Spirit Rover Landed on Mars 10 Years Ago Today

This bird's-eye view from August 2005 combines a self-portrait of the spacecraft deck and a panoramic mosaic of the Martian surface as viewed by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. The rover's solar panels are still gleaming in the sunlight, having acquired only a thin veneer of dust two years after the rover landed and commenced exploring the red planet. Spirit captured this 360-degree panorama on the summit of "Husband Hill" inside Mars' Gusev Crater. During the period from Spirit's Martian days, or sols, 583 to 586 (Aug. 24 to 27, 2005), the rover's panoramic camera acquired the hundreds of individual frames for this largest panorama ever photographed by Spirit. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

Ten Years Ago, Spirit Rover Lands on Mars
This bird’s-eye view from August 2005 combines a self-portrait of the spacecraft deck and a panoramic mosaic of the Martian surface as viewed by NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. The rover’s solar panels are still gleaming in the sunlight, having acquired only a thin veneer of dust two years after the rover landed and commenced exploring the red planet. Spirit captured this 360-degree panorama on the summit of “Husband Hill” inside Mars’ Gusev Crater. During the period from Spirit’s Martian days, or sols, 583 to 586 (Aug. 24 to 27, 2005), the rover’s panoramic camera acquired the hundreds of individual frames for this largest panorama ever photographed by Spirit. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
See Spirit’s 1st and last panoramas and more imagery below[/caption]

Today, Jan. 3, marks the 10th anniversary since the safe landing of NASA’s renowned Spirit rover on the plains of Mars on Jan. 3, 2004.

Spirit comprises one half of NASA’s now legendary pair of Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). Opportunity, her twin sister landed, on the opposite side of the Red Planet three weeks later – on Jan. 24, 2004. The goal was to “follow the water” as a potential enabler for past Martian microbes if they ever existed.

Together, the long-lived, golf cart sized robots proved that early Mars was warm and wet, billions of years ago – a key finding in the search for habitats conducive to life beyond Earth.

Exactly a decade ago, the famous robot survived the scorching atmospheric heating of the 6 minute plunge through the thin Martian atmosphere, bounced some two dozen times cocooned inside cushioning airbags, and gradually rolled to a stop inside 100 mile wide Gusev Crater. It was known as the “6 minutes of Terror”.

The three petaled landing pad opened and Spirit was dramatically born in a milestone event that will be forever remembered in the annuls of history because of the groundbreaking scientific discoveries that ensued and the unbelievable longevity of the twins.

Ten Years Ago, Spirit Rover Lands on Mars . This mosaic image taken on Jan. 4, 2004, by the navigation camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, shows a 360 degree panoramic view of the rover on the surface of Mars.   Spirit operated for more than six years after landing in January 2004 for what was planned as a three-month mission. Credit: NASA/JPL
Ten Years Ago, Spirit Rover Lands on Mars
This mosaic image taken on Jan. 4, 2004, by the navigation camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, shows a 360 degree panoramic view of the rover on the surface of Mars. Spirit operated for more than six years after landing in January 2004 for what was planned as a three-month mission. Credit: NASA/JPL

Before they were launched atop Delta II rockets in the summer of 2003 from Cape Canaveral, the dynamic, solar powered robo duo were expected to last a mere three months – with a ‘warranty’ of 90 Martian days (Sols).

Either dust accumulation on the life giving solar panels, an engineering issue or the extremely harsh Martian environment was expected to somehow terminate them mercilessly.

In reality, both robots enormously exceeded expectations and accumulated a vast bonus time of exploration and discovery in numerous extended mission phases.

'McMurdo' Panorama from Spirit's 'Winter Haven' . This beautiful scene reveals a tremendous amount of detail in Spirit's surroundings at a place called "Winter Haven," where the rover spent many months parked on a north-facing slope in order to keep its solar panels pointed toward the sun for the winter. During this time, it captured several images to create this high resolution panorama. During that time, while the rover spent the daylight hours conducting as much scientific research as possible, science team members assigned informal names to rock outcrops, boulders, and patches of soil commemorating exploration sites in Antarctica and the southernmost islands of South America. Antarctic bases are places where researchers, like the rovers on Mars, hunker down for the winter in subzero temperatures. During the past Martian winter, Spirit endured temperatures lower than minus 100 degrees Celsius (minus 148 degrees Fahrenheit). Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
‘McMurdo’ Panorama from Spirit’s ‘Winter Haven’
This beautiful scene reveals a tremendous amount of detail in Spirit’s surroundings at a place called “Winter Haven,” where the rover spent many months parked on a north-facing slope in order to keep its solar panels pointed toward the sun for the winter. During this time, it captured several images to create this high resolution panorama. During that time, while the rover spent the daylight hours conducting as much scientific research as possible, science team members assigned informal names to rock outcrops, boulders, and patches of soil commemorating exploration sites in Antarctica and the southernmost islands of South America. Antarctic bases are places where researchers, like the rovers on Mars, hunker down for the winter in subzero temperatures. During the past Martian winter, Spirit endured temperatures lower than minus 100 degrees Celsius (minus 148 degrees Fahrenheit). Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

No one foresaw that Martian winds would occasionally clean the solar panels to give them a new lease on life or that the components would miraculously continue functioning.

Spirit endured the utterly extreme Red Planet climate for more than six years until communications ceased in 2010.

Opportunity is still roving Mars today, and doing so in rather good condition!

Altogether, Spirit drove 4.8 miles (7.73 kilometers),that’s about 12 times more than the original goal set for the mission.

