Mars rover Opportunity. Mission Innovation Mars Exploration Rovers

The Opportunity rover is probably no help. NASA is ready to come to terms with the loss of the apparatus, but to establish communication they are trying to try last resort. NASA is desperate to contact its Opportunity rover, which fell silent during a Martian dust storm last summer and has not responded to commands from Earth since. Last week, NASA celebrated 15 years of the legendary rover on the surface of the planet, but there is still no encouraging news about its condition, and the device may be lost forever.

Severe storms are not uncommon on Mars, usually occurring when summer arrives in the planet's southern hemisphere. Despite the fact that they occur unpredictably and abruptly, most often storms are local in nature and last several weeks at most. However, from time to time dust storms become a planetary phenomenon. Storms have been observed on Mars more than once, for example, by the American spacecraft Mariner 9 (1971), Viking I (1971) and Mars Global Surveyor (2001). The last storm, which originated in the high-mountainous region of Arabia Terra last May, became unusually strong and spread over the following weeks to the entire planet. One of the unpleasant consequences of this phenomenon was the shutdown of the Opportunity rover operating in the Valley of Perseverance, which plunged into pitch darkness due to dust. According to agency experts, due to the fact that the storm raised into the atmosphere great amount dust, a “dark, endless night” fell on the planet, due to which the rover lost its main source of power - electricity generated by its solar panels. This caused the rover to automatically enter power saving mode. “We are concerned, but we hope that the storm will clear up and the rover will start contacting us,” John Callas, mission leader, said in June. The last time the rover made contact was on June 10, in the autumn the storm subsided, the atmosphere cleared up, but the rover is still silent. In addition to the lack of communication and inoperability, there is another problem, the scientists specify - the rover may not have enough energy to heat its batteries, which are in danger of freezing in the cold Martian atmosphere. By the time of the storm, the rover had already been working for 14 years and 195 days, exceeding the planned time on Mars by 55 times. Opportunity touched down on the surface of Mars at Eagle Crater on January 24, 2004, three weeks after its twin Spirit landed on the opposite side of Mars. The warranty period for both devices was three months - that is how long the mission engineers expected to travel around the Red Planet. As often happens in such cases, and the example of Soviet lunar rovers confirms this, the devices could last much longer, but ten years ago no one could have imagined that so. However, NASA is not yet in a hurry to put an end to the rover. The last hope is to try to "wake up" the craft using a new type of command that can help if the failure is due to unlikely problems on board. "We are continuing and will use different techniques in our attempts to make contact with the rover," said John Callas, Project Manager Opportunity at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The new command sending strategy could work if the main and auxiliary radio transmitters operating in the centimeter X-band of waves failed on board, or if there was a malfunction in the internal clock of the onboard computer. Potentially possible solution commands will be sent to the board, switching the rover to the auxiliary radio transmitter, and resetting the internal clock. “Over the past seven months, we have tried to contact Opportunity over 600 times,” Kallas explained. “Although we have not received a response from the rover and the likelihood that we will never receive one is growing every day, we want to try any logical solution that can lead us to the goal.” However, the mission team does not have much time. Soon, the season of winds that help blow dust off the rover's solar panels will end in the southern hemisphere, and winter will come. Along with it will come low temperatures, which can cause irreparable damage to the rover's batteries, which are not used for a long time. According to Kallas, to die without surviving the most ferocious weather on Mars in decades is "a dignified death."

Final check of the operability of all Opportunity systems, before "packing" into the descent vehicle, March 24, 2003

, - opportunity), or MER-B(short for Mars Exploration Rover - B') - the second NASA space agency of two launched by the United States as part of the Mars Exploration Rover project. It was withdrawn by July 7, 2003. It landed on the surface on January 25, 2004, three weeks later than the first rover successfully delivered to another region of Mars, shifted in longitude by about 180 degrees. “ landed in Eagle Crater, on the Meridian Plateau.

The name of the rover, as part of the traditional NASA competition, was given by a 9-year-old girl Russian origin Sophie Collies, born in Siberia and adopted by an American family from Arizona.

To date " continues to function effectively, already more than 40 times exceeding the planned time of sol 90, having traveled 42 kilometers, all this time receiving energy only from. Solar panels are cleaned of dust due to the natural wind of Mars, which allows the rover to carry out geological research. At the end of April 2010, the duration of the mission reached 2246 sols, which made it the longest among the devices that worked on the surface of the "red planet". The previous record belonged to the Viking-1 automatic Mars station, which operated from 1976 to 1982.

Mission objectives

The main objective of the mission was to study sedimentary rocks, which, as expected, were to be formed in craters (Guseva, Erebus), where once there could be a lake, a sea or an entire ocean.

The following scientific objectives were set for the Mars Exploration Rovers mission:

• Search and description of different rocks and soils that would be evidence of the past water activity of the planet. In particular, the search for samples with mineral content that was deposited under the influence of precipitation, evaporation, precipitation or hydrothermal activity;
• Determination of the distribution and composition of minerals, rocks and soils that surround the landing site;
• Determine what geological processes formed the terrain, determine the chemical composition of the soil. These processes may include water or wind erosion, sedimentation, hydrothermal mechanisms, volcanism, and cratering;
• Verification of surface observations made with Mars Reconnaissance Satellite instruments. This will help determine the accuracy and effectiveness of various instruments that are used to study Martian geology from orbit;
• Searching for iron-containing minerals, their detection, as well as the estimation of quantitative relative values ​​for certain types of minerals that contain water or have been formed in water, such as iron-bearing carbonates;
• Classification of minerals and geological landscape, as well as the definition of the processes that formed them;
• Search for geological causes that formed those conditions environment that existed on the planet along with the presence of liquid water. Assessment of conditions that could be beneficial for the origin of life on Mars.

launch vehicle

Delta-2 rocket launch

was launched by a Delta-2 7925-H launch vehicle. This is a more powerful launch vehicle than the Delta II 7925 that launched its twin, the Spirit rover.

Run " took place later than the launch of its twin - the Spirit rover, Mars was at a greater distance, and therefore more energy was required for successful delivery, in connection with this, a more powerful rocket "Delta-2 7925-H" was chosen. Despite this, the main elements of the Delta-2 launch vehicle for the Mars Exploration Rovers mission were almost identical. At the start, the launch vehicle weighed 285228 kg, of which 1063 kg -.

The Delta-2 family of launch vehicles has been in operation for more than 10 years, with their help 90 projects have been successfully launched, including the last six NASA missions sent to Mars: Mars Global Savor and Mars Pathfinder in 1996 year, Mars Climate Orbiter in 1998, Mars Polar Lander in 1999, Mars Odyssey in 2001 and Phoenix in 2007.

Power generation

Self-portrait of Opportunity, December 2004.

As with the Mars Pathfinder mission, solar panels generate the electricity needed to power the systems of the rovers. Solar panels are located on the "wings" of the rovers and consist of individual cells, which significantly increases the reliability of the mission. Developed specifically for “Spirit” and “ , to achieve the maximum light collection area as possible.

Another novelty for rovers is the addition of a triple layer of gallium arsenide. This is the first use of three-layer solar arrays in the history of Mars exploration. The battery cells are capable of absorbing more sunlight than the older version installed on the Sojourner rover in 1997. The solar cells are in three layers of the rover's solar panels, and therefore are able to absorb more sunlight, and as a result, they can generate more electricity to recharge the lithium-ion batteries of the rovers.

On the Mars Pathfinder mission, the Sojourner rover used a single 40 Ah lithium battery. In the Mars Exploration Rovers mission, the rovers use two Li-Ion batteries, each with a capacity of 8 Ah. At the time of finding on Mars, the maximum solar panel power generation was close to 900 Wh in 1 Martian day, or sol. On average, solar panels “Spirit” and “ produced 410 Wh / sol (due to the gradual accumulation of Martian dust on them).

Communication

Communication with orbiters

Orbiter Mars Odyssey.

The rovers of the Mars Exploration Rovers mission use the Mars Odyssey orbiter, which constantly revolves around the red planet, as a relay.

For 16 minutes, he is in the "communication" zone with the rover, after which he disappears over the horizon. “ can "communicate" with the orbiter for 10 minutes, during this period it receives data from the rover.

The vast majority of scientific data is transmitted to the mission crew via the rover's "UHF antenna", which is also used to communicate with the Mars Odyssey orbiter. Mars Odyssey is transmitting the bulk of the scientific data received from both rovers. Another orbiter, Mars Global Surveyor, transmitted about 8% of all data before it failed in November 2006 after 10 years of operation. A small amount of data was transmitted directly to Earth via an "X-band" antenna.

Orbiters with powerful "X-band" antennas are capable of transmitting data to Earth at a higher rate. The transmission rate is not high, therefore, to increase it, the Deep Space Communications Complex was built, the diameter of the main parabolic antenna of which is 70 meters.

