Explanation: This is the last thing that the Spirit rover on Mars ever saw. Operating years beyond original expectations, Spirit eventually got mired in martian dirt and then ran out of power when investigating the unusual Home Plate surface feature on Mars. Visible in the above panorama are numerous rocks and slopes of the surrounding Columbia Hills of Mars. The strange hill with the light colored top, visible near the top center of the image, has been dubbed von Braun and was a future destination when Spirit got bogged down. A leading hypothesis holds that von Braun is related to martian volcanism. Last week, NASA stopped trying to contact Spirit after numerous attempts. Half a world away, Spirit's sister rover Opportunity continues to roll toward Endeavour Crater, which could become the largest crater yet visited by an earthling-created robot.
This observation catches the NASA Mars Exploration Rover Spirit gleaming in the sun beside Home Plate inside Gusev Crater. It also catches a dust devil in action.
We were surprised to see that the Spirit rover itself is the brightest spot in the image, unlike dozens of previous images of both rovers. Analysis of the illumination and viewing geometry and the tilt of the rover indicate that, by accident, we imaged it near the specular point for the flat solar panels. The specular point is where the illumination angle is the same as the viewing angle, and the vectors are aligned.
Ground-based measurements prior to launch showed that the specular reflection could be seen even when there is a thin dust cover over the panels. This result does show that the solar panels are not covered by an optically thick layer of dust (i.e., too thick for any light to pass through it). Spirit last communicated on 22 March 2010.
... Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 4:40 am
by Beyond
Where's the dust devil??
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 8:16 am
by Boomer12k
Looks like a road coming down off that one hill in the background.....hey.....was THAT BIGFOOT???????
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 8:47 am
by billinger
So, thanks for acceptance.
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 8:58 am
by mitsy
RIP Spirit
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 1:32 pm
by Jim Franklin
It's a crying shame, but when you consider how long the rovers were designed to last and how long they have actually lasted, the mission is one of the most resounding successes in human engineering history.
RIP Spirit.
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 2:28 pm
by biddie67
I would love to see the first group of people back on the Moon (( or maybe a rescue robot )) pull Spirit out onto solid land, dust her off, oil her wheels and get her started again off across the Moon ....
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 3:22 pm
by Dustin
Way to go Spirit Rover ! and NASA
I will miss Spirit's enduring adventure.
Dustin
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 3:24 pm
by Dustin
Is this a test email to see who notices the word "Moon" instead of "Mars" ?
?
biddie67 wrote:I would love to see the first group of people back on the Moon (( or maybe a rescue robot )) pull Spirit out onto solid land, dust her off, oil her wheels and get her started again off across the Moon ....
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 4:22 pm
by Chris Peterson
I find our inclination to anthropomorphize a pile of metal and electronics very interesting. (That's not a criticism, and certainly I have those feelings as well. But it is interesting.)
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 4:36 pm
by Star*Hopper
Jim Franklin wrote:It's a crying shame, but when you consider how long the rovers were designed to last and how long they have actually lasted, the mission is one of the most resounding successes in human engineering history.
RIP Spirit.
This!
But, the Moon?!? -1 "Missed it, by that much!" ~M. Smart *LOL*
I was greatly saddened by the news late last year that when conditions improved NASA would make one last-ditch effort to contact our intrepid rover Spirit, before finally pulling the plug. I've been a huge fan since the project was first announced, following along when it first approached for landing, and the longer it outlived its expectations, the more I admired the li'l thing and all that went into it. What a fantastic feat of human engineering!
I somehow associated Spirit with the robo-character 'Dewey' from one of my all-time favorite movies, the relatively unknown early 70's envo sci-fi "Silent Running", entasked with caring for the last Earth forest as it drifted forever thru space.
En requiem aeternam Spirit - for service far above and beyond the call of duty. You served us well.
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
~S*H
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 6:57 pm
by biddie67
(( laughing )) sorry, folks - must have accidentally slipped a gear and took a wrong turn out there somewhere - I did mean Mars ....
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 7:32 pm
by NoelC
Something occurred to me yesterday, and I thought I'd bring it up next time a Mars surface image was posted... Lo and behold that's today.
Given that Mars has about 1% as much atmosphere as we do, and virtually no magnetic field, does the solar wind impact the surface? In other words, here on safe ol' Earth we've got this protective blanket, but it sure seems to be lacking on Mars, even though in images we see the sky as other than black.
I haven't noticed a lot of particle streaks in images from the rovers, but I assume they're reasonably well-shielded.
Sci Fi often depicts people walking around on Mars in various levels of space suits, but I imagine it would be more like walking on the moon, requiring similar radiation shielding as well as protection from hard vacuum.
-Noel
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 8:12 pm
by rstevenson
Yes, radiation shielding, temperature regulation and pressure regulation will all be required in my suit when I go there. Not to mention a certain degree of ruggedness as well as comfort. After all, it's going to be a long walk to the nearest donut shop.
Rob
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 9:31 pm
by Beyond
biddie67 wrote:(( laughing )) sorry, folks - must have accidentally slipped a gear and took a wrong turn out there somewhere - I did mean Mars ....
And here i thought that you meant that the first people that went to the moon should be the ones to go to mars and unstick the Rover. Well, i guess they are too old to do that sort of thing anymore.
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 9:51 pm
by Beyond
Hey Star*Hopper, is that movie "Silent Running" the one with the Big black robot named "Maxamilian"(or something similar) and they went through a black hole?
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 10:40 pm
by BMAONE23
Beyond wrote:Hey Star*Hopper, is that movie "Silent Running" the one with the Big black robot named "Maxamilian"(or something similar) and they went through a black hole?
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 4:30 am
by Beyond
BMAONE23, NOPE, that's not the one. Too many people and robots and No BIG black one. Come to think of it, i don't think it's the one with Bruce Dern in it either.
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 1:24 pm
by Star*Hopper
Axed & answered....but no. The BH had 2 Max's, actually....star Maximilian Schell & of course, the big bad bot everybody was afraid of and was red, not black. (And which always made me wonder why the Mad Dr. needed so many bodyguard/security forces in a ship both lost, and perched on the edge of an event horizon. I mean, who's gonna come lookin' to cause him trouble??)
But the main detractor in that film (to me) was the obviously (spelled 'overly') Disneyish good-guybots. In some circles, 'Black Hole' is eternally bound to the buzz-phrase, "Does it still suck?"
But worst of all.....it had no Bruce Dern! Borgnine, yes....but that's a different trek. *snort snicker ahem*
~S*H
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 1:27 pm
by BMAONE23
In this one, the big red robot is named Maximilian see more images
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 8:45 pm
by Beyond
That Big red robot has a familiar shape, but the one i'm thinking of was black and maybe a tad bigger. Why are they always named Maxmilian?
Also, near the end, when the ship was going through the black hole(its a movie, ya know)the Big black robot was seen through a window outside of the ship, watching it pass by.
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 9:38 pm
by BMAONE23
Check this out after about 5:30 into it Maximilian shows up near the beginning and after about 6:20
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 2:28 am
by Beyond
Well, i give up! I don't remember Maximilian having all those arms, but i do remember him standing on a big rock, but not all the flames around him. And i don't recall if he sucked up the human or not. So....unless there's another similar type movie, i guess my memory of it must have gone down the black hole with Maximilian.
Re: APOD: The Last Panorama of Spirit on Mars (2011 May 30)
Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:21 am
by Star*Hopper
Beyond wrote: Why are they always named Maxmilian?
The Last Panorama of the Spirit Rover on Mars
