NASA Risks Mars Rover for Look in Crater
Posted on: Tuesday, 8 June 2004, 06:00 CDT
"If we knew the rover was going to last for a year, we could run around and do other things before we went to the crater," Squyres said in a telephone interview from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "But that's not the case. Every day there's a falloff in efficiency."
Opportunity has been scouting the crater for about a month, looking for the best way down and the shortest traverse to the lower layers of rock, but Wallace said the rover's limited electricity has sharply curtailed activity in recent days.
Planners eventually picked a spot with a sharp 25-degree downslope between 16 and 23 feet from the outcrop. The crater itself is about 140 yards in diameter and about 32 feet deep. Once at the outcrop, Opportunity will be able to sample the rocks using a variety of imaging tools, drills and probes.
NASA built a dummy escarpment and successfully used a rover replica to scale it, but Wallace described the actual slope as "rocky, windswept terrain" that may have deep pockets of sand that could trap the six-wheeled vehicle.
Getting to the outcrop, however, is a "sure thing," Squyres said. "But it could be that after we find what we're after, we'll have to spend the rest of the mission in the candy store."
Reported By TechNews.com, http://www.TechNews.com
(20040608/WIRES /)
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