Astrobiology Magazine. Mars Rover: The Owner's Manual Phobos, meaning fear, and Deimos, meaning terror, are the two irregular moons on Mars, named after the god of war. The red planet has alternatively been described as the most promising location for evidence of ancient, non-terrestrial biology to the 'Death Planet'. The planetary corpse image for Mars has come into circulation only recently because of the many missions that its difficult conditions have marooned. As one scientist quips, "Mars is a warm corpse if not a fire-breathing dragon."
With its new, healthy 'asset' on Mars, what are NASA's current plans for driving around the fourth rock from the sun?
The present decade represents the most intense scientific exploration of a neighboring world since the Apollo era, focusing on the search for ancient and modern habitats through the history of water. The next decade will witness the transition of themes, from "following the water" to a "search for building blocks of life" -- in other words, following the carbon.
The exploration strategy on Mars is to uncover new insights into the red planet's past, the history of its rocks and interior, the many roles and abundances of water and, quite possibly, evidence of past and present life.
The facts of what face the science team for maneuvering their roving geologist are summarized in terse commands, just as the driving controls from Earth will move this mobile laboratory around rocks, off its landing petal, and eventually into the distant horizon seen in current panoramas. The rover is expected to witness up to ninety sunset drives, before mission planners reach their extended exploration scenarios.
As noted by Dr. Ed Weiler, NASA Associate Administrator for Science, one first for this mission that paid off early, was the world's only interplanetary satellite communication network. First images arrived via orbiters around Mars, as unique relay points for storing and transmitting the data-rich pictures only hours after touching down. Just some of the most significant findings from those two orbiters which have operated for years around Mars, but currently aid the landing missions, include:
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]evidence of possibly recent liquid water at the martian surface;
evidence for layering of rocks that points to widespread ponds or lakes in the planet's early history;
topographic evidence that most of the southern hemisphere is higher in elevation than most of the northern hemisphere, so that any downhill flow of water and sediments would have tended to be northward;
identification of gray hematite, a mineral suggesting a wet environment when it was formed;
extensive evidence for the role of dust in reshaping the recent martian environment;
strong evidence for large quantities of frozen water mixed into the top layer of soil in the 20 percent of the planet near its north and south poles. By one estimate -- likely an underestimate -- the amount of water ice near the surface, if melted, would be enough water to fill Lake Michigan twice.
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Spacecraft
Cruise vehicle dimensions: 2.65 meters (8.7 feet) diameter, 1.6 meters (5.2 feet) tall
Rover dimensions: 1.5 meter (4.9 feet) high by 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) wide by 1.6 meter (5.2 feet) long
Weight: 1,062 kilograms (2,341 pounds) total at launch, consisting of
174-kilogram (384 pound) rover,
365-kilogram (805-pound) lander,
198-kilogram (436-pound) backshell and parachute,
90-kilogram (198-pound) heat shield and
183-kilogram (403-pound) cruise stage,
plus 52 kilograms (115 pounds) of propellant
Power: Solar panel and lithium-ion battery system providing 140 watts on Mars surface
Science instruments:
Panoramic cameras,
miniature thermal emission spectrometer,
Mössbauer spectrometer,
alpha particle X-ray spectrometer,
microscopic imager,
rock abrasion tool,
magnet arrays, collect airborne dust for analysis by the science instruments. Mars is a dusty place, and some of that dust is highly magnetic.
More on site.
Stephen
Topic: Spirit Specs, specs, and More Specs. (Read 1319 times)