An image from Opportunity's NavCam taken on May 8, 2010 showing the tracks from a recent drive just before the Winter Solstice. Click for larger. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A comment in yesterday’s post asked what was going on with the Mars Exploration Rovers — good question.  The rover site isn’t updated very often due to it being the Martian winter.  The winter Solstice was on May 12 so spring is approaching Mars even if very slowly.

On May 20th the rover Opportunity surpassed the Viking Lander’s longevity record of 6 years 116 days.  As the daylight increases Opportunity will beginning to drive more.  At the moment drives are worked out so the solar panels are in a favorable position to catch sunlight.  The eventual destination for Oppy is the  Endeavour crater.

The situation with Spirit isn’t quite so good.  You probably know Spirit got stuck on what looks to be a rock, kind of hung up, well, it’s stuck and is now immobile.  Being immobile placing the rover in a position to best collect the feeble Martian sunlight was impossible.  Spirit is in a hibernation mode.  Will it awaken?  A question everybody involved is waiting to be answered.  If it does and resumes communication, it will get the longevity record since it arrived three weeks before Oppy.  Keep your fingers crossed!

The newest rover named Curiosity is well on its way to a late 2011 launch, the robotic arm and associated tools are being tested, two cameras built by Malin Space Science Systems Inc has been delivered.  The cameras will be used on the Mast Camera Instrument which will be a workhorse.  Finally, the radar system to be used in landing is undergoing rigorous testing.  The actual launch date is driven by geometry and communications it’s quite a balancing act between the shortest route and optimal communications.  The launch date will be between November 25 and December 18, 2011 for a August 2012 Landing.  To learn more about Curiosity, click here.