Spirit Rover Set to Examine First Mars Rocks
By ANDREW BRIDGES
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — It’s a sharply angled rock that sits on the surface of Mars. Scientists have dubbed it “Adirondack.”
The Spirit rover is expected to reach out with its arm Tuesday and examine the football-size rock with its microscopic imager and two spectrometers, which can detail the minerals and elements that make up the rock. Spirit should then drill into the rock, perhaps as early as Wednesday, to reveal its interior.
Scientists believe the rock is made of a volcanic material called basalt.
“You can think of it as a time capsule that contains a history of its formation,” said Dave Des Marais, of NASA’s Ames Research Center and a member of the mission science team.
NASA scientists also are expected to present results Tuesday of the Spirit rover’s first down-and-dirty analysis of the soil beneath its six wheels from where it sits.
Once done with Adirondack, the rover should trundle off again to examine a second patch of fine-grained soil no more than a yard away, Des Marais said.
As engineers work to break in Spirit, the rover’s range is limited to about a yard a day, mission members said. Eventually, it could travel dozens of yards a day.
Spirit’s twin, Opportunity, remains on track to land Saturday on Mars. NASA is targeting Opportunity to land in Meridiani Planum, which lies halfway around the planet from Spirit’s Jan. 3 landing site in Gusev Crater.
“Everything is looking good for the upcoming landing,” Adler said.
NASA dispatched the two robots to prospect for geologic evidence that Mars once was a warmer, wetter world capable of supporting life.
Over the weekend, Spirit took a spin on Mars that doubled the distance on the odometer of the six-wheeled robot. The nearly 10-foot drive took the rover 30 minutes, including repeated pauses to snap pictures along its way. The drive was the first forward movement of the rover since it rolled off its lander and onto the martian surface.
“We went for a little Sunday drive,” mission manager Mark Adler told a Monday news conference at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
About the Mars Exploration Rover Mission
NASA’s twin robot geologists, the Mars Exploration Rovers, launched toward Mars on June 10 and July 7, 2003, in search of answers about the history of water on Mars. Spirit landed on January 3, and Opportunity is scheduled to land on January 24, 2004.
The Mars Exploration Rover mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet.
Primary among the mission’s scientific goals is to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity on Mars. The spacecraft are targeted to sites on opposite sides of Mars that appear to have been affected by liquid water in the past.
The landing sites are at Gusev Crater, a possible former lake in a giant impact crater, and Meridiani Planum, where mineral deposits (hematite) suggest Mars had a wet past.
After the airbag-protected landing craft settle onto the surface and open, the rovers will roll out to take panoramic images.
These will give scientists the information they need to select promising geological targets that will tell part of the story of water in Mars’ past. Then, the rovers will drive to those locations to perform on-site scientific investigations over the course of their 90-day mission.
These are the primary science instruments to be carried by the rovers:
– Panoramic Camera (Pancam): for determining the mineralogy, texture, and structure of the local terrain.
– Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES): for identifying promising rocks and soils for closer examination and for determining the processes that formed Martian rocks. The instrument will also look skyward to provide temperature profiles of the Martian atmosphere.
– Mössbauer Spectrometer (MB): for close-up investigations of the mineralogy of iron-bearing rocks and soils.
– Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS): for close-up analysis of the abundances of elements that make up rocks and soils.
– Magnets: for collecting magnetic dust particles. The Mössbauer Spectrometer and the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer will analyze the particles collected and help determine the ratio of magnetic particles to non-magnetic particles. They will also analyze the composition of magnetic minerals in airborne dust and rocks that have been ground by the Rock Abrasion Tool.
– Microscopic Imager (MI): for obtaining close-up, high-resolution images of rocks and soils.
– Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT): for removing dusty and weathered rock surfaces and exposing fresh material for examination by instruments onboard.
A goal for the rover is to drive up to 40 meters (about 44 yards) in a single day, for a total of up to one 1 kilometer (about three-quarters of a mile).
Moving from place to place, the rovers will perform on-site geological investigations. Each rover is sort of the mechanical equivalent of a geologist walking the surface of Mars. The mast-mounted cameras are mounted 1.5 meters(5 feet) high and will provide 360-degree, stereoscopic, humanlike views of the terrain.
The robotic arm will be capable of movement in much the same way as a human arm with an elbow and wrist, and will place instruments directly up against rock and soil targets of interest.
In the mechanical “fist” of the arm is a microscopic camera that will serve the same purpose as a geologist’s handheld magnifying lens. The Rock Abrasion Tool serves the purpose of a geologist’s rock hammer to expose the insides of rocks.
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