Mars dust storms suck life out of rovers

[JohnBoucher]

From MSNBC

A raging dust storm on Mars has cut power to Nasa's twin rovers to dangerously low levels, threatening an end to the mission.

What a ride it has been. I hope this is not the end for these remarkable machines.

[Andrew Schuetze]

Here is a nice Quicktime movie from NASA describing the situation for Opportunity. More information and other movie options can be found on this NASA page.

[JBotAlan]

So I have to wonder, what does the rover need to maintain? I've never built a rover and sent it to Mars ( ), so I obviously am not familiar with the intricacies of such, but I am just purely curious; why not just cut the power for a period of time?

That's crazy that they have lasted so long, though.

[Andrew Schuetze]

From what I've read, the nights are sooo very COLD that the electronics must be kept warm or else they won't survive. So if the Rovers cease to recieve enough solar energy to power their electronics heaters, they will Freeze over. Appearently, it can get cold enough that contraction of the different metals at solder points will crack and lose connection. There also has to be enough power to keep the basic operating system running or what would tell it to wake up?

Others more knowledgable folks can provide more specific information or correct any of my mistakes

[Kevin Sevcik]

I imagine that it also gets cold enough to freeze the electrolyte in the Li-ion batteries unless they have some very specialized formulations and engineering compromises to prevent freezing damage.

[Andy A.]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze

From what I've read, the nights are sooo very COLD that the electronics must be kept warm or else they won't survive. So if the Rovers cease to recieve enough solar energy to power their electronics heaters, they will Freeze over. Appearently, it can get cold enough that contraction of the different metals at solder points will crack and lose connection. There also has to be enough power to keep the basic operating system running or what would tell it to wake up?

Others more knowledgable folks can provide more specific information or correct any of my mistakes

You're correct- The main concern is keeping the rovers warm. I couldn't say what the power requirements are for that but it sounds like there is a shortfall, and the temperature is falling below acceptable limits at night. The rovers computer and at least one transmitter also have to operate in order to make contact with Earth and do stuff like run heaters, charge batteries and such. Maybe Dave L. can chime in with some inside info.

I wonder if some instruments like the camera mast and arm, that are not in the central 'warm box', are also heated. If so, at what point do ground controllers decide not to heat instruments in order to save core functions like communications? Is it worth having a rover with no arm? One that can't drive?

[artdutra04]

With any luck, the storm will clear enough to let sufficient light get to the rovers' solar arrays. But if this storm does bring their extensive career on Mars to retirement, then I think it would be a proper goal for us to retrieve one (or both) of the rovers when humans finally go to Mars for preservation and display in the Smithsonian. They've worked too hard over there on Mars to just be left there forever.

[Jay H 237]

Hopefully they will pull through but if they don't then they don't owe NASA anything. Running over 2.5 years longer than they were ever designed NASA has gotten thier money's worth from them and should be models for the engineers who designed them when they design the next machines knowing what design and parts have worked well. They were also a nice boost for NASA in light of previous craft failure.

[DonRotolo]

Maybe I'm too old, but I volunteer to go out and get one of them. (I might need to borrow a hand truck, though)

Don

[JohnBoucher]

From MSNBC

"Both came through the weekend beautifully," Squyres said in a telephone interview. "They were both power positive over the weekend, meaning they were generating more power than they were consuming."

[Jeremiah Johnson]

Great news! Does this mean they will be fully functional again and providing more insight to Mars soon?

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Jeremiah Johnson

Great news! Does this mean they will be fully functional again and providing more insight to Mars soon?

Did you read something that I didn't? I saw reports that battery energy was getting low, but nothing to indicate that less that full functionality.

[Jeremiah Johnson]

Originally Posted by Richard

Did you read something that I didn't? I saw reports that battery energy was getting low, but nothing to indicate that less that full functionality.

I guess I was under the impression that because of the storm, they had to shut down much of everything. There was a chance they wouldn't have been functional afterwards, right?

[Schnabel]

Even if the storm does settle, wouldn't the dust settle on the solar panels thus rendering them useless?

[Jeremiah Johnson]

Originally Posted by Schnabel

Even if the storm does settle, wouldn't the dust settle on the solar panels thus rendering them useless?

I'm not sure that it would settle enough to stay on the solar panels. Isn't there a constant wind on Mars? Is there enough to keep the panels clean and dust free?