Communication with the Flight Module

The Flight Module was equipped with two antennas necessary to maintain communication with the Earth. A low-gain omnidirectional antenna was used when the ship was close to Earth. Due to the fact that it sends a signal in all directions, it does not need to point at the Earth to switch to another communication channel. After that, a highly directional antenna with an average gain comes into play, for successful operation it must be directed towards the Earth, the antenna had more power, since the distance to the Earth gradually increased in flight.

Rover device

A group of engineers and technicians is working on a "hot unit with electronics" (WEB).

All systems of the rover depend on a powerful computer that is protected from the effects of low temperatures. In the center of the rover is an important "hot block with electronics" ( warm electronic box, WEB), which is responsible for the movement of the Opportunity, as well as for the deployment of the manipulator. The on-board computer is about the same power as good laptop(as of 2003). It has about 1,000 times more memory than its predecessor, the Sojourner rover.

On-board computer "Opportunity" is built on a 32-bit radiation-resistant processor RAD6000 operating at a frequency of 20 MHz. Contains 128 megabytes of RAM and 256 megabytes of flash memory.

The important systems of the rover are installed in a module called "rover electronics", which is fixed in a "warm electronics box". This module is located exactly in the center of the rover. The gold coating on the walls of the blocks helps to trap the generated heat from the heaters, because nighttime temperatures on Mars can drop to -96 degrees Celsius. Thermal insulation is a layer of airgel. Airgel is a unique material with a record low density and close to unique properties: hardness, transparency, heat resistance, extremely low thermal conductivity, etc. In an air environment under normal conditions, the density of such a metal microlattice is 1.9 kg / m³ due to intralattice air, its density is only 1.5 times greater than the density of air, from Why is airgel called "solid smoke".

An inertial measurement device estimates the tilt of the rover and helps make precise movements.

The main computer also conducts regular maintenance of the rover. His software ensures the correct functioning of all systems.

Mission Innovation Mars Exploration Rovers

Away from danger

Rover mast. Contains panoramic and navigation cameras.

The rovers of the Mars Exploration Rovers mission have a system for monitoring dangerous zones, and therefore, during the movement, the rovers can safely avoid them. The implementation of this system is the first in the history of the study of Mars, developed at Carnegie Mellon University.

Two other similar programs have been merged into one software to improve overall performance. The first monitors the control of the engine, controls the wheels of the rover, the cleaning brush, as well as the rock drilling tool (RAT). The second monitors the work of the rover's solar panels, redirects energy to two batteries, serves as a night computer, and also controls the rover's clock.

improved vision

A total of twenty cameras, which help rovers search for traces of water on Mars, provide the Earth with high-quality photographs of the planet. The cameras of the Mars Exploration Rovers mission take pictures at very high resolution, which is the highest in the history of exploration.

Advances in technology have helped make cameras lighter and more compact, allowing nine cameras to be mounted on each rover, one per descent platform (DIMES). The rover's cameras, developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, are the most advanced cameras ever to land on another planet.

Improved data compression

The data compression system, also developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, allows you to reduce the amount of data for subsequent transmission to Earth. ICER is based on wavelet transforms, with the ability to process images. For example, a 12 MB image will eventually be compressed to 1 MB, and thus take up much less space on the memory card. The program divides all images into groups of 30 images each, this procedure significantly reduces the risk of losing images when they are sent to Earth, to the Deep Space Networks in Australia.

Creating terrain maps while moving

Also an innovation for this mission is the ability to create maps of the surrounding area. For the scientific team, this is very valuable, since the maps allow you to determine the passability, the angle of inclination, as well as the solar phase. Stereo images allow the team to create 3-D images, which makes it possible to accurately determine the location of the observed object. The maps developed from this data allow the team to know how far the rover needs to travel to reach the required object, and they also help in pointing the manipulator.

Soft Landing Technology

Lander airbags (24 cells)

Engineers faced the daunting task of reducing the spacecraft's speed from 12,000 mph during re-entry to 12 mph when it hit the Martian surface.

Improved parachute and airbags

For reentry, descent and landing, the Mars Exploration Rovers mission used much of the work of its predecessors: the Viking Mission and the Mars Pathfinder. To slow down the rate of descent, the mission uses the legacy parachute technology of the Viking Mission launched in the late 1970s, as well as the 1997 Mars Pathfinder Mission. The Mars Exploration Rovers mission spacecraft are much heavier than the previous ones, the basic design of the parachute remains the same, but it has 40% more area than its predecessors.

The airbags have also been upgraded, this technology Landing mitigation was used on the Mars Pathfinder mission. Around the lander that contained the rover were twenty-four inflated cells. The airbags are made from a very durable synthetic material called "Vectran". The same material is used in the manufacture of space suits. Again, with the increase in the weight of the spacecraft, it was necessary to create stronger airbags. Several drop tests have shown that the extra mass causes severe damage and tearing of the material. Engineers have developed a double skin of airbags to prevent serious damage during high-speed landings where the airbags can come into contact with sharp rocks and other geological features on the Red Planet.

Using rocket engines to slow down the rate of sink

The first picture of the DIMES camera, the camera itself is installed on the bottom of the descent vehicle

To slow down the spacecraft's descent rate, three jet engines (RAD) were used, located on its sides. A radar installation (RLS) installed at the bottom of the lander determined the distance to the surface. When the descent vehicle was at an altitude of 1.5 km, the radar system activated the camera Descent Image Motion Estimation Subsystem(DIMES). The camera took three photographs of the surface (with a delay of 4 seconds), which made it possible to automatically determine the horizontal speed of the descent vehicle. Some time later, the new propulsion system of the Mars Exploration Rovers mission began the descent of the Spirit rover. As expected, strong winds are blowing in the Gusev crater, which rocked the Spirit from side to side, preventing it from a safe landing. The Vector Thruster System (TIRS) prevented side-to-side erratic movement, resulting in a more stable lander during landing. During the descent the Meridian Plateau had more favorable weather than Gusev Crater, so there was no need to use their TIRS system to stabilize the descent.

Improved rover mobility

Each wheel is 26 centimeters in diameter and is made of aluminum.

New software helps to avoid obstacles while moving. When contact with the rock is unavoidable, an advanced suspension system comes into play, with which the rover is much easier to maneuver.

"Spirit" and " were designed with the ability to overcome various obstacles, as well as the rocky terrain of Mars. The suspension system of the Sojourner rover has been modified for the Mars Exploration Rovers mission.

The suspension system is attached to the rear of the rover. The wheels have been increased in size and also improved their design. Each wheel has a diameter of 26 centimeters. Their inner and outer parts are connected by a special spiral structure, which allows you to absorb the impact force and prevent it from spreading. The suspension system allows you to better overcome obstacles, such as stones, which can be larger than the wheels themselves. Each wheel has a tread pattern with distinctive lugs that provide improved traction on rocks and soft ground. The inner part of the wheels is made of a material called "Solimide", which retains its elasticity even at very low temperatures and is therefore ideal for the harsh conditions of Mars.

Moving along the paths of least resistance

A schematic example of the generated 3D terrain maps.

The Mars Exploration Rovers mission rovers have the best physical characteristics than the 1997 Sojourner rover, and so Spirit and “ more autonomy is needed. Engineers have improved the auto-navigation driving software, with the ability to make terrain maps, making the rovers more self-reliant.

When the rover is given a command to move independently, it begins to analyze the surrounding area, after which it makes stereo images, with the help of which it chooses the best safe route. The rovers need to avoid any obstacles in their path, so the rovers recognize them in their stereo imagery. This innovation made it possible to travel longer distances than with manual navigation from Earth. As of mid-August 2004, the rover " , using automatic self-navigation, traveled 230 meters (a third of the distance between Eagle Crater and Endurance Crater), the Spirit rover - more than 1250 meters, out of a planned 3000 meters drive to the "Columbia Hills".

The automatic navigation system takes pictures of the surrounding area using one of two stereo cameras. The stereo images are then converted into 3-D terrain maps, which are automatically generated by the rover software. The software determines the degree of passability, whether the terrain is safe, the height of obstacles, the density of the soil and the angle of the surface. From dozens of possible paths, the rover chooses the shortest, safest path to its target. Then, after traveling from 0.5 to 2 meters (depending on how many obstacles are in its path), the rover stops, analyzing the obstacles that are nearby. The whole process is repeated until it reaches its destination, or else until it is ordered to stop from Earth.

The driving software on the Mars Exploration Rovers mission is more advanced than Sojourner's. Sojourner's security system could only capture 20 points at each turn; security system “Spirit” and “ typically captures over 16,000 points. The average speed of the rovers, taking into account the avoidance of obstacles, is about 34 meters per hour - ten times faster than the Sojourner. In all three months of his work, Sojourner traveled just over 100 meters. "Spirit" and " surpassed this mark on the same day; Spirit traveled 124 meters on Sol 125, and “ traveled 141 meters on Sol 82.

