NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology JPL HOME EARTH SOLAR SYSTEM STARS & GALAXIES SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY JPL Email News RSS Mobile Video
Follow this link to skip to the main content
JPL banner - links to JPL and CalTech
left nav graphic Overview Science Technology The Mission People Spotlights Events Multimedia All Mars
Mars for Kids
Mars for Students
Mars for Educators
Mars for Press
+ Mars Home
+ Rovers Home
Features
Spotlight On Mars - Image
Midwinter Energy Diet
June 24, 2008
This animated gif is a combination of three still images. The first image, shown in approximately the same color a human would see, shows the leading edge of one of the Spirit's solar panels and the NASA logo covered with a rust-red coating of dust. Just above it is a dark spot in the rocky, Martian surface made with the wire brush on the rover's rock abrasion tool.  The second image, in black and white, is a microscopic view of densely scattered dust particles coating the electrical wiring and tiny circuits of the rover's solar cells.  The third image, acquired by Spirit on June 19, 2008, is a black-and-white view of an array of solar cells next to the panoramic-camera calibration target, all obscured


Imagine having only enough energy to run a microwave oven for seven minutes each day. Think of it as your energy diet -- it's all you have to survive. Basically, that's what NASA's Mars rover, Spirit, experienced in June 2008.

Last summer's dust storms left a sun-blocking haze in the atmosphere and a thick sunscreen of particles on Spirit's solar panels. The nights grew longer and the days colder with the onset of winter. The dusty coating got thicker as more dust fell from the sky.

To save energy, rover planners cut back on communications and rover awake time. They made heating a top priority to keep Spirit's battery and a mineral-detection instrument alive.

It paid off. Now that Spirit has survived the June 25 winter solstice in the southern hemisphere, winter will give way to spring. Spirit will have fewer dietary restrictions as energy levels improve.

Images courtesy of: Panoramic camera/Microscopic imager

Solar panel image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

Microscopic image credit (closeup of dust and wiring): NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/USGS

Higher Res Images:
  This image, shown in approximately the same color a human would see, shows the leading edge of one of the Spirit's solar panels and the NASA logo covered with a rust-red coating of dust. Just above it is a dark spot in the rocky, Martian surface made with the wire brush on the rover's rock abrasion tool.
Full Size Still Image
This image shows , in black and white, is a microscopic view of densely scattered dust particles coating the electrical wiring and tiny circuits of the rover's solar cells.
Full Size Still Image
This image, acquired by Spirit on June 19, 2008, is a black-and-white view of an array of solar cells next to the panoramic-camera calibration target, all obscured .
Full Size Still Image
USA.gov
PRIVACY    |     FAQ    |     SITEMAP    |     CREDITS