MARS - de missies (DEEL 5)

quote:

Op zaterdag 21 mei 2005 22:09 schreef Darklight het volgende:
Wat doen ze dan ook op Mars
Laten ze weer eens wat bemande missies naar de Maan doen ofzo

quote:

Op maandag 23 mei 2005 14:30 schreef Doffy het volgende:
Is Opportunity alweer los, inmiddels?

quote:

Slow Progress in Dune

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity makes slow but steady progress through soft dune material in this movie clip of frames taken by the rover's front hazard identification camera over a period of several days. The sequence starts on Opportunity's 460th martian day, or sol (May 10, 2005) and ends 11 days later. In eight drives during that period, Opportunity advanced a total of 26 centimeters (10 inches) while spinning its wheels enough to have driven 46 meters (151 feet) if there were no slippage. The motion appears to speed up near the end of the clip, but that is an artifact of individual frames being taken less frequently.

quote:

Info van Space.com

BRON: Mars rover freed from sand dune
_{Sunday, June 5, 2005 Posted: 10:35 AM EDT (1435 GMT)}


^{The Mars rover Opportunity leaves wheel tracks
after escaping from a sand trap, Saturday.}

PASADENA, California (AP) -- The Mars rover Opportunity resumed rolling freely across the Martian surface Saturday after scientists freed it from a sand dune where it had been mired for nearly five weeks, NASA officials said.

Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the mission, cheered when images beamed back to Earth showed the rover's wheels were free.

"We've got a working rover on Mars that cost $400 million to build and ... keep working," project manager Jim Erickson said. "I'd like to wear it out rather than lose it."

A photograph taken by Opportunity and posted on the laboratory's Web site showed the long tracks of its wheels crossing a featureless dune.

Opportunity's wheels started slipping April 26 during a planned 295-foot trip. While trying to drive over a foot-high sand dune, the robotic explorer stopped moving, its wheels hub-deep in soft soil.

Engineers spent weeks with an Opportunity mock-up figuring out what commands to give the robot to free it, but the maneuvers took time. The rover inched forward less than a foot in a month, losing most of its traction every time it tried to roll.

"It's kind of like we were swimming through it," Erickson said.

But on Saturday morning, data showed that Opportunity was free at last and had moved several feet across the dune.

Erickson said engineers want to be sure the rover will not encounter any more patches that could trap it again. It will be Monday or Tuesday night before a test drive is ordered, he said.

Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit, have been exploring opposite sides of Mars since landing in January 2004. Both rovers have long outlasted their primary, three-month missions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

En de lanceringsdata voor de volgende Marsmissie is ookal bekend
August 2007

BRON: NASA: Phoenix Mars launch in 2007

quote:

Opportunity

Rind-Like Features at a Meridiani Outcrop

After months spent roving across a sea of rippled sands, Opportunity reached an outcrop in August 2005 and began investigating exposures of sedimentary rocks, intriguing rind-like features that appear to cap the rocks, and cobbles that dot the martian surface locally. Opportunity spent several sols analyzing a feature called "Lemon Rind," a thin surface layer covering portions of outcrop rocks poking through the sand north of "Erebus Crater." In images from the panoramic camera, Lemon Rind appears slightly different in color than surrounding rocks. It also appears to be slightly more resistant to wind erosion than the outcrop's interior. To obtain information on how this surface layer (or weathering rind) may have formed and how it compares to previously analyzed outcrops, Opportunity is using the microscopic imager, alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and Moessbauer spectrometer to analyze surfaces that have been brushed and ground with the rock abrasion tool. Scientists will compare these measurements with similar measurements made on the underlying rock material.



