Moon-Watching Mars Rover Catches Deimos Crossing the Sun
That dynamic duo on Mars, the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, are satellite watchers too.
Turning their respective camera systems up into the martian sky, the robots have caught sight of the moons of Mars - Phobos and Deimos - scooting across the face of the Sun.
"We got four of the possible six Phobos and Deimos transits during this year's "eclipse season" from the rover sites," said Jim Bell of the Mars Exploration Rover Project at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
A recent photo shoot involved a transit of Deimos from the Spirit rover's vantage point at Gusev Crater. Earlier sessions were all Phobos transits, Bell explained.
"Of course it's a cool thing to do, but more importantly, there's some good science to be had because we're using these data to refine the orbits and orbital evolutions of both satellites," Bell told SPACE.com. "The data from 2005 complement the eclipse data that we got in 2004," he said.
Credit: QuickTime Movie by Gus Frederick |
If rover operations survive into the 2006 eclipse season, Bell said, there's a good chance of learning more about the rate at which Phobos - in a much lower orbit around Mars that Deimos - will slowly spiral in and impact the red planet. Phobos could break up due to gravitational forces and form a ring of debris about Mars - either event estimated to be millions of years into the future.
Rovers on a roll
The Opportunity and Spirit rovers have been examining Mars since their respective touchdowns in January 2004.
The Mars machinery has operated more than four times as long as their successful three-month primary missions. While Spirit is exploring the Columbia Hills at Gusev Crater, Opportunity is on the other side of the planet, scouting about in Meridiani Planum - a large expanse of open landscape.
NASA is expected to extend the rover missions by funding the project for another six months, said Doug McCuistion, Mars Exploration Program Director at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Presently, the rover operations are funded through the end of this month. A new slug of money would keep the robots on the move from April 1st to the end of September, McCuistion said.
"We've completely voided the warranty [on the rovers] at this point," said Steve Squyres, the lead scientist for the Mars rovers at Cornell University. "Every day is a gift."
MORE FROM SPACE.com
Image Albums
Countdowns
Topics
Infographics
