Марс зерттеушісі "Spirit": 2004-2010 жылдардағы саяхат

NASA Mars rover, active from 2004 to 2010

| programme = NASA Mars rovers
| previous mission = Sojourner
| next mission = Opportunity

Spirit, also known as MER A (Mars Exploration Rover – A) or MER 2, is a Mars robotic rover, active from 2004 to 2010. allowing more extensive geological analysis of Martian rocks and planetary surface features. Initial scientific results from the first phase of the mission (the 90 sol prime mission) were published in a special issue of the journal Science. On May 1, 2009 (5 years, 3 months, 27 Earth days after landing; 21 times the planned mission duration), Spirit became stuck in soft sand. This was not the first of the mission's "embedding events" and for the following eight months NASA carefully analyzed the situation, running Earth based theoretical and practical simulations, and finally programming the rover to make extrication drives in an attempt to free itself. These efforts continued until January 26, 2010, when NASA officials announced that the rover was likely irrecoverably obstructed by its location in soft sand,
though it continued to perform scientific research from its current location. The rover continued in a stationary science platform role until communication with Spirit stopped on March 22, 2010 (sol ). JPL continued to attempt to regain contact until May 24, 2011, when NASA announced that efforts to communicate with the unresponsive rover had ended, calling the mission complete. A formal farewell took place at NASA headquarters shortly thereafter.

Opportunity and Spirit rovers were part of the Mars Exploration Rover program in the long term Mars Exploration Program. The Mars Exploration Program's four principal goals were to determine if the potential for life exists on Mars (in particular, whether recoverable water may be found on Mars), to characterize the Mars climate and its geology, and then to prepare for a potential human mission to Mars. The Mars Exploration Rovers were to travel across the Martian surface and perform periodic geologic analyses to determine if water ever existed on Mars as well as the types of minerals available, as well as to corroborate data taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Both rovers were designed with an expected 90 sols (92 Earth days) lifetime, but each lasted much longer than expected. Spirit mission lasted 20 times longer than its expected lifetime, and its mission was declared ended on May 25, 2011, after it got stuck in soft sand and expended its power reserves trying to free itself. Opportunity lasted 55 times longer than its 90 sol planned lifetime, operating for 5498 days from landing to mission end. An archive of weekly updates on the rover's status can be found at the Opportunity Update Archive.

The MER A (Spirit) and MER B (Opportunity) were launched on June 10, 2003 and July 7, 2003, respectively. Though both probes launched on Boeing Delta II 7925 9.5 rockets from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 17 (CCAFS SLC 17), MER B was on the heavy version of that launch vehicle, needing the extra energy for Trans Mars injection. The launch vehicles were integrated onto pads right next to each other, with MER A on CCAFS SLC 17A and MER B on CCAFS SLC 17B. The dual pads allowed for working the 15 and 21 day planetary launch periods close together; the last possible launch day for MER A was June 19, 2003 and the first day for MER B was June 25, 2003. NASA's Launch Services Program managed the launch of both spacecraft. Spirit successfully landed on the surface of Mars on 04:35 Spacecraft Event Time (SCET) on January 4, 2004. This was the start of its 90 sol mission, but solar cell cleaning events would mean it was the start of a much longer mission, lasting until 2010. Spirit was targeted to a site that appears to have been affected by liquid water in the past, the crater Gusev, a possible former lake in a giant impact crater about from the center of the target ellipse at After the airbag protected landing craft settled onto the surface, the rover rolled out to take panoramic images. These give scientists the information they need to select promising geological targets and drive to those locations to perform on site scientific investigations. The MER team named the landing site "Columbia Memorial Station," in honor of the seven astronauts killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. On May 1, 2009 (sol ), the rover became stuck in soft sand, the machine resting upon a cache of iron(III) sulfate (jarosite) hidden under a veneer of normal looking soil. Iron sulfate has very little cohesion, making it difficult for the rover's wheels to gain traction. On January 26, 2010 (sol ), after several months attempting to free the rover, NASA decided to redefine the mobile robot mission by calling it a stationary research platform. Efforts were directed in preparing a more suitable orientation of the platform in relation to the Sun in an attempt to allow a more efficient recharge of the platform's batteries. This was needed to keep some systems operational during the Martian winter. On March 30, 2010, Spirit skipped a planned communication session and as anticipated from recent power supply projections, had probably entered a low power hibernation mode. The last communication with the rover was March 22, 2010 (sol ) and there is a strong possibility the rover's batteries lost so much energy at some point that the mission clock stopped. In previous winters the rover was able to park on a Sun facing slope and keep its internal temperature above , but since the rover was stuck on flat ground it is estimated that its internal temperature dropped to If Spirit had survived these conditions and there had been a cleaning event, there was a possibility that with the southern summer solstice in March 2011, solar energy would increase to a level that would wake up the rover. Spirit remains silent at its location, called "Troy," on the west side of Home Plate. There was no communication with the rover after March 22, 2010 (sol ). It is likely that Spirit experienced a low power fault and had turned off all sub systems, including communication, and gone into a deep sleep, trying to recharge its batteries. It is also possible that the rover had experienced a mission clock fault. If that had happened, the rover would have lost track of time and tried to remain asleep until enough sunlight struck the solar arrays to wake it. This state is called "Solar Groovy." If the rover woke up from a mission clock fault, it would only listen. Starting on July 26, 2010 (sol ), a new procedure to address the possible mission clock fault was implemented.

