Set by Viking-1 in 1980s

Apr 26, 2010 12:45 GMT  ·  By

This Thursday will mark a momentous achievement for the Mars Exploration Rovers on the surface of the Red Planet. The rover Spirit will exceed the duration of the Viking-1 lander mission, marking the first time this is done in more than three decades. Though the robot ceased communications with Mission Control on March 31, after it skipped a planned transmission, experts at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California, who manage the instrument, say that it may have entered its hibernation mode. Winter is now upon Spirit's location, and the rover maybe preserving power for the next Martian spring, Space reports.

The machine is extremely tough, having already endured five long and harsh winters on the Red Planet. Though its position this year is not exactly what JPL experts hoped for, they are still optimistic that the rover will pull through. Even if Spirit doesn't, its twin Opportunity, currently trekking along on the opposite side of Mars, will in early May. Due to the latitude at which it was deployed, this robot does not need to hibernate for the winter, as it constantly benefits from sufficient amounts of sunlight.

If Spirit somehow manages to confirm it survived, or if it sends back data again at the end of this Martian winter, that would make it the longest-running mission on the surface of Mars ever. The current record holder is Viking-1, which endured for 6 years and 116 days before contact with it was lost. As the JPL staff accurately points out, the rover is smaller than a golf cart, has a battered wheel, its solar panels are filled with dust, and it could exceed the record while stuck in sand. Its current location, called Troy, became its permanent residence about a year ago, when its wheels got stuck inside. Moreover, the machine was originally planned to last for only three months on the planet.

“Being part of the team that will break the VL1 [Viking Lander 1] record will be exciting. It means to me personally that I will have participated in two historical events,” says Washington University in St. Louis (WUSL) expert Ray Arvidson. The scientist was the leader of the Viking Lander Imaging Team, and he currently serves as a science team member for the rover. “By lasting such a long time, the rovers have been able to accomplish far more science and exploration than we ever expected, and that's a wonderful thing. We're very proud of that,” says MER lead scientist Steve Squyres, who is based at the Cornell University.

Spirit was deployed on the Red Planet on January 4, 2004, followed by Opportunity on January 25, the same year. Though their mission was to last only 90 days, they are still “alive” and (almost) well to this day, having endured the incredibly-harsh conditions of Mars bravely. “A communication from Spirit on April 29 or later would be a confirmation that it has matched or exceeded VL1's longevity. That might not happen before Opportunity reaches the VL1 longevity mark, which will be on May 20,” says JPL spokesman Guy Webster. If Spirit reawakens in the spring, it will naturally be the holder of the record.