No Quitters!

When we last took a look at Mars, things looked bad for the Mars Rovers. A global dust storm threatened their power-generating capabilities. Was this the end of Spirit and Opportunity?

Amazingly, no! The rovers survived the dust storm, are starting to gather power again and are ready to continue the mission! Skies are brightening and winds have even helped by scrubbing some of the accumulated dust from the solar arrays.

What next, once mission managers check the health of the rovers? Spirit has climbed onto a rock formation known as Home Plate, a plateau that might be volcanic in origin. Spirit will investigate at least three areas on the formation, to get a wide sample of the materials there.

On the other side of Mars, Opportunity is getting ready for what might be its final mission. It is poised on the edge of Victoria Crater, where we might get a peek at the ancient past of the martian surface. On September 11, Opportunity took a small test drive into Victoria, "dipping" four meters into the crater to see how well the rover will work on the slope. The rover then backed out, and the mission managers are deciding on the next step of the mission.

We're ready for our descent into Victoria Crater!

In other news, the Phoenix Mars Lander is in good shape on its way to Mars. As part of a recent series of checks, it took a picture of the scoop on its robotic arm.

Science, a lot of science, is still going on around Mars. The 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter has been gathering data since it entered martian orbit over 2,000 days ago. Its instruments, such as the THermal EMission Imaging System (THEMIS) has been busy looking the landing site candidates for an upcoming rover mission, the Mars Science Laboratory (scheduled for a 2009 launch). Candidate areas include the Melmas Chasma, a slice of the vast Valles Marineris canyon system. For spectacular scenary potential, there might not be a better place on Mars!

The European Space Agency's Mars Express is into its second mission extension. Among the results from this mission are new topographic maps of Mars, a better understanding of how the surface has evolved, and even the discovery that Mars has auroras!

Finally, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the newest addition to the orbital parade, is sending back the closest orbital looks of Mars yet. Here, for example, is a pit on the flank of the Arsia Mons volanco that actually cuts through the lava flow. Here is further evidence of the work of liquids on the surface of Mars (click on the images for spectacular large-sized views, but be warned these files are big!). Amazing stuff!