Mars Rover Spirit Down a Wheel

riflemann writes "NASA is reporting that two years into its 90-day mission, Spirit has lost one wheel and is now running on five wheels, dragging the broken wheel. With this reduced mobiity, the rover still needs to make its way to a slope where it can catch enough sun over the Martian winter to keep it operating. 'Even though the rovers are well past their original design life, they still have plenty of capability to conduct outstanding science on Mars.', says project leader Dr. John Callas."

Comments

At first read, I get dissapointed

[R2.0]

Then I remember a story Spider Robinson told about a cheap digital watch that died on him. He was pretty pissed off, but then he remembered that:

a) it was originall a Crackerjack prize or some other freebie.

b) it was 5 years into it's projected one year battery life.

At this point he gave it a solemn memorial service and kept it in a revered place (I think he may have buried it).

Whenever they finally die, I hope that they find an honored place in whatever museum the future Mars colonists decide to set up.

R2.0

exploration will continue

[MoFoYa]

I think its great that the mars rovers lasted as long as they have. when you consider the failed mars mission attempts, spirit and opportunity are huge successes that have long outlasted their expected lifespan. The new mars orbiter "MRO" is sure to provide more information about the surface of mars, and possible landing sites for even more capable landers in the future. my question to /.ers is this: should we be focusing so much on mars or should we be looking toward other possible outposts/life harboring worlds like europa. and the new horizons mission to pluto - a waste of time, or an exciting new learning opportunity? personally, i doubt life will be found on mars. and i'm doubtfull any significant life will be found anywhere in our solar system. but, we are natural explorers who will continue to explore, even with a bum wheel.

Re:Not so surprising

[slightlyspacey]

What do you expect? The rover has lasted *8* times longer than design. That's the equivalent of driving 400,00 miles on tires rated for 50,000 miles. It's a heck of an accomplishment and I can only applaud the terrific job the design engineers and builders did.

Tire tracks, not water

[tilde_e]

It is so interesting that we leave tire tracks on other planets. They may be that the first signs of life we find, or that other beings find.

Imagine the tension if we found ourselves face-to-face with a foreign martian rover!

Re:I'm still amazed....

[zappepcs]

Those are very good points, but I think that most of the reason for the unexpected longevity of the mars rovers is that they expected dust from dust storms to critically hamper the solar panel operation. What was a surprise is that the wind quite effectively kept the solar panels clear of dust, giving a much longer lifetime. I don't think that the engineers expected to have to worry about the motors lasting 36 months or more since it was not expected. Mars has quite extreme temperature swings, so the engineering is probably worth what it cost to build the rovers. Mother nature is something that just can't always be anticipated, unless, of course, you anticipate problems due to mother nature. In that case, any positive turn of fate leaves you in the position of underestimating vehicle longevity.

The temperatures, radiation, dust, vibration... these are very harsh environmental variables. It is just amazing that they are still running. I'm sure that NASA is still as amazed as we are, and pleased to be continuing the scientific research at what amounts to a budget bonanza.

You are most probably right in thinking that what was learned this time around will be incorporated in the next planetary exploration vehicles, and a longer lifetime expectation will be part of that. In line with that, recent NASA un-manned missions have been incredibly successful. I look forward to more solar system exploration, and also to commercial exploration based on NASA work.

Now that we know how to build robots to explore Mars, we can build them to explore other planets, and that ion engine thing is a Trekie's dream. The expectation bar is rising, and that is a good thing. The X-prize and similar efforts are creating huge scientific 'wealth' for all to use. Its all very cool.