This is a false-color composite generated by draping enhanced red-green-blue color from the panoramic camera's 753-nanometer, 535-nanometer and 482-nanometer filters over a high-fidelity violet, 432-nanometer-filter image. The image was acquired on martian day, or sol 552 (Aug. 13, 2005) around 11:55 a.m. local true solar time. In this representation, bright sulfur-bearing sedimentary rocks appear light tan to brown, depending on their degree of dust contamination, and small dark "blueberries" and other much less dusty rock fragments appear as different shades of blue. Draping the color derived from the blue to near-infrared filters over the violet filter image results in a false color view with the sharpest color and morphology contrasts.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell


SPIRIT

Dust Devils at Gusev <<< Klik voor de tekst die bij elk filmpje hoort.

sol 525


sol 532


sol 537


sol 543


sol 559


sol 568

quote:

A Whale of a Panorama
Klikbaar


More than 1.5 years into their exploration of Mars, both of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers continue to send a cornucopia of images to Earth. The results are so spectacular that Deputy Project Manager John Callas recently described them as "an embarrassment of riches." Spirit produced this image mosaic, nicknamed the "Whale Panorama," two-thirds of the way to the summit of "Husband Hill," where the rover investigated martian rocks. On the right side of the panorama is a tilted layer of rocks dubbed "Larry's Outcrop," one of several tilted outcrops that scientists examined in April, 2005. They used spatial information to create geologic maps showing the compass orientation and degree of tilting of rock formations in the vicinity. Such information is key to geologic fieldwork because it helps establish if rock layers have been warped since they formed. In this case, scientists have also been studying the mineral and chemical differences, which show that some rocks have been more highly altered than others.

In the foreground, in the middle of the image mosaic, Spirit is shown with the scientific instruments at the end of its robotic arm positioned on a rock target known as "Ahab." The rover was busy collecting elemental chemistry and mineralogy data on the rock at the same time that it was taking 50 individual snapshots with its five panoramic camera filters to create this stunning view of the martian scenery. The twin tracks of the rover's all-terrain wheels are clearly visible on the left.

This mosaic of images spans about 220 degrees from left to right and is an approximate true-color rendering of the Mars terrain acquired through the panoramic camera's 750-, 530-, and 430-nanometer filters. Spirit collected these images from its 497th martian day, or sol, through its 500th sol (May 27 through May 30, 2005).

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

Looking Up from the Deep

Klikbaar


Not long after conducting extensive investigations of tilted martian rock layers along its path, NASA's Spirit rover prepared to resume the trek to the top of the "Columbia Hills" in June. This panorama, nicknamed "Sunset Ridge," shows the terrain that lay ahead of the rover on Spirit's 519th martian day, or sol (June 19, 2005). On the left is the summit of "Husband Hill," Spirit's objective at that time.

This mosaic of images is an approximate true-color rendering of snapshots taken by the rover's panoramic camera using 750-, 530-, and 430-nanometer filters. Spirit took these images at approximately 3 p.m. local true solar time in Gusev Crater on Mars. The rover then continued to climb throughout July, making numerous scientific investigations of martian rocks along the way.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/USGS/Cornell

quote:

'Everest' Panorama; 20-20 Vision

Image:

Browse Image
Medium Image (180KB)
Large (41.7MB)

Animations:
Animation 1 (7.2 MB) Animation 2 (43.8MB)

If a human with perfect vision donned a spacesuit and stepped onto the martian surface, the view would be as clear as this sweeping panorama taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. That's because the rover's panoramic camera has the equivalent of 20-20 vision. Earthlings can take a virtual tour of the scenery by zooming in on their computer screens many times to get a closer look at, say, a rock outcrop or a sand drift, without losing any detail. This level of clarity is unequaled in the history of Mars exploration.

It took Spirit three days, sols 620 to 622 (Oct. 1 to Oct. 3, 2005), to acquire all the images combined into this mosaic, called the "Everest Panorama," looking outward in every direction from the true summit of "Husband Hill." During that period, the sky changed in color and brightness due to atmospheric dust variations, as shown in contrasting sections of this mosaic. Haze occasionally obscured the view of the hills on the distant rim of Gusev Crater 80 kilometers (50 miles) away. As dust devils swooped across the horizon in the upper right portion of the panorama, the robotic explorer changed the filters on the camera from red to green to blue, making the dust devils appear red, green, and blue. In reality, the dust devils are similar in color to the reddish-brown soils of Mars. No attempt was made to "smooth" the sky in this mosaic, as has been done in other panoramic-camera mosaics to simulate the view one would get by taking in the landscape all at once. The result is a sweeping vista that allows viewers to observe weather changes on Mars.

