since leaving Marquette Island on sol 2,122, Opportunity has been barreling southward on her journey toward Endeavour crater. On her horizon for the last several sols has been a very small but very fresh looking crater named Concepción.
NASA decides Spirit is henceforth to be a lander
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2010/01/26 03:22 CST
There was a press briefing today that announced the official end of efforts to extricate Spirit from her sand trap at Troy. Instead, the rover drivers will now focus on improving the chances that Spirit will survive the coming winter so that she can carry on doing science once the power situation improves in the spring.
Brief rover update: "We do not believe [Spirit] is extractable."
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2010/01/26 11:36 CST
Brief rover update: "We do not believe [Spirit] is extractable."
Just a Few More Approaches to Try for Extrication
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2010/01/13 10:09 CST
"The list of remaining maneuvers being considered for extricating Spirit is becoming shorter."
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2010/01/08 01:08 CST
It's been two months, now, that extrication efforts have been going on. It's discouraging that the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit isn't out of the trap.
What's up in the solar system in January 2010
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2010/01/04 01:29 CST
While we don't have Moon bases, we do have plenty of spacecraft. Before I get into my more detailed look at the activities of the 20-odd spacecraft wandering about the solar system, I thought I'd look ahead to 2010 more generally and see what the year has in store for us.
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2009/12/31 11:00 CST
The Mars Exploration Rovers quietly wrapped up 2009 this month: Spirit continued to valiantly spin its wheels in an attempt to get out of its embedded location on the west side of Home Plate in Gusev Crater; and Opportunity continued its investigation of Marquette Island, perhaps the oldest Martian rock it's found to date at Meridiani Planum.
Awesome Mars Express view of Phobos and Deimos together
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2009/12/11 11:24 CST
My inbox was exploding this morning with messages about a tremendously cool animation released this morning by ESA's Mars Express team. It shows Phobos crossing Deimos, in what's known as a "mutual event."
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Spirit Turns Wheels, Opportunity Rests at Rare Martian Rock
Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2009/11/30 11:00 CST
The Mars Exploration Rovers managed to make history and uncover history in November and that put both Spirit and Opportunity in the planetary exploration spotlight during the 71st month of an overland expedition that was supposed to be a three-month tour.
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