Another innovation in the Mars Exploration Rovers mission is the addition of software-controlled visual odometry. When the rover is driven over a sandy or rocky area, its wheels may slip and therefore give incorrect odometry readings. Visual odometry helps correct these values ​​by showing how far the rover actually traveled. It works by comparing pictures taken before and after a short stop, automatically finding dozens of conspicuous objects (such as rocks, wheel tracks and sand dunes) while tracking the distance between successive images. Combining them into 3-D images provides a lot more information - all this is much easier and more accurate than calculating the distance traveled by the number of wheel revolutions.

Batteries and heaters

Heaters, batteries and other components are not able to survive the cold Martian nights, so they are in the "Thermal Block with Electronics". Nighttime temperatures can drop to -105°C. The temperature of the batteries must be above -20 °C when they power the systems of the rover, and above 0 °C when they are recharging. The Heating Unit with Electronics is heated by electric and eight radioisotope heaters, as well as by the heat generated from the electronics.

Each radioisotope heater produces about one watt of heat and contains about 2.7 grams of plutonium dioxide in pellets the size and shape of a pencil eraser. Each pellet is encased in a platinum-rhodium alloy metal shell and surrounded by several layers of carbon-graphite composite materials, making the entire unit similar in size and shape to a C-cell battery. This multiple protective layer design has been tested, with plutonium dioxide inside the heating elements, greatly reducing the risk of contamination of the planet in a rover landing accident. Other spacecraft, including Mars Pathfinder and the Sojourner rover, used only radioisotope heaters to keep electronics at the optimum temperature.

Design

The automatic interplanetary station of the MER project includes a descent vehicle and a flight module. For various stages of deceleration in the Martian atmosphere and soft landing, the descent vehicle contains a conical heat shield, a parachute system, solid rocket motors and spherical air cushions.

The rover has 6 wheels. The source of electricity is solar panels with a capacity of up to 140 watts. With a mass of 185 kg, the rover is equipped with a drill, several cameras, a micro-camera (MI) and two spectrometers mounted on the manipulator.

The rotary mechanism of the rover is based on servo drives. Such drives are located on each of the front and rear wheels, the middle pair does not have such parts. The rotation of the front and rear wheels of the rover is carried out using electric motors that operate independently of the motors that ensure the movement of the vehicle.

When the rover needs to turn, the motors turn on and turn the wheels to the desired angle. All the rest of the time, the engines, on the contrary, prevent the turn, so that the device does not go astray due to the chaotic movement of the wheels. Switching of the modes turn-brake is made by means of the relay.

Also, the rover is able to dig the ground (trench), rotating one of the front wheels, while remaining motionless.

The on-board computer is built on a processor RAD6000 at 20 MHz, 128 MB DRAM RAM, 3 MB EEPROM and 256 MB Flash. The operating temperature of the robot is from minus 40 to plus 40 °C. For operation at low temperatures, a radioisotope heater is used, which can also be supplemented with electric heaters when necessary. Airgel and gold foil are used for thermal insulation.

Rover Tools:

• Panoramic Camera (Pancam) - helps to study the structure, color, mineralogy of the local landscape;
• Navigation Camera (Navcam) - monochrome, with a large viewing angle, also cameras with lower resolution, for navigation and driving;
• Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) - studies rocks and soils, for more detailed analysis, also determines the processes that formed them;
• Hazcams, two B&W cameras with a 120 degree field of view providing additional data on the rover's status.

The rover arm contains the following tools:

• Miniaturized Mössbauer Spectrometer (MB) MIMOS II - conducts mineralogy studies of iron-bearing rocks and soils;
• Alpha particle spectrometer (APXS) - analysis of the chemical composition of rocks and soils, the alpha emitter was manufactured at the Russian Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (NIIAR);
• Magnets - collection of magnetic dust particles;
• Microcamera (MI) - receives enlarged images of the Martian surface in high resolution, a kind of microscope;
• The Rock Drilling Tool (RAT) is a powerful drill capable of creating a 45mm diameter and 5mm deep hole in rock surface. The tool is located on the rover's arm and weighs 720 grams.

The resolution of the cameras is 1024×1024 pixels. The received data is stored with ICER compression for later transmission.

Comparison of Opportunity with other rovers

Models of all successful rovers in comparison: Sojourner (smallest), Spirit/Opportunity (medium), (largest)

Mission Overview

Opportunity landing site as seen by the Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter

The main task " was that he would last 90 sols (92.5 days), during which time he carried out numerous studies of Mars. The mission has received several extensions and has been ongoing for 4,447 days since landing.

During the landing process, the rover accidentally hit a crater (Eagle) in the middle of a flat plain. “ successfully studied the soil and rock samples, transmitted panoramic images of the Eagle crater. The data obtained allowed NASA scientists to make assumptions about the presence of hematite, as well as the presence of water on the surface of Mars in the past. After that " went to study Endurance crater, which was studied by rover from June to December 2004. Subsequently " discovered the first, now known as "Heat Shield Rock".

From the end of April to June 2005 “ did not move, as he was stuck in a dune with several wheels. To extract the rover with minimal risk, 6 weeks of terrain modeling was done. Successfully maneuvering a few centimeters in a day eventually freed the rover, allowing it to continue its journey across the surface of the red planet.

Further " went to southbound Erebus Crater, a large, shallow, partially sand-filled crater. After that, the rover headed south towards Victoria Crater. Between October 2005 and March 2006, the craft experienced some mechanical problems with its arm.

At the end of September 2006 reached Victoria Crater, exploring along the rim, moving clockwise. In June 2007 he returned to duck bay, i.e. to the starting point of arrival. In September 2007, the rover entered the crater to begin its detailed study. In August 2008 " left Victoria Crater, heading towards Endeavor Crater, which he reached on August 9, 2011. Having reached its goal, the rover went to Cape York, which is located on the western edge of the crater. Here, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter detected the presence of phyllosilicates, after which “ began studying the rocks with his instruments to confirm these observations from the surface. The study of the cape was completed before the onset of summer. In May 2013, the rover was sent in a southerly direction, towards the hill "Point Solander". In August 2013 arrived at the foot of the hill, starting to "climb" it.

The total distance traveled as of February 26, 2014 (sol 3585) is 38,740.00 meters (24.07 miles). Solar panels generate 464 Wh / sol, with an atmospheric transparency of 0.498 and a dust coefficient of 0.691 units.

Events

2004

Landing in Eagle Crater

Pictured is the rover's landing platform, later named Challenger Memorial Station.

landed on Meridian Plateau at the point 1.95°S sh. 354.47° E d, approximately 25 km from its intended target. The Meridian Plateau is a flat plain with virtually no mountain and shock structures, but despite this, “ stopped at the 22-meter crater Eagle. The rover was about 10 meters from its edge. NASA employees were pleasantly surprised by the landing of the rover in the crater (it was called "in the hole from the first blow", by analogy with golf), they not only did not want to get into it, but did not even know about its existence. It was later named Eagle Crater and the landing platform "Challenger Memorial Station". The name of the crater was given two weeks after “ took a good look at his surroundings.

Scientists were intrigued by the abundance of rock outcrops scattered around the crater, as well as the crater soil itself, which seemed to be a mixture of coarse reddish-gray "grain". This frame with an unusual mountain outcrop next to “ was filmed with the rover's panoramic camera. Scientists believe that the layered stones in the photo are deposits of volcanic ash or deposits created by wind or water. The rock outcrops have been called the "Opportunity Ledge".

Geologists said that some layers are no thicker than thumb on the hand, and this indicates that they were probably formed from deposits caused by water and wind, or are volcanic ash. "We need to sort out these two hypotheses," said Dr. Andrew Knoll of Harvard University, Cambridge, a member of the rover's science team. and its twin, the Spirit rover. If the rocks are sedimentary, then water is a more likely source of their formation than wind, he said.

The rock outcrops are 10 centimeters (4 inches) high and are thought by scientists to be either deposits of volcanic ash or deposits created by water or wind. The layers are very thin, reaching only a few millimeters in thickness.

The first color panorama of the area, which shows the vicinity of Eagle Crater

"Opportunity Ledge"

Panorama of Eagle Crater. The panorama shows an outcropping of rocks, formed, as scientists believe, not without the help of water.

On Sol 15 took a photo of the rock "Stone Mountain" in the area of ​​​​the crater outcrop, about which there was an assumption that the stone consists of very small grains or dust, in contrast to terrestrial sandstone, which has compacted sand and rather large grains. In the process of weathering and erosion of the layers of this rock, they acquired the appearance of dark spots.

Photos taken on February 10 (sol 16) showed that thin layers in the rock converge and diverge at small angles. The discovery of these layers was significant to the scientists who planned this mission to test the "water hypothesis".

