NASA鈥檚 Spirit rover has reached safety after weeks of scrambling with low power supplies to reach a place from which to weather the approaching Martian winter. The northern-tilting slope of the spot, dubbed Low Ridge Haven, will help maximise the sunlight reaching the rover鈥檚 solar panels, ensuring its power stays above the minimum needed.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got a safe rover,鈥� say principal investigator Steve Squyres. Spirit is now parked with about 11.5掳 of northerly tilt, towards the Sun. Squyres told 快猫短视频: 鈥淲e鈥檙e much, much safer than we鈥檝e been in quite a while. That鈥檚 huge news for us.鈥�
The original plan had been to direct Spirit to the slopes of McCool Hill. But along the way, the rover ran into what the team describes as 鈥渁n impassable, sandy area鈥� between two outcrops called Oberth and Korolev.
Advertisement
On Thursday 6 April, the rover鈥檚 controllers instructed Spirit to divert and head toward Low Ridge Haven, less than 20 metres away. At that time, the rover was between 60 and 80 metres from McCool Hill.
Power surge
Spirit has to be more careful about the terrain it tackles than in the past, thanks to a non-functioning right front wheel. The motor that rotates the wheel stopped working in mid-March, so the rover has been driving backwards, dragging the wheel behind it.
Spirit reached Low Ridge Haven over the weekend and as a result, the rover鈥檚 power supply has been bumped up by as much as 20%, Squyres says. Science observations are just getting underway at the new site, but he says there are some 鈥渨onderful, finely-layered bedrock outcrops鈥� there and it is likely the rover will remain there for the entire winter science campaign.
The science team has had to make some tough decisions about which observations to make and which to cut short as the rover hustled across the plains towards a northerly tilting slope. Squyres says Spirit had to leave the circular target dubbed Home Plate earlier than the science team would have liked. But he now says the outcrop at Low Ridge Haven 鈥渕ight be made of the same stuff鈥�.
And with the entire winter to study the feature, Squyres says the science team should not have to make further compromises: 鈥淲e鈥檝e had this imperative to drive, drive, drive for months. We鈥檝e just been screaming around as fast as we can go. That got-to-keep-moving thing is over now. So now we can hunker down and really do science in depth.鈥�
