The Twin Kind

In 2003, two very interesting geologists twins were born to search the unknown located millions of miles away. Their names? Spirit and Opportunity. How they got their names is an inspiring way. A 9-year-old girl named Sofi Collis wrote an essay that was chosen out of about 10,000 essays(nasa.gov). In her essay she wrote,

I used to live in an orphanage. It was dark and cold and lonely. At night, I looked up at the sparkly sky and felt better. I dreamed I could fly there. In America, I can make all my dreams come true. Thank you for the 'Spirit' and the 'Opportunity.

It’s really remarkable that at such a young age a little girl was able to catch the eyes of NASA in naming the infamous twin rovers.

Following the naming of Spirit and Opportunity, they were then tested and sent off to Mars to follow in the footsteps of their elder, Sojourner.

After touching down on Mars in 2004 they began their quest. Both Spirit and Opportunity were only supposed to function for 92 days. They were also predicted to only roam Mars’ surface for 3/4s of a mile(Ward). That means they would travel about 20 yards per day. That’s a long game of football if you ask me.

Unfortunately, bad weather was in the forecast. Waves of dust storms threatened the rover’s lives by covering their solar panels with dust. If the dust covered their solar panels then it would decrease their power generation(Chavis). Luckily, the rovers pulled through. But in 2009, Spirit caught itself stuck in soft soil and it couldn’t get out. Even though it’s handicapped, Spirit fights on and functions as a stationary science laboratory(Chavis). Even still, through all the odds, Opportunity still continues to keep on roving.

These two twins are history-making explorers. Sprit and Opportunity were larger than the previous rover, Sojourner. So by continuing to make bigger and bigger exploration rovers you begin to have bigger goals. These are merely stepping stones into the human frontier. Within the next century, we could possibly have a human exploration to Mars. In only a decade we were able to send 3 rovers to Mars, one bigger than the last. That’s a huge progress for scientists.

They want to keep progressing forward. Soon they’ll try to build a Mars vehicle that will be big enough to fit humans on it, and they’ll try to send it to Mars as a test. Once we get that done it won’t be long until they want people to go.

Spirit

Opportunity

It’s time to close up.

This is BE#7

Signing out…

Works Cited

Chavis, Jason C. "Awesome Facts About the Mars Rover." Bright Hub. N.p.,

9 May 2010. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. <http://www.brighthub.com/science/space/articles/68898.aspx>.

"Girl With Dreams Names Mars Rovers." NASA. N.p., 8 June 2003. Web. 27 Sept. 2012.  

<http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/mars_rover_names.html>.

Ward, Logan. "PM Mechanical Lifetime Achievement Award:

Spirit and Opportunity Mars Rovers." Popular Mechanics. N.p., 3 Oct. 11. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. <http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/moon-mars/pm-lifetime-achievement-award-spirit-and-opportunity-mars-rovers>.

The First Kind

            In 1992, a new mission was born to set out and experience the Red planet known as Mars. It was called the Mars Pathfinder. It was created to be a technology demonstrator mission for a landing method that would be low-cost. It consisted of parachutes and airbags. The landing methods that were previously used were the convention rocket-powered landing(Marsnews.com). 

The cost of the entire program would be around $260 million. This included testing the lander and rover as well as building and operating it. A bigger plus to the missions is that it even was covered for the launch vehicle called the Delta 2. All of this would be less than 1/10 of the cost from missions in the 70s called the Viking program(Marsnews.com).

There were two things that the Mars pathfinder would have aboard. The Mars Pathfinder would carry a lander, and something that has never been done before. A rover called Sojourner.

Equipped on the lander was a stereoscopic digital camera called the IMP, which stood for Imager for Mars Pathfinder. This camera had a better resolution than the Viking’s TV cameras. The lander would as have a complete meteorology package. This could measure the temperature, pressure, and wind speeds of different elevations above Mars’ surface(Marsnews.com).

Sojourner, being named after the Civil War-era abolitionist known as Sojourner Truth, was the size of a microwave oven. Carried aboard it was an Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer. Yes a long name indeed. It could analyze elemental compositions of various rocks & soil around the landing site. Controlled by an Earth-based operator remotely, it would have a 10-minute delay even with the signals being sent at the speed of light. That’s a lot of distance in such a short amount of time. However, Sojourner would also have some autonomous control, which means it could operate on its own when not being controlled. It would be able to measure obstacles with a set of laser pointers and have artificial intelligence like an insect(Marsnews.com).

What the Pathfinder did was extraordinary while on Mars. It was able to send 2.6 billion bits of data, including 16,000 lander images and 550 rover images back to Earth. It was busy and always doing something, like performing chemical analyses of rocks and soil, 20 to be exact(Marsnews.com). It found “dust devils” which was basically what the name explains in of itself. They were like super mini-tornados that moved along the surface and kicked up dust into the atmosphere. It set a new standard for space travel.

Unfortunately, the life of the Pathfinder would come to an end. The end of its mission was on August 3^rd of 1997. Then they lost communication with it on September 27, 1997(Marsnews.com).

It is incredible to think about something from Earth moving around on another planet millions of miles away. It’s like a piece of humankind making its mark of territory. We are expanding more and more. Perhaps thousands or even millions of years from now we could possibly live on many different planets evolving differently. The possibilities are unlimited.

And here's a video about the new landing method if you're curious and like visuals.

With that I’ll be finding my way out.

This is BE#6

Signing out…

Works Cited

 "MarsNews.com :: Mars Pathfinder." MarsNews.com :: Mars Pathfinder. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. <http://www.marsnews.com/missions/pathfinder/>.

Protective Fabric Used in Mars Landing. YouTube. Albidder, 15 July 2008. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G75kQm7pSE>.