The summit of Husband Hill is a broad plateau of rock outcrops and windblown drifts about 100 meters (300 feet) higher than the surrounding plains of Gusev Crater. In the distance, near the center of the mosaic, is the "South Basin," the destination for the downhill travel Spirit began after exploring the summit region.

This panorama spans 360 degrees and consists of images obtained during 81 individual pointings of the panoramic camera. Four filters were used at each pointing. Images through three of the filters, for wavelengths of 750 nanometers, 530 nanometers and 430 nanometers, were combined for this approximately true-color rendering.


Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

quote:

Op dinsdag 22 november 2005 10:18 schreef NorthernStar het volgende:

[..]

Ongelooflijk he? Ik kan me de nachten nog wel herinneren dat we hier zaten, kijken of het goed ging, eerste plaatje enzo. En nu rijden ze nog!

Techniek is toch een stuk opgeschoten vergeleken met bijv. de Vikinglanders.

Iemand een idee of er verder nog landers of robots op het program staan?

quote:

Op dinsdag 22 november 2005 10:18 schreef NorthernStar het volgende:


Techniek is toch een stuk opgeschoten vergeleken met bijv. de Vikinglanders.

quote:

A far-off record

Despite their accomplishments, Spirit and Opportunity have a long way to go to set an endurance record on Mars. Both mission times pale in comparison with NASA’s twin Viking missions.

Viking 1 and Viking 2, both of which set down on Mars in the summer of 1976, spent several years recording Mars from their stationary landing spots.

Viking 2’s mission ended in April of 1980 about 1,281 Martian days after landing when its batteries failed.
Viking 1, however, continued to function until Nov. 13, 1982, more than four Earth years after arriving on Mars.

quote:

Op vrijdag 2 december 2005 15:57 schreef star_gazer het volgende:

[..]

Hebben ze dat niet al 10x gedaan?

quote:

" By analysis of the two echoes, the scientists were able to draw
the likely scenario of a nearly pure, cold water-ice layer
thicker than 1 km, overlying a deeper layer of basaltic regolith. "

quote:

Op zaterdag 3 december 2005 00:27 schreef Yosomite het volgende:

[..]

Om water te krijgen, is het dan noodzakelijk om een zuurstofatmosfeer te hebben of gehad te hebben?
Of zijn er andere processen mogelijk om de aanwezigheid van water op een hemellichaam te kunnen verklaren?

quote:

Mars Express Providing Evidence For Large Aquifers On Early Mars
<sub>Paris (ESA) Dec 01, 2005


A HRSC 3D perspective view of Candor Chasma (in false colours) characterised by the infrared images of OMEGA. It shows bright and brown deposits (red markers) that are rich in the mineral kieserite, a hydrated magnesium sulphate. Credits:ESA/OMEGA/HRSC.</sub>

The findings from the OMEGA instrument on board ESA's Mars Express are strongly indicating that liquid water must have been present, in a stable form, in Mars' early history, having implications for the planets climatic history, and questions of life in the past.
These conclusions were drawn thanks to data on Martian surface minerals obtained by OMEGA (Observatoire pour la Mineralogy, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activite), the visible and infrared mapping spectrometer on board ESA's Mars Express.

From previous observations, Mars must have undergone water-driven processes, which left their signature in surface structures such as channel systems and signs of extensive aqueous erosion. However, such observations do not necessarily imply the stable presence of liquid water on the surface over extended periods of time during the Martian history.

The data collected by OMEGA unambiguously reveal the presence of specific surface minerals which imply the long-term presence of large amounts of liquid water on the planet.

These 'hydrated' minerals, so called because they contain water in their crystalline structure, provide a clear 'mineralogical' record of water-related processes on Mars.

During 18 months of observations OMEGA has mapped almost the entire surface of the planet, generally at a resolution between one and five kilometres, with some areas at sub-kilometre resolution.

