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.
Click to see video.
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."
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