2008 Woodie Awards
NASA Twin Rovers
Editorial Staff: Chicago Tribune
Issue date: 2/6/06 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
NASA has its own version of that annoying pink bunny in the Energizer battery commercials that keeps going and going and going. The rover twins, Spirit and Opportunity, have been exploring Mars for two years. That is seven times longer than their expected life spans.
Opportunity has a bad wheel, and the shoulder joint on its robotic arm is having trouble. Spirit's rock-grinding tool has pretty much bit the dust. Just imagine what shape you would be in if you exceeded your life expectancy by a factor of seven. Despite those signs of age, both are still roving Mars and sending back photos and intriguing data, much to the delight of NASA, scientists, and space geeks everywhere.
They have sent back 140,000 photos and analyzed countless rocks and soil patches. Spirit discovered rocks that either formed in, or were altered by, water. This raises the tantalizing prospect that 3.5 billion years ago Mars was as warm and wet as its neighbor, Earth.
The winds of Mars have helped keep the rovers going. The swirling dust that erupts just about every day has helped clean the rovers' solar panels, allowing them to take in more sunlight, which powers them.
The Mars expedition is one of NASA's spectacular success stories in unmanned space exploration. The next manned space shuttle launch is set for sometime after May. That program is still plagued with safety problems, huge costs, and mission-building and supplying the International Space Station of questionable value.
The rovers are still poking and scraping their way up and down the craters on Mars. The rovers were and are focused on their mission: unlocking the secrets of the Red Planet.
Opportunity has a bad wheel, and the shoulder joint on its robotic arm is having trouble. Spirit's rock-grinding tool has pretty much bit the dust. Just imagine what shape you would be in if you exceeded your life expectancy by a factor of seven. Despite those signs of age, both are still roving Mars and sending back photos and intriguing data, much to the delight of NASA, scientists, and space geeks everywhere.
They have sent back 140,000 photos and analyzed countless rocks and soil patches. Spirit discovered rocks that either formed in, or were altered by, water. This raises the tantalizing prospect that 3.5 billion years ago Mars was as warm and wet as its neighbor, Earth.
The winds of Mars have helped keep the rovers going. The swirling dust that erupts just about every day has helped clean the rovers' solar panels, allowing them to take in more sunlight, which powers them.
The Mars expedition is one of NASA's spectacular success stories in unmanned space exploration. The next manned space shuttle launch is set for sometime after May. That program is still plagued with safety problems, huge costs, and mission-building and supplying the International Space Station of questionable value.
The rovers are still poking and scraping their way up and down the craters on Mars. The rovers were and are focused on their mission: unlocking the secrets of the Red Planet.