The instrument detected the presence of two different classes of hydrated minerals, 'phyllosilicates' and 'hydrated sulphates', over isolated but large areas on the surface.

Both minerals are the result of a chemical alteration of rocks. However, their formation processes are very different and point to periods of different environmental conditions in the history of the planet.

Phyllosilicates, so-called because of their characteristic structure in thin layers ('phyllo' = thin layer), are the alteration products of igneous minerals (minerals of magmatic origin) sustaining a long-term contact with water. An example of phyllosilicate is clay.

Phyllosilicates were detected by OMEGA mainly in the Arabia Terra, Terra Meridiani, Syrtis Major, Nili Fossae and Mawrth Vallis regions, in the form of dark deposits or eroded outcrops.

Hydrated sulphates, the second major class of hydrated minerals detected by OMEGA, are also minerals of aqueous origin. Unlike phyllosilicates, which form by an alteration of igneous rocks, hydrated sulphates are formed as deposits from salted water; most sulphates need an acid water environment to form. They were spotted in layered deposits in Valles Marineris, extended exposed deposits in Terra Meridiani, and within dark dunes in the northern polar cap.

When did the chemical alteration of the surface that led to the formation of hydrated minerals occur? At what point of Mars's history was water standing in large quantities on the surface? OMEGA's scientists combined their data with those from other instruments and suggest a likely scenario of what may have happened.

"The clay-rich, phyllosilicate deposits we have detected were formed by alteration of surface materials in the very earliest times of Mars," says Jean-Pierre Bibring, OMEGA Principal Investigator.

"The altered material must have been buried by subsequent lava flows we observe around the spotted areas. Then, the material would have been exposed by erosion in specific locations or excavated from an altered crust by meteoritic impacts," Bibring adds.

Analysis of the surrounding geological context, combined with the existing crater counting techniques to calculate the relative age of surface features on Mars, places the formation of phyllosilicates in the early Noachian era, during the intense cratering period. The Noachian era, lasting from the planet's birth to about 3.8 thousand million years ago, is the first and most ancient of the three geological eras on Mars.

"An early active hydrological system must have been present on Mars to account for the large amount of clays, or phyllosilicates in general, that OMEGA has observed," says Bibring.

The long-term contact with liquid water that led to the phyllosilicate formation could have existed and be stable at the surface of Mars, if the climate was warm enough. Alternatively, the whole formation process could have occurred through the action of water in a warm, thin crust.

OMEGA data also show that the sulphate deposits are distinct from, and have been formed after, the phyllosilicate ones. To form, sulphates do not need a particularly long-term presence of liquid water, but water must be there and it must be acidic.

The detection and mapping of these two different kinds of hydrated minerals point to two major climatic episodes in the history of Mars: an early - Noachian - moist environment in which phyllosilicates formed, followed by a more acid environment in which the sulphates formed. These two episodes were separated by a Mars global climatic change.

"If we look at today's evidence, the era in which Mars could have been habitable and sustained life would be the early Noachian, traced by the phyllosilicates, rather than the sulphates. The clay minerals we have mapped could still retain traces of a possible biochemical development on Mars," Bibring concludes.

_{These results appear on line in Nature, on 30 November 2005, in an article called: 'Phyllosilicate on Mars and implications for early Martian climate', by: F. Poulet, J-P. Bibring, Y. Langevin, B. Gondet and C. Gomez (Institut d'Astrophyisique Spatiale, Univ. of Paris Sud and CNRS, Orsay, France); J. F. Mustard and A. Gendrin (Geological Sciences, Brown Univ., Rhode Island, USA); N. Mangold (Interactions & Dynamique des Environment de Surface, Orsay, France); R.E. Arvidson (Earth & Planetary Sciences, Washington Univ., St. Louis, USA); and the OMEGA team.}

quote:

Mars has a big watery past -- and present, too
_{PARIS (AFP) Nov 30, 2005}

The European spacecraft Mars Express has added powerful evidence to the belief that water once covered Mars and large reserves of precious ice lurk close to the surface today, studies presented on Wednesday said.
Surrounding Mars' north pole are underground "layered deposits" that are believed to be fine strata of ice, according to research presented at the headquarters here of the European Space Agency (ESA).

