NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Lifts Off

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NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Lifts Off

Posted by michael on Tuesday July 8, 2003 @11:02PM from the lawn-dart dept.

Joost Schuur writes "At 11:18 PM EDT on Monday, Opportunity, the second of 2 NASA Mars Exploration Rovers took off aboard a Boeing Delta 2 Heavy rocket after several delays and begun its 305 million mile trip to the Red Planet, where it will join its sister vehicle Spirit, which launched June 10th. Spirit and Opportunity will land on opposite sides of Mars, travelling up to 40 meters a day, and use a series of instruments to search for water, including the Rock Abrasion Tool, which will grind into rocks to give scientists a peak inside. Things are going to get crowded next January in orbit, as both NASA missions join the European Mars Express mission also launched this month and the Japanese Nozomi probe, which would finally complete its troublesome 5 year journey. Those stuck on Earth can take advantage of the closest Mars opposition in 60,000 years and watch with a telescope, or follow the images provided by the International MarsWatch 2003 group."

24 of 155 comments (clear)

Poor martians by kinnell · 2003-07-08 23:06 · Score: 4, Funny

With all these alien robots landing and wandering around probing things, they'll think it's an invasion.

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If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
1. Re:Poor martians by Surak · 2003-07-08 23:15 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  It isn't? Oh, right...it's a "preemptive strike". Sorry, Mr. Bush.
  
  --
  My journal has hot /. gossip.
2. Re:Poor martians by leshert · 2003-07-09 01:55 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  In a recent appearance, the Martian information minister released the following statement:
  
  "There are no infidel alien robots on Mars! Never! We have already destroyed one of their stupid vehicles, and we have another one surrounded on all sides! Let the Earthlings bask in their own illusion! They have not landed, and those that have landed, we will welcome with bullets and shoes!"
WebCast on Mars Exploration by C0deJunkie · 2003-07-08 23:09 · Score: 5, Informative

On the 7th of August there will we a Webcast on "Mars Exploration".

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Apple iProduct. Non importa cosa sia, lo comprerete!
Probe Names by dcw3 · 2003-07-08 23:15 · Score: 5, Funny

So, we've got Red Rover, I suppose we'll be sending Goofy to Pluto, and Lincoln to Mercury, Chevy to Saturn, and I'm afraid to ask what kind of probe well be using on Uranus.

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Just another day in Paradise
Best /. article I've seen in a while! by LeoDV · 2003-07-08 23:16 · Score: 3, Insightful

So many links from so many different sources, and so thorough, congrats to the poster!
Just imagine the surprise... by scsirob · 2003-07-08 23:19 · Score: 3, Funny

... if one of those rocks they drill in turns around, screems "OOUUCH!!" and hits back...

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To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
good to see nasa doing some serious science by PhysicsExpert · 2003-07-08 23:22 · Score: 4, Interesting

Its good to see NASA responding well with some serious missions after the Atlantis disaster. After all the cutbacks during the Clinton era I really thought it might get to the point where they did nothing but put satellites into orbit.

What would really interest me however would be if they switched their attention from Mars to Venus. Most scientists agree that life on Mars is not feasable wheras Venus, which is closer to the sun, has a far more interesting chemical makeup. Although too hot for any carbon based lifeforms to be found, many scientists have thought that in Venus's rich ammonia lakes a Silicon based life could have emerged. Although these would be very basic forms of life (not as advanced a monkeys) discovering them would mean that we could no longer view ourselves as being at the center of the universe.

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All that glitters has a high refractive index.
1. Re:good to see nasa doing some serious science by dylan_- · 2003-07-08 23:38 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Atlantis? What happened to Atlantis?
  Their entire civilisation was destroyed by a flood, which is pretty disasterous by any reckoning! I'm surprised you hadn't heard about it...
  
