NASA’s Mars rovers still going strong after 3 years

Posted on May 26, 2007
Filed Under Science |

NASA Mars roverNASA’s twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity are still going strong in their mission to explore the surface of Mars more than 3 years since the mission started. The rovers were initially designed to last 3 months but the engineers did a wonderful job building these machines such that the two rovers have outlived their original mission parameters. Spirit and Opportunity are performing extensive geological analysis of Martian rocks and planetary surface features. Recently, NASA presented evidence that reinforce the belief about the existence of water on Mars.

Losing their ability to recharge their batteries due to the accumulation of dust on the solar panels is considered one of the main reasons the rovers will stop functioning. But NASA has been extremely lucky in this regard. Gust of Martian winds have removed much of the dust accumulating on the solar panels giving Spirit and Opportunity the kiss of life. Planetary.org reports,

“Dust-cleaning events” means that gusts of wind blew across Opportunity’s solar panels, wiping them so clean of dust that they’re producing power at levels not seen since just after the rover landed on Mars. This was something that no one anticipated — at least, I don’t remember ever hearing anyone suggest the possibility that solar cell performance could actually improve before either rover landed. These cleaning events have been the most important key to the rovers’ longevity.

The rovers are definitely not the most perfect shape since their travels have caused a large amount of wear and tear on their bodies. For example, one of Spirit’s wheels has been broken for a while and it is limiting the rover’s mobility but considering that this incredible machine has outlived the duration of its original mission by 14 times, one can’t really complain. I just hope that NASA’s future missions of planetary exploration with robots will be as successful as this one.

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