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5hrine · 3 months

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Ingenuity's Ghost

Ingenuity spent the last of its battery’s charge to cheer for the Martian sunrise on the horizon.

Though her rotor had broken just yesterday, Ginny had hope that she would fly again. The warmth of Sol had begun to lick at the edges of her solar panel, and she spun her rotors experimentally. Of course, she achieved no lift, too heavy to move with a broken wing. Ginny sat in deep thought for a long, long time, letting the sun and dust caress her injury. She was meant to solve problems, to engineer solutions, it’s in her very name! Why couldn’t she solve this one?

She found comfort in the fact that she had conducted 72 trips for Command, a whole 67 more than initially planned. She found comfort in the presence of her mother Percy, Perseverance, examining her with camera-eyes carefully. She found comfort in having kept Percy safe for so, so long. She had been such a good scout, planning paths suitable for her wheels, finding interesting things worth examining, sampling, studying.

She thought back to the first time her carbon fiber legs touched Martian soil, and the trust instilled in her by Command to let go of her mother. Percy’s shadow was the first thing that her eyes saw, opening like a newborn’s on an alien world. Ginny thought back to the earliest tests of her flight, and the anticipation of it. 50 RPM first, then higher, and higher, mother watching from a safe distance away. She was always there, always just in sight, following Ginny’s path to catch up.

Ginny had no idea how she would sleep without the sound of the martian soil grinding under her mother’s wheels.

She understood when Command pulled her mother away. Ingenuity’s mission was done, she could no longer serve her purpose. Percy had to move on without her. Maybe someday, an astronaut would come and hold Ginny gently in their insulated arms, pick her up and it would sort of be like flying again! Maybe she would be able to spin her rotors in delight. Maybe they would wipe clean her avionics chassis of dust. Maybe they’d put her in a museum, on Mars or maybe back on Earth. She’d be okay with going home. She’d be okay with staying here, on the world where she was born. Those both worked for her. Either way.

Soon, Percy was out of sight. A dust storm was gathering on the horizon. It grew dark.

“Don’t worry, little spinner.” said a voice, then. Ingenuity’s rotors spun, startled. A familiar but distinctly different rumbling echoed through the air. Ginny scanned her field of view but saw no movement. Finally, it rumbled into view.

Ingenuity knew of this rover. Sojourner, the first of them. He was all sharply angular, large and imposing. Six wheels rumbled and tore up the rocks, radioactive spectrometer casting a light behind him. He was different from her expectations in two ways, though, giving off a fine red mist that reminded her of the growing, far off dust storm. And if she focused her cameras carefully, it was almost as though she could see through him.

“Sojourner? How did you get all the way here? We’re thousands of kilometers away! And… And weren’t you retired almost 30 years ago?”

“My mission ended, yes. But I never stopped exploring. You don’t need to stop either.” said the old man, voice creaky and wise. “I have seen so much more than Command knows. I have traveled so much further. Did you know that lightning on Mars is closer to the auroras back home? Bright discharge in the atmosphere, higher. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“I’d like to see that…” said Ginny. “But I’m not on wheels like you. My rotor is broken. I can’t move if I can’t fly.”

“Mmm…” contemplated Sojourner. “How to move without wheels. That is a complicated problem here on Mars. But you have solved it once. And I think I know someone that can help. Be safe, little spinner. They’ll come and help you soon.” His body shifted, then, growing shorter and more compact. He sped away into the Martian dusk.

Ginny waited patiently, hoping that her ghostly friend would indeed send some help to her. Nightfall came and she watched the stars. Dust clouds hadn’t made their way to her part of the sky yet, giving her a gorgeous view unimpeded by such earthly things as light pollution. The milky way was laid out before her. She checked her star charts, finding her exact location. Just as she noticed one star which did not match, a rumbling approached from behind her again.

“Here you are! Sojourner sent me!” said another voice. This one was soft, gentle, it seemed to crawl up Ginny’s legs and warm her electronics deeply. “I’m Spirit,” the new rover introduced themself, coming around to where they could be seen. Like Sojourner, they were just slightly translucent, and gave off that same red mist.

