From Universe Today
“Spirit is hanging in there … remarkably good, all things considered”, Steve Squyres told me in a rover update this week. Squyres is the Scientific Principal Investigator for the twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.
I asked Squyres whether the rover team would give extrication efforts a top priority if Spirit survives the harsh freezing temperatures of the looming winter season ?
Squyres replied that, “If Spirit survives the winter then we’ll start turning wheels again when there’s enough power to do so, and we’ll see what happens. Even if we only get tens of centimeters of motion, there’s great scientific value in doing so”.
That’s because the Martian terrain where Spirit has been mired in a sand trap since April 2009 has proven to a scientific bonanza and yielded some of the best evidence for past episodes of flowing liquid water. Spirits wheels are buried in sulfate-rich deposits which were formed by water-related processes when volcanism was active around the location dubbed ‘Home Plate’.
With Martian winter in the southern hemisphere fast approaching and power declining as the sun rises lower in the martain skies, Spirit’s rover electronics module (REM) has now reached a new record low temperature of minus 41.5 degrees Celsius (minus 42.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
As of today, Spirit has survived for 2217 Sols, or martian days, compared to the 90 Sol “Warranty” stipulated at launch. If she survives for approximately three more weeks, she’ll smash the record for longevity of any human made robot on Mars. Viking 1 is the longest lived surface mission and sent her last signal on Sol 2245 on November 11, 1982 for a total operating time of 6 Year and 116 days.
The rover team has projected that the temperature experienced by the critical electronics will likely drop down a bit further to perhaps minus 45 degrees Celsius as Spirit endeavors to endure an unprecedented 4th extreme winter at Gusev Crater on Mars while stuck in a sand trap at the place called Troy. “The temperature could go lower… but not by a great deal,” Squyres added.