  --
  Igor Presnyakov stole my hat
2. Re:good to see nasa doing some serious science by nshravan · 2003-07-09 00:00 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I guess as the others pointed out, you were referring to Columbia and STS-107.
  Actually I am pretty sure this mission has been in the books for quite sometime. Especially since Earth and Mars are supposed to be in the closest configuration with respect to their orbits. A trip to Mars right now will take approximately 7-8 months and the two rovers(Spirit and Opportunity) should get to Mars by January.
  Also, its not just NASA which has used the current orbit position as an advantage; the European Space Agency(ESA) and the Japanese Space Agency(NASDA i think) have also launched their respective payloads to Mars.
  About Venus, I doubt if NASA will come out with a program. A whole load of factors , not the least scientific goes into allocating budget to programs. And especially right now, I would think it would be really hard for NASA to convince the govt., to fund a program to Venus. The question of selling it to the public ranks high up there among the criteria and seems tough to me.
3. Re:good to see nasa doing some serious science by ToSeek · 2003-07-09 02:24 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Mars is much more likely than Venus to have had life in the past. There are definite indications of water, past and present, and while life would be difficult on the surface, just underneath is a definite possibility.
  
  There is virtually zero chance of life on the surface of Venus, and it's way too hot for any kinds of lakes other than, say, lead. Ammonia, which evaporates at room temperature even on Earth, is right out. However, there is a benign zone in Venus's upper atmosphere, deep enough to avoid nasty radiation from the Sun but high enough to be temperate, that might possibly host life.
Don't Disturb The Natives! by Josuah · 2003-07-08 23:23 · Score: 5, Funny

Sounds like these rovers are going to do some "damage" to the habitat of those Martians. Is that such a good idea? Grinding into so-called "rocks". Trampling around on big wheels. All going, "Show me the water!" and "Take that, dust-particle sized life-form!" I think we're in for some heavy retaliation. Me, under the bed sounds like a good place right now.
Additional media coverage at... by RALE007 · 2003-07-08 23:23 · Score: 5, Informative

Astrobio.net
planetary.org
Discovery.com
Some of the context is redundant, the first link is the most informative.

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Beware blue cats moving at .99c
Please tell me..... by JaJ_D · 2003-07-08 23:47 · Score: 4, Funny

....they have picked between metric and/or imperial to give measurements in so they don't park the thing at high velocity into Mars.

Remeber...... Faster, Better, Cheaper

Please delete as applicable.
And my name went with them... by Quizo69 · 2003-07-09 00:22 · Score: 5, Interesting

3,551,645 names were submitted to the NASA site for launch on the two rovers. They have a nice picture of it with explanation here:

http://www.planetary.org/rrgtm/dvd.html

Let's hope this doesn't /. NASA and send the rovers off course ;)

It's strangely comforting to know that my name will be up there forever (well at least until we colonise Mars and enshrine the little discs somewhere)!

Quizo69

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Visceral Psyche Films
Deep Space Network Overload? by goatbar · 2003-07-09 01:08 · Score: 3, Interesting

How is the Deep Space Network (DSN) going to handle 7 spacecraft at Mars? It was tough enough with just 2 orbiters. Anyone in the know want to comment?
1. Re:Deep Space Network Overload? by Rxke · 2003-07-09 01:42 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  It is a problem, but at least they saw it coming. it's not only those craft, also a bunch of other important missions need a lot of attention, Cassini/Huygens, The cometchasers, et.c. are al nearing important phases of their mission. Last thing i read somewhere, it that they built an extra telesope (radio) in Spain (IIRC) So, it'l be a lot of juggling, and timing tings to the max but i guess they're ready for it. (well, let's hope so, Interplanetary /.ing wouldn't look too good, after al that work and money invested...
Venus by Cujo · 2003-07-09 01:28 · Score: 4, Informative

There are Venus missions under study now. The leading one is called the Venus In-Situ Explorer.

See http://spacescience.nasa.gov/missions/concepts.htm

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Helium balloons want to be free.
Enough with the probes by Paulrothrock · 2003-07-09 02:10 · Score: 4, Interesting

People are better than robots at exploring a planet. We need to put people on Mars. Mars Direct will get them there. All we need is the will to do it.