El Capitan outcrop

El Capitan outcrop

On February 19, the exploration of the "Opportunity Ledge" was declared a success. For further study, an outcrop of rocks was selected, whose upper and lower layers differed due to the difference in the degree of wind impact on them. This outcrop, about 10 cm (4 inches) high, was named "El Capitan" after the mountain in Texas. “ reached El Capitan on Sol 27 of the mission, transmitting the first image of this rock using a panoramic camera.

On Sol 30" first used his drilling tool (RAT) to explore the rocks around El Capitan. The image below shows the rock after drilling and clearing the hole.

At a press conference on March 2, 2004, scientists discussed the data obtained on the composition of the rocks, as well as evidence for the presence of liquid water during their formation. They provided the following explanation for the small, elongated voids in the rock that are visible on the surface after drilling.

These empty pockets in the rock are known to geologists as "voids" (Vugs). Voids form when crystals form in rock and are weathered through erosional processes. Some of these voids in the picture look like disks, which correspond to certain types of crystals, mainly sulfates.

In addition, scientists received the first data from the Mössbauer spectrometer MIMOS II. So, the spectral analysis of iron contained in the rock "El Capitan" revealed the presence of the mineral jarosite. This mineral contains hydroxide ions, indicating the presence of water during rock formation. Thermal emission spectrometer (Mini-TES) analysis revealed that the rock contains a significant amount of sulfates.

digs a trench

"Blueberries" (hematite) on a rocky outcrop in Eagle Crater

The rover was digging a trench by maneuvering back and forth with the right front wheel while the other wheels were not moving, keeping the rover in one place. He moved forward a little to widen the trench. “We have been patient and carefully approached the excavation process,” Bisiadeki said. The whole process lasted 22 minutes.

The trench dug by the rover was the first in the history of Mars. It reaches approximately 50 centimeters in length and 10 centimeters in depth. "It's a lot deeper than I expected," said Dr. Rob Sullivan of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, a scientific member of the team working closely with engineers on the task of digging the trench.

Two features that caught the scientists' attention were the caked texture of the soil at the top of the trench, and the soil similar in brightness at the surface and in the dug trench, Sullivan said.

Inspecting the walls of the trench, “ I found several things that had not been noticed before, including round shiny pebbles. The soil was so fine-grained that the rover's micro-camera (MI) was unable to capture individual constituents.

"What's below is directly on the surface," said Dr. Albert Yan, a scientific member of the rover team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Endurance Crater

April 20, 2004 (sol 95) reached the crater Endurance, in which several layers of rocks are visible. In May, the rover circled the crater, making observations with the instrument mini thermal power plant, as well as transmitting panoramic images of the crater. The rock "Lion Stone" was studied by the rover on Sol 107, its composition was close to the layers found in Eagle Crater.

On June 4, 2004, the members of the mission announced their intention to launch “ into Endurance Crater, even if there is no way to get out of it. The purpose of the descent was to study the layers of rocks visible on panoramic images of the crater. “This is decisive and very important decision for the Mars Exploration Rovers mission,” said Dr. Edward Weiler, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Research.

Descent" into the crater began on June 8 (sol 133). It was found that the degree of inclination of the side walls of the crater is not an insurmountable obstacle, moreover, the rover had a margin of 18 degrees. On June 12, 13, and 15, 2004 (Sol 134, 135, and 137), the rover continued to descend into the crater. Although some of the wheels slipped, it was found that wheel slip was possible even at a lean angle of 30 degrees.

Burns Rock, Endurance Crater

During the descent, thin clouds similar to those of the earth were seen. “ spent approximately sol 180 inside the crater before escaping in mid-December 2004 (sol 315).

2005

Heat Shield Rock meteorite

The main piece of the heat shield that protected the rover as it entered the Martian atmosphere.

After exiting Endurance Crater in January 2005 performed an inspection of his heat shield that protected the rover during entry into the Martian atmosphere. During an inspection (Sol 345), a suspicious object was seen behind the screen. It soon became clear that it was a meteorite. It was named Heat Shield Rock (Eng. "Heat Shield Stone") - it was the first meteorite found on another planet.

Meteor - Heat Shield Rock.

After sol 25 observation " headed south to a crater called Argo, which was 300 meters from the rover.

Southern transit

The rover was ordered to dig a trench in the wide plain of the Meridian Plateau. Her research continued until February 10, 2005 (sol 366-sol 373). The rover then passed craters Alvin and Jason, and on sol 387 reached the triplets en route to Vostok crater. During the journey" set a record for the distance traveled in 1 day - 177.5 meters (February 19, 2005). On February 26, 2005 (Sol 389), the rover approached one of the three craters, named Naturalist. On sol 392, a rock called "Normandy" was chosen as a target for further research, the rover studied the rock until sol 395.

Panorama of the triplets, all three craters on the right side of the image, Naturalist crater in the foreground.

reached crater Vostok on Sol 399; the crater was filled with sand and was of no interest to the mission. The rover was instructed to drive south to look for more interesting structures.

March 20, 2005 (sol 410) set another record for the distance traveled in 1 day - 220 meters.

stuck in the sand

Snapshot animation showing Opportunity's attempts to leave the loose soil it is stuck in.

Between April 26, 2005 (sol 446) and June 4, 2005 (sol 484) was in a sand dune of Mars, as he dug into it.

The problem started on April 26, 2005 (sol 446) when “ accidentally buried in a sand dune. Engineers said the pictures show the four side wheels dug in more as the rover attempted to climb a dune that was about 30 centimeters high. The rover's engineers named the dune "Purgatory".

The position of the rover in the dune was simulated on Earth. To avoid complicating the situation and preventing the rover from getting completely stuck in the sand, it was temporarily immobilized. After various trials with a doppelgänger “ on Earth, a strategy was created to save the rover. The rover was moved from May 13, 2005 (sol 463) only a few centimeters forward so that the mission members could assess the situation based on the results.

In 465 and 466 sols, several more maneuvers were performed, with each of which the rover moved back a couple of centimeters. Finally, the last maneuver was successfully completed, and on June 4, 2005 (sol 484) all six wheels got out on solid ground. After leaving Purgatory on Sol 498 and Sol 510 continued his journey towards the Erebus crater.

Erebus crater

Between October 2005 and March 2006 studied the crater Erebus - a large, shallow, partially covered with soil crater. It was a stop on the way to Victoria Crater.

A new program that measures the percentage of slip on all wheels prevented the rover from getting stuck again. Thanks to her, the rover was able to avoid a sand trap on sol 603. The software stopped the engine when the percentage of wheel slip reached 44.5%.

November 3, 2005 (sol 628)" woke up in the middle of a sandstorm that lasted three days. The rover was able to move, the sandstorm safety mode was on, but the rover didn't take any images due to poor visibility. After three weeks, the wind blew dust off the solar panels, after which they generated approximately 720 Wh/sol (80% of max.). On December 11, 2005 (Sol 649), it was discovered that the electric motor at the arm's joint, which is responsible for folding it up while moving, had stopped. The solution to the problem took almost two weeks. At first, the manipulator was removed only during movement and pulled out at night to prevent its final jamming. The engineers then left the manipulator always extended, as there was an increased risk that it would jam in the folded position and become completely unusable for research.

"Payson Outcrop" on the western rim of Erebus Crater

observed numerous outcrops of rocks around the Erebus crater. He also worked with the Mars Express spacecraft of the European Space Agency. Used a Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) and a Panoramic Camera (Pancam), transmitted an image passing through the solar disk. March 22, 2006 (sol 760)" began his journey to his next destination, Victoria Crater, which he reached in September 2006 (sol 951) and studied until August 2008 (sol 1630-1634).

Problems with the manipulator

Opportunity deployed a manipulator to investigate the Heat Shield Rock meteorite on Sol 349 (early 2005).

January 25, 2004 (Sol 2) I started having problems with the manipulator. On the second day, rover engineers discovered that the heater, located in the arm joint and responsible for its movement from side to side, failed in the “On” mode. A detailed examination showed that the relay most likely failed during assembly on Earth. Luckily for " , he had a built-in safety mechanism, working on the principle of a thermostat, his main task was to protect the manipulator from overheating. When the pivot arm joint, also known as the pivot motor, got too hot, the thermostat kicked in, automatically turning the arm around and temporarily shutting off the heater. When the hand cooled down, the thermostat gave the command to fold the manipulator. As a result, the heater remained on at night and turned off during the day.

Security Mechanism “ worked until the first Martian winter approached. no longer rose high enough above the horizon and the level of energy produced decreased. Then it became clear that will not be able to keep the heater on all night. On May 28, 2004 (Sol 122), rover operators began the Deep Sleep plan, during which “ de-energized the heater of the manipulator at night. The next morning, at sunrise, the solar panels automatically turned on, the manipulator joint warmed up and began to function. Thus, the joint of the hand was very hot during the day and very cold at night. Large temperature differences accelerated the wear of the hinge, this procedure was repeated every sol (Martian day).

