What great engineering looks like ...
Monday, June 29, 2009 by Amber
When NASA gets things right, it gets them *very* right.
In 1990, the space agency launched the solar probe Ulysses from the space shuttle Discovery. Ulysses was supposed to last 5 years, sending back valuable data on our favorite star plus reporting on the solar storms shooting nuclear energy bursts our way.
*19 YEARS LATER* the probe has gone 5.8 billion mile and is running, even after reports that it is freezing and about to shut itself down. (Funny, right, that a sun probe would freeze? OK, back on topic...)
Alas, Ulysses isn't invincible and is beginning to show some wear and tear in the antennae, so NASA is officially shutting off the probe's transmitter. In fact, depending on when you're reading this, it may have already happened: Tuesday, June 30, NASA pulls the plug.
News of the shutdown comes on the heels (relatively speaking) of Spirit and Opportunity, two Mars rovers launched in 2004, blowing my little scientific mind: The rovers were supposed to last 90 sols (or Martian days) -- and they are still running to this day!
Amid the ever-expanding expectations of the little rovers that could, there is some bad news out of NASA on Spirit: On May 6, the rover roved into loose sand in the Mars region known as Troy and got stuck up to the hub of its wheels. So far, all efforts to bust it out of the dune have failed.
Could this be the end of a long and incredibly impressive run? If the public outpouring of affection for the robot has been any indication, NASA would have a PR nightmare on their hands if they didn't at least try to free Spirit ...
Wait a second, what's that you say? Free Spirit??
In an event that probably transpired something like that, NASA decided to launch the 'Free Spirit' website to publicize its efforts to free the stuck rover. As of today, those efforts include creating a 'sandbox' (stop laughing, you programming geeks) on Earth to simulate actual conditions in the Martian sand.
As for Opportunity, all reports indicate the rover is still going strong and checking stuff out on the Martian surface.
Engineers, take note: *This* is how you build your rockets and rovers of the future -- where they outlast even the best of every one's expectations while still delivering important data back to Earth.
Well done, NASA. And thanks.
In 1990, the space agency launched the solar probe Ulysses from the space shuttle Discovery. Ulysses was supposed to last 5 years, sending back valuable data on our favorite star plus reporting on the solar storms shooting nuclear energy bursts our way.
*19 YEARS LATER* the probe has gone 5.8 billion mile and is running, even after reports that it is freezing and about to shut itself down. (Funny, right, that a sun probe would freeze? OK, back on topic...)
Alas, Ulysses isn't invincible and is beginning to show some wear and tear in the antennae, so NASA is officially shutting off the probe's transmitter. In fact, depending on when you're reading this, it may have already happened: Tuesday, June 30, NASA pulls the plug.
News of the shutdown comes on the heels (relatively speaking) of Spirit and Opportunity, two Mars rovers launched in 2004, blowing my little scientific mind: The rovers were supposed to last 90 sols (or Martian days) -- and they are still running to this day!
Amid the ever-expanding expectations of the little rovers that could, there is some bad news out of NASA on Spirit: On May 6, the rover roved into loose sand in the Mars region known as Troy and got stuck up to the hub of its wheels. So far, all efforts to bust it out of the dune have failed.
Could this be the end of a long and incredibly impressive run? If the public outpouring of affection for the robot has been any indication, NASA would have a PR nightmare on their hands if they didn't at least try to free Spirit ...
Wait a second, what's that you say? Free Spirit??In an event that probably transpired something like that, NASA decided to launch the 'Free Spirit' website to publicize its efforts to free the stuck rover. As of today, those efforts include creating a 'sandbox' (stop laughing, you programming geeks) on Earth to simulate actual conditions in the Martian sand.
As for Opportunity, all reports indicate the rover is still going strong and checking stuff out on the Martian surface.
Engineers, take note: *This* is how you build your rockets and rovers of the future -- where they outlast even the best of every one's expectations while still delivering important data back to Earth.
Well done, NASA. And thanks.
Labels: Mars rovers, NASA, Oppurtunity, solar probe, Spirit, Ulysses
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Amber Plante is your guide through the geektastic worlds of science, technology and pop culture -- the Q to your James Bond, the Cortana to your Master Chief and the McGonagall to your Harry Potter, so to speak. She makes the technobabble make sense and shows you the fantastic wired world of the Internet in a whole new light. Are you a geek, too? Don't worry, you're in good company.