And before you go arguing how it will be so expensive, bear in mind that it would only be a 7% increase in NASA's budget for the next 10 years, and that would give us 5 manned missions.

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I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
1. Re:Enough with the probes by QuantumFTL · 2003-07-09 07:26 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  People are better than robots at exploring a planet.
  
  I'm not sure how valid of a claim that is. Certainly, right now our probes aren't that great, mainly because there is little actual autonomy. However, in the near future, probes will be built to handle major decisionmaking on their own. Our best hope for exploring the most of Mars is to send thousands of small autonomous probes that will do the looking around for us. This could be done for roughly the same cost as the manned mission, without the PR risk (yes, I hate it but it's very true) that manned missions currently represent.
  
  I work at the Jet Propulsion Lab, and many of the robotics technologies that are currently being persued there should give us the capability to collect huge amounts of useful data on Mars in the next 20 years or so.
  
  Is manned flight expensive? Well not really, but the price/performance ratio isn't that great compared to what will be done in the next 20 years with robotics probles (remember economy of scale, 1000 probes isn't much more expensive to build than 1).
Re:Better for everyone by UberDude · 2003-07-09 02:30 · Score: 3, Insightful

You're being a bit idealistic! The best thing about having lots of different space programs is that you end up with lots of different approaches to the problem. And the best thing about that is that you maximise the potential that one of them will succeed.

It's like egg fertilisation - why release one big sperm when you can send millions of little ones and increase the odds of one getting through!

Having lots of space programmes is just like making love to a beautiful woman.
Easier than you think by Phil+Karn · 2003-07-09 05:14 · Score: 3, Informative

It's not so hard. Each mission is on a separate frequency, so you just add extra receivers to share each ground antenna. Even the largest DSN antennas have beamwidths wide enough to take in all of Mars plus the nearby orbital space. (A 64m dish has a beamwidth of about 144 arc-seconds at X-band, while Mars as seen from Earth is currently about 20 arc-seconds in diameter.)
Also remember that Spirit and Opportunity are going to opposite sides of the planet, so generally only one will use the DSN at a time.
1. Re:Easier than you think by Phil+Karn · 2003-07-09 05:29 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Oh, another thing helping the crunch at the DSN is the end of the Galileo mission. When the X-band high gain antenna failed to deploy, the S-band omni antenna was used to salvage the mission.
  This placed an enormous strain on the DSN's resources. The very low data rate required more tracking time to transfer a given amount of information, and multiple antennas at each site were often arrayed to increase the received signal. The end of Galileo frees these antennas for other missions.
  I visited the Canberra DSN site in September 1997. While I was there, Jupiter rose and most of the antennas at the site were pointed at it. Very impressive to see them all moving together.
Check out the CGI animation of the mission! by smokin'moses · 2003-07-09 07:15 · Score: 4, Informative

When my family and I were visiting KSC a few weeks ago, to hopefully watch this launch :-( my wife pulled me over to a video screen that was playing a really well done simulation of the launch/flight/landing that underlined the elegance of the methods used for each stage of the trip to mars. It's really nice watching the various parts fall away and new goodies deploy for each part of the trip.

After a quick search on the web once we got home, I found lesser quality versions of the film.

A couple are here:

http://athena.cornell.edu/the_mission/rov_video. ht ml

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/video/anima ti on.html

I think the animator's site had the best quality one, in MPEG. I think his name is Maas.

If you like eye candy, this is sort of a factually based minds-eye type video. I think it's really good CGI, but I'm no expert.

I'd read about the mission, and spinning the probe up for the big burn, and reeling out weights to spin down, etc, but it's not until I saw it on the screen, that the grace and elegance of all the solutions to the various problems of sending this probe to mars really hit me.

Seeing this film makes me feel good about paying my taxes.