Spirit - Still Alive - volume 2 - Page 7

That was probably Spirits downfall...to rove around Scamander Crater with a dead wheel dragging in loose sand! Even Squyres seems to have his doubts of getting it out.

The rocking action may loosen it for the other 5 wheels to pull their wattage weight and get spirit on 'solid' ground again.

yt
dx

sol 2102 ( Dec 2, 2009 ) magnet animation:

See the Flickr comments for a discussion of the pattern on the magnet.

From Further Tests Designed for Rover's Right-Rear Wheel:

The plan ahead is to explore a set of hypotheses: possible motor failure, possible internal gearbox jam, possible external jam (e.g., a rock in the wheel). Commands being developed for Spirit's activities on sols 2109 and 2110 (Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 8 and 9) will include more diagnostics to explore these hypotheses.

This is NASA-speak for "Spirit is toast".

With two dead wheels Spirit can't escape.

I think it's time for Spirit to settle down and do some serious long duration soil and dust studies.

Let's hope for a final "cleaning-event" before winter.

Seeing this,on another forum gives me Hope,

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
They can't move both IDD and wheels at the same time - I think they may be tied on the same power distro. board.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
This means we will still have our science.
At last.
We have before us a site very rich in activity.What a find!!

What about if we stop rove-ing for a while and stop to smell the roses,ie:every instrument used to its max,to look at what we know later will become a sticking mud,brine,methane,carbon dioxide,at 1/3 gravity, mixture, oh and don't forget atmospheric pressure in the m Bar.(debatable?)

I know there are a lot of great minds here,
and people looking for answers will more than likely,pass thru here.

In REPLY 101 hortonheardawho says"One of the maddening facts of trying to compare the MER images over time is the fact that camera pointing and lighting vary so much that unless a complicated photometric analysis is done hardly than any firm conclusions can be drawn about material changes.

>>Very true.

Having said that, I think the observed raw differences are worth noting for further study.

>>>yes indeed.

But not by me.
end quote,,,

>>>no not by you Horton but THROUGH you ie:There Can Never Be Too Much Horticolor.

A Merry and Safe Christmas to you all,and try to remember whose birthday it Really is.
Joe in Texas

If NASA hadn't spent the past 7 months with its finger up its *ss, then we'd have known what we know now and have been in this situation sometime in early June.

I know throwing caution to the wind is irresponsible, but taking 7 months to (unsuccessfully?) try and extricate the rover is, at least in my mind, madness.

> What about if we stop rove-ing for a while

We don't move, we're dead. The winter will likely kill us within 6 months if we can't tilt to the north.

Joe,

"Because of the current rover tilt, the environmental conditions and dust accumulation on the solar arrays, Spirit is at risk of inadequate power for surviving through the next southern Mars winter, which reaches solstice on May 13, 2009. Even if extrication is not possible, some limited rover motion may be able to improve rover tilt and increase the chance of winter survival."

http://Rear Wheel Trouble Continues

Shouldn't that Winter Solstice date read May 13 2010?! Looks like we'll have to get the science done pretty quickly, because Spirit could be lost in the next few months.

And I say,wait and see.Dust devils may help,there is a bit we don't fully understand about our red neighbor(as in nothing),,
I as a minority of one,think we may have something to find in scalamander,or maybe dig up in scalamander,,
Let us Hope.
Joe in Texas

sol 2113 ( Dec 13, 2009 ) MI pan under the lander:

after some heavy duty processing.

Here is the location of the MI during the pan:

The half buried middle wheels are clearly visible but only the axle of the stalled Rear Right ( RR ) wheel is seen poking into the soil.

"Belly Rock" is the dark area in the center poking up against the bottom of the rover.

I don't have any idea why this pan was taken, as only wheel tests have been conducted the past two weeks.

The 6 images were taken such that each adjacent pair is a 3D pair. I see no hint of the RR wheel in 3D.

If anyone is interested, I can combine the 3D pairs into a 3D sharpened panorama ( the world's first 3D MI panorama under the rover? ).

If anyone is interested, I can combine the 3D pairs into a 3D sharpeded panorama ( the world's first 3D MI panorama under the rover? ).
Sure ,why not,sounds like you want to any-way,
Go ahead sounds interesting.
Joe in Texas
Anybody heard from John?

Motion seen in Right Front Wheel.

This is the wheel that has been im-mobile for ages.

This wheel sets firmly(un-sunk) on SOLID
gravel like regolith.

I will say again (and again),,let us Hope.

Hope can be described many ways.Hope is prayer.Hope is faith.

Joe in Texas

sol 2109-2113 ( Dec 9-13, 2009 ) Right Front Wheel animation:

Good catch Joe Smith! How did you happen to notice the difference?

I knew a test was planned of the RF wheel but didn't see enough changes by eyeball to warrent a GIF.

The RF wheel failure was diagnosed as an open circuit failure so trying to activate the wheel again shows just how super-serious Spirit's situation is now.

Here is a montage of the 3D pairs under Spirit. Unfortunately, there was not enough of an overlap between adjacient 3D pairs to create a 3D panorama.

Bummer.

But for those of you who are familiar with the program StereoPhotoMaker and keen enough to download the image there is some rewarding information in the montage.

Motion on the wheel? I DO remember reading they MIGHT try to reactivate the wheel in a worst case scenario.

I wonder what the drive command was? If it was a brief low voltage spike to see if there was any reaction then this slight quiver is a cause for hope. If it was a command to rotate the wheel then I don't think this would mean more than a spark across a broken winding. Personally I believe that given their normal cautious approach it was a low voltage test.

Some time ago I was slapped on the wrist on the other forum for suggesting that paralysis by analysis may not be the right approach at the end game. If the cause of the latest wheel failure was an environmental outcome of being buried in the dust then I guess that they are now out of options and have to try regardless of possible collateral damage. I hope she can get out, but no matter what happens Spirit, and all those who designed and drove her, have my total admiration.

Sol 2019-2115 ( Sep 7-Dec 15, 2009 ) saturated false color animation of changes to soil in left front wheel trench:

The sudden appearance of a greenish spot is most curious.

Some hopefule news

Saw this pointer on the other blog.

In Hort's 132 animation the only movement I see is slight lifting of the wheel.
The part of the wheel that is buried does not move at all.
There does not appear to be any rotational movement.
This looks to me like the wheel is locked in the soil!!!

Hi Ben,
They report that the RF wheel showed normal resistance and so this would have been a low voltage test spike. But a miraculous reversal of an open circuit fault is a very, very low probability event. Strangely it occurred at the same time as the middle wheel went dead. Wouldn't it be ironic if the RF wheel was ok all this time and the fault was a software glitch with the motor control system.

Not likely, but let us cross our fingers for this next drive sequence.

Hort do you have any more of RE:135?,this green
came out of the pit for sure,kicked up by the wheel,now fully open to the atmosphere.Question
begs asking, how will this effect traction?

Let us Hope
Joe in Texas

Blue in above not green.
WHAT IS HAPPENING? as Scott Maxwell said ,a "Disneyland" for sure
Lets see,sulpher,brine,methane,CO2,could be
magnetic since its mostly iron.Green olivine?
Eagerly waiting for next picture,Hort.

We never came this far,and roved for all this time to end like this.Without a reason.

Keep the Faith.
Good to see you here (my old friend) John.
Joe in Beautiful Texas.