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Spirit Recovers From Reset And Makes Finishing Touches To Winter Panorama
Pasadena CA (SPX) Sep 06, 2006 Spirit experienced a software reset during the evening overpass of the Odyssey orbiter on sol 944 (Aug. 29, 2006). The rover was in the process of receiving command sequences for the following two Martian days, sols 945 and 946 (Aug. 30-31, 2006). As a result of the reset, the rover went into automode, meaning the rover did not attempt to execute a master sequence of activities for the day. The apparent cause was that the rover's central processing unit was overworked as several tasks were running in parallel at the time. Engineers transmitted a new, abbreviated plan of activities on sol 946 along with the plan of activities for sol 947 (Sept. 1, 2006). Spirit is healthy and continues to make progress on the rover's winter science campaign. The rover spent part of the week filling in sections of the rover deck for the "McMurdo panorama." Electrical power from the rover's solar array has been holding steady at about 280 watt-hours per sol (a hundred watt-hours is the amount of electricity needed to light one 100-watt bulb for one hour).
Sol-by-sol summaries Sol 943 (Aug. 28, 2006): Spirit acquired sky images with the navigation camera. The rover scanned the atmosphere for opacity caused by dust and scanned the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. Sol 944: Spirit acquired microscopic images of the soil target known as "Halley Brunt." Spirit scanned the atmosphere for opacity caused by dust and scanned the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. Sol 945: Spirit experienced a software reset and went into automode, meaning the rover did not attempt to execute a master sequence of activities for the day. The apparent cause was that the rover's central processing unit was overworked. Sol 946: Spirit remained in automode. Engineers transmitted an abbreviated plan of activities for the sol along with the plan of activities for sol 947. Sol 947: Plans called for Spirit to acquire fill-in images for the McMurdo panorama and to continue to make daily observations of the sky and ground with the panoramic camera and the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. Sol 948: Plans called for Spirit to acquire Moessbauer data on the soil target called "Halley Brunt" and to continue to make daily observations of the sky and ground with the panoramic camera and the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. Sol 949 (Sept. 3, 2006): Plans called for the rover to acquire fill-in frames for the McMurdo panorama and to continue to make daily observations of the sky and ground with the panoramic camera and the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. Odometry As of sol 945 (Aug. 30, 2006), Spirit's total odometry remained at 6,876.18 meters (4.27 miles). Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Mars Rovers at JPL Mars Rovers at Cornell Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
Returning To Sample Mars
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 05, 2006At the recent Viking thirtieth anniversary celebration, Noel Hinners championed what could be the next great challenge for planetary science: a Mars Sample Return mission. Hinners pointed out that, like Viking, Mars Sample Return will prove to be extremely difficult but immeasurably rewarding. |
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