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Instrument on Mars Rover 'Spirit' Malfunctioning

Posted by michael on from the get-out-and-fix-it dept.

deglr6328 writes "During the first in-flight checkout of both mars rovers this week it was found that the Mossbauer spectrometer on the first launched "Spirit" Rover was not functioning properly. The instrument is intended to be used on the surface of Mars to examine the composition and magnetic properties of Iron containing minerals in rocks. Mission engineers think they may be able to partially fix the spectrometer before it arrives in January. All other cameras and instruments on both rovers checked out ok."

3 of 22 comments (clear)

  1. SSH... by jpsowin · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm sure they'll simply logon to mars.spirit.nasa.gov via SSH and fix it. Recompile the kernel or something. ;)

  2. Re:I always wondered... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Simple. They just have to reroute the secondary plasma inducers through the aft buffer array. Problem solved!

  3. Re:I always wondered... by deglr6328 · · Score: 2, Funny

    "In case you don't already know, the Mossbauer spectrometer is a rediculously cool instrument..."

    I knew. :-)

    Your post was still very informative though, and the part about the software you're developing for the mission...cool!

    There is something I don't understand however. I thought that since the linewidth of metastable iron 57's hyperfine transition was so incredibly narrow that unless the nuclei are fixed in a crystal and the crystal lattice vibrations(phonons) are quantized by cooling it to cryogenic temps. then the frequency shift imparted by the recoil of the emitting nuclei destroy any resonance with potentially absorbing sample Fe nuclei. How is the emitter cryogenically cooled on mars!?

    Anyway, cool talking to you, I work here so if you have any questions about giant lasers... :-)

    --
    - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"