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Opportunity Prepares to Dig a Hole on Mars

Posted on: Saturday, 14 February 2004, 06:00 CST

By GILLIAN FLACCUS

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Scientists fixed a glitch that froze the robotic arm on the Mars rover Opportunity and then prepared the robot explorer to dig a narrow trench in the martian soil, NASA said Saturday.

Scientists hoped the patch of soil, dubbed "Hematite Slope," would prove to be rich in the iron-bearing mineral, which typically forms in water.

Opportunity's explorations had been delayed on Friday because the rover failed to properly stow its robotic arm. Engineers sent instructions to the rover that fixed the problem, mission manager Jim Erickson said Saturday.

The glitch occurred because scientists had instructed Opportunity to perform what could have been an unsafe movement with the robotic arm. Faced with the conflict between that instruction and its safety instructions, the rover stopped with its robotic arm still extended until scientists revised the commands.

"The rover is sometimes smarter than we are," said Erickson. "The trick is to catch these on the ground and resequence them correctly before we send them up."

With that problem solved, scientists wanted Opportunity to dig four inches or so into the soil, using one of its front wheels as an excavator. They hoped the move would expose minerals that could reveal whether Mars ever was wet enough to support life.

Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit, was on the other side of the planet inspecting two rocks nicknamed "Stone Council" and "Mimi," and the surrounding soil before resuming its trip toward a crater about 1,100 feet away.

"Spirit is still moving out, but it's stopping to smell the roses along the way," Erickson said.

Scientists were considering how to increase Spirit's driving distance from 26 meters a day to 30 meters a day. One option was to use the rover's panoramic camera to provide images so scientists on Earth could see up to 50 meters ahead.

"Our navigational cameras aren't really good enough to pick out a good route in advance when we're talking about 30, 40 or 50 meters," Erickson said.

About the Hematite Map

This hematite abundance index map helps geologists choose hematite-rich locations to visit around Opportunity's landing site. Blue dots equal areas low in hematite and red dots equal areas high in hematite.

Why Hematite

Geologists are eager to reach the hematite-rich area in the upper left to closely examine the soil, which may reveal secrets about how the hematite got to this location. Knowing how the hematite on Mars was formed may help scientists characterize the past environment and determine whether that environment provided favorable conditions for life.

The Plan

Over the next few sols, engineers and scientists plan to drive Opportunity to the hematite-rich area then attempt a "pre-trench" sequence, taking measurements with the Moessbauer spectrometer, alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and microscopic imager. Next, the plan is to trench the hematite rich area by spinning one wheel in place to "dig" a shallow hole. Finally, scientists will aim the instrument arm back at the same area where it pre-trenched to get post-trench data with the same instruments to compare and contrast the levels of hematite and revel how deep the hematite lays in the dirt.

Panoramic image of Opportunity's new home at Meridiani Planum. Credit: NASA/JPL

False-color closeup image of a rock in the "Stone Mountain" outcrop at Meridiani showing tiny balls that resemble blueberries. Credit: NASA/JPL

Mineral Map of Opportunity's new home at Meridiani Planum. Red and orange patches indicate high levels of the iron-bearing mineral, while blue and green denote low levels. Credit: NASA/JPL

Index Map Details

The hematite abundance index map was created using data from the miniature thermal emission instrument. The first layer is a mosaic of panoramic camera images taken prior to egress, when Opportunity was still on the lander. The colored dots represent data collected by the miniature thermal emission spectrometer on sol 11, after Opportunity had rolled off of the lander and the rover was located at the center of the blue semi-circle.

The spectrometer is located on the panoramic camera mast. On sol 11, it took a low-angle 180-degree panorama of the area in front of the rover, indicated by the blue shaded dots. The instrument then raised the angle of its field of view a few degrees higher to sweep around behind the rover, indicated by the red and yellow dots offset at the far sides of the image.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

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