She transmitted over 128,000 images.

After landing in the dusty plains, she headed for the nearby Columbia Hills some 2 miles away and ultimately became the first Martian mountaineer, when she scaled Husband Hill and found evidence for the flow of liquid water at the Hillary outcrop.

Spirit acquired this mosaic on Sol 1202  (May 21, 2007), while investigating the area east of the elevated plateau known as "Home Plate" in the "Columbia Hills." The mosaic shows an area of disturbed soil, nicknamed "Gertrude Weise" by scientists, made by Spirit's stuck right front wheel. The trench exposed a patch of nearly pure silica, with the composition of opal. It could have come from either a hot-spring environment or an environment called a fumarole, in which acidic, volcanic steam rises through cracks. Either way, its formation involved water, and on Earth, both of these types of settings teem with microbial life. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
Spirit acquired this mosaic on Sol 1202 (May 21, 2007), while investigating the area east of the elevated plateau known as “Home Plate” in the “Columbia Hills.” The mosaic shows an area of disturbed soil, nicknamed “Gertrude Weise” by scientists, made by Spirit’s stuck right front wheel. The trench exposed a patch of nearly pure silica, with the composition of opal. It could have come from either a hot-spring environment or an environment called a fumarole, in which acidic, volcanic steam rises through cracks. Either way, its formation involved water, and on Earth, both of these types of settings teem with microbial life. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

The rovers were not designed to climb hills. But eventually she scaled 30 degree inclines.

The rover was equipped with a rock grinder named the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) built by Honeybee Robotics.

Spirit ground the surfaces off 15 rock targets and scoured 92 targets with a brush to prepare the targets for inspection with spectrometers and a microscopic imager, according to NASA.

Eventually she drove back down the hill and made even greater scientific discoveries in the area known as ‘Home Plate’.

Spirit survived three harsh Martian winters and only succumbed to the Antarctic-like temperatures when she unexpectedly became mired in an unseen sand trap driving beside an ancient volcanic feature named ‘Home Plate’ that prevented the solar arrays from generating life giving power to safeguard critical electronic and computer components.

In 2007, Spirit made one of the key discoveries of the mission at ‘Home Plate’ when her stuck right front wheel churned up a trench of bright Martian soil that exposed a patch of nearly pure silica, which was formed in a watery hot spring or volcanic environment.

Spirit was heading towards another pair of volcanic objects named ‘von Braun’ and ‘Goddard’ and came within just a few hundred feet when she died in the sand trap.

See Spirits last panorama below – created from raw images taken in Feb. 2010 by Marco Di Lorenzo and Ken Kremer.

Last View from Spirit rover on Mars.  Spirit’s last panorama from Gusev Crater was taken during February 2010 before her death from extremely low temperatures during her 4th Martian winter.  Spirit was just 500 feet from her next science target - dubbed Von Braun – at center, with Columbia Hills as backdrop.  Mosaic Credit: Marco Di Lorenzo/ Kenneth Kremer/ NASA/JPL/Cornell University.  Mosaic featured on Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) on 30 May 2011 - http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110530.html
Last View from Spirit rover on Mars
Spirit’s last panorama from Gusev Crater was taken during February 2010 before her death from extremely low temperatures during her 4th Martian winter. Spirit was just 500 feet from her next science target – dubbed Von Braun – at center, with Columbia Hills as backdrop. Mosaic Credit: Marco Di Lorenzo/ Kenneth Kremer/ NASA/JPL/Cornell University. Mosaic featured on Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) on 30 May 2011 – http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110530.html

Here’s how the rovers’ principal investigator, Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., described some of the key findings in a NASA statement, starting with what Spirit found after driving from the crater floor where it landed into the Columbia hills to the east:

“In the Columbia Hills, we discovered compelling evidence of an ancient Mars that was a hot, wet, violent place, with volcanic explosions, hydrothermal activity, steam vents — nothing like Mars today.

“At Opportunity’s landing site, we found evidence of an early Mars that had acidic groundwater that sometimes reached the surface and evaporated away, leaving salts behind. It was an environment with liquid water, but very different from the environment that Spirit told us about.

“When Opportunity got to the rim of Endeavour Crater, we began a whole new mission. We found gypsum veins and a rich concentration of clay minerals. The clay minerals tell us about water chemistry that was neutral, instead of acidic — more favorable for microbial life, if any ever began on Mars.”

“Because of the rovers’ longevity, we essentially got four different landing sites for the price of two.”

MER10-SpiritAndOpportunity_ByTheNumbers[1]

Meanwhile, NASA’s new Curiosity rover just celebrated 500 Sols on Mars and is speeding towards Mount Sharp from inside Gale Crater – which is about the same size as Gusev crater.

And a pair of newly launched orbiters are streaking to the Red Planet; NASA’s MAVEN and India’s MOM.

And China’s new Yutu lunar rover and Chang’e-3 lander are napping through the lunar night until mid-January.

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Curiosity, Chang’e-3, SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, LADEE, MAVEN, Mars rover and MOM news.

Ken Kremer

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Learn more about Curiosity, MAVEN, MOM, Mars rovers, SpaceX, Orbital Sciences Antares Jan. 8 launch, and more at Ken’s upcoming presentations

Jan 6-8: “Antares/Cygnus ISS Rocket Launch from Virginia on Jan. 8” & “Space mission updates”; Rodeway Inn, Chincoteague, VA, evening

Mars Water Could Have Carved These ‘Mystery Mounds’

Layered deposits in Juventae Chasma as seen by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter's high-resolution stereo camera in November 2013. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Above is a time capsule of more than three billion years of Mars history. The right-hand side shows a bunch of blocky-looking things that formed after volcanic activity made the walls of Juventae Chasma collapse. In the center are what the European Space Agency calls “mystery mounds” made up of sulphate materials (indicating that they were changed by water a long time ago.)

