Live Q&A Thursday 9/24 with Ashley Stroupe!

[doublehelix]

NASA’s Mars rovers seem to be unbeatable. Since 2004, the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity have explored different parts of Mars and shed new light on the history of water on the red planet.

Rover driver Ashley Stroupe of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will join SPACE.com on Thursday, September 24 at 2 p.m. ET to answer questions about the unexpectedly long-lived rovers, their past, present and future exploring the red planet. Submit your early questions for Ashley here by 12 noon ET Monday September 21. We will then choose a handful of questions at random for her to answer ahead of time, to be shared on September 24. And don’t forget to return to SPACE.com on Sept. 24 to learn more about the Mars rovers!

More on Ashley
What Dr. Ashley Stroupe likes about working with robots is that she knows she's helping in areas where people can't safely go. Also, working in robotics can be a lot like playing with toys at work! Ashley received a bachelor's degree in physics from Harvey Mudd College in 1990, a master's degree in electrical engineering from George Mason University in 1998, another master's degree in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2001, and a Ph.D. in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2003--she has been busy! Dr. Stroupe is now an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA.

Her research focuses on multi-robot teams in complex environments and behavior-based control, with applications to exploration and mapping, dynamic target observation, and cooperative manipulation. She is currently the technical lead for the Robotic Construction Crew Project, in which a team of robots cooperatively transports and stacks interlocking beams to build a structure as a prototype for planetary and Lunar habitat construction.

In addition to research, Dr. Stroupe works with the Mars Exploration Rover Project, analyzing performance of the mobility and manipulation systems. She has published multiple conference papers, book chapters, and journal articles in robotics and in her free time she likes to read and travel.

Related links:
SPACE.com’s Mars Rover Special Report
SPACE.com Video Show: Rover Tracks on Mars

[Synclair]

I haven't read up on the latest efforts to free Spirit, but my question is "Has the Mars Rover team examined the possibility of using the rover's instrument arm to maybe help push it out of it's current predicament?"

[TC_sc]

How much easier is it to plan the next day's drive now than in the beginning?

I would think practice makes things much easier. Also, after learning the various soil densities that should make for better choices.

[normancopeland]

Hello Darling,
I am curious if anyone on the team has measured the rover 'spirit's' temperature changes according to how much sand/soil/regolith is on the robot machine and how it effects the recharge facilities. Perhaps it could be used to detect the efficiency of the coating for the panneling of robots, particularly according to the type of planetoid. Measurements of power regeneration could be significantly improved [with knowledge of performance enhancing].

What's your thought's.

[Valenski]

I was just wondering if the instrument arm was extended to the maximun extent, if this would help increase the down pressure on the wheels in that direction? Maybe tip the Rover a bit.

Perhaps bring the arm in all the way, run wheels backwards to push up a little mound. Then extend maximum, run wheels forward, and get some grip on the soil.

Or is there a small rock close by, that the arm could push to the front of a wheel? It that type of movement possible?

[3488]

Hi Ashley,

Congratulations on the work done with both MERs. it is most impressive to say the least.

I have a few things, well quite a lot actually, but I would like to run these past you.

1). Regarding MER A Spirit being trapped at Troy. I have seen many suggestions, to Sirit being freed, some great ones already offered on this thread. I have seen one suggestion elsewhere that MER A Spirit should waith till the Winter, in the hope that the regolith may stiffen up if frost forms on it.

My problem with this is, that firstly, Spirit would need to conserve power to survive, probably not enough to attempt a drive & secondly waiting till the following Spring would be a moot point as the regolith would loosen up again, so we would be back to square one, a vicious self defeating circle perhaps.

What do you think?

2). What in your opinion, is the nature of the Von Braun hill & the curious Goddard Crater on the side?

3). Regarding MER B Opportunity. How long in your opinion do you think the Block Island Meteorite has been there? Also what do you make of the varying forms & sizes of the blueberries & what can the patterned underlying bedrock of Meridiani Planum tell us?

4) Both MERs image the Sun every Sol to ascertain the Tau properties of the atmosphere. Are there any further plans to observe Phobos & Deimos occulting the Sun during said observations around the Martian Equinoxes in the future? Watching an eclipse of the Sun by another planet's moons whilst on that planet is never routine.

5). Back to MER A Spirit & being stuck. The IDD if I remeber correctly is not strong enough to either lift or move Spirit unlike the Robotic Arm on Phoenix Mars Lander that had the strength to drag Phoenix or even flip Phoenix over. The IDDs on the MERS are not that strong are they???

6). The volcanic rocks in the Columbia Hills, has Spirit helped reveal when the area was last active? Does the layering on Homeplate at all help with this?

7). Back with MER B Opportunity, have there been any clues as to when the last water borne sediments where laid down, pehaps with clues from aolian dopisits, which are likely to be more recent. This would help determine when the atmosphere of Mars really thinned out, when volcanism waned & the core of Mars no longer generated the now absent global magnetosphere. These are areas where the results from the MERs & Phoenix together could answer some very fundemental questions about the history of Mars.