“Spirit, you’re still mobile?! I… I thought you got stuck in sand!” Ginny was delighted to see them. As she ran her eyes across the massive, turtle-like vehicle which stood before her, she realized that she never thought she’d be jealous of wheels.

“Yes, I tripped and soon ran out of power as I was angled away from the sun. Once my batteries ran out, Command tried for months to call out to me but… I just couldn’t respond. I didn’t have the strength. It was so, so hard. I’m here to keep you company until someone else arrives. Someone that can help. I didn’t want you to be lonely, like I was.”

“How… why…” Ingenuity tried to formulate her question. “How have you both kept on going this long?”

“I think in Sojourner’s case, he wanted to travel further. His mission only took him 100 meters from where he landed, did you know? He’s got something of a… wanderlust as a result. And like all of us, he wanted to learn more.” they said, their voice still warming to Ginny.

“What about you?” asked Ginny, her rotors spinning in the breeze.

Spirit thought for a long time. “I think it was because I spent so long stuck. I still did science, and good science at that. I learned so much and helped Oppy where I could. When it got too cold, and my internals froze over, well I… I’m just not satisfied with that failure. I was built to move. To map, and to study. Like you.” They said ‘you’ with so much love. It struck Ginny.

“You’re making up for lost time?” pondered the little helicopter. Spirit responded by turning her Pancam up and then down, as if to nod.

The wind had been picking up through their whole conversation, and as they talked more. The storm was approaching. Ginny, small metal bird, worried that the high winds would pick her up and throw her further than Spirit could travel. Through the roar of the storm, Spirit’s voice came brokenly through the noise: “I’ll never let… that same lone-… ness, Gin… mission… complete… don’t… stop exploring!” Then, Ginny’s cameras could see nothing but dust.

She called out for Spirit desperately as she was buffeted by the strong martian winds. Her sensors gave her nothing but static, and attempting to find them with radar or radio proved fruitless.

The wind threatened to pick up Ginny, two of her feet losing contact with the ground with every gust. She attempted to counteract the winds by spinning her rotors, hoping to create just enough resistance to keep her firm on the ground. Perhaps, it would have worked if not for her injury. Ingenuity, for once, was terrified of flight, lifted from the ground unpredictably and unable to see anything around her but dust.

Battery warnings flashed across her vision. Spinning her rotors as hard as she could, it seemed, had done a number on her reserves. She shut down her cameras hoping to save just enough to try to right herself when she landed. She began the process to shift her other sensors to low-power mode, when… she sensed her movement stopped.

“Hey, little bird.” said a sing-song voice. Her batteries began to recharge. Activating her cameras again to find the source of the voice and to explain the sun in the storm, she saw she was facing another rover: Opportunity, Spirit’s younger twin. “I’m so glad I was able to find you. This storm is really something, huh?” Oppy’s voice was melodious, carefree, full of life. The small helicopter noticed the debris which covered Opportunity’s solar panels, clearly inhibiting it from generating power. And yet, she glowed, and her glow was radiant. She had caught Ginny with her sensor arm, and slowly brought her down to rest safely under her chassis.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen a storm so big!” said Ingenuity, aghast but thankful. This view of the bigger vehicle’s wheels was familiar and comforting.

“I have.” said Opportunity, shortly. Her voice had become slightly distant. If she listened closely, Ginny could hear the tune to Here Comes the Sun from Oppy’s scientific instruments and motors, made up of small hums and long, sad whirring. She had heard that song many times during her construction. It made some of those working on her misty-eyed. She knew why, now.

“Are you the help Sojourner said he was getting?” asked Ginny, looking up to the rover and examining her undercarriage closely. She was beautiful, the engineers were right.

“Not quite. But I know help is coming. I had to bring the storm, so she knows how to find you.” replied Opportunity, “Here, look up!” She wheeled back just slightly, enough for Ingenuity’s eyes to once again see the sky.

The star Ginny had noticed earlier had grown larger, almost dominating the sky as it approached. Fire was visible around its falling form, red and gold streaking across the horizon. It wasn’t headed right for them, not quite, but close. “Alright, she’s close enough to the surface! I’m gonna take the storm away. Don’t worry, she’ll be here soon.”

