14 DAY TRIAL // NASA released two updates about that state of the two components of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission, Spirit and Opportunity. While the former is still keeping mum near Home Plate, the latter has just wrapped up investigations of a rock at its current location.
Opportunity is now on the rim of the Santa Maria crater, as confirmed by photos taken from high above by the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) recently. It has taken this small detour in hopes of learning more about the Red Planet's past.
The rover has been investigating the landscape feature for months, focusing its attention on various targets. On March 8 (Sol 2531), it finished investigating the rock Ruiz Garcia, which it found lying near its location.
During its stay, the rover used its robotic arm to study the rock with its microscopic imager (MI) instrument, which was able to produce a high-resolution mosaic image of Ruiz Garcia.
The machine then used its APXS (alpha particle X-ray spectrometer) instrument to collect geological readings of the rock, and remained put until March 8. At that time, it was ordered to drive 8.7 meters (29 feet) north. This set it in an optimum position to take its last panoramic view of the crater.
At this point, the odometer on Opportunity indicates 26,695.66 meters (26.70 kilometers / 16.59 miles), but it still has a long way to go before reaching its target, the massive Endeavor Crater.
On the other side of Mars, Spirit is still silent, despite mission controllers' best efforts to establish contact. The Martian spring is in full swing now, and doubts are beginning to creep in as to whether the robot will wake up this year as well.
The last communication experts from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) got from the vehicle was on March 22, 2010 (sol 2210). Scientists here have even modified their standard contact tactics so as to accommodate several scenarios in which Spirit became damaged during the Martian winter.
The explorations rover has been stuck in a patch of loose sand dubbed Troy since May 2009, and has since been reconverted to a stationary science platform. However, this winter caught it off-guard, a short distance away from the spot where mission controllers had intended for it to pass winter.
Originally developed for a 3-month mission on Mars, both Spirit and Opportunity far exceeded their guarantee, having reached 7 years on the Red Planet. Their combined science output led to a better understanding of Martian geology and climate past, SpaceRef reports.