Rover Update

I wrote previously about the unbelievable resilience of the Spirit and Opportunity exploration rovers on Mars.

Soon after I wrote that, a huge planetwide dust storm hit Mars. Since the rovers rely on solar power for their life and energy, and the storm was so thick that the sun was blocked out, the rovers were almost killed by the storm.

They had to shut down almost all functions except some heaters to keep the electronics warm. They told the rovers to only report in every three or four days, not to move, and to take or transmit no scientific data.

Previously, dust had accumulated on the solar panels, hampering operations due to decreased power from the sun. Fortuitous little dust devils came by and cleaned off the panels, like some kind of natural Martian car wash.

The dust storms were another matter. I wondered whether the rovers had finally met their match.

Amazingly they survived, again. Although the rovers, by definition of their long life and robust survival, could be considered "perfect", the storm made me think of another device that would have been useful. A little wind generator on an arm.

While I am not suggesting that this should have been included on the mission, it could not have been justified by the weight and given the 90 day planned life of the probe, it could be considered for future Martian operations.

When there is no sun on Mars, there is plenty of wind. Perhaps, if the generator was on a sufficiently versatile arm, it could also be powered, run in reverse as a fan rather than a generator, and used to clean the dust off the solar panels.

I am looking forward to the results from the Phoenix probe that is due to land in the Mars polar region next year to try to find signs of life in the Martian ice.

I wonder if the Spirit and Opportunity rovers will last until then?

Spirit & Opportunity

The compelling story of the Rovers continues to fascinate me.

They have lasted so much longer than anyone ever dreamed that it's hard not to think of them as alive.

I heard an announcement today that the next mission will be to the Martian North Pole to look for water. They said that they cobbled the vehicle and rover together from leftover parts from other missions. I'd love to raid their junkyard.


Imagine explorers finding the little rovers some day. Would future museum chroniclers want to preserve the little rovers exactly, or restore them to full functionality? Just cleaning off the solar panels, as the occasional dust devil does, will restore full power. Cleaning the dust out of the tires might restore them to full functionality. Of course, if explorers were there, there wouldn't be much need for the probes.


This next rover should have an atomic power source, which would make it last a really long time. Solar plus nuclear energy would make it conserve its fuel and function at night and through the winter. They also need a way of cleaning off the solar panels. I've heard that they are starting to figure a way to run a static charge through items and make them shake off dust like a dog shakes off water.



I am very interested in the possible terraforming of Mars, which is what I keep thinking about when I hear reports about the human induced climate change on this planet. If we become experts at how to start and stop holding heat onto a planet's surface here, maybe we can do it on Mars (or reverse it on Venus). They had an ocean there once, so maybe it's a matter of restoring the environment, rather than creating a situation for the first time. Martian terraforming efforts would also involve extending our asteroid shield to Mars (after we make one for Earth). What happened to Mars' molten core? Maybe they need a large satellite like our moon in order to get the constant tidal forces to generate heat in the core.



This is our future. When we think about getting our eggs out of one basket, the first logical place to look is at our neighboring planets and the first thing we need to consider is how we can inhabit them. Right now Mars is first on the planetary exploration list, but the real interesting exploratoin challenge would be Venus. Can you imagine coming up with a probe that could withstand the pressure (90 times that of earth) and temperature (930°F) of Venus? The Russian Venera 7 did, but only for 23 minutes on the surface. I'm thinking something like a giant solar panel out in space acting like a sun shade for the planet's surface and providing power to the inhabitants, too.

The only bad thing about dreaming about all these wild achievements is being born too early to see any of it.