io9: Mars Rover

Will Phoenix Mars Rover Disappear Like the Last Mars Polar Lander?

Annalee Newitz — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:26:17 PDT

What happened to Polar Lander, the last Mars rover that NASA tried to land in the Martian polar region, where it hopes that the Phoenix rover will touch down on May 25? The mysterious fate of the lander that simply disappeared moments before reaching Mars has been the subject of both scientific and UFO-logy debates. Was it shot down by angry Martians dwelling at the pole? Did it encounter some strange magnetic phenomenon that disabled it? Or did it just malfunction? We may soon find out.

Phoenix, an even more badass version of the current Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, will hit the Martian north pole. (Sadly, it can't look for the dead Polar Lander, because that rover was headed for the South Pole.) If all goes as planned, it will immediately dig into the icy tundra and take samples to see what the deal is with all that ice. Could it be turned into potable water for future colonists?

To make sure nothing goes wrong with the landing — or at least to see what the hell happened if it does — three Earth-controlled satellites orbiting Mars will be watching Phoenix's descent into the ice. According to Discovery News:

Mars Odyssey will relay the descent and landing live, or what passes for live when the action takes place 171.5 million miles away. At that distance, radio signals traveling at the speed of light take 15.3 minutes to reach Earth. By the time flight controllers know if Phoenix began the descent through the planet's atmosphere, it should have already landed.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Europe's Mars Express are the backups. They will record signals from Phoenix during the descent and landing which can be relayed to Earth for later analysis.

You will be able to watch live satellite feeds from the Mars landing at the NASA website — well, what passes for live given the time lag. So frakkin cool.

Mars Probe Entourage Poised to Welcome Phoenix [Discovery News]

This Just in: Mars Rovers Will Not Be Shut Down

Annalee Newitz — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:42:52 PDT

NASA has announced that the Mars rover Spirit will not be shut down. This is a great relief to us, and to all of the io9ers who cried out in pain when NASA suggested it would have to kill Spirit in order to make a $4 million budget cut requested by the US government. [AP via Yahoo! News]

Spirit, the Mars Rover, Left to Die Before Its Time

Annalee Newitz — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:00:19 PDT

The brave, unflagging Mars rover Spirit, who has lived on the Red Planet for almost four years, has been given a death sentence by the U.S. government. Right now, the little robot is resting on a sunny slope, waiting out the winter and preparing to do more tests on the Martian atmosphere. But now it looks like Spirit has rolled on its six wheels and done science experiments for the very last time. The U.S. government has forced NASA, this country's national space agency, to cut its budget by 4 million dollars. And that means only one rover, Opportunity, will survive. To say that this is a tragedy is an understatement.

The Mars rovers have been one of NASA's most proud achievements, and the information they gather today can help future planetary colonists tomorrow. While NASA is planning to land another rover on Mars within the next year, it's a shame to shut down a perfectly serviceable rover that could be supplementing what the new rover will learn.

With the Earth population skyrocketing, and urban overcrowding only likely to get far worse over the coming decades, preparing to colonize other plants should be more of a priority than ever. And every time we shut down a NASA program like the rovers, we step backward, away from the goal of leaving Earth. We also hinder our search for knowledge beyond this planet.

If I thought that money being cut from NASA's budget were going to developing renewable energy or bettering urban environments, I wouldn't be quite so pissed off. At least in that case, the money would be going toward building a better future Earthside. But it's not. Instead it's being used to bail out Bear Stearns.

Why doesn't a philanthropist like Bill Gates or Paul Allen step forward and write a check to save Spirit?

Spirit is an awesome robot, with awesome developers and operators at NASA, who braved the elements and mechanical problems to help advance our understanding of Martian geochemistry and atmosphere. The U.S. government should be ashamed that it has effectively killed fifty percent of its only science lab on another planet.

Above, you can see a picture Spirit took of its own tracks in the dust.

Kthxbai, Spirit, kthxbai.

UPDATE: NASA has just confirmed that the rovers will NOT be shut down! Hooray! [AP via Yahoo! News]

NASA Cut Means No More Roving for Mars Rover [AP via PhysOrg]

The Next Mars Rover Needs A Mega-chute

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:30:23 PST

NASA tests the next generation of space parachute inside the world's largest wind tunnel, built to hold a Boeing 737. The 165-foot-long parachute opens to a diameter of nearly 55 feet, holds more air than a 3,000 square foot house, and can survive loads of over 80,000 pounds. NASA hopes to launch its new Mars Science Lab in 2009, which will put the next generation of rover on the surface of Mars in 2010. Click through for a couple of images of the new rover in progress.

Above is an artist's image of the next-generation Mars rover, and below is a model of the Mars rover which engineers call the Scarecrow, because it's missing its computer brain. Mobility engineers are using the headless rover to test its mobility and suspension performance. The next Mars rover faces development problems and skyrocketing costs, which could threaten its 2009 launch date. Images by AP/NASA.