The find is "nearly pure, cold water ice," with only two percent contamination by dust.

Beneath these deposits are large amounts of sand that is probably "cemented" with water ice.

The data was collected in three swings over the Red Planet, on June 26, July 6 and July 9, by the ESA orbiter after it had deployed a mighty ground-scanning radar called MARSIS, that delved to a kilometer (3,250 feet) below the planet's surface.

Meanwhile, scientists using a near-infrared spectrometer called OMEGA found wide-ranging clays called phyllosilicates -- a telltale for water, for they are formed when volcanic basalt rocks are immersed in water for a long period.

They conclude that oceans covered Mars at the end of the so-called Noachian era, which concluded between 3.5 and 3.8 billion years ago. If so, it means that Mars was watery in its childhood: the planet, like Earth, was formed around 4.6 billion years ago.

In recent years, data sent back by orbiting spacecraft and two US rovers has suggested that the planet was once awash in water and that the precious substance could still exist in the form of ice.

Finding the water could determine whether the planet once sustained life, and maybe even now harbours it, perhaps in microbial form. And a reservoir of water would be vital for a planned manned mission to the planet.

But the evidence until now has been sketchy, based mainly on images of the Martian surface, taken from land and at the surface, which show a planet dismayingly dry and dusty.

Mars' subsurface is "the missing third dimension," said Giovanni Picardi, a University of Rome scientist who is the MARSIS chief investigator.

Mars Express, Europe's first solo mission to explore another planet, arrived at Mars on December 25, 2003.

It dropped a small robot lander, Beagle 2, that disappeared without trace, and then experienced a 13-month delay in deploying the long arms of the MARSIS radar, one of the most important instruments in its scientific package.

MARSIS is designed to send powerful low-frequency radio waves which are capable of penetrating the ground to a depth of several kilometers (1.5 miles).

The reflected energy is then picked up by the orbiter and transcribed to give an image of Mars's sub-surface structure.

In addition to finding evidence of the polar ice, MARSIS also spotted a remarkable structure buried just under the surface in the northern lowlands of Chryse Planitia, in Mars' northern equatorial region.

Measuring 250 kilometers (150 miles) across and roughly ring-shaped, the phenomenon could be an impact from an asteroid or other space rock.

Where Mars' water went is one of the big challenges facing the unmanned space explorers on Mars.

One theory is that around 3.5 billion years ago, the planet somehow lost its core-driven magnetic field, a shield that protected it against the fierce buffeting of particles from the Sun.

Without this, the planet's thick carbon dioxide atmosphere was progressively shredded by the solar wind and its oceans slowly evaporated, leaving only residual water in the form of ice.

The OMEGA study appears in Thursday's issue of Nature, the British weekly science journal, while the MARSIS study is published online by the US journal Science.

_{All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.}

quote:

Op maandag 5 december 2005 09:31 schreef Yosomite het volgende:

[..]

D'r wordt hier ("Noachiaans", wel een leuk gevonden woord) gesuggereerd dat het opp van Mars in een ver verleden geheel onder water heeft gestaan.
Daar ben ik nog niet zo van overtuigd. Ik denk dat de situatie die gesuggereerd wordt, wat voorbarig is.

quote:

Meteor Search by Spirit, Sol 643 (Unlabeled)