“The mounds contain numerous layers that were most likely built up as lake-deposits during the Chasma’s wet epoch. But ice-laden dust raining out from the atmosphere – a phenomenon observed at the poles of Mars – may also have contributed to the formation of the layers,” ESA stated.

“While the water has long gone, wind erosion prevails, etching grooves into the exposed surfaces of the mounds and whipping up the surrounding dust into ripples.”

The picture was snapped Nov. 4 by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express mission. There’s been a lot of talk about water on Mars this past week, between this possible salty water find at the equator and news of the Mars Curiosity rover stumbling on to an ancient lake that could have supported life.

Mars Express has been humming along for 10 years and counting above the Red Planet. Check out some of its top discoveries in the past decade in this past article by Universe Today’s Ken Kremer.

Mars Express over water-ice crater.  ESA Celebrates 10 Years since the launch of Mars Express. This artists concept shows Mars Express set against a 35 km-wide crater in the Vastitas Borealis region of Mars at approximately 70.5°N / 103°E. The crater contains a permanent patch of water-ice that likely sits upon a dune field – some of the dunes are exposed towards the top left in this image. Copyright ESA/DLR/FU-Berlin-G.Neukum
This artist’s concept shows Mars Express set against a 35 km-wide crater in the Vastitas Borealis region of Mars at approximately 70.5°N / 103°E. The crater contains a permanent patch of water-ice that likely sits upon a dune field – some of the dunes are exposed towards the top left in this image. Copyright ESA/DLR/FU-Berlin-G.Neukum

Is There Martian Salty Water At The Red Planet’s Equator? These Lines May Be The Smoking Gun

A series of images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show how the appearance of dark markings on Martian slope changes with the seasons. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona.

Get ready, because here are some more findings about possible water on Mars. This picture above from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a series showing changing dark lines on an equatorial hillside — which could be an indication of salty water, scientists said.

As MRO circled the planet and peered at the lines with its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, it tracked these changes at five locations in Valles Marineris, the biggest canyon our solar system has to offer. The lines were on slopes that faced the north and the south, and most intriguingly, they activated when the sun hit their respective sides.

“The equatorial surface region of Mars has been regarded as dry, free of liquid or frozen water, but we may need to rethink that,” stated Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona in Tucson.

“The explanation that fits best is salty water is flowing down the slopes when the temperature rises,” added McEwen, who is HiRISE principal investigator. “We still don’t have any definite identification of water at these sites, but there’s nothing that rules it out, either.”

A 2010 image of ice excavated on Mars after a recent meteorite impact. Image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
A 2010 image of ice excavated on Mars after a recent meteorite impact. Image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Scientists first spotted these types of features two years ago in the mid-latitudes of Mars, but in that case these were small features (usually less than 16 feet or five meters wide). The slopes observed here range as wide as 4,000 feet (1,200 meters).

Salt can keep water flowing even in temperatures where more pure water gets frozen, and also reduce the evaporation rate. NASA also noted it used data from two other MRO instruments (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars and the Context Camera) and the Mars Oddysey’s  Thermal Emission Imaging System.

That’s not all, however. Scientists also reported 15 fresh craters that excavated ice that used to be hidden underneath the soil of Mars.

A radar on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected widespread deposits of glacial ice in the mid-latitudes of Mars.NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/University of Rome/Southwest Research Institute
A radar on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected widespread deposits of glacial ice in the mid-latitudes of Mars.NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/University of Rome/Southwest Research Institute

“The more we find, the more we can fill in a global map of where ice is buried,” stated Colin Dundas of the United States Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Ariz.

“We’ve now seen icy craters down to 39 degrees north, more than halfway from the pole to the equator. They tell us that either the average climate over several thousand years is wetter than present or that water vapor in the current atmosphere is concentrated near the surface. Ice could have formed under wetter conditions, with remnants from that time persisting today, but slowly disappearing.”

Results were presented at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting this week.

Source: NASA

MAVEN thunders to Space on Journey to Study Red Planet’s Watery History and Potential for Life

NASA’s Mars bound MAVEN spacecraft launches atop Atlas V booster at 1:28 p.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 18, 2013. Image taken from the roof of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) space probe thundered to space today (Nov. 18) following a flawless blastoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 1:28 p.m. EST atop a powerful Atlas V rocket.

“Hey Guys we’re going to Mars!” gushed Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN’s Principal Investigator at a post launch briefing for reporters.

“Now I am a Martian,” beamed Jakosky gleefully, as well as is everyone else who has worked on MAVEN since the project was conceived some ten years ago, he noted.

Today’s countdown was absolutely perfect culminating in a spectacular and on time lift off that rumbled across the Florida Space Coast to the delight of cheering crowds assembled for the historic launch aimed at discovering the history of water and habitability stretching back over billions of years on Mars.

“I take great pride in the entire team,” said Jakosky.

“Everyone was absolutely committed to making this work.”