This strategy worked until November 25, 2005 (sol 654), when the hinge motor stopped. The next sol, the rover operators tried the same strategy again, and the hinge worked. It was found that the hinge motor stalled due to damage from extreme temperature changes during the "deep sleep" phases. As a precautionary measure, the manipulator began to be placed at night in front of the body of the rover, and not under it, where, in the event of a hinge failure, the manipulator would become completely useless for research. Now I had to fold the manipulator during movement and unfold it after stopping.

The problems became more serious on April 14, 2008 (sol 1501), when the engine responsible for deploying the manipulator suddenly stalled, and much faster than before. Engineers ran diagnostics on it during the day to measure the electrical voltage. It was found that it was too low in the engine when the arm joint warmed up - in the morning, after a "deep sleep". Before turning on the thermostat, and after the heater had been running for several hours, it was decided to try turning the arm around again.

On May 14, 2008 at 8:30 UTC (Sol 1531), engineers increased the voltage on the pivot motor to move the arm in front of the rover. It worked.

From that moment on, operators no longer dared to try to roll up the manipulator, until now it has always been in the deployed state. The operators developed a plan to control the rover in this condition. According to him, until now (beginning of 2014), “ moves backwards, and not vice versa, as before.

2006

March 22, 2006 (sol 760)" left Erebus Crater and began a journey to Victoria Crater, which he reached in September 2006 (sol 951). “ Opportunity” explored Victoria Crater until August 2008 (sol 1630-1634).

Victoria Crater

Victoria Crater is a large crater located about 7 kilometers from the landing site of the rover. The diameter of the crater is six times larger than the diameter of the Endurance crater. Scientists believe that the outcrop of rocks along the walls of the crater will give more detailed information about geological history Mars if the rover lasts long enough to explore it.

September 26, 2006 (sol 951)" reached the crater Victoria and transmitted the first panorama of the crater, including the panorama of the dune, which is located at the bottom of the crater. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed “ on the edge of the crater.

Panorama of Victoria Crater, 2006

2007

Software update

On January 4, 2007, in honor of the third anniversary of the landing, it was decided to update the software onboard computers of both rovers. The rovers have learned to make their own decisions, such as which images to transmit to Earth, at what point to extend the manipulator to study the stones - all this has saved the time of scientists who had previously filtered hundreds of images on their own.

Cleaning solar panels

The cleaning took place on April 20, 2007 (sol 1151), electricity generated by solar panels “ approached the mark of 800 W*h/sol. On May 4, 2007 (Sol 1164), power generation peaked at over 4.0 amps, not seen since the mission began (February 10, 2004, Sol 18). the level of generated energy up to 280 W*h/sol.

dust storm

Frame-by-frame composition of the horizon during the Martian dust storm sol 1205 (0.94), sol 1220 (2.9), sol 1225 (4.1), sol 1233 (3.8), sol 1235 (4.7) shows how much sunlight passed through the dust storm; 4.7 indicates 99% light obstruction.

By the end of June 2007, dust storms began to cloud the Martian atmosphere with dust. The dust storm intensified, and on July 20, like “ , and "Spirit" had a real threat to fail due to the lack of sunlight necessary to generate electricity. NASA issued a press release stating (in part) "We believe in our rovers and hope they will survive this storm even though they were not designed for these conditions." The main problem was that the dust storm drastically reduced the incoming sunlight. There is so much dust in the atmosphere of Mars that it blocks 99% of the direct sunlight that should fall on Mars. solar panels rovers. The Spirit rover, which operates on the other side of Mars, received slightly more light than its twin.” .

Typically, solar panels on rovers generate about 700 Wh/sol of electricity. During a storm, they generated significantly less electricity - 150 Wh / sol. Due to the lack of power, the rovers began to lose battery power. If the batteries run out, then the main equipment is likely to fail due to hypothermia. On July 18, 2007, the rover's solar panels were generating only 128 Wh/sol of electricity, the lowest ever. WITH " communicated only once every three days, saving battery power.

Dust storms continued until the end of July, and at the end of the month, NASA announced that the rovers, even at very low power, were barely getting enough light to survive. The temperature in the “Thermal Block with Electronics” “ continued to fall. When the energy level is low, the rover can transmit erroneous data, to avoid this, the engineers switched the rover to sleep, and then each sol checked whether there was enough electricity accumulated for the device to wake up and begin to maintain a constant connection with the Earth. If there is not enough power, the rover will sleep. Depending on weather conditions may sleep for days, weeks, or even months - all the while trying to recharge its batteries. With so much sunlight, it's entirely possible that the rover will never wake up.

On August 7, 2007, the storm began to weaken. Electricity was still generated in small quantities, but it was already enough to “ began making and transmitting images. On August 21, the dust level was still decreasing, the batteries were fully charged and for the first time since the dust storms began, “ was able to move around.

duck bay

arrived at a place called duck bay September 11, 2007, and then drove back to test his traction on the slope of Victoria Crater. upper parts duck bay, cape Cape Verde.

Victoria Crater (HiRISE)

2008

The movement of the clouds, the pictures were taken from inside Victoria Crater, the counter in the lower left corner shows the time in seconds.

Exit Victoria Crater

The rover left Victoria Crater between August 24 and 28, 2008 (Sol 1630-1634), after which the rover had a problem similar to the one that disabled the right front wheel of its counterpart, the Spirit rover. Along the way, the rover will study the rocks called "Dark Cobblestones" located on the Meridian Plateau, during a trip to Endeavor Crater.

Conjunction of Mars with the Sun

During the conjunction of Mars with the Sun (when the Sun is between Mars and the Earth), communication with the rover is impossible. There was no communication from November 29 to December 13, 2008. Scientists planned that at this time “ will use a Mössbauer spectrometer to study a mountain outcrop called "Santorini".

2009

March 7, 2009 (sol 1820)" saw the rim of Endeavor Crater after traveling about 3.2 km since leaving Victoria Crater in August 2008. “ also saw the Iazu crater, which was about 38 kilometers away. The diameter of the crater is about 7 kilometers.

April 7, 2009 (sol 1850) solar panels generated 515 Wh/sol of electricity; after the wind blew dust off the solar panels, their productivity increased by about 40%. April 16 to 22 (sol 1859 to 1865)" made several maneuvers, and within a week drove 478 meters. The right front wheel motor was given time to rest when “ was studying a mountain outcrop called "Penrhyn", the voltage in the engine approached normal levels.

July 18, 2009 (sol 1950)" noticed a dark rock in the opposite direction from the rover, headed towards it and reached it on July 28 (sol 1959). In the process of studying it, it turned out that it was not a stone, but a meteorite, later it was given a name - Block Island. “Opportunity” stayed until September 12, 2009 (Sol 2004) examining a meteorite before returning to its goal of reaching Endeavor Crater.

His trip was interrupted on October 1, 2009 (Sol 2022) by the discovery of another meteorite, a 0.5-meter specimen named Shelter Island, the rover studied it until Sol 2034 (October 13-14, 2009). Finding another meteorite - Mackinac Island, the rover went to it and reached it through Sol 4, October 17, 2009 (sol 2038). The rover took a quick look at the meteorite without investigating it, resuming the trip to the crater.

On November 10, 2009 (Sol 2061), the rover reached a rock named Marquette Island. Its study was carried out until January 12, 2010 (sol 2122), since scientists had different opinions about its origin, they found out that the stone appeared due to a volcanic eruption, at a time when Mars was still geologically active, but the stone was not a meteorite , as previously thought.

2010

January 28, 2010 (sol 2138)" reached the crater of Concepción. The rover successfully explored the 10-meter crater and continued on to Endeavor Crater. Power generation increased to 270 Wh/sol.

On May 5, 2010, due to potentially dangerous areas on the path between Victoria Crater and Endeavor Crater, operators changed the route, the distance was increased, and the rover needed to travel 19 kilometers to reach its destination.

May 19, 2010 mission “ lasted already sol 2246, which makes it the longest in the history of Mars. The previous record of sol 2245 was held by the Viking 1 lander (1982).

On September 8, 2010, it was announced that “ drove half way to Endeavor Crater.

In November, the rover spent several days studying the 20-meter Intrepid crater, which lies on the way to Endeavor Crater. November 14, 2010 (sol 2420) odometry “ crossed the 25 km mark. Solar energy production in October and November was about 600 Wh/sol.

Santa Maria Crater

Panorama of Santa Maria crater

On December 15, 2010 (sol 2450), the rover arrived at the Santa Maria crater after spending several weeks exploring the 90-meter crater. The results of the study were similar to those made by the Mars Reconnaissance Satellite using the CRISM spectrometer. CRISM discovered deposits mineral waters in the crater, and the rover helped in their further research. “ traveled a greater distance, since the Martian year is about 2 times longer than the Earth, which means that Mars had fewer winters, at which the rover is stationary.