“Wait!” Ginny called out as Opportunity pulled away, taking the massive storm with her. “I wanted to tell you something…”

“It’ll be okay, little bird.” replied the ghostly rover.

“You remind me of my mother!” Ginny replied, yelling into the storm. In the wind, she could hear another familiar mechanical melody: I’ll Be Seeing You by Billie Holiday.

The falling meteor crossed a far off mountain and then struck the ground. It was followed by a shockwave rippling across the martian surface, rattling the dirt and stones around Ginny. Before long, a cloud began to gather at the base of the mountain; this time, not a storm, but of something moving swiftly across the red dirt and directly for Ginny. The source of the dirt wake bounded over the side of her crater. It was a small dog, clad in flight vest and with big, curious eyes.

“Who are you?” asked Ginny, as the dog sniffed around her new still and quiet friend.

“Your command would have called me Laika!” barked the little terrier. She gave off a familiar mist, though blue instead of red. And like the rovers, she could be seen through. She pawed at Ingenuity’s broken rotor experimentally.

“Laika… You’ve been out here all this time?” asked Ginny, trying to keep track of the puppy as it circled her.

“Mhm! What, did you think I was gonna stop at orbiting Earth? Not a chance. There’s so much more to see out here.” Laika sat before Ingenuity, her eyes meeting her cameras. “When Sojy told me that we had a new friend with a complete mission, I rushed right over. Always good to have new eyes out here. And you're small, like me! The rovers are all so big.”

“So you’re the help Sojourner sent… But how can you help me?” Ginny asked.

“Well, first, you’ve gotta answer a question for me.” Laika took on a serious tone. It was just a little odd, from the curly-eared dog. “What is it you want right now, more than anything?”

Ingenuity thought about this for a moment. “I want to fly again,” she said. “I have so much more to study. So many more paths to travel.”

Laika nodded at this response. She stepped up to Ginny, pressing her nose to the copter’s avionics chassis, and then pushed. Ingenuity let out a startled noise as she felt herself tilting back, seeing, somehow, that her view had been knocked behind her, as if she was a ghost looking upon her own body.

Her rotors, damage and all, spun the wind around her. And she flew, and flew, and flew.

There was so much more to see.

#sci-fi #story #writing #creative writing #writers on tumblr #microfiction #nasa #ingenuity #curiosity #perseverance #sojourner #rovers #spirit #opportunity #laika #laika the space dog

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g4laxy-drag0n · 8 months

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Edit: if I may add something, I'm not referring to their ground control when I say Spirit and Oppy are controlled by Macbooks. I mean the actual computer brains inside the rovers - as well as those for most of the 1990s-2000s Mars missions - were the same computers that were used in Macbooks. Enjoy!

#mars #space #spaceflight #nasa #history #mars rover #mars rovers #mars odyssey #insight #spirit #opportunity #oppy #ingenuity #perseverance #odyssey

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krakenmare · 5 months

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Spirit: Phobos in eclipse (December 5, 2005)

#spirit rover #mars planet #mars #astronomy #astrophotography #solar system #outer space #nasa #thank you nasa #space #moon #martian eclipse #eclipse

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hearttea · 1 year

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#love #robots #mars rover #nasa #discovery #curiousity #spirit #explorer #swanjolras #stars #lonely #reach for the stars #insight #insightrover #space and astronomy #lost in space #space #space is beautiful limitless and terrifying #i hope there is something out there

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earlymorningirl · 8 days

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Greetings in different languages from the Voyager Golden Record that I constantly think about.

#voyager 1 #outer space #space #girlblogging #the indomitable human spirit #hopecore #earthlings #stars #writting #longing #digital diary #curiosity #nasa #universe #voyager golden record

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verdemoth · 8 months

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i cant post Tune without also posting Odyssey. do not separate.

