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TOPIC: Mars Exploration Rover Spirit


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RE: Mars Exploration Rover Spirit
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Image taken by the Spirit rover on Sol 1144

Spirit Sol 1144
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Credit NASA

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Mars: Flying Over Spirit's Work Site.


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Image of a rock on Mitcheltree Ridge near the homeplate feature taken by the Spirit rover on Sol 1141.

Spirit Sol 1141
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Credit NASA

-- Edited by Blobrana at 04:19, 2007-03-22

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SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Loses, Re-Establishes Contact with Orbiter - sol 1132-1140, March 20, 2007:

Spirit is healthy but had to sit out a Martian day waiting to send data to Earth while the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was in safe mode. Both the rover and the orbiter share the same X-band frequency with Earth and must coordinate communications. Ultimately, Spirit sent data to Earth while the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was on the other side of Mars, out of reach of Earth.
Spirit drove 21.26 metres  on the rover's 1,132nd and 1,136th sols, or Martian days, of exploration (March 10 and March 14, 2007), en route to rock targets on "Mitcheltree Ridge."

Sol-by-sol summary:

Sol 1132 (March 10, 2007): Spirit touched a soil target with the Mössbauer spectrometer, acquired microscopic images, and surveyed the sky and ground as well as a vesicular basalt known as "Faye Dancer" using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. The rover drove 10.2 metres, took images with the hazard avoidance and panoramic cameras, and acquired a 360-degree mosaic with the navigation camera.

Sol 1133: Spirit began the day by imaging the sky with the panoramic camera. The rover then pointed the navigation camera at the surrounding terrain and acquired a movie in search of dust devils. Spirit surveyed the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer and monitored dust on the rover mast.

Sol 1134: Spirit searched for dust devils in the morning and spent much of the day engaged in remote targeted sensing. Spirit acquired full-colour images of a knob known as "Pitchers Mound" using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera. The rover acquired images of an outcrop known as "Backstop" and conducted a survey of rock clasts using the panoramic camera. Spirit acquired data on targets known as "Shirley Jameson," "Connie Wisniewski," "Margaret Stephani," and "Tjanath" using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. The rover monitored atmospheric dust using the panoramic camera and surveyed the sky and ground as well as targets known as "Phundahl" and "Panar" using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 1135: Spirit began the day by examining scattered light and searching for dust devils with the navigation camera. The rover surveyed targets known as "Ptarth" and "Thark," a large slab of rock called "Torquas," and the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 1136: Spirit's first task of the day was surveying the rover's calibration target and a target known as "Toonal" using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. Spirit then drove 11.06 metres  toward an outlying outcrop associated with "Home Plate" (called "outlier 2") and acquired post-drive images using the hazard avoidance and navigation cameras. The rover surveyed the sky and ground using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 1137
: In the morning, Spirit acquired thumbnail images of the sky using the panoramic camera and acquired a movie in search of dust devils using the navigation camera. When Spirit did not receive the next day's instructions as a result of being unable to establish a link with Earth while the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was in safe mode, the rover instead executed "runout" science activities for the first time in 321 sols. The pre-loaded runout activities included monitoring atmospheric dust, measuring light looking east and west, imaging the calibration target, and taking thumbnail images of the sky.

Sol 1138 (March 9, 2007): Spirit acquired full-colour images of targets known as "Ompt" and "Shador" using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera. The rover studied Ompt, Shador, and additional targets known as "Zor" and "Zodanga" using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. Spirit monitored atmospheric dust using the panoramic camera and conducted an argon experiment using the alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer.

Sol 1139: Spirit's first activities of the day included acquiring full-colour images of Zodanga and Zor using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera and searching for clouds using the navigation camera. Spirit acquired hazard avoidance camera images and navigation camera images of potential scientific targets as well as a 360-degree view of the rover's surroundings using the navigation camera. Spirit monitored atmospheric dust using the panoramic camera.

Sol 1140 (March 19, 2007): Spirit took snapshots of the sky using the panoramic camera and acquired a dust devil movie using the navigation camera. The rover measured atmospheric dust, scanned the sky and ground using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer, and looked for clouds using the navigation camera.

Odometry:
As of sol 1136 (March 14, 2007), Spirit's total odometry was 7,033.61 metres.

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Panorama taken by the Spirit rover March 15, 2007 (Sol 1136)

SpiritSol1136
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Images of the "Columbia Hills" region inside Mars' Gusev Crater, taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, provided detailed, three-dimensional information that was used to create this animation of a hypothetical flyover. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been exploring this range of hills since 2004.