MAVEN launches atop Atlas V booster on Nov. 18, 2013 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida.  Credit: Mike Killian/mikekillianphotography.com
MAVEN launches atop Atlas V booster on Nov. 18, 2013 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Credit: Mike Killian/mikekillianphotography.com

The $671 Million MAVEN spacecraft separated from the Atlas Centaur upper stage some 52 minutes after liftoff, unfurled its wing like solar panels to produce life giving power and thus began a 10 month interplanetary voyage to the Red Planet.

“We’re currently about 14,000 miles away from Earth and heading out to the Red Planet right now,” said MAVEN Project Manager David Mitchell of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center at the briefing, after the 5,400-pound spacecraft had been soaring through space for barely two and a half hours.

“The first trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) is set for Dec. 3,” added Mitchell. There are a minimum of four TCM’s to ensure that the majestic probe remains precisely on course for Mars.

“Safe travels MAVEN!” said Mitchell. “We’re with you all the way.”

NASA’s Mars bound MAVEN spacecraft launches atop Atlas V booster at 1:28 p.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 18, 2013. Image taken from the roof of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
NASA’s Mars bound MAVEN spacecraft launches atop Atlas V booster at 1:28 p.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 18, 2013. Image taken from the roof of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

It will take the spacecraft 10 months to reach the Red Planet, with arrival scheduled for Sept. 22, 2014.

Jakosky noted that while the launch is a big milestone, it’s just the beginning.

MAVEN’s purpose is to accomplish world class science after arriving at Mars and completing a check-out period before it can finally begin collecting science data.

MAVEN will answer key questions about the evolution of Mars, its geology and the potential for the evolution of life.

“MAVEN is an astrobiology mission,” says Jakosky.

Mars was once wet billions of years ago, but no longer. Now it’s a cold arid world, not exactly hospitable to life.

“We want to determine what were the drivers of that change?” said Jakosky. “What is the history of Martian habitability, climate change and the potential for life?”

MAVEN will study Mars upper atmosphere to explore how the Red Planet may have lost its atmosphere over billions of years. It will measure current rates of atmospheric loss to determine how and when Mars lost its atmosphere and water.

The MAVEN probe carries nine sensors in three instrument suites.

The Particles and Fields Package, provided by the University of California at Berkeley with support from CU/LASP and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., contains six instruments to characterize the solar wind and the ionosphere of Mars. The Remote Sensing Package, built by CU/LASP, will determine global characteristics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, built by Goddard, will measure the composition of Mars’ upper atmosphere.

“We need to know everything we can before we can send people to Mars,” said Dr. Jim Green, NASA’s Director of Planetary Science at NASA HQ in Washington, DC.

“MAVEN is a key step along the way. And the team did it under budget!” Green elaborated. “It is so exciting!”

Dr. Jim Green (4th from left), NASA’s Director of Planetary Science poses with space journalists and photographers covering the Nov. 18 MAVEN launch at the Kennedy Space Center, including Ken Kremer (left) from Universe Today/RocketSTEM Media Foundation.  Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersohoto.com
Dr. Jim Green (5th from left), NASA’s Director of Planetary Science, poses with MAVEN spacecraft model and space journalists and photographers covering the Nov. 18 MAVEN launch at the Kennedy Space Center – including Ken Kremer (left) from Universe Today/RocketSTEM Media Foundation. Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersohoto.com

Over the course of its one-Earth-year primary mission, MAVEN will observe all of Mars’ latitudes at altitudes ranging from 93 miles to more than 3,800 miles.

MAVEN will execute five deep dip maneuvers during the first year, descending to an altitude of 78 miles. This marks the lower boundary of the planet’s upper atmosphere.

Stay tuned here for continuing MAVEN and MOM news and Ken’s MAVEN launch reports from on site at the Kennedy Space Center press site.

Ken Kremer

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Learn more about MAVEN, MOM, Mars rovers, Orion and more at Ken’s upcoming presentations

Nov 18-21: “MAVEN Mars Launch and Curiosity Explores Mars, Orion and NASA’s Future”, Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, 8 PM

Dec 11: “Curiosity, MAVEN and the Search for Life on Mars”, “LADEE & Antares ISS Launches from Virginia”, Rittenhouse Astronomical Society, Franklin Institute, Phila, PA, 8 PM

Government Shutdown Stops MAVEN Work; Threatens NASA Mars Launch!

The upcoming Nov. 18 blastoff of NASA’s new MAVEN Mars orbiter is threatened by the today’s US Federal Government shutdown. Launch processing work has now ceased! Spacecraft preps had been in full swing when MAVEN was unveiled to the media, including Universe Today, inside the cleanroom at the Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 27, 2013. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

The upcoming Nov. 18 blastoff of NASA’s new MAVEN Mars orbiter is threatened by today’s US Federal Government shutdown. Launch processing work has now ceased! Spacecraft preps had been in full swing when MAVEN was unveiled to the media, including Universe Today, inside the clean room at the Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 27, 2013. With solar panels unfurled, this is exactly how MAVEN looks when flying through interplanetary space and orbiting Mars.
Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com[/caption]

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – The upcoming Nov. 18 blastoff of NASA’s next mission to Mars – the “breathtakingly beautiful” MAVEN orbiter – is threatened by today’s (Oct. 1) shutdown of the US Federal Government. And the team is very “concerned”, although not yet “panicked.”

MAVEN’s on time launch is endangered by the endless political infighting in Washington DC. And the bitter gridlock could cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars or more on this mission alone!

Why? Because launch preparations at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) have ceased today when workers were ordered to stay home, said the missions top scientist in an exclusive to Universe Today.

