Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity Mer B

MER-B or the Opportunity

On June 10 and July 3, 2003, NASA launched the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) to Mars in order to search for answers regarding the history of water on the planet. The two rovers that were launched were designated as MER -- A and MER-B, Spirit and Opportunity respectively, and landed on Mars on January 3 and January 24, 2004, respectively. This Mars Exploration Rover mission has been designed to provide long-term information to Earth through robotic exploration of Mars. Chief among the mission's scientific goals "is to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity on Mars" (Summary, n.d.). As of 2010, the MER-B, or Opportunity, is the only active rover on Mars as MER-A, or the Spirit, ceased communications in 2010 after becoming immobile in 2009.

The Opportunity is currently still in orbit and continues to transmit images to NASA. The projected landing sites for the Mars Exploration Rovers were Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum ( Summary, n.d.). The Mars Exploration Rovers, MER -- A and MER-B, were both equipped with airbags which allowed them to begin taking photographs as soon as they landed on the red planet. The images that these rovers have taken have allowed scientists to study and better understand the history of water on Mars. The images help scientists to determine which geographical sites should be further explored.

Presently, the Opportunity is managed by the Jet Propulsion Lab, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California on behalf of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover project that is overseen by the Office of Space Science in Washington, D.C. (Krebs, 2011).

There are seven main objectives of the Mars Exploration Rover mission. The first objective is to search and characterize various rocks and soils that may hold clues to past water activity on the planet; the samples that are sought through this first objective will include "those that have minerals deposited by water-related processes such as precipitation, evaporation, sedimentary cementation, or hydrothermal activity" (Objectives, n.d.). The second objective of the MER mission is to "determine the distribution and composition of minerals, rocks, and soil" that surround designated landing sites. The third objective is to "determine what geologic processes have shaped the local terrain and influenced" Martian chemistry -- these processes include "water and wind erosion, sedimentation, hydrothermal mechanisms, volcanism, and cratering" (Objectives, n.d.). The fourth objective of the MER mission is to calibrate and ascertain the validity of data gathered by Mars orbiter instruments. The fifth objective of the MER mission is to "search for iron-containing minerals, identify and quantify relative amounts of specific mineral types that contain water or were formed in water" (Objectives, n.d.). The sixth objective of the mission seeks to "characterize the mineralogy and textures of rocks and soils and determine the processes that created them." The last objective set by the MER mission is to "search for geological clues to the environmental conditions that existed when liquid water was present;" once these conditions have been determined, then an assessment of the environment must be undertaken to see if it is or was conducive to life (Objectives, n.d.).

When the rovers were first launched, scientists intended for the rovers to travel up to 40 meters in a single day; these scientists did not expect the rovers to travel more than one kilometer total, however the rovers far exceeded their expectations ( Summary, n.d.). As of November 1, 2011, Opportunity has an odometry reading of 21.25 miles or 34.20 kilometers (Where Are The Rovers Now? n.d.). Each rover has been equipped with specialized instruments that are intended to collect the most accurate information possible. Each rover carries a panoramic camera that is used to determine the mineralogy, texture, and structure of Mars' terrain; a miniature thermal emission spectrometer to is used to identify rocks and soils of interest and help to determine how rocks on Mars were formed -- this mini-TES was designed to "look skyward to provide temperature profiles of the Martian atmosphere" (Summary, n.d.). The rovers were also equipped with a Mossbauer spectrometer that allows for "close-up investigations of the mineralogy of iron-bearing rocks and soils; an alpha particle x-ray spectrometer that is used for "close-up analysis of the abundances of elements that make up rocks and soils;" magnets that are used to collect magnetic dust particles -- the Mossbauer spectrometer and the alpha particle x-ray spectrometer are designed to analyze collected particles and compare the ratio of magnetic and non-magnetic particles collected, furthermore the Mossbauer spectrometer and the alpha particle x-ray spectrometer analyze the "composition of magnetic minerals in airborne dust and rocks that have been ground by the Rock Abrasion Tool" (Summary, n.d.). The Mars Exploration Rovers are also equipped with a microscopic imager that is used to obtain "close-up, high-resolution images of rocks and soil" and a rock abrasion tool that is used for "removing dusty and weathered rock surfaces and exposing fresh material for examination by instruments onboard" (Summary, n.d.).

The rovers were designed to move around Mars and perform on-site geological investigations; the rovers have the same capabilities to collect data on Mars as a scientist would. The rovers are considered to be the mechanical equivalent of geologist "walking the surface of Mars" (Summary, n.d.). The manner in which the rovers are assembled help to provide geologists with a realistic view of the planet. The cameras on the rovers are mounted on masts that are 1.5 meters, or 5 feet, high and "provide 360-degree, stereoscopic, humanlike views of the terrain;" moreover, "the robotic arm is capable of movement in much the same way as a human arm with an elbow and wrist, and can place instruments directly up against rock and soil targets of interest" (Summary, n.d.). Contained within the robotic "fist" of the rover's arm is a microscopic camera that mirrors a geologist's handheld magnifying lens (Summary, n.d.).

In the latest Opportunity update which analyzed data sent from the rover during the sols cycles 2757-2763, or approximately data sent between October 26 and November 1, 2011, it was revealed that the seasonal plan for the Opportunity is to have the rover "winter over on the north end of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour crater" (Update: Spirit and Opportunity, n.d.). This latest sols cycle had the Opportunity on the lookout for light-toned materials that would help to provide further insight into Mars' history.