JPL continued attempts to regain contact with Spirit until May 25, 2011, when NASA announced the end of contact efforts and the completion of the mission. According to NASA, the rover likely experienced excessively cold "internal temperatures" due to "inadequate energy to run its survival heaters" that, in turn, was a result of "a stressful Martian winter without much sunlight." Many critical components and connections would have been "susceptible to damage from the cold." Spirit's total odometry is .

Spirit (and its twin, Opportunity) are six wheeled, solar powered robots standing high, wide and long and weighing Six wheels on a rocker bogie system enabled mobility over rough terrain. Each wheel had its own motor. The vehicle was steered at front and rear and was designed to operate safely at tilts of up to 30 degrees. The maximum speed was ; , although the average speed was about Both Spirit and Opportunity have pieces of the fallen World Trade Center's metal on them that were "turned into shields to protect cables on the drilling mechanisms". Solar arrays generated about 140 watts for up to fourteen hours per sol, while rechargeable lithium ion batteries stored energy for use at night. Spirits onboard computer uses a 20 MHz RAD6000 CPU with 128 MB of DRAM and 3 MB of EEPROM. The rover's operating temperature ranges from and radioisotope heaters provide a base level of heating, assisted by electrical heaters when necessary. Communications depended on an omnidirectional low gain antenna communicating at a low data rate and a steerable high gain antenna, both in direct contact with Earth. A low gain antenna was also used to relay data to spacecraft orbiting Mars.

The rover uses a combination of solar cells and a rechargeable chemical battery. This class of rover has two rechargeable lithium batteries, each composed of 8 cells with 8 amp hour capacity. At the start of the mission the solar panels could provide up to around 900 watt hours (Wh) per day to recharge the battery and power system in one Sol, but this could vary due to a variety of factors. Like Earth, Mars has seasonal variations that reduce sunlight during winter. However, since the Martian year is longer than that of the Earth, the seasons fully rotate roughly once every 2 Earth years. By 2016, MER B had endured seven Martian winters, during which times power levels drop which can mean the rover avoids doing activities that use a lot of power. Dust storms have occurred quite frequently when Mars is closest to the Sun. but it remained silent after the storm subsided in early October.

The rocks on the plains of Gusev are a type of basalt. They contain the minerals olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase and magnetite. They look like volcanic basalt, as they are fine grained with irregular holes (geologists would say they have vesicles and vugs). Much of the soil on the plains came from the breakdown of the local rocks. Fairly high levels of nickel were found in some soils; probably from meteorites. Analysis shows that the rocks have been slightly altered by tiny amounts of water. Outside coatings and cracks inside the rocks suggest water deposited minerals, maybe bromine compounds. All the rocks contain a fine coating of dust and one or more harder rinds of material. One type can be brushed off, while another needed to be ground off by the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT). The dust in Gusev Crater is the same as dust all around the planet. All the dust was found to be magnetic. Moreover, Spirit found the magnetism was caused by the mineral magnetite, especially magnetite that contained the element titanium. One magnet was able to completely divert all dust, hence all Martian dust is thought to be magnetic. The spectra of the dust was similar to spectra of bright, low thermal inertia regions like Tharsis and Arabia that have been detected by orbiting satellites. A thin layer of dust, maybe less than one millimeter thick, covers all surfaces. Something in it contains a small amount of chemically bound water.