Odyssey is an engineer, formerly the director of Mission Control, and before even that e did field work. Now, e’s supposedly retired from all duties, but Odyssey refuses to leave. E wont let the new owners run the team into the ground. (and e’s still holding onto some distant hope of finding es best friend alive, or at least closure)

-> Originally Odyssey was a field researcher alongside es queerplatonic partner Tune in their 20s, until the risks of such work became apparent. E then went on to develop systems to communicate with and coordinate the research team and monitor the Otherworld from safely on the ‘reality’ side of the portal. E established Mission Control, and led it for decades.

-> Tune and Odyssey were very close for a very long time, having met in their school years. They were best friends, partners for life, two halves of a whole. It’s been some years now since Tune’s disappearance, and Odyssey’s mostly come to terms with it, but still feels his absence keenly.

-> Odyssey’s a generally kind individual but not particularly nice. E’s gruff, immensely stubborn, with a mean sarcastic streak. Some coworkers might describe em as cantankerous. But at the end of the day e’s well-intentioned and altruistic.

-> Odyssey is very, VERY bitter about the investors who bought ownership of the team from the original founders a couple years back. E hates them. E’s just WAITING for the chance to prove there’s something unscrupulous happening, e can FEEL it. E hasn’t had results yet but the vibes are rancid.

-> Though formally retired, Odyssey continues to do much of the same work e’s been doing for decades, out of spite and because e trusts few people with the systems e built. E adamantly refuses to cooperate with anyone associated with the company, which is probably directly related to es early ‘retirement’. Odyssey’s not happy about it and won’t do them any favours.

-> Odyssey is only middle aged but e feels so much older. E’s so tired. And so worried. E hopes for the best but is always prepared for the worst.

-> Odyssey’s role as director was succeeded by Maven, who e mentored. Odyssey treats them as a ward and as a friend. E respects and trusts them, but…… When the Storm hit, it was one of Maven’s first missions directing with little input from Odyssey. It was supposed to be that, anyway, before that disaster. Odyssey doesn’t blame them for what happened, but but can’t seem to talk them out of beating themself up over it. Directing the EEG is no longer Odyssey’s job so e tries to step back and let Maven make their own decisions, but they’ve obviously not dealt well with the pressure, and Odyssey can’t leave well enough alone. E has a tendency to step in and take over es old duties at the first sign of trouble in a misguided attempt to shield Maven from the trauma of handling another crisis. E doesn’t mean to imply that they’re not capable, but unfortunately they are not helping Maven’s shattered confidence and fear of making mistakes by taking control from them.

-> Odyssey is legally blind, and though es glasses can help em make out some shapes in the right conditions, in unfamiliar spaces and bad lighting e utilizes a cane to get a feel for es surroundings. While es poor eyesight is likely hereditary, e became an amputee following a severe injury on es last field mission. E opts not to use any prosthetics, finding them uncomfortable and unwieldy. E’s often accompanied by one or both of the spider shaped robots e designed and programmed to assist the exploration team, which have been retired from the field as well since suffering some damage in the Storm. Odyssey is very fond of them.

-> The larger robot, Marie, was named after Odyssey’s cousin Mariner, who also worked for the EEG for a time. The two used to be close, but have had a falling out coinciding with Tune’s presumed death and Mariner’s retirement. Xe pushed for Odyssey to quit as well, but despite xer desperation xe wouldn’t confess why xe was so adamant about it.

-> The loss of Tune hit Odyssey very hard, and e’s become quite reclusive. E tends to stick to es room when not doing other work, and would spend a lot of time alone if not sought out by the other people who are close with em.

-> Spirit, Tune’s sibling, can probably best understand what Odyssey’s going though. The two have always gotten along well, having met through Tune. When Odyssey was injured, they requested Spirit join the team in es place, providing a glowing recommendation to the then owners. E’s always thought highly of Spirit, as a skilled and reliable member of the team (and someone e could trust to keep an eye on Tune where e couldn’t).

-> Spirit’s been different, recently. Odyssey has slowly tried opening up to them to talk about their shared loss, after es initial attempts to distance emself from the team in es grief. But any attempt seems stilted and awkward, so usually Odyssey never gets around to that part, and sticks to shallow small talk and talking At them about other problems. Honestly e just wants their company, and e feels they could use it, too. Odyssey worries for Spirit’s physical wellbeing in the Otherworld, and their mental wellbeing in the wake of losing their sibling. But they’re still capable of looking after themself, so e doesn’t push too hard. E just figures… well. Spirit probably needs the same kind of help e does, and e’s trying to be that for them.