2011

When " arrived at the Santa Maria crater, the rover operators "parked" it on the southeastern part of the crater to collect data. They also prepared for a two-week Mars-Sun conjunction in late January. During this period, the Sun was between the Earth and Mars, and there was no communication with the rover for 14 days. In late March " started a 6.5 km trip from Santa Maria Crater to Endeavor Crater. On June 1, 2011, the rover's odometry crossed the 30-kilometer mark (more than 50 times what was planned). Two weeks later, July 17, 2011 (sol 2658), “ traveled exactly 20 miles on the surface of Mars.

August 29, 2011 (sol 2700)" continued to function effectively, exceeding the planned deadline (sol 90) by 30 times. As the wind blew the dust off the solar arrays, the rover was able to perform extensive geological surveys of Martian rocks and study Martian surface features with its instruments.

Arrival at Endeavor Crater

On August 9, 2011, after spending 3 years walking 13 kilometers from Victoria Crater, “ “arrived at the western rim of Endeavor Crater at a point called Spirit Item in honor of the rover's twin " , Mars rover "Spirit". The diameter of the crater is 23 km. The crater was chosen by scientists to study older rocks and clay minerals that might have formed in the presence of water. The rover's deputy scientific director, Ray Arvidson, said the rover would not operate inside Endeavor Crater, as it likely contains only minerals already observed. The rocks on the edge of the crater are older than previously studied.” . “I think it would be better to drive the rover around the rim of the crater,” Arvidson said.

After arriving at Endeavor Crater discovered new Martian phenomena not previously observed. On August 22, 2011 (Sol 2694), the rover began examining a large piece of rock from a volcanic eruption, called Tisdale 2. “It is unlike any rock ever found on Mars,” said Steve Squires, scientific director. at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. “It contains a composition similar to some volcanic rocks, but it has much more zinc and bromine than ordinary rock. We have received confirmation that all achievements “ in Endeavor Crater are equivalent to his landing luck when the rover accidentally stopped in a crater with outcroppings of rock."

West rim of Endeavor Crater

In the beginning of December " analyzed the structure called home stake, and concluded that it consists of gypsum. Using the rover's three instruments - the Microcamera, the Alpha Particle Spectrometer (APXS) and the Panoramic Camera's filters - it was determined that these deposits contain hydrated calcium sulfate, a mineral that forms only in the presence of water. This discovery was given the name "Slam Dunk" - proof that "water once flowed through cracks in the rock."

As of November 22, 2011 (sol 2783) “ traveled more than 34 km, were also carried out preparatory work for the upcoming Martian winter.

At the end of 2011 located in a place, the angle of inclination of which is 15 degrees to the north, the angle should provide more favorable conditions to generate solar energy during the Martian winter. The level of accumulated dust on the solar panels is higher than in previous years, and the Martian winter is expected to make the rover more difficult than usual, as power generation is significantly reduced.

2012

View of Endeavor Crater, photographed by Opportunity in March 2012.

In January 2012, the rover transmitted data on the site of Greeley Haven, named after geologist Ronald Greeley. “ already experiencing the 5th Martian winter. The rover studied the wind on Mars, which was described as "the most active process on Mars at the moment", and the rover also conducted a radio science experiment. Careful measurements of radio signals showed that fluctuations in the Martian rotation can tell whether the planet is solid or liquid inside. The overwintering site is located on a segment of Cape York, which is located on the edge of Endeavor Crater. “ reached Endeavor Crater in August 2011, after three years path from the smaller crater Victoria, which he studied for two years.

On February 1, 2012 (Sol 2852), solar power generation was 270 Wh/sol, with a Martian atmospheric transparency of 0.679, a solar panel dust factor of 0.469, and a total distance traveled by the rover of 34,361.37 m. By March (approximately 2890 sol) rock was studied Amboy The Mössbauer Spectrometer MIMOS II and Microcamera (MI) also measured the amount of argon in the Martian atmosphere. The winter solstice on Mars occurred on March 30, 2012 (sol 2909), on April 1 there was a small cleaning of the solar panels. On April 3, 2012 (Sol 2913), the amount of electricity generated was 321 Wh/sol.

Mission “ on Mars continues, and by May 1, 2012 (sol 2940), electricity generation has increased to 365 Wh/sol with a solar cell dust factor of 0.534. The rover operators prepared it to move and complete the collection of data on the rock Amboy. During the winter, 60 communication sessions with the Earth were made.

Departure from Greeley Haven

Panorama of Greeley Haven. View of Cape York and Endeavor Crater. The panorama was taken during wintering on a segment of the Greeley Haven section in the first half of 2012.

On May 8, 2012 (sol 2947), the rover traveled 3.7 meters. On that day, power generation was 357 Wh/sol with a dust factor of 0.536. “ stood at sol 130, tilted 15 degrees to the north to better survive the winter, later reduced to 8 degrees. When the rover was stationary, it participated in a geodynamic science experiment during which Doppler radio measurements were taken. In June 2012, the rover studied Martian dust and a nearby rock vein, named "Monte Cristo" because it points north.

sol 3000

Self-portrait of Opportunity, December 2011.

July 2, 2012 running time “ reached sol 3000 on Mars. On July 5, 2012, NASA published new panoramic images taken in the vicinity of the site. Greeley Haven. In the panorama, the opposite edge of Endeavor Crater, which is 22 kilometers in diameter, was captured in the frame. On July 12, 2012 (Sol 3010), the solar panels produce 523 Wh/sol of electricity, the total distance traveled by the rover since landing is 34,580.05 meters. That same month, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter detected a dust storm near the rover, with signs of water ice in its clouds.

At the end of July 2012 sent special radio signals in the UHF band, imitating the signal of the rover, to test the equipment that would monitor its landing from Earth. The new rover landed successfully while “ collected weather data on Mars. August 12, 2012 (Sol 3040)" continued his journey to a small crater called "San Rafael", along the way transmitting pictures taken by a panoramic camera. On August 14, 2012, the total distance traveled by the rover since landing was 34,705.88 meters. To this moment " managed to visit the craters "Berrio" and "San Rafael". On August 19, 2012, the Mars Express orbiter interacted with two rovers: Curiosity" and " , as he was on the same flight path with them - this was his first double contact. On August 28, 2012 (sol 3056), the rover's odometry crossed the 35 km mark, solar panels generate 568 Wh / sol, with an atmospheric transparency of 0.570, and a dust coefficient of 0.684 units.

Fall 2012

In autumn headed south, exploring the Matievich hill in search of a mineral called phyllosilicate. Some data was sent directly to Earth using the rover's X-band antenna, without the data being relayed by the orbiter. The team applied new technology, which helped to reduce the load on the inertial measuring device (IMU). The scientific work of the rover includes testing various hypotheses about the origin of the newly discovered balls, the concentration of which is much higher than in Eagle crater. November 22, 2012 (sol 3139) once again, the electric motor on the manipulator joint began to act up, which is why work on studying a place called "Sandcherry" had to be postponed, telemetry analysis and system diagnostics did not reveal anything serious. On December 10, 2012, it was announced that the rock sample taken in terms of chemical composition and properties resembles ordinary terrestrial clay. As Professor Steve Squires, Chief Mission Scientist, stated, “ , judging by the chemical composition of the sample, this is a clayey rock, in which, among other things, water is also present. Moreover, it is very remarkable that in the rocks studied earlier, the acidic level of water was quite high, and in the clay found, the water is relatively clean and neutral. The mineral composition of the clay is similar to that of Earth's clays, that is, it consists mainly of oxides of silicon and aluminum. But this is just preliminary data that scientists have yet to verify.

2013

located on the edge of Cape York, in Endeavor Crater; the total distance traveled by the rover since landing is 35.5 km. Upon completion scientific work on the “Matievich Hill”, “ heading south, moving along the rim of Endeavor Crater. It is planned to leave behind a place called "Botany Bay" by the researchers, and only then get to their next goals - two hills, the closest of which is 2 km away and bears the name "Solander".

Stone "Esperance-6".

begins the study of strange balls, which geologists informally called "new berries" (newberries) as opposed to "old berries" - iron (hematite) balls, which were found in abundance on the plain in previous years. In May 2013, odometry “ was 35 km and 744 meters, which puts it in second place as vehicle, which has overcome the maximum distance along the surface of extraterrestrial bodies; the next frontier - 42.1 km - has been held by the Soviet Lunokhod-2 for 40 years. May 14, 2013, “ went on a 2.2 km journey to Solander Hill, where it is planned to spend the sixth Martian winter.

On May 17, 2013, NASA announced that a preliminary study of a rock outcrop called "Esperance" suggested that water on Mars may have had a relatively neutral pH in the past. Analyzes of the Esperance-6 stone clearly indicate that it was washed by fresh water several billion years ago.