“MAVEN is shut down right now!” Prof. Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN’s principal Investigator, of the University of Colorado at Boulder, told Universe Today in an exclusive post shutdown update today.

“Which means that civil servants and work at government facilities [including KSC] have been undergoing an orderly shutdown,” Jakosky told me.

The nominal interplanetary launch window for NASA’s $650 Million MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN Mission) mission to study the Red Planet’s upper atmosphere only extends about three weeks until Dec. 7.

If MAVEN misses the window of opportunity this year, liftoff atop the Atlas V rocket would have to be postponed until early 2016 because the Earth and Mars only align favorably for launches every 26 months.

Any launch delay could potentially add upwards of tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in unbudgeted costs to maintain the spacecraft and rocket – and that’s money that NASA absolutely does not have in these fiscally austere times.

MAVEN spacecraft preps for Nov. 18 launch to Mars were on schedule when it was unveiled to the media inside the cleanroom at the Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 27, 2013. The Oct. 1 US Government shutdown has stopped all work. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
MAVEN spacecraft preps for Nov. 18 launch to Mars were on schedule when it was unveiled to the media inside the clean room at the Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 27, 2013. The Oct. 1 US Government shutdown has stopped all work. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

MAVEN and much of NASA are not considered “essential” – despite having responsibility for hundreds of ongoing mission operations costing tens of billions of dollars that benefit society here on Earth. So about 97% of NASA employees were furloughed today.

What’s happening with the spacecraft right now?

“The hardware is being safed, meaning that it will be put into a known, stable, and safe state,” Jakosky elaborated.

Team members say there are about nine days of margin built into the processing schedule, which still includes fueling the spacecraft.

“We’ll turn back on when told that we can. We have some margin days built into our schedule,” Jakosky told me.

“We’re just inside of 7 weeks to launch, and every day is precious, so we’re certainly as anxious as possible to get back to work as quickly as possible.

And he said the team will do whatever necessary, including overtime, to launch MAVEN to the Red Planet by Dec. 7.

“The team is committed to getting to the launch pad at this opportunity, and is willing to work double shifts and seven days a week if necessary. That plus the existing margin gives us some flexibility. “

“That’s why I’m concerned but not yet panicked at this point.”

But a lengthy delay would by problematical.

“If we’re shut down for a week or more, the situation gets much more serious,” Jakosky stated.

Until today, all of the spacecraft and launch preparations had been in full swing and on target – since it arrived on Aug. 2 after a cross country flight from the Colorado assembly facility of prime contractor Lockheed Martin.

Indeed it was all smiles and thumbs up when I was privileged to personally inspect MAVEN inside the clean room at KSC a few days ago on Friday, Sept 27 during a media photo opportunity day held for fellow journalists.

Until now, “MAVEN was on schedule and under budget” said Jakosky in an interview as we stood a few feet from the nearly fully assembled spacecraft.

See my MAVEN clean room photos herein.

NASA’s MAVEN Mars orbiter, chief scientist Prof. Bruce Jakosky of CU-Boulder and Ken Kremer of Universe Today inside the cleanroom at the Kennedy Space Center on sept 27, 2013. MAVEN launches to Mars on Nov. 18, 2013 from Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
NASA’s MAVEN Mars orbiter, chief scientist Prof. Bruce Jakosky of CU-Boulder and Ken Kremer of Universe Today inside the clean room at the Kennedy Space Center on sept 27, 2013. MAVEN was due to launch to Mars on Nov. 18, 2013 from Florida – before the Oct. 1 government shutdown derailed plans. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

And in an ultra rare viewing opportunity, the solar panels were fully unfurled.

“The solar panels look exactly as they will be when MAVEN is flying in space and around Mars.”

“To be here with MAVEN is breathtaking,” Jakosky told me. “

“Its laid out in a way that was spectacular to see!”

Magnetometer science instrument juts out from MAVEN solar panel during launch processing inside the clean room at the Kennedy Space Center.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
Magnetometer science instrument juts out from MAVEN solar panel during launch processing inside the clean room at the Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

If absolutely necessary it might be possible to extend the launch window a little bit beyond Dec. 7, but its uncertain and would require precise new calculations of fuel margins.

“The nominal 20-day launch period doesn’t take into account the fact that our actual mass is less than the maximum allowable mass,” Jakosky explained.

“The last day we can launch has some uncertainty, because it also requires enough fuel to get into orbit before our mission would begin to be degraded.”

MAVEN team members, including chief scientist Bruce Jakosky (2nd from left)  pose with spacecraft inside the cleanroom at the Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 27, 2013. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
MAVEN team members, including chief scientist Bruce Jakosky (2nd from left) pose with spacecraft inside the clean room at the Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 27, 2013. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

It sure was breathtaking for me and all the media to stand beside America’s next Mission to Mars. And to contemplate it’s never before attempted science purpose.

“MAVENS’s goal is determining the composition of the ancient Martian atmosphere and when it was lost, where did all the water go and how and when was it lost,” said Jakosky.

That’s the key to understanding when and for how long Mars was much more Earth-like compared to today’s desiccated Red Planet.

Following a 10 month interplanetary voyage, MAVEN would fire thrusters and brake into Mars orbit in September 2014, joining NASA’s Red Planet armada comprising Curiosity, Opportunity, Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Lets all hope and pray for a short government shutdown – but the outlook is not promising at this time.

Stay tuned.