I think this may be all for now, until next time.

Andrew Brown.

[a_lost_packet_]

AWESOME!

This is the kind of thing that I love to see SDC doing! Great job! Now, if my net connection cooperates, I'll be sure to attend!!! (provider has had some troubles lately, one such occurrence caused me to miss the Shostak interview.. curses!)

(BTW, just FYI, the estimated dollar value of SDC, which I kinda have kept track of for one reason or another, has increased by almost 25% over the past year. Congrats on a job well done deservedly goes out to all the staff. Stuff like these live sessions adds up too! (And crap-canning PLUCK was a ++ move too!))

[rlb2]

MER rover questions:

Spirit question - The Spirit rover is pretty much stuck and I am sure NASA probably tried everything to get it unstuck including this idea but I have to ask the question anyway.
My question is did you try this.

"Simply use the instrument arm to counter-balance the wheel by moving it over the wheel opposite the stuck wheel then try moving the rover away from the sand trap. The leverage should give the other wheels extra traction. It would be like using a fulcrum like force to take most of the load off the stuck wheel. Kind of like what sail boat racers use to turn their sailboats by leaning over the opposite side of the sailboat to stabilize the boat."

That was a suggestion I made July 23 2009 when asked on space.com for ideas;
"Got an Idea to Save Spirit? Mars Rover Engineers Are All Ears"

http://www.space.com/news/090723-free-spirit-webcast.html#comments

I know now it was naive of me to suggest that it was as "simple' as that.
Here is a time-lapse movie from the front Hazcam images I made to show how it got stuck.



Here is one more up-to-date leading up to and including getting stuck Sol 1793 Through Sol 2025 (present).



Opportunity question - You just left the meteor "Block Island,"



Looking ahead what will be the most difficult part of the journey to Endeavour Crater for Opportunity?

[davoyager]

These rovers are an extraordinary achievement and have returned wonderful science during their long careers.
In theory, how long can they remain functional to the degree that they can continue to return data?
What kind of plans for the long term is the team working on?
What other ideas for the future with these rovers are possible?

Thanks to this great effort we are all visiting Mars in real time. Not by the imagination of a few talented dreamers as in years past, or in the pages of dusty history books the way kids read of our journeys to the moon, but today. This exploration is happening this day. How cool is that?

da

[77777777]

September 19,2009

Maybe Rover Spirit is stuck in to make a very important discovery in that Spot !!!!!

Have a great day !!!!!

Don

[Smersh]

Hi Ashley, welcome to Space.com and thanks in advance for answering our questions. Here's mine:

I've often wondered how you guys can drive the rovers and account for the time lag involved, with sending an instruction to the vehicle to turn left, turn right, photograph this or that etc then having to wait the 3 - 42 minutes (depending of course on how far away Mars is at the time) for the vehicle to respond. I realise the rovers do go very slowly, but seems to me it must be quite an aquired skill, to avoid crashes into rocks or whatever and avoid possible damage to the vehicle.

How do you cope with that? Thanks.

[cosmictraveler]

What is the most important thing that these rovers have taught you? Thank you and those who built these rovers as well.

[mihirji]

Hi Ashley,

Thanks to you in advance for giving an opportunity to people like us to interact with you. It really means a lot.
I have been following the Rover news for last few years and am particularly interested to know if an accident or situation like this was planned and tested for prior to sending the Rovers on Mars.

I totally understand that we have obvious challenges in knowing the terrain in advance, but even then what are the preparations that went in with respect to this situation before the Rovers were sent?

Once again, thank you.

[alwayscurious22]

Ashley,
With this latest "stuck-on-a-rock" predicament, how useful would it have been if the rovers would have been able to capture, at least, a few seconds of video instead of just single shots? Do you think that viewing actual movement, in situ, would give you better insight into the problem? Is video difficult from such a distance?
Also, would it now be a good idea to have an appendage that can actually reach all the wheels (or the ground), incase it might be needed to lever the whole bot over some unforseen obstacle?
BTW, .....Brains ARE Attractive! Well done, Ashley.
-ray-

[jeffreyb63]

Do you have advice for a 6th grade child who wants to go to mars in 2020?
What do you suggest I study? Science or math? Do you use more science or math in your job?

[dubsdj]

When the rovers are finally out of service, I think Nasa should enable some kind of online web cam so that anyone can log in and see through the Rovers eyes during the day. Also evey hour the rover could turn its head slightly for a different view.

Congratulations for the great Rovers!

[doublehelix]

Thanks for all your questions, everyone! It is now noon and this thread is now closed. Be sure to come back on Thursday the 24th for the live Q&A!

-dh

[doublehelix]

Hi everyone, please come by at 2 p.m ET today for the live Q&A with Ashley Stroupe! She has answered some of your questions, so head on over to this thread to see her responses. I will be posting them throughout the day up until the event.

See you then!

-dh

[doublehelix]

We are now live! See you there!

UPDATE: Thanks to Ashley and our community for a great session!

-dh