June 21, 2013 (sol 3345)" celebrated five Martian years of being on the "red planet". “The rover is in a hostile environment, a catastrophic failure can occur at any moment, so for us every day is like a gift,” said project leader John Callas.

Solander

By the beginning of July 2013 “ approached the point "Solander", overcoming a day from 10 to 100 meters. In August 2013 arrived at the foot of the hill, simultaneously studying places of interest from a geological point of view. The northern slope of the Solander point has a good slope, located on which, the rover will be able to collect more sunlight for a successful wintering (during this period of time the Sun will be low above the horizon, which will reduce the amount of incoming light to the solar panels, due to which the generation of electricity decreases significantly). On August 6, 2013 (Sol 3390), the solar panels generated 385 Wh/sol, compared to 395 Wh/sol on July 31, 2013 (sol 3384) and 431 Wh/sol on July 23, 2013 (sol 3376). ). In May 2013, this figure was higher than 576 Wh/sol.

In September 2013 “ conducted various contact studies of rocks at the foot of the point "Solander". Power generation dropped to 346 Wh/sol on September 16, 2013 (sol 3430), and to 325 Wh/sol on October 9, 2013 (sol 3452). Before the Spirit rover stopped responding to commands from Earth in 2010, its solar arrays were generating only 134 Wh/sol, causing temperatures inside its vital blocks to drop to -41.5°C. At the moment " is in the process of conquering the 40-meter Solander hill. Since scientists are being careful, the "ascent" lasts extremely slowly, especially since during it the rover is studying the rocks on different heights, thus trying to recreate a picture of the internal structure of Mars. At the end of October 2013, work was carried out at a height of up to 6 meters in relation to the surrounding plains. The ascent continues.

As of December 7, 2013 (Sol 3508), the total distance traveled by the rover since landing was 38.7 km. The power of solar panels was equal to 268 W*h/sol.

2014

January 8 in the pictures " , which last days practically did not move, a small stone with a diameter of 4 centimeters was noticed, called Pinnacle Island and very different in appearance from the surrounding rocks, which was absent from the images of the same place on December 26. Since the rover barely moved during this period, the scientists were confused. However, it was further revealed that the rock had been knocked out of the ground by the rover during a slip in place in early January. The spectrometer showed high levels of magnesium, manganese and sulfur in Pinaccle Island. NASA has issued a statement that it is likely that "these water-soluble ingredients were concentrated in the rock by exposure to water."

On April 17, a vortex blew away most of the dust from the rover's solar arrays, which, according to NASA press service, significantly increases the amount of available energy for the rover and makes further research possible.

On July 28, NASA announced that the rover had traveled more than 40 km since the beginning of the mission, thus breaking the record for the distance of movement on the surface of extraterrestrial planetary bodies, which had belonged to Lunokhod-2 since 1973.

Having solved the memory problems that arose in early September, which required several “reboots”, the rover continued moving towards the crater Ulysses and Marathon valleys, breaking the milestone of 41 kilometers on November 11.

2015

March 23, 2015 NASA reported on the successful flashing of non-volatile flash memory “ . Based on the results of its scan, the engineers concluded that the problems were caused by a malfunction of one of the 7 flash memory fragments. After that, a software update was carried out, which allowed the rover to bypass this damaged piece of flash memory and use the rest of it normally.

Marathon Valley - Photo by Opportunity

Technical difficulites

A long stay on Mars did not go unnoticed for “ , whose mission was originally planned for 90 days. For 11 years of work, a number of technical malfunctions appeared:

• Problems with the manipulator;
• In 2007, " there was a malfunction in the operation of the right front wheel (power surges) - a similar problem that disabled the right front wheel of the Spirit. The engineers gave the wheel a break when the rover studied the mountain outcrop for a long time. In December 2013, these problems recurred again. The team is taking active steps to address this issue;
• The MiniTES Infrared Thermal Emission Spectrometer has been offline since 2007, when a dust storm blocked its mirror, rendering it unable to take images. For further operation of the device, a strong wind flow is required, which will clean the outer surface of the mirror from dust;
• The miniature Mössbauer spectrometer, which allows the determination of iron compounds in rocks, is currently disabled. The Cobalt-57 used in it has a half-life of 271.8 days, so in 11 years of operation it has practically exhausted its resource. During winter 2011 still tried to somehow apply it, in the end it took several weeks to get the results of one sample;
• After several years of being on Mars, “ there were problems with his drill (RAT), with which he makes small indentations in the rock. Testing showed that the sensors for pointing the drill at the rock did not work correctly, but the engineers, having reprogrammed the software, solved this problem;
• One heater failed.
• April 22, 2013 “ arbitrarily switched to a state that can be described as "standby mode". Operators on Earth learned about this on April 27, 2013. Primary testing allowed us to establish that “ sensed something amiss in his systems on April 22, while measuring the transparency of the Martian atmosphere, and switched to standby mode. Engineers suspect the rover decided to reset its onboard computer while its cameras were taking pictures of the Sun. May 1, 2013, on command from Earth, “ successfully came out of the “standby mode” and resumed his scientific activity.
• In December 2014, NASA reported problems with non-volatile flash memory, which “ uses, for example, to store telemetry information. Reformatting the file system did not help. After that, it was decided to temporarily use RAM for data storage, which allowed the rover to resume operation. In the future, NASA will try to turn off the failed piece of flash memory so that the rest can be used for its intended purpose.

Scientific results

provided compelling evidence to support main goal its scientific mission: search for and study of rocks and soils that may contain data on the past activity of water on Mars. In addition to testing the “water hypothesis”, “ made various astronomical observations, and also with his help the parameters of the atmosphere of Mars were clarified.

June 7, 2013 at a special conference dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the launch “ , head of the scientific program of the rover “ Steve Squires stated that in ancient times there was water on Mars suitable for living organisms. The discovery was made while studying a stone called Esperance 6. The results clearly indicate that several billion years ago this stone was in a stream of water. Moreover, this water was fresh and suitable for the existence of living organisms in it. All previous evidence for the existence of water on Mars boiled down to the fact that there was a liquid on the planet, more reminiscent of sulfuric acid. “ found fresh water.

Awards

For your invaluable contribution" In the study of Mars, the asteroid 39382 was named after him. The name was proposed by Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, who, together with Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Tom Gerels, discovered this asteroid on September 24, 1960.

landing platform " named "Challenger Memorial Station".

The desire to know the mysterious world of outer space to this day does not leave humanity. Right now, at a distance of 228 million kilometers from Earth, the Opportunity rover is dozing, waiting for the moment when the sandstorm ends and it can continue to study the fourth planet from the Sun.

Why is the rover called that?

Common English word opportunity was chosen as a result of a competition held by NASA themselves, and the winner was 9-year-old Sophie Collis. Despite its Russian origin(born in Siberia, she was adopted by a family from Arizona), the girl clearly understood the translation of the word - opportunity. If we start translating into Russian more precisely, it will turn out: an opportunity. And this name served as a talisman for the rover: he got stuck many times in insidious alien soil, faced sandstorms, had difficulties with communication and obtaining energy, but still emerged victorious even when they stopped believing in him on Earth.

Objectives and goals of the mission

For 14 years, the Opportunity program has undergone significant changes. To date, he performs many diverse tasks:

• Examines various land areas, checking if they have ever been exposed to water: for example, evaporation. Scientists are interested in whether microorganisms existed on this planet in the past.
• He draws up a detailed map of the surface and looks for an answer to the question of what processes formed Mars the way it is. To do this, he analyzes all the minerals in the soil, looking for those that will be unfamiliar to mankind.

The rover was developed to study sedimentary rocks formed in craters that could once have been part of the ocean.
All these experiments serve one purpose: to understand whether it is possible in the future for the origin of life in the sense we are used to so far from Earth.

Landing place

The rover landed on the explored surface back in January of the distant 2004, and until June 10, 2018 it functioned properly, exceeding even the wildest expectations of the developers by 55 times! More examples there are simply no such successful launches.

As planned, the Opportunity rover landed on the surface of the 22-meter crater Eagle. It was a pleasant surprise for the researchers that the rover landed so precisely, only 25 km from its intended target.

How the Opportunity landed

It is incredibly difficult to land on the surface of the red planet: eight devices crashed on it during landing, and several more failed in the first minutes after landing. The whole difficulty lies in the fact that the atmosphere of Mars is discharged, and it is impossible to quickly slow down due to its low density.
Opportunity managed to land successfully thanks to the technology that was used even when the Soviet rovers were launched. The landing took place in three stages:

1. Entry into the atmosphere
   This stage was the easiest for the rover, it was only necessary to get close to Mars at a sufficient distance, and then the force of gravity began to act.
2. Descent
   The most important thing was to have time to slow down in the atmosphere so that the rover did not crash against solid rocks. Three rocket engines were used for this. Having received photographs of the surface through the camera, the main computer determined the initial rate of descent and gave the command to the jet engines.
3. Landing
   Stronger materials could have protected the apparatus, but their addition would have meant an increase in mass, which could not be allowed. Roscosmos took care of this stage and equipped Opportunity with airbags consisting of 24 cells.

