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Spirit and Opportunity Are Back Online

Posted by kdawson on from the back-after-a-good-long-hunker dept.

PinkyGigglebrain sends us news that the Mars rovers have survived the dust storms that have swept the surface of Mars for the last 6 weeks. How well they survived remains to be seen. Due to a combination of dust still suspended in the atmosphere and dust on the rovers' solar panels, they are only producing about half the power they normally would. The article is a little sparse on the exact health of the rovers but it's good to know they are still with us.

11 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. Don't mess around with the Register... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    So the site didn't get too many details? Just go to the NASA page... Convienient NASA website

  2. These are hardy/lucky little machines! by Sneakernets · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm so glad these machines made it, I was seriously concerned if we would get any more information from these rovers. From what I heard, it would have been many months for replacements to arrive, and that would only be if there would be replacements at all.

    Go, Spirit and Opportunity!

    --
    "No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson
  3. Amazing by fishthegeek · · Score: 4, Informative

    I used to think that there was just NO WAY that R2D2 could take the kind of crap he took and still survive... who'd of thought. Those robots are completely amazing to me. Designed for a 90 day mission, and here we are at over 13 times that number of days. The best part of the mission is all of the fantastic images they have sent. Check them out here

    --
    load "$",8,1
    1. Re:Amazing by MouseR · · Score: 4, Funny

      Designed for a 90 day mission, and here we are at over 13 times that number of days

      Well, the S.S. Minnow's crew was out only for a 3 hour tour and see how long they lasted on that island?

  4. Ideas for next time? by Wilson_6500 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I suppose if we send another rover to Mars, they might--out of optimism--include a way for the solar panels to free themselves of dust? I know they supposedly didn't expect the rovers to last for quite this long, but it seems like being proactive about this sort of thing really wouldn't hurt for the next time around. I imagine it'd have to be a pretty low-energy method for doing so, and if it's really fine dust it might be a tough job. Maybe piezoeletrically vibrating the panels, if they're set at an angle, would work.

    1. Re:Ideas for next time? by scoot80 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think getting an extra arm with a dust wiping cloth would be a good idea too. Maybe two arms - one that sprays Windex, and the other one to polish. Might be a little energy inefficient, but quicker.

    2. Re:Ideas for next time? by Kjella · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If they had a good method, they would have implemented it last time. If it wasn't practical or important enough for a three month mission where it was the clearly limiting factor, why would it be when they can run four years plus without them?

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    3. Re:Ideas for next time? by evanbd · · Score: 4, Informative

      The issue was complicated. First, they weren't sure what the effect of dust storms would be. They got lucky; the storms seem to clean the panels more than they add dust. Second, they evaluated a number of different options for panel cleaning -- wipers, peel-away plastic covers, electrostatic devices, etc. The conclusion was there were a number of options, any of which would probably work for a while. However, it was decided that any of the options would take the place in space / weight of approximately one instrument. They decided that they'd rather have better info for a shorter time, especially given that the dust storms might turn out to clean the panels and let the rovers keep going without any cleaning system at all. So, they opted for instrumentation over longevity, and lucked out and got both.

  5. More-convenient Mars Rovers page by AySz88 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's the actual mission site that has more than just multimedia: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html The mission status update page is particularly helpful: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html

  6. Hundreds Of Years Later... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...someone deciphers the alien lettering scrawled in the dust on Opportunity's solar panel as reading "wash me."

  7. Re:March On Little Soldiers by jon287 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I like your sentiment, but the real heroes work at NASA. These men and women almost certainly had a rough entry into adulthood at the hands of the ignorant doofuses who populate our schools only to be greeted, upon arrival, by a space program in decline, budgets cut to fund foreign wars, and a general "who cares about space, been there done that..oooh Paris got arrested!!" attitude from the public.

    What did these people do? They took their limited budget and did their thing on another PLANET, and took us along for the ride!

    I smile every time I hear mention of the rovers on tv or see the images. Its like a giant "up yours" to all of the worthless, dog-fighting "football stars" and useless "celebrities" of the world from geeks everywhere.

    Roll on NASA engineers. Roll on rovers. You are my heroes.

    --
    To boldly use to and too two times and get it right too! They're not gonna believe their eyes when they see it there!