Issue date: 3/1/04 Section: News

Audience members who attended the NASA Mars Rover Discoveries presentation given by Mark Lemmon Saturday afternoon may have been sitting in their seats in Rudder Auditorium with 3D glasses on, but felt as if they were actually looking around on the Mars' surface.

Every martian morning, Lemmon goes to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., along with other NASA Mars Rover Team members, to explore Mars' surface using the two rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. He works on Mars time because the rovers are solar-powered and can only be driven around during the martian day.

"In the building (where the NASA Mars Rover Team members work), we cut out all sunlight and all signs of Earth, and in that building, we're on Mars," Lemmon said. "We see the environment around us through the eyes of the rovers, and we sense the environment around us through the instruments on the rovers."

The main goal of the Mars Rover Mission is to search for signs of past or
present water on Mars, Lemmon said.

The rovers were launched from Earth in summer 2003 and made their way to Mars on a seven-month journey through space that ended in January 2004.

"After the first bounce, we still had a signal, (and the Spirit rover) was alive on Mars," Lemmon said. "Then the signal went away, and all of us knew full well that it didn't just have to survive one bounce, it had to survive every single bounce."

The lander bounced about 25 times and finally rolled to a stop about nine
minutes after impact, and the signal was restored, Lemmon said.

Each rover carefully drove off of the lander and rolled onto the martian
surface.

"Once we have gotten off the lander and once we start moving around, we want to actually touch things," Lemmon said. "That is what we came here
for - to study things up close and personal."

Lemmon said the rover must be able to assess its surroundings and think for itself so that it can successfully maneuver around on the surface of Mars.

"As (the rover) is driving along, it can identify obstacles or hazards, and it will steer itself around them so that it doesn't run into anything," Lemmon said.

The Spirit and Opportunity are exploring regions on opposite sides of Mars. Spirit landed in the Gusev Crater, which is a giant crater that may have once been a Martian lake.

"If there was ever a standing lake on Mars, this is a good candidate for being one," Lemmon said.

So far, scientists have not found any further evidence that supports the idea that this crater used to be a lake, but Spirit will continue to explore the area by drilling into Martian rocks to determine their composition and will gradually make its way toward some hills off in the distance, Lemmon said.

Opportunity landed in a small crater in Meridiani Planum, which is an area of vast plains. Scientists saw that it was very close to an outcrop, which is an area where rocks can be seen in the place where they actually formed.

This will allow the scientists to assess whether or not the rocks formed in the presence of water.

The completed results of the chemical composition of the rocks that Opportunity is examining should be available later this week for scientists to review.

Lemmon said the rovers will continue to drive around and collect data into the summer months and hopefully beyond.

"I thought the presentation was very informative and intriguing." said senior mechanical engineering major Phillip Alaniz, "The best part of the presentation was the animation of the rovers landing and traveling on the ground."

Michael Donovan, a sophomore physics major, was also amazed by the computer simulation of the rovers landing.

"My favorite part would have to be the demonstration on how the rover landed," Donovan said. "The design must have been nearly flawless."

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