Ken Kremer

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Learn more about MAVEN, Curiosity, Mars rovers, Cygnus, Antares, SpaceX, Orion, LADEE, the Govt shutdown and more at Ken’s upcoming presentations

Oct 3: “Curiosity, MAVEN and the Search for Life on Mars – (3-D)”, STAR Astronomy Club, Brookdale Community College & Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ, 8 PM

Oct 8: NASA’s Historic LADEE Lunar & Antares/Cygnus ISS Rocket Launches from Virginia”; Princeton University, Amateur Astronomers Assoc of Princeton (AAAP), Princeton, NJ, 8 PM

Water Likely Flowed In This Parched Martian Region

Tagus Valles on Mars. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Don’t let the dry appearance of the Martian desert region near Tagus Valles fool you. Some pictures snapped by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express shows there was plenty of water in that area of the Red Planet in the past. The pictures show yet another example of how water once shaped the planet, as scientists try to figure out when and how it disappeared.

“This region is one of many that exposes evidence of the Red Planet’s active past, and shows that the marks of water are engraved in even the most unlikely ancient crater-strewn fields,” ESA stated.

The unnamed region, which is just a few degrees south of the Martian equator, partially caught scientists’ attention because of that crater you see in the top left of the image. (A closer view is below.)

Deformation in a crater that was once flooded on Mars. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
Deformation in a crater that was once flooded on Mars. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

“Numerous landslides have occurred within this crater, perhaps facilitated by the presence of water weakening the crater walls,” ESA stated. “Grooves etched into the crater’s inner walls mark the paths of tumbling rocks, while larger piles of material have slumped en masse to litter the crater floor.”

Scientists saw evidence of mesas (flat-topped blocks) and yardangs, which were both features that were built from sediments that a regional flood once deposited there. The lighter bits have eroded away, but you can still see the leftovers.

There also is evidence of volcanic activity, as there was ash scattered around the area. Scientists guess the origin was the Elysium volcanic region to the northeast.

Check out more details in this ESA press release.

MAVEN Takes Final Test Spins, Flexes Solar Panels Before Imminent Trek to Florida Launch Site

The solar panels on the MAVEN spacecraft are deployed as part of environmental testing procedures at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colorado, before shipment to Florida 0on Aug. 2 and blastoff for Mars on Nov. 18, 213. Credit: Lockheed Martin

The solar panels on NASA’s MAVEN Mars orbiter are deployed as part of environmental testing procedures at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colorado, before shipment to Florida on Aug. 2 and blastoff for Mars on Nov. 18, 2013. Credit: Lockheed Martin
Watch cool testing videos below![/caption]

MAVEN is NASA’s next mission to Mars and in less than three days time the spacecraft ships out on a cross country trek for the first step on the long sojourn to the Red Planet.

But before all that, technicians took MAVEN for a final spin test, flexed her solar arrays and bombarded her with sound and a whole lot more.

On Aug. 2, MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN Mission) journeys half a continent from its assembly facility at Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado to the Kennedy Space Center and the Florida Space Coast aboard a USAF C-17.

Unlike Curiosity, which is roving across a crater floor on the Red Planet at this very moment, MAVEN is an orbiter with a first of its kind mission.

MAVEN is the first spacecraft from Earth devoted to investigating and understanding the upper atmosphere of Mars.

The goal is determining how and why Mars lost virtually all of its atmosphere billions of years ago, what effect that had on the climate and where did the atmosphere and water go?

To ensure that MAVEN is ready for launch, technicians have been busy this year with final tests of the integrated spacecraft.

Check out this video of MAVEN’s Dry Spin Balance Test

The spin balance test was conducted on the unfueled spacecraft on July 9, 2013 at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colorado.

NASA says the purpose of the test “is to ensure that the fully integrated spacecraft is correctly balanced and to determine the current center of gravity. It allows the engineering team to fine-tune any necessary weight adjustments to precisely fix the center of gravity where they want it, so that it will perform as expected during the cruise to Mars.”

It was the last test to be completed on the integrated spacecraft before its shipment to Florida later this week.

This next video shows deployment tests of the two “gull-wing” solar panels at Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

Wingtip to wingtip, MAVEN measures 11.43 m (37.5 feet) in length.

In mid May, MAVEN was moved into a Thermal Vacuum Chamber at Lockheed Martin for 19 days of testing.


The TVAC test exposed MAVEN to the utterly harsh temperatures and rigors of space similar to those it will experience during its launch, cruise, and mission at Mars.

MAVEN is slated to blast off atop an Atlas V-401 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on Nov. 18, 2013. The 2000 pound (900 kg) spacecraft will be housed inside a 4 meter payload fairing.

After a 10 month interplanetary voyage it will join NASA’s armada of four robotic spacecraft when it arrives in Mars orbit in September 2014.

Scientists hope that measurements from MAVEN will help answer critical questions like whether, when and how long the Martian atmosphere was once substantial enough to sustain liquid water on its surface and support life.

“What we’re doing is measuring the composition of the atmosphere as a measure of latitude, longitude, time of day and solar activities,” said Paul Mahaffy, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md, and the principal investigator for MAVEN’s mass spectrometer instrument.

“We’re trying to understand over billions of years how the atmosphere has been lost.”