The panoramic cameras on NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers are about as sensitive as the human eye at night. The cameras can see the same bright stars that we can see from Earth, and the same patterns of constellations dot the night sky. Scientists on the rover team have been taking images of some of these bright stars as part of several different projects. One project is designed to try to capture "shooting stars," or meteors, in the Martian night sky. "Meteoroids" are small pieces of comets and asteroids that travel through space and eventually run into a planet. On Earth, we can sometimes see meteoroids become brilliant, long "meteors" streaking across the night sky as they burn up from the friction in our atmosphere. Some of these meteors survive their fiery flight and land on the surface (or in the ocean) where, if found, they are called "meteorites." The same thing happens in the Martian atmosphere, and Spirit even accidentally discovered a meteor while attempting to obtain images of Earth in the pre-dawn sky back in March, 2004 (see http://marsrovers.jpl.nas(...)irit/20040311a.html, and Selsis et al. (2005) Nature, vol 435, p. 581). On Earth, some meteors come in "storms" or "showers" at predictable times of the year, like the famous Perseid meteor shower in August or the Leonid meteor shower in November. These "storms" happen when Earth passes through the same parts of space where comets sometimes pass. The meteors we see at these times are from leftover debris that was shed off of these comets.

The same kind of thing is predicted for Mars, as well. Inspired by calculations about Martian meteor storms by meteor scientists from the University of Western Ontario in Canada and the Centre de Recherche en Astrophysique de Lyon in France, and also aided by other meteor research colleagues from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, scientists on the rover team planned some observations to try to detect predicted meteor storms in October and November, 2005. The views shown here are a composite of nine 60-second exposures taken with the panoramic camera on Spirit during night hours of sol 643 (Oct. 25, 2005), during a week when Mars was predicted to pass through a meteor stream associated with comet P/2001R1 LONEOS. Many stars can be seen in the images, appearing as curved "dash-dot" streaks. The star trails are curved because Mars is rotating while the camera takes the images. The dash-dot pattern is an artifact of taking an image for 60 seconds, then pausing about 10 seconds while the image is processed and stored by the rover's computer, then taking another image for 60 seconds, etc., for a total of about 10 minutes worth of "staring" at the night sky. Many stars from the southern constellations Octans and Pavonis can be seen in the images. The brightest ones in this view would be easily visible to the naked eye, but the faintest ones are slightly dimmer than the human eye can detect.

In addition to the star trails, there are several smaller linear streaks, dots and splotches that are the trails left by cosmic rays hitting the camera detectors. Cosmic rays are high-energy particles that are created in the Sun andsin other stars throughout our galaxy and travel through space in all directions. Some of them strike Earth or other planets, and ones that strike a digital camera detector can leave little tracks or splotches like those seen in these images. Because they come from all directions, some strike the detector face-on, and others strike at glancing angles. Some even skip across the detector like flat rocks skipped across a pond. These are very common phenomena to astronomers used to working with sensitive digital cameras like those in the Mars rovers, the Hubble Space Telescope, or other space probes, and while they can be a nuisance when taking pictures, they generally do not cause any lasting damage to the cameras. One streak in the image, crossing at an angle very different from the direction of the stars' "motion," might be a meteor trail or could be the mark of another cosmic ray.

While hunting for meteors on Mars is fun, ultimately the team wants to use the images and results for scientific purposes. These include helping to validate the models and predictions for interplanetary meteor storms, providing information on the rate of impacts of small meteoroids with Mars for comparison with rates for the Earth and Moon, assessing the rate and intensity of cosmic ray impact events in the Martian environment, and looking at whether some bright stars are being dimmed occasionally by water ice or dust clouds occurring at night during different Martian seasons.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Texas A&M/SSI

quote:

Opportunity's 'Olympia' Panorama


This view from the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows an outcrop called "Olympia" along the northwestern margin of "Erebus" crater. The view spans about 120 degrees from side to side, generally looking southward. The outcrop exposes a broad expanse of sulfate-rich sedimentary rocks. The rocks were formed predominantly from windblown sediments, but some also formed in environmental conditions from damp to under shallow surface water. After taking the images that were combined into this view, Opportunity drove along along a path between sand dunes to the upper left side of the image, where a cliff in the background can be seen. This is cliff is known as the "Mogollon Rim." Researchers expect it to expose more than 1 meter (3 feet) of new strata, These strata may represent the highest level observed yet by Opportunity. The image is an approximately true-color rendering generated using the panoramic camera's 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer and 430-nanometer filters.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell


Opportunity Traverse Map, Sol 656



This image shows the route that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has taken from its landing site inside "Eagle Crater" to its position on its 656th Martian day, or sol, (Nov. 27, 2005) at the edge of "Erebus Crater." The base image is a portion of a mosaic (previously released as PIA07506) combining images from the Mars Observer Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter, the Thermal Emission Imaging System on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, and Opportunity's own Descent Image Motion Estimation System. The scale bar at lower right is 800 meters (one-half mile). As of sol 656, Opportunity had driven a total of 6,502 meters (4.04 miles).