171473main_spirit
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/U.S. Geological Survey

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Image taken by the Spirit rover on Sol 1134

SpirtSol1134
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Image taken by the Spirit rover on Sol 1131

SpiritSol1131_sm
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NASA Mars Rover Churns Up Questions With Sulphur-Rich Soil
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Some bright Martian soil containing lots of sulphur and a trace of water intrigues researchers who are studying information provided by NASA's Spirit rover.

"This material could have been left behind by water that dissolved these minerals underground, then came to the surface and evaporated, or it could be a volcanic deposit formed around ancient gas vents" -  Dr. Ray Arvidson of Washington University, St. Louis. He is the deputy principal investigator for NASA's twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.

Determining which of those two hypotheses is correct would strengthen understanding of the environmental history of the Columbia Hills region that Spirit has been exploring since a few months after landing on Mars in January 2004. However, investigating the bright soil presents a challenge for the rover team, because the loose material could entrap the rover.
The bright white and yellow material was hidden under a layer of normal-looking soil until Spirit's wheels churned it up while the rover was struggling to cross a patch of unexpectedly soft soil nearly a year ago. The right front wheel had stopped working a week earlier. Controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, were trying to manoeuvre the rover backwards, dragging that wheel, to the north slope of a hill in order to spend the southern-hemisphere winter with solar panels tilted toward the sun.

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SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Studies "Home Plate" from the West - sol 1125-1131, March 12, 2007:

Spirit is healthy after wrapping up a week of remote sensing observations on the west side of the elevated circular plateau known as "Home Plate."

Sol-by-sol summary:

Sol 1125 (March 3, 2007): Spirit took images of darkness, when the panoramic camera is exposed to no light, for calibration purposes. Spirit acquired microscopic images of the dust capture and filter magnets and surveyed several targets known as "Lothar," "Manator," "Morbus," "Ombra," "Otz Valley," and "Pankor" using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. The rover monitored atmospheric dust levels with the panoramic camera, surveyed the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer, and searched for clouds using the navigation camera.

Sol 1126: Spirit's first task of the day was acquiring panoramic camera images of the dune field known as "El Dorado." The rover then drove 3.5 meters toward "Home Plate," acquired images using the front and rear hazard avoidance cameras and navigation camera, and monitored atmospheric dust with the panoramic camera. The rover scanned the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 1127: The first thing in the morning, Spirit scanned the sky for clouds using the navigation camera. The rover surveyed the sky at high sun using the panoramic camera. Spirit scanned the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 1128: Spirit started the day by looking for Martian dust devils with the navigation camera. The rover re-acquired images with the front hazard avoidance camera and tested the switch on the contact plate of the Mössbauer spectrometer by touching the filter magnet with the instrument. Spirit acquired navigation camera images and a panoramic camera mosaic of Home Plate. Spirit acquired remote sensing data from targets known as "Irene Hickson," "Joanne Winter," "Bette Trezza," and "Carolyn Morris." The rover surveyed the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer and measured atmospheric dust levels with the panoramic camera.

Sol 1129: Spirit started the day by looking for morning clouds. The rover conducted a survey using the panoramic camera at high sun. Spirit scanned the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer and used the same instrument to acquire remote sensing data from targets known as "Anna Mae Hutchison," "Faye Dancer," "Dorothy Hunter," and "Velma Abbott."

Sol 1130: Spirit searched for morning clouds with the navigation camera and acquired images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of Home Plate. The rover also acquired data from targets known as "Fredda Acker" and "Jean Gilchrist" with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. The rover took calibration images of darkness and monitored atmospheric dust with the panoramic camera. Spirit acquired data from a target known as "Betty Warfel" using the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 1131 (March 9, 2007): Spirit took images of the sky with the panoramic camera and surveyed the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. The rover acquired miniature thermal emission spectrometer data and panoramic camera images of a target known as "Evelyn Adams." Spirit took full-colour images, using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera, of a target called "Joanne Winter." The rover acquired miniature thermal emission spectrometer data from targets known as "Bethany Goldsmith," "Betty Whiting," and "Melba Alspaugh." Spirit took panoramic camera images and prepared to spend the next morning acquiring two movies in search of dust devils using the panoramic camera.

Odometry:
As of sol 1130 (March 8, 2007), Spirit's total odometry was 7,012.34 metres.

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