How NASA's twin robots revealed Mars' past 20 years ago

As they happily roll around drilling rocks and taking photographs on the surface of Mars NASA's six-wheeled robots, curiosity and perseverance, There are others Twin robots made history 20 years ago. They planted the seeds of Mars exploration, which is crucial to achieving the goal of humans setting foot on the Red Planet in the coming years.

These are also six-wheeled rovers Spirit, which reached Mars on January 3, 2004, and Opportunity, which arrived at the Red Planet days later, on January 24 of that year. Both explorers were launched in June and July of the previous year aboard Delta II rockets.

In January 2004, NASA's two rovers landed on opposite sides of Mars. Ushering in a new era of robotic interplanetary exploration. They arrived in amazing fashion Three weeks apart, each of them was placed inside a huge composite air bag, which bounced off the red surface about 30 times before stopping and deflating to reveal the robots and invite them to begin their legendary journey.

Golf cart-sized rovers mission: research Evidence that water once flowed on the surface of the Red Planet. They found this and much more. Ubertonti discovered the “blueberries,” or spherical hematite stones, shortly after landing. Which indicates the presence of acidic water.

Spirit has found signs of ancient hot springs, suggesting possible past habitats for microbial life. Other discoveries included “jelly-filled donuts” and the first meteorite to be discovered on another planet.

Their findings could rewrite science textbooks. Scientists have long suspected that Mars long ago was radically different from the icy, rusty wasteland it is today, with previous orbital images showing what appears to be… Networks of channels carved in the water. But before Spirit and Opportunity, there was no evidence that liquid water formed those features.

“Our two rovers were the first to show the presence of wet early Mars. They paved the way for learning more about the Red Planet’s past using larger rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance,” the former project scientist explained as part of the 20th anniversary. matt Golombek, From NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which led the Mars exploration mission.

Diego CordovaThe Argentine historian and researcher in space missions explained information The Spirit and Opportunity rovers represent a turning point in Mars exploration.

“NASA came from a previous administration, in the 1990s, It was characterized by the Faster, Better, Cheaper (Faster – Better – Cheaper) philosophy on which the construction was designed Small investigations, big cost savings Compared to the Viking missions of the 1970s, for example, the Pathfinder mission and its small rover Sojourner from 1997 were less expensive to detect Viking life. But that was a big drawback: Because they were small vehicles, there wasn't much room for scientific instruments, and there were fewer launches. There was much less room for errorsaid the author of Footprints on the Moon.

“Unfortunately, Cost cutting has affected it in more than one way, leading to the failure of several missions to Mars. Like the Mars Observer and Mars Polar Lander, which were lost in 1993 and 1999 respectively, and were designed during that disastrous administration. but The 2000s will be different. He added: “It was clear that we had to invest more if we wanted to succeed on a difficult planet like Mars, where everything is complicated, such as landing in the middle of such a fragile atmosphere and the exploration itself in such a hostile region.” The expert. .

He specified: “It is clear that The duration of these rovers is determined by their batteries and solar panels That although they were covered in dust, and obviously that could work against them, it is also true that when they were able to move and head towards other areas with different winds, the same Martian dust was released from the panels, allowing them to charge them with energy and return To work work again. The foresight of the entire team played a big role in this here. that while they can, They pointed the rovers toward the sun To facilitate the accumulation of energy to withstand the harsh Martian winters that accelerated the consumption of its batteries, as well as dust storms that obscured its solar panels for days.

The effort was worth it NASA has been able to operate Spirit for 7 years and 14 years. “It was better technology designed under management that realized that cost savings in Mars exploration would only hinder scientific development, because thanks to the longer time spent on Mars, they were able to expand the scope of observations and experiments far beyond what had been planned.” Cordova added.

He concluded: “Spirit and opportunity laid the foundations for solid planetary exploration undertaken today by the “big brothers” of curiosity and perseverance And soon the next level, which is obtaining samples that will come directly from the surface of Mars to our planet. All of this would have been impossible without the paradigm shift in space exploration, a path that these two rovers have undoubtedly blazed, celebrating 20 years on Mars.

Thanks in part to the science gathered by Spirit and Opportunity, NASA approved development of the rover A curiosity the size of an SUV or small carTo investigate whether the chemical components that support life existed billions of years ago in what was once an aquatic world, which he did in 2012.

then, The rover will reach the Red Planet in 2021The project aims to collect rock cores in sturdy metal tube containers, which can be brought to Earth to search for signs of ancient microbial life through the Mars Sample Return Campaign, a joint effort between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). next decade.

Spirit and opportunity It also allowed engineers on Earth to develop practices for surface exploration Which continues today, including the use of specialized software and 3D glasses to better navigate the Martian environment.

After honing years of experience during the two rovers' journeys across the rocky and sandy surface of Mars, engineers can now plan longer, safer missions and develop the more complex day-to-day plans needed to operate Curiosity and Perseverance quickly.

The members of the scientific team also became more Experts in their role as virtual field geologists, Drawing on years of knowledge to choose the best ways to explore the Martian terrain using the robotic “eyes” and instruments carried by their fellow rovers.

The Spirit rover landed on Mars on January 3 and Opportunity on January 24. They were Mars rovers Designed to work for only 90 days. But they lasted for years until they succumbed to a dust storm that swept the planet in 2018. That durability exceeded the wildest dreams of scientists and engineers, who also programmed both stealths to travel only up to 600 metres.

But through various tricks and long-term robotic contraptions, the team had the opportunity to traverse a wide range of Martian terrain and extend their wheels for several kilometres. The soul traveled 7 kilometers and chance In its 14 years, it became the first rover to travel more than a marathon distance on another planet: Covered 45 km.

“This was a quantum leap that no one expected. The distance and time scale we covered was a truly historic leap in scale,” said former project manager John Kalas of JPL.

Living up to its name and thanks to its long stay on the Red Planet, the probe has provided the opportunity to reveal that Mars was not only once a wetter world, but was also home to many different types of aquatic environments (freshwater, (thermal springs). Acid and salt swimming pools) at different times in its history.