* Astronomy

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RE: Mars Exploration Rover Spirit

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New software is helping NASA find safe places for the Spirit rover to ride out future Martian winters -- and also plan where Spirit and its companion rover, Opportunity, will explore in the future.
The steep Martian mesa dubbed Von Braun would be a safe haven, the software and data analysis determined -- but the path that Spirit would have to follow to get there is a little too risky to travel with winter on the way, explained Ron Li, professor of civil and environmental engineering and geodetic science at Ohio State University.

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Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, USGS, UNM, HiRise

The yellow line on this map of the Home Plate area indicates Spirit's route from early February 2006 to late November 2007.
The image was taken from a colour image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on January 9, 2007.
The map covers an area about 140 metres across from west to east.

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This map shows the path of Spirit from July 2004 until November 2007.

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Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, USGS, UNM, HiRise

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The Mars rover Spirit is racing against time to reach a resting spot for the winter after a giant dust storm drained much of its energy, scientists said Monday. Spirit has until Christmas to drive to the sunny slope of a low plateau where it will park itself with its solar panels pointed at the sun and hunker down for the winter.

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Nasa says its robot rover Spirit has made one of its most significant discoveries on the surface of Mars.
Scientists believe a patch of ground disturbed by the vehicle shows evidence of a past environment that would have been perfect for microbial life.
The deposits were probably produced when hot spring water or steam came into contact with volcanic rocks.
On Earth, these are locations that tend to teem with bacteria, said rover chief scientist Steve Squyres.

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Image of the Tartarus depression on the western portion of the Homeplate feature.
The image was taken by the Spirit rover on December 1st, 2007 (Sol 1390).

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Credit NASA

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Reports indicate that NASA`s Mars Rover Spirit has freed itself from the loose soil it had been stuck in for about two weeks.

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NASA's Mars rover Spirit has freed itself from the loose soil it had been stuck in for about two weeks, but over the next month it will have to navigate similarly treacherous terrain to reach a safe spot to ride out the coming Martian winter.
Spirit got stuck in the sandy soil, nicknamed "Tartarus" after an underworld dungeon in Greek mythology, in mid-November.
But on 28 November, it clambered out, after a series of short drives in which rover managers drove it first in one direction and then in another, "switchbacking" out of the troublesome spot.
Now, the rover will try to drive about 25 metres to the northern edge of Home Plate, a 90-metre-wide raised plateau that it has been exploring for months. That region boasts relatively steep, northern-tilting slopes that would maximise the sunlight falling on the rover's solar panels during winter in the planet's southern hemisphere.

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SPIRIT UPDATE: Spirit Breaks Free in Race for Survival - sol 1384-1389, November 30, 2007:

In typical unflagging fashion, Spirit has managed to break free of piles of soil built up around the wheels in a low, sandy area that the rover's handlers have nicknamed "Tartarus," after a deep, underworld dungeon in Greek mythology. Team members are pulling out all the stops to get Spirit to a winter location where, based on solar power projections, the rover has a chance at survival.
As the crow flies, that spot is 240.5 metres away. During the next few weeks, Spirit's journey to "Winter Haven 3" is expected to be no less difficult, requiring the rover to manoeuvre across a sandy, rocky valley along the western edge of "Home Plate."
During Spirit's 14 Martian days in Tartarus, the rover's trials were reminiscent of those of the previous Martian winter, when Spirit spent 12 sols churning up white material in a sandy area while trying to reach the slopes of "McCool Hill."
Guided by experienced, interplanetary drivers, the robotic geologist Spirit escaped Tartarus on sol 1388 (Nov. 28, 2007) and drove 3.43 metres. This was a significant distance, given that Spirit's previous two drives were measured in centimetres. The drive took the rover south away from Tartarus to look for another path around the area before driving north once again.
Spirit's handlers will be working non-stop during the weekend to take advantage of seasonal sunlight available for driving before solar power levels drop further. At present, the rover has about 310 watt-hours of power each day (100 watt-hours is the amount of energy needed to light a 100-watt bulb for one hour).

Sol-by-sol summary:
In addition to receiving morning instructions directly from Earth via the high-gain antenna, sending evening data to Earth at UHF frequencies via the Odyssey orbiter, and measuring atmospheric dust levels with the panoramic camera, Spirit completed the following activities:

Sol 1384 (Nov. 24, 2007): Spirit managed to drive 6.98 metres. The rover took post-drive images with the hazard avoidance cameras and a mosaic of images with the navigation camera. The next morning, Spirit measured atmospheric dust with the navigation camera and surveyed the sky and ground with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.

Sol 1385: Spirit spent the day recharging the battery. The following morning, Spirit acquired movie frames in search of dust devils with the navigation camera and completed a survey of rock clasts with the panoramic camera.

Sol 1386: Spirit drove only 0.25 metres and took images with the hazard avoidance cameras. The following morning, the rover acquired full-colour images of Tartarus using all 13 filters of the panoramic camera.

Sol 1387: Spirit drove only 0.14 metres and acquired post-drive images with the navigation camera. The next morning, Spirit surveyed atmospheric dust with the navigation camera and acquired additional, full-colour images of Tartarus with the panoramic camera.

Sol 1388: Spirit drove 3.43 metres, finally breaking free from the piles of soil built up around each of its wheels. The rover acquired post-drive images with the hazard avoidance cameras.

Sol 1389 (Nov. 29, 2007): After a morning of surveying atmospheric dust and taking additional full-colour images of Tartarus, plans called for Spirit to complete a photo shoot with the navigation and hazard avoidance cameras, survey atmospheric dust with the navigation camera, and acquire thumbnail images of the sky with the panoramic camera.

Odometry:
As of sol 1388 (Nov. 28, 2007), Spirit's total odometry was 7438.82 metres.