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/OSU

quote:

Op woensdag 7 december 2005 21:38 schreef Doffy het volgende:
Iets meer dan 80 posts, meer dan 3200 views! Way to go Crash!

Krijg ik nu de ijskast

quote:

UK Returns To Mars In A Big Way Through Aurora Program
_{Swindon UK (SPX) Dec 07, 2005}


^{The UK is to invest 108.1 million (approximately £74.4 million [USD 127.4 million]) into Aurora, making the UK second largest contributor.}

UK scientists are returning to Mars with the news that the UK is to be a major player in the first phase of the European Space Agency's robotic space exploration programme Aurora, which will set the agenda for Europe's robotic exploration of space for the next 10 years.
The announcement was made at the conclusion of ESA's Ministerial Meeting held in Berlin (5-6 December).

The UK is to invest 108.1 million (approximately £74.4 million [USD 127.4 million]) into Aurora, making the UK second largest contributor. The majority of this will go into ExoMars (101 million - approximately £69.5 million [USD 119 million]) ESA's Mars Exploration mission which is due to launch in 2011, arriving at Mars in 2013. A further 7.1 million (approximately £4.9 million [USD 8.4 million]) is invested into the Core Programme to prepare for a future Mars Sample Return mission.

Speaking at the Ministerial Lord Sainsbury, Minister for Science and Innovation said, "Aurora will build on last week's exciting Mars Express results which provide the first concrete evidence of significant amounts of water under the surface of Mars. As a major contributor, the UK will have a leading role in this programme which is set to improve our understanding of Mars and the Solar System."

ExoMars will involve exploring Mars in three dimensions investigating the existence of life on the planet and study Mars's suitability for an eventual human mission. The mission will investigate the surface of Mars with a rover and will also look at what is below the surface with a seismometer, ground penetrating radar and a drill. The technology and instrumentation prepared for ExoMars will pave the way for a future network of science stations and for a sample return mission.

PPARC's Chief Executive and Chair of the UK Space Board, Prof Keith Mason, said, "This commitment by the UK to this major new European programme is highly significant and as well as paving the way for great scientific return it represents an investment in core technologies to be developed not only for ExoMars but for further robotic missions."

"ExoMars will compliment the international efforts to explore Mars and the rest of ESA's successful space programme to explore our solar system. Mars Express, Cassini-Huygens and Smart-1 continue to deliver amazing results with further revelations set to return through missions such as Venus Express and Rosetta", he continued.

Dr Andrew Coates at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory) said "This is just the news we've been waiting for. The exploration of Mars, along with other solar system bodies, plays a key part in understanding mankind's place in the Universe. Mars probably offers our best chance to answer a fascinating question -- 'are we alone?'

"The ExoMars rover, Europe's first mobile laboratory on another planet, will explore whether past, or even present life exists on our cosmic neighbour. Now, the UK can really build on the heritage of Beagle 2 and play a lead role in this exciting mission. We look forward to seeing our pictures, and perhaps even video, from the surface of an exciting world".

Prof Monica Grady from the Open University said "Joining ESA's Aurora programme is a wonderful opportunity for the UK to be part of an exciting and challenging programme of Martian exploration. It builds on the recent successes that we have seen from other planetary missions such as Mars Express and Cassini-Huygens, and we hope that it will enthuse and excite people, both specialists and non-specialists, in the same way that Beagle 2 did.

"Over the next few years, we will see a new generation of young scientists, engineers and technologists contributing to this mission, providing inspiration to school students and their teachers. It is our good fortune to be working in this field at this exciting time."