Ken Kremer

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Learn more about MAVEN, Cygnus, Antares, LADEE, Mars rovers and more at Ken’s upcoming lecture presentations

Aug 12: “RockSat-X Suborbital Launch, LADEE Lunar & Antares Rocket Launches from Virginia”; Rodeway Inn, Chincoteague, VA, 8 PM

Oct 3: “Curiosity and the Search for Life on Mars – (3-D)”, STAR Astronomy Club, Brookdale Community College & Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ, 8 PM

NASA’s MAVEN orbiter is due to blast off for Mars on Nov. 18, 2013 atop an Atlas V rocket similar to this which launched Curiosity from Cape Canaveral on Nov. 26, 2011. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
NASA’s MAVEN orbiter is due to blast off for Mars on Nov. 18, 2013 atop an Atlas V rocket similar to this which launched Curiosity from Cape Canaveral on Nov. 26, 2011. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

Curiosity Celebrates 90 Sols Scooping Mars and Snapping Amazing Self-Portrait with Mount Sharp

Image Caption: Curiosity Self Portrait with Mount Sharp at Rocknest ripple in Gale Crater. Curiosity used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the robotic arm to image herself and her target destination Mount Sharp in the background. Mountains in the background to the left are the northern wall of Gale Crater. This color panoramic mosaic was assembled from raw images snapped on Sol 85 (Nov. 1, 2012). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo

NASA’s revolutionary Curiosity rover is celebrating 90 Sols on Mars by snapping amazing self-portraits (see our mosaics above and below) and biting into the Red Planet’s surface to accomplish unprecedented scientific analysis of an alien world.

Nov. 6 marked a major milestone in Curiosity’s daring and evolving mission in search of signs of life. This is the three month anniversary of her toiling on the breathtaking Martian surface since the hair-raising pinpoint touchdown on Aug. 6 inside Gale Crater at the foothills of a humongous and gorgeous layered mountain that likely holds the key to understanding Mars watery past and 4 billion plus year evolution.

The never before seen mosaic vista above shows a matchless self portrait of Curiosity’s Mastcam ‘head’ and body combined with a thrilling scene of her target destination – Mount Sharp – the layered mound of sediments that could unlock the mysteries of whether Mars ever possessed habitats favorable for the evolution of life, past or present.

Last week on Sols 84 & 85 (Oct 31 & Nov 1) Curiosity took hundreds of high resolution color images with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera – located at the end of the 7 foot (2.1 m) long robotic arm – thus affording us a breathtaking portrait view of our emissary from Earth to Mars.

Our Sol 85 self-portrait mosaic was stitched together by the imaging team of Ken Kremer and Marco Di Lorenzo. Last week NASA released the first self portrait mosaic of the Sol 84 MAHLI camera imagery that included the left flank of 3 mile (5 km) Mount Sharp.

Image Caption: High-Resolution Self-Portrait by Curiosity Rover Arm Camera. On Sol 84 (Oct. 31, 2012), NASA’s Curiosity rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture this set of 55 high-resolution images, which were stitched together to create this full-color self-portrait. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The Curiosity team spent considerable effort to build the imaging sequences and then remotely maneuver the robotic arm to precisely collect the raw images and transmit them to Earth.

Previously the team used the MAHLI camera to photograph Curiosity’s underbelly (see our mosaic).

Image Caption: A mosaic of photos taken by the MAHLI camera on Curiosity’s arm shows the underbelly of the rover and its six wheels, with Martian terrain stretching back to the horizon. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo

For the past month Curiosity has been hunkered down at “Rocknest” ripple which lies at the edge of “Glenelg” – her first major science destination – and that sits at the natural junction of three types of geologically diverse terrain.

Rocknest afforded the perfect type of fine grained Martian dust to carry out the first test scoops of Martian soil and then used the material to thoroughly cleanse the robots’ sample processing system of residual Earthy contamination and then ingest the first samples into the robots pair of analytical chemistry labs – CheMin and SAM.

Curiosity has eaten into Rocknest 4 times so far and delivered two samples to the CheMin (Chemistry and Mineralogy) instrument for analysis.

Scoop sample #5 should deliver the first solid material to SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) sometime in the next week or so.

SAM is specifically engineered to search for organic molecules – the building blocks of life as we know it. CheMin uses X-ray diffraction techniques to accurately determine the mineralogical composition of pulverized and sieved red planet soil and rock samples.

Curiosity’s key science finding during the first 90 Sols is the discovery of evidence for an ancient Martian stream bed at three different locations along the short route she has traversed to date.

Curiosity found a trio of outcrops of stones cemented into a layer of conglomerate rock. Hip deep liquid water once flowed vigorously on the floor of Gale Crater billions of years ago. Liquid water is a prerequisite for the origin of life.

Since the landing, some 400 members of the Curiosity science team had been camped out at Mission Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif to efficiently coordinate the rovers surface planning and operations.

With the first 90 Sols now successfully behind them and with Curiosity operating in tip top shape, most of the science team has just departed JPL and returned to their home institutions scattered across the globe, mostly in North America and Europe.

The 1 ton SUV sized Curiosity rover has taken over 22,000 pictures thus far and is funded for a 2 year primary mission.

Ken Kremer

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Nov. 16: Free Public Lecture titled “Curiosity and the Search for Life in 3 D” and more by Ken Kremer at Union County College and Amateur Astronomers Inc in Cranford, NJ.

Dec 6: Free Public lecture titled “Atlantis, The Premature End of America’s Shuttle Program and What’s Beyond for NASA” including Curiosity and more at Brookdale Community College/Monmouth Museum and STAR Astronomy club in Lincroft, NJ

See more of our Curiosity Mars mosaics by Ken Kremer & Marco Di Lorenzo at PBS Nova TV (airing Nov 14), NBC News Cosmic log and Scientific American.

