Steve Squyres
Steve Squyres
Steven W. Squyresis the James A. Weeks Professor of Physical Sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. His research area is in planetary sciences, with a focus on large solid bodies in the solar system such as the terrestrial planets and the moons of the Jovian planets. Squyres is principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. He is the recipient of the 2004 Carl Sagan Memorial Award and the 2009 Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Communication in...
again carefully caused checking concern fire immediate lengthy next recovering spacecraft standard takes time whatever whether
Unfortunately, recovering from something like a reset is a slow, lengthy process. You don't know what caused the problem, and the immediate concern is that whatever triggered it will do it again next time you try it. The thing you have to do is fire up each of the rover's capabilities one at a time, checking each one carefully and individually to see whether it would cause another reset or not. Standard spacecraft troubleshooting practicebut it takes time.
arm failed fearful motor time
We were fearful for a time that the motor may have failed permanently. If that were the case, we'd never be able to use the arm again.
cost easy happened mars problem rover time wrong
Easy problem to find and fix, but it happened at just the wrong time and cost us data, and one more sol, ... Another first for the Mars Exploration Rover Project.
area climb climbing field found gained geologist good motivated plotting point rock science spirit time
This climb was motivated by science. Every time Spirit has gained altitude, we've found different rock types. Also, we're doing what any field geologist would do in an area like this: climbing to a good vantage point for plotting a route.
dark dealing mystery origin time
One mystery weve been dealing with for a long time is the origin of the little dark cobbles that we occasionally see out on the plains,
dark dealing mystery origin time
One mystery we've been dealing with for a long time is the origin of the little dark 'cobbles' that we occasionally see out on the plains.
found gained rock spirit time
Every time Spirit has gained altitude, we've found different rock types,
past trying borrowed-time
These rovers are living on borrowed time. We're so past warranty on them. You try to push them hard every day because we're living day to day.
across columbia far hills january looked necessary night order plains quickly realized seemed sought stuff touched water whether
When we first touched down at Gusev Crater on the night of January 4, 2004, the Columbia Hills seemed impossibly far away. It was a necessary place for us to get to, though, because as we looked across the plains we quickly realized these plains were made of basaltic lava. This was stuff that was interesting but did not tell us what we really sought to know about Gusev Crater, and that is whether there had been water here. So in order to find something, in order to find something different, we had to make that mile-and-a-half drive.
awe business deciding seeing waiting
We're just waiting. We're just in awe of what we're seeing and we're just waiting to see the whole thing so we can really get about the business of deciding what to do.
home material mean seen stuff widespread
We have no idea yet how widespread Home Plate-like material may be. We have not seen anything like this before, but it doesn't mean there isn't more stuff out there.
carefully cliffs die fall proceed rover
There are cliffs the rover could fall over and die if we aren't careful. We are gong to proceed carefully and methodically.
carry climb head hill husband summit
We still want to get to the summit of Husband Hill and then head down into the 'Inner Basin' on the other side. But now we have more flexibility in how we carry out the plan. Before, it was climb or die.
terms
We're not going to take any risks. It's a big crater in terms of diameter, but really shallow. It's nothing like Endurance.