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...
almost cause expected guess mars mystery occasional odd remains root vehicle
The root cause of the reset remains a mystery, but I guess the occasional odd glitch is to be expected from a vehicle that's been on Mars for almost 600 sols.
carefully compelling deciding downhill driving experience factor finding found geology good head learn loose move offers pace respect sand slower sort stuff targets truly uphill vehicle whereas year
With respect to how long it's going to take us to get down the hill, we don't have a whole lot of experience driving this vehicle downhill -- we've been going uphill for more than a year now. We're going to have to take it carefully at first and learn as we go. I think the deciding factor is going to be how good the geology is. If we're finding geology that offers truly compelling targets (for study) as we found on the way up, then our pace is going to be a lot slower whereas if it's a lot of loose sand and that sort of thing we'll be able to move through it a lot more briskly and head to the good stuff off in the distance.
bit deciding downhill easier factor geology good potential vehicles
The deciding factor will be how good the geology is. I think going downhill has the potential to go a bit faster, it's easier to go downhill with these vehicles than going up.
convinced gives vehicle
A sol like that gives you confidence. I'm really convinced now that we're able to keep the vehicle safe.
cases explosions hot perhaps springs trace violent water
It was a hot, violent place with volcanic explosions and impacts. Water was around, perhaps localized hot springs in some cases and trace amounts of water in other cases.
darker hard outer parts rock shells
These look like hard outer shells on some parts of some outcrops, and theyre darker and a little redder than the rock that they encrust,
darker hard outer parts rock shells
These look like hard outer shells on some parts of some outcrops, and they're darker and a little redder than the rock that they encrust.
challenge driving five six terrain
Driving in that terrain was a challenge with all six wheels. With five wheels, it was a mess.
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.
opportunity salty sea
We think Opportunity is now parked on what was once the shoreline of a salty sea on Mars.
driving hang
We're also really getting the hang of driving in this terrain.
changes compelling consider evidence flowing surface water
We've got some evidence, I think, of water flowing through the rocks, and changes in chemistry, I don't think we have what any of us would consider compelling evidence for surface water yet.
landing technique using
We're using the same landing technique that Pathfinder used.
bite landed opportunity waiting
That was waiting to bite us. If Opportunity had landed first, it would have had the same problem.