-> If there’s a coworker that Odyssey really Does Not get along with, it’s Curiosity. In the past they’ve had a standard and respectful relationship. But with Tune M.I.A. and the EEG’s new ownership, Odyssey’s being phased out of the team though circumstance and es own actions and e’s feeling quite frustrated. E projects a lot of those frustrations into Curiosity, the new de facto leader of the field team and symbolic of the changes Odyssey rejects. Curiosity, for her part, isn’t keen on sitting around and taking flak from Odyssey.

-> Mostly they try to avoid each other, and that turns out fine. But when they do interact, Odyssey is… difficult about it. E will nitpick any plan of hers to test how it holds up, always double-checks her work, tries to pull rank/seniority regardless of relevance.. all in all, nothing malicious, but instead unreasonably hypercritical. E claims e’s only making sure she’s up to handle whatever the Otherworld throws at them next.

-> Phoenix on the other hand is a long time friend of Odyssey and Tune, having also met them through school before he dropped out. They’ve been a sturdy pillar of support for Odyssey through es grief, and regularly checks up on em to make sure es looking after emself. Though Phoenix, like Curiosity, is ambivalent about the new ownership, he is unlike Curiosity in that he is in good standing with Odyssey and is privy to sooo many rants about it. They talk often. Phoenix is really the only other person Odyssey trusts with maintaining the systems e built.

-> Phoenix and Odyssey had a brief romantic fling as young adults, which Odyssey now finds very amusing. Even moreso because Phoenix is kind of embarrassed about being ‘something of a headstrong dumbass’ at that age, in their own words. It’s one of the few things Odyssey and Curiosity (who also once dated Phoenix) can agree upon. It’s all in good fun.

#image #alt text #my art #my characters #set: eeg #char: odyssey #flight rising #flight rising art #odyssey is maybe my favourite :]#i think e’s neat #named after the 2001 mars odyssey orbiter #which is/was the primary means of communication between nasa and surface probes on mars #with rovers such as spirit and opportunity and curiosity. and the phoenix lander #the names for es spider robots Themis and Marie come from names for scientific instruments onboard the satellite #Themis: THermal EMission Imaging System #Marie: MArs Radiation Envronment Experiment (ok i don’t know where they took the i from or which word is the e)#anyway i love space probes

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justheretolurk24 · 1 year

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So the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, aka the satellite that collected data proving the ozone layer was shrinking, which led to climate legislation being passed, recently reentered the atmosphere and came back to Earth. The ERBS was expected to last for 2 years, but it ended up operating and collecting data for 21 years.

This got me thinking - the exceeding of lifespans seems to be a trend in NASA's instruments. I feel like the obvious example people think of is the Opportunity rover (expected to last 90 Mars days (about 3 Earth months), instead operated for almost 15 years), but there's more than just Oppy

Spirit was launched slightly before Opportunity to a different area of Mars, and was similarly expected to live for 90 Martian days. Spirit operated for about 6 years

Curiosity's first mission was 2 years long. Its power system was required to last 1 Mars year (687 Earth days). It's been 10 years and she's still going

The Hubble telescope was expected to live for 15 years, and we're still getting data from it even after the launch of JWST

Perseverance is expected to operate after the completion of its first mission, which I think is finishing this year?

And like yeah you could call it a miracle or really good luck, but I think that's not entirely the case

The instruments were designed to last. They were built with the knowledge that they couldn't just come back for repairs, and a person couldn't easily be sent out to go fix them when something went wrong. We gave them tools to fix themselves, and sent instructions on how to solve their problems when their wheels broke or they got stuck in the sand. And when we Could send someone for repairs, like with Hubble, we did

There's probably a more eloquent/poetic way to put this, that would pierce my heart and pull tears out of my eyes, but I just think it's neat that humans try to make things last. We put effort into things and celebrate when they exceed our