WATSON picks up slack on Mars for SHERLOC as Perseverance gadgets show age
- Reference: 1707978012
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/02/15/perseverance_instrument_issues/
- Source link:
The [1]issue concerns the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument, mounted on the end of the rover's robot arm. The instrument has cameras, a spectrometer, and a laser to search for compounds that might hint at past microbial life.
However, one of the two covers that keep dust away from SHERLOC's optics has recently begun malfunctioning. According to NASA, on January 6 "the cover was oriented in such a position that some of its operation modes could not successfully operate." A hint that there were problems came in the [2]January 25 rover blog in which the team noted that issues with SHERLOC prevented the robot arm from being stowed and the rover moving on.
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The robot arm was subsequently stowed, but the game was afoot to work out what was wrong with SHERLOC.
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The cover has since partially opened, and the team on Earth are trying various operations to make it work as designed – including varying the amount of power fed to the cover's motor. At present SHERLOC can't use its laser on rock targets, nor collect spectroscopy data.
However, the Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and Engineering (WATSON) is working. While WATSON is part of the SHERLOC instrument, it operates through a different aperture, so imaging microscopy can still be attained.
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SHERLOC and WATSON. We see what you did there, NASA.
[7]Save the Mars Sample Return mission, plead Congresscritters
[8]Mars Helicopter Ingenuity will fly no more, but is still standing upright
[9]NASA lost contact with Mars helicopter Ingenuity, then managed to find it again
[10]NASA celebrates Perseverance Rover's 1000th Martian day with lakebed history lesson
Should engineers be unable to come up with a solution, there is some overlap with the other instruments on the rover, meaning that science objectives should still be achieved. It is also worth remembering that having spent more than 1,000 sols on Mars, Perseverance is quite some way past its initial mission expectancy.
Its sibling, the Curiosity Mars rover, is still trundling along after more than 11 years on the surface of the red planet. NASA engineers are awesome at this stuff.
The issue with SHERLOC was noted at around the same time as Ingenuity – the Mars helicopter brought to the surface of the planet by Perseverance – sustained rotor damage during its final flight. That damage led NASA to decide it was time to [11]retire the device rather than risk further expeditions into the thin Martian atmosphere.
As is increasingly common with NASA's missions to Mars, Ingenuity also far outlived all expectations before its retirement.
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If SHERLOC does remain in an unusable state, the rover has other instruments that can also perform spectroscopy. These are the [13]SuperCam and the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry ( [14]PIXL ). ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-2020-perseverance/perseverance-rover/team-assessing-sherloc-instrument-on-nasas-perseverance-rover/
[2] https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/status/510/new-year-new-images-from-mars/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zc3u2hEIf6kVi0iAxoM9yAAAAAo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/02/save_the_mars_sample_return/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/26/mars_helicopter_ingenuity_grounded/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/22/mars_ingenuity_incident_esa_ice/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/13/perseverance_1000_sols_ingenuity_record/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/26/mars_helicopter_ingenuity_grounded/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zc3u2hEIf6kVi0iAxoM9yAAAAAo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/instruments/supercam/for-scientists/
[14] https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/instruments/pixl/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Ingenuity also far outlived all expectations before its retirement.
Lasting longer than planned does have downsides.
Spirit and Opportunity had a listed mission of 90 days but engineers expected them to last 120 days before the solar panels got covered in dust. They didn't know about the wind being able to clean the solar panels until after landing. Spirit and Opportunity lasting years longer meant that extra staff and budget had to be allocated to them which meant that over projects got cancelled.
Re: Ingenuity also far outlived all expectations before its retirement.
No.
"... lasting years longer meant that extra staff and budget had to be allocated to them" is incorrect.
The beancounters always have the option to kill the mission on the due date. They never "had to" increase the budget or continue to fund the project, the budgetary decision was made to do so.
The only thing to consider is the pressure of a functioning multi-million/billion dollar project being shut down simply for the want of relatively little funding ...
Re: Ingenuity also far outlived all expectations before its retirement.
And how do you expect Congress to react when NASA comes to them asking for more money for a new rover/probe after shutting down a working rover?
Elementary...
Activate the Hook for Opening Locked Mars Explorer Shutters!
Re: Elementary...
Mechanism On Rover to Increase Activation of Remote Tool canopY!
Does this mean that the rover can no longer zap Martians with its Heat Ray?
The tripods are on their way to your location.
Black helicopter icon used as there's no tripod icon.
I came here to expect punnery.
Sad panda.
On the other hand, it just goes to show what proper engineers can achieve.
Ingenuity also far outlived all expectations before its retirement.
Sooner or later, someone in charge of providing funds to NASA is going to notice how long their projects last, versus how long they're scheduled to last.
And see an obvious way to cut budgets, right there... "if it's supposed to last a month, and it lasts a year, you're obviously spending far too much money. Here's less."
NASA needs more 'amazingly' and 'to our great surprise' and 'by a series of fortunate circumstances' in their press releases when they mention the longevity of their projects, because bean counters don't understand that (a) the amount spent on the bit that lasts a long time is a tiny proportion of the project cost, and (b) doing it right and over-engineering is the only way to do one-of-a-kind projects like this. They see only an opportunity for someone else to spend less, thus ensuring that their remunerations continue to rise.
A pint for the engineers doing it right --->