The UK also committed 374.3 million (approximately £257.6 million [USD 441. 1 million]) to ESA's science programme representing approximately 18% of the total ESA science programme budget of 2,080 million [USD 2,451 million].

Prof Mason added, "By re-affirming our commitment to invest in ESA's science programme the UK recognises that this is a pillar upon which the rest of the Agency's activities are built. This will help to ensure a cost effective programme which delivers a high scientific return."

On hearing the news, Prof John Zarnecki from the Open University, said: "This is wonderful news -- we can now look forward to British scientific instruments and technology being on the surface of Mars by 2013. This is an outstanding opportunity for UK scientists and industry to be a part of this European venture to search for life on Mars and to understand better the environment of our close neighbour."

Dr Mark Sims from the University of Leicester and Chair of PPARC's Aurora Advisory Board added, "The Aurora programme is a fantastic opportunity to exploit the great interest in planetary science and exploration throughout Europe and particularly in the UK. This programme will build upon the significant scientific and industrial expertise built up in missions such as Cassini-Huygens, Mars Express, and Beagle 2.

Planetary exploration has the added potential for instrumentation spin-offs into many fields and commercial sectors, and of exciting the general public. In particular planetary space science can inspire our young students to continue their education in science, engineering and technology and ultimately encourage them to enter into careers in science and technology. This can only build and strengthen the UK's industrial and economic base."

In the UK, PPARC is responsible for the UK space science budget (ESA core space science programme and Aurora investment).




_{Germany Joins The Aurora Exploration Programme}

quote:

Mars Probe Beagle 2 Wreckage Found, Scientist Says

<sub>By Associated Press

posted: 20 December 2005
11:51 am ET</sub>


LONDON (AP)—The British scientist behind the failed Beagle 2 probe said Tuesday he believes he has located the craft's wreckage on the surface of Mars.



Nothing has been heard from Beagle 2—named for the ship that took naturalist Charles Darwin on his 19th-century voyage of discovery—since it separated from its mother ship Dec. 19, 2003. It had been due to land on Mars six days later.


Colin Pillinger, the lead scientist on the mission, said the latest images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft suggested Beagle plunged into a crater near its planned landing site.

While the 143-pound craft is too small to be seen in the pictures, Pillinger said the crater showed signs of a heavy impact.

“There is a lot of disturbance in this crater, particularly a big patch on the north crater wall, which we think is the primary impact site,” Pillinger told the British Broadcasting Corp.

“There are then other features around the crater consistent with the airbags bouncing around and finally falling down into the middle. Then, when you cut the lace, the airbags fall apart giving three very symmetrical triangles.”

Scientists attempted to contact Beagle for months after it disappeared before admitting defeat.

An internal report in 2004 gave no definitive reason for the loss of the craft but suggested Beagle may have hit the planet's surface too hard because Mars' atmosphere was not as dense as expected due to dust storms.

The loss of the probe, which cost the government more than $40 million and the private sector another $80 million, prompted questions in Britain about Europe's ability to participate in the race to Mars.

Pillinger is seeking funds and sponsorship for a fresh mission to Mars, possibly as early as 2007.

quote:

Op woensdag 21 december 2005 08:14 schreef Frutsel het volgende:
hoever zou die afliggen van de twee andere wagentjes op Mars...
rijden die er nog of zijn die inmiddels ook al kaduuk

quote:

Op woensdag 4 januari 2006 11:25 schreef pomtiedom het volgende:

Zie ik daar in de verte nog een klein heuveltje opdoemen anderaan de voet van die berg?
Anyway's die manier waarop de stenen soms verspreid liggen (zoals hier onderaan de foto ze schijnbaar een ovale circle vormen is gewoon toeval neem ik aan?

quote:

Mooie foto's overigens, mijn complimenten.

quote:

Op woensdag 4 januari 2006 23:59 schreef Kanjer het volgende:
Is dat wiel rechts beneden nu zo beschadigt?

quote:

Op zondag 2 april 2006 15:06 schreef Marvin-THE-MARTiAN het volgende:

Ik kan mij echter in die situatie ook voorstellen dat ze dan de stekker eruit trekken...