He got into the Eagle crater by accident, but this combination of circumstances was in the hands of the researchers: having studied the soil, he drew conclusions about the existence of water in this soil in the past.

Characteristics of the rover

The Opportunity rover has an impressive mass of 185 kilograms, and the total mass of the flight module, descent module and the rover itself is 1063 kilograms. Its dimensions are 1.5 meters high, 2.3 meters long and 1.6 meters wide. Independent electric motors are used to make turns. Its maneuverability is guaranteed by six wheels. One of them is able to rotate in order to dig the earth and extract soil samples (while it remains stationary). The maximum speed is 50 mm per second, although the average speed is 5th part.

What is the rover equipped with

• The eyes of Opportunity are panoramic cameras that take high-resolution pictures and send them to the control center. Navigation, they shoot in a worse resolution and are needed directly so that the rover can assess the situation and not inadvertently crash into an obstacle.
• Magnets collect particles of magnetic dust, and an X-ray spectrometer analyzes what substances the soil consists of.
• Drills, a microscope and several spectrometers are needed to take and analyze soil samples.

Control system

Navigation is done through a powerful computer, securely sheltered from temperature extremes, typical for these lands.
The module responsible for all the processes taking place in the electronic brain is located exactly in the center of the device. It ensures the correct operation of all complex systems of the rover. To transmit the data collected during the day, the mechanical explorer has only 16 minutes once a day, when the Mars Odyssey orbiter appears in the access zone. The sent radio signal reaches the Earth in at best 4 minutes. The Moon and the Sun can worsen communication if they are in the path of radio waves. Then the message will reach our planet within 20 minutes.

Source of power

Opportunity receives all its energy from solar panels located on the side. They consist of many cells, which significantly increases their reliability: if one of them fails, it will not affect the others.
Compared to their predecessors, these solar panels are capable of absorbing three times the amount of light emitted by the sun. And all this thanks to an innovation - a triple layer of gallium arsenide.

The most important discoveries of the rover

In June 2004, at the very beginning of its mission, Opportunity brilliantly coped with the most important, according to scientists, task: descended into the Endurance crater and studied the rocks. NASA administrators were not sure that he would be able to climb back, but by mid-December he successfully returned and began to fulfill his set goals.

In January of the following year, the rover discovered the first meteorite in human history on another planet. It was named the Heat Shield Stone because it was found behind the rover's heat shield.

Most of all, the initiators of the space expedition are proud that their offspring managed to find evidence of the existence of fresh water on the red planet. The stone found by the rover was in a stream of water, which once again confirms the guesswork of scientists about the past of Mars.

Observations from orbit did not give earthlings practically any knowledge about the climate of the red planet, and Opportunity was able to characterize the distribution of warm layers in the atmosphere and draw conclusions about the weather on Mars.

Although it was not designed to observe the night sky, several times the rover still followed comets flying nearby. It was also used to monitor the satellites of the planet:.

History of the rover

rover " Opportunity"- the second apparatus of two sent to Mars as part of the program" Mars Exploration Rover". The launch from Earth took place on July 7, 2003, a week after the launch of its twin, the rover. Landing on Mars, namely in the Eagle crater on the Meridian plateau, was made on January 25, 2004, three weeks later than the landing of the Spirit rover.

According to an established tradition, the name of the project was found at a competition, the winner of which was a nine-year-old girl Sophie Callis, who was born in Siberia and adopted by a family from Arizona.

The operation of Opportunity continues to this day and it holds the record for the duration of operation among vehicles operating on the surface of Mars. This is facilitated by the rover's solar panels being cleaned by the Martian winds.

Considering the invaluable contribution Rover "Opportunity" in the exploration of Mars, the asteroid 39382 was named after him. This proposal came from astronomer Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, who discovered this asteroid together with Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Tom Gerels on September 24, 1960. Opportunity Landing Platform Named Challenger Memorial Station

Mission objectives

The main task of the mission was to study the sedimentary rocks that were supposed to be found in the Gusev crater and Erebus crater, where, by assumption. once there was a lake or sea.

The Mars Exploration Rovers mission was to:

search and description of various types of rocks and soil that would contain evidence of the existence aquatic environment in the Martian past. Including, the search for samples with minerals that were formed under the influence of precipitation, evaporation or precipitation of water or during hydrothermal activity;

determination of the prevalence and composition of rocks, minerals and soil types in the landing area;

definition geological processes that formed the terrain, and the chemical composition of the soil. These are water or wind erosion, sedimentation, hydrothermal mechanisms, volcanism and cratering;

checking the discoveries made by the Martian Reconnaissance Satellite (). This will help determine the accuracy and effectiveness of the various instruments used to study the geology of Mars from orbit;

Searching for iron-bearing minerals and estimating the relative amount of certain types of minerals that contain water or form in water, such as iron-bearing carbonates;

classifying and defining the processes that have shaped the minerals and the geological landscape;

search geological features that existed on the planet along with the presence of liquid water on the surface. An assessment of the conditions favorable for the emergence of life on Mars.

• Mars rover "Opportunity" on the surface of the red planet (figure)

• Landing platform doors close around the folded rover

• Self-portrait "Opportunity", December 2004

• "Payson Outcrop" on the western rim of Erebus Crater

• A group of engineers and technicians are working on the "Thermal Electronics Block" (WEB)

• endeavor crater

Mission Innovation Mars Exploration Rovers

Hazardous Area Control

The MER rovers are equipped with a system for monitoring dangerous areas, which allows them to be safely avoided when moving on the surface of the planet. Such a system was implemented for the first time in the study of Mars, it was created at Carnegie Mellon University.

Two other similar programs serve the purpose of increasing overall productivity. The first controls the operation of the engine, controls the rover wheels, the cleaning brush and the RAT tool designed for rock drilling. The second controls the operation of the solar panels of the rover, redirects energy to two batteries, performs the functions of a night computer and clock of the rover.

improved vision

A total of twenty cameras have helped rovers search for traces of water on the surface of Mars, providing Earth scientists with high-quality images of the planet.

Technological advances have helped reduce the weight and size of the cameras, allowing nine cameras to be mounted on each rover and one on the landing platform. The rover cameras were built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and at the time were the best cameras that had ever worked on another planet.

Improved data compression

Data destined for transmission to Earth was processed by a data compression system also developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The final size of a 12 megabyte image is only 1 megabyte, thus achieving significant memory savings. All images are divided by the program into groups of 30 images each, which reduces the risk of data loss during their transmission to the Deep Space Networks in Australia.

Modeling terrain maps

An innovative feature of the mission was the ability to create a map of the surrounding area. Such information is very valuable for the scientific team, as it helps to find out the possibility of patency and the angle of inclination of the vehicle. Stereo images allow you to create three-dimensional images, which allows you to accurately determine the location and distance to the object of observation.

Soft Landing Technology

Engineers faced the daunting task of reducing the spacecraft's speed from 12,000 miles per hour as it entered the planet's atmosphere to 12 miles per hour as it hit the Martian surface. The re-entry, descent and landing of the Mars Exploration Rovers mission was implemented using many of the technologies of its predecessors: the Viking and Mars Pathfinder missions. Legacy parachute technology was used to reduce the rate of descent, and although the mass spacecraft missions of Mars Exploration Rovers far exceed the previous ones, the basic design of the parachute has not changed, but only its area has been increased by 40%.

The airbag technology used in the mission has also been improved. The lander that contained the rover was inside a sphere of twenty-four inflated cells. The synthetic material "Vectran" from which the airbags were made is also used in the manufacture of spacesuits. As it became clear after several drop tests, the extra mass caused severe damage and tearing of the material. As a result, engineers developed a double shell of airbags, designed to avoid serious damage when landing from high speed when the airbags may come into contact with sharp stones.

Scientific results

Opportunity found compelling arguments in support of its main scientific mission: the search for and study of rock and soil samples that may contain evidence of active water activity in the Martian past. In addition to testing the "water hypothesis", the rover made various astronomical measurements, and it also helped to clarify some parameters of the Martian atmosphere.

On June 7, 2013, a special conference dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the Opportunity launch was held, at which Steve Squires, head of the rover's scientific program, stated that water suitable for living organisms was present on Mars in ancient times. Such conclusions were made during the study of a stone called "Esperance 6". The results suggest that several billion years ago this stone was in contact with the flow of water.
The important thing is that this water was fresh and suitable for living organisms in it. Previously, all the evidence for the existence of water on Mars said only that there was a certain liquid on the surface of the planet, more like sulfuric acid, and with the help of Opportunity programs traces of exposure to fresh water were found.