Image Caption: Panoramic mosaic shows gorgeous Glenelg snapped by Curiosity on Sol 64 (Oct. 10) with eroded crater rim and base of Mount Sharp in the distance. This is a cropped version of the full mosaic as assembled from 75 images acquired by the Mastcam 100 camera. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo

Ice Sculptures Fill The Deepest Parts of Mars

Credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University

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One of the “weirdest and least understood” areas of Mars, the enormous Hellas Impact Basin contains strange flowing landforms that bespeak of some specialized and large-scale geologic process having taken place. The HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recently captured the image above, showing what’s being called “lava lamp terrain” — stretched and contorted surface that looks like overworked modeling clay or pulled taffy… or, with a bit of imagination, the melted, mesmerizing contents of a party light from another era.

At 1,400 miles (2,300 km) across, Mars’ Hellas Basin is one of the largest impact craters in the entire Solar System. Its vast interior sinks to a depth of about 23,000 feet (7152 meters) below Mars’ average surface elevation (Martian “sea level”, if you will) and thus its floor is often shrouded by haze and dust, making visual imaging difficult.

The “lava lamp” terrain is just one of many different types of landforms that are found in the basin, although many of these banded features are found in the northwest area — which is also the deepest part of the basin. If there had been water in the region at some point in the planet’s history, it would have concentrated there.

Although the texture at first appears as if it could be volcanic in origin, it’s thought that flowing water or ice may actually be the source.

Researchers are currently working to determine how the Hellas Basin became so smoothly sculpted. Nicolas Thomas, Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Bern, Switzerland, told Universe Today:

“There are a lot of very interesting images from this area and we are trying to get more data (including stereo) to understand better what’s going on and to try to establish what process is responsible for the numerous bizarre features we see. We are hoping to make some more progress in the next few months.”

Example of banded terrain. Compare the relatively fresh appearance of the bands with the older terrain seen to the left of this sub-image. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/N. Thomas et al.)

This hypothesis is also in line with the possibility of Hellas Basin having once been a giant lake.

“Together with the observations of isolated areas and the lack of obvious caldera(s), it is difficult to envisage a volcanic origin for these features and we currently tend towards a mechanism involving ice,” Thomas stated in an abstract of a presentation given at the Europlanet Conference in 2010.

Read the full abstract here, and see this and more high-resolution images from Mars on the HiRISE website.

Did Water or Lava Carve the Outflow Channels on Mars?

Outflow channel in the Tharsis region on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Large features on Mars called outflow channels have been a point of contention among planetary scientists. “Most Mars scientists accept that outflow channels were carved by water, but alternate hypotheses persist, especially that lava carved the outflow channels,” said Alfred McEwen Principal Investigator of the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. McEwen said that water is still the preferred mechanism and he doubts that all the channels could have been created by lava flows.

But in what could be seen as a type of compromise, he offered a new theory for the outflow channels, based on observations by HiRISE: the channels were originally carved by huge water flows on ancient Mars and later were partially filled in by lava.

“This sequence of events provides a better explanation,” McEwen said.

Large outflow channels can be 10 km or more in width and may be hundreds of kilometers long. From orbital images, they appear to be huge, dry river beds, carved by very large volumes of running water.

While these features are too large to have been caused by flooding from rainfall, other explanations have been offered. One model involves large amounts of water frozen as permafrost in the soil and when a major source of local heating occurred, such as volcanic activity, there was melting and catastrophic flooding.

However, other explanations don’t involve water at all, but suggest flowing lava created these channels.

Speaking at the 2012 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference last week, McEwen mentioned specifically one proponent of the lava hypothesis, David Leverington from Texas Tech University, who proposed last year that slippery, low-viscosity lavas created the channels. Leverington says the lava hypothesis offers a simpler explanation that fits well within a wider geological framework of Mars and compares well with similar channel-like features on the Moon and Venus.

“He makes some good points,” McEwen said, “and argues for a form of Occam’s Razor. But we have been searching extensively with HiRISE and finding things that satisfy Leverington’s challenges.”

McEwen said the abundant evidence of water carving the channels is too hard to dismiss. Several examples of outflow channels show deposits from water-based flooding that lava flow can’t explain; additionally, there is ample evidence of bedrock erosion by water on Mars.

McEwen also said crater dating areas of several outflow channels show that the channels themselves are older than the lava flow.

Part of Athabasca Valles, draped in lava. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

“In the Athabasca Valles channels, MRO data showed that lava completely filled the channels and even overflow in places,” he said. “The lava can actually make channels look young.”

Uzboi Valles offers the best counterexample to Leverington’s hypothesis, McEwen said. “No lava fills in this highlands channel, and the channel preserves local layered alluvial deposits and shorelines. So that means we cannot explain all outflows channels from lava erosion.”

McEwen and his team suggest that large floods may have occurred in the Hesperian to early Amazonian, ending about 1 to 1.5 billion years ago, carving the channels. Then, later came the lava flows that formed Mars’ broad plains and sand dunes that we now see – which also filled in some of the outflow channels.

Bedrock Exposures in Uzboi Vallis. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

But McEwen said the debate about these channels is good science. “Did water create these channels? That is a good question,” he said. “We shouldn’t just assume the answer is yes. But we propose water must have carved at least some of the channels, and that water outflow is the main mechanism. If you disagree with anything I’ve said, go to the HiRISE website’s “HiWish” page to suggest areas for further imaging of these features. I’ve been disappointed how few members of the science community have used this tool,” he said.

Further reading:

McEwen and team’s LPSC abstract (pdf)
Leverington’s paper in Geomorphology (pdf)