Mars Exploration Rover
hideNASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission is an ongoing robotic mission of exploring Mars, that began in 2003 with the sending of two rovers — MER-A Spirit and MER-B Opportunity — to explore the Martian surface and geology.
Primary among the mission's scientific objectives is to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity on Mars. The mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program which includes three previous successful landers: the two Viking landers in 1976 and Pathfinder in 1997.
The total cost of building, launching, landing and operating the rovers on the surface for the initial 90 Martian-day primary mission was US$820 million. Since the rovers have continued to function for over five years after landing they have received five mission extensions with the fifth mission extension, which was granted in October 2007, being until the end of 2009. The total cost of the first four mission extensions was $104 million and the fifth mission extension is expected to cost at least $20 million. In July 2007, Martian dust storms blocked sunlight to the rovers and threatened the ability of the craft to gather energy through their solar panels, causing engineers to fear that one or both of them might be permanently disabled. However, the dust storms lifted, allowing them to resume operations.
In recognition of the vast amount of scientific information amassed by both rovers, two asteroids have been named in their honor: 37452 Spirit and 39382 Opportunity.
The mission is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which designed, built and is operating the rovers.
For more information about Mars Exploration Rover, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with mars exploration rover
Scientists work to free Mars rover Spirit
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 13, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In the past several weeks, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory finished experimentation on methods to get the rover Spirit unstuck from its location near a plateau called Home Plate.
Amnesia-Like Behavior Returns on Spirit
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 31, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Until Oct. 24, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover had gone more than six months without an episode of amnesia-like symptoms like those that appeared on four occasions earlier this year.
Mars Rover Update
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 26, 2009 |
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In January 2004, NASA landed two identical robotic rovers named Spirit and Opportunity on the surface of Mars. The twins were primed for a brief 3-month mission to tell us a story of water and possibly life ...
NASA to Begin Attempts to Free Sand-Trapped Mars Rover
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA will begin transmitting commands to its Mars exploration rover Spirit on Monday as part of an escape plan to free the venerable robot from its Martian sand trap.
Rover Confirms Meteorite on Mars
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Aug 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Composition measurements by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity confirm that this rock on the Martian surface is an iron-nickel meteorite.
Mars Rover Team Diagnosing Unexpected Behavior
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 28, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit plans diagnostic tests this week after Spirit did not report some of its weekend activities, including a request to determine its orientation ...
Spirit Gets Energy Boost from Cleaner Solar Panels
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Feb 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A small but important uptick in electrical output from the solar panels on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit this month indicates a beneficial Martian wind has blown away some of the dust ...
How Martian winds make rocks walk
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 08, 2009 |
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Rocks on Mars are on the move, rolling into the wind and forming organized patterns, according to new research.
NASA's Mars Rover Spirit Faces Circuitous Route
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Loose soil piled against the northern edge of a low plateau called "Home Plate" has blocked NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit from taking the shortest route toward its southward destinations ...
Image: Spirit's View From 'Troy'
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Aug 18, 2009 |
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Today, Aug. 18, 2009, marks the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's 2,000th sol, or Martian day, on the Red Planet.
Spirit Resumes Driving While Analysis of Problem Behaviors Continues
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Apr 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove on Thursday for the first time since April 8, acting on commands from engineers who are still investigating bouts of amnesia and other unusual behavior ...
Mars Dust Devil Has Colorful Effect in Image Series
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jul 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have combined a trio of shots taken seconds apart through different colored filters to create a special-effects portrait of a moving dust devil on Mars.
Rover Tests Evaluating Crabwalk Moves
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jul 13, 2009 |
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On firm ground, NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers can make crablike moves by turning all four steerable wheels to the same side angle, then rotating the wheels either forward or backward.
Second Test Rover Added to Driving Experiments
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Aug 24, 2009 |
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A second, lighter-weight test rover has entered the testing setup at JPL where rover team members are assessing strategy for getting Spirit out of soft soil where it is embedded on Mars.
Team Runs Operational Test to Prepare for Extracting Spirit
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 19, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers using test rovers on Earth to prepare for extracting the sand-trapped Spirit rover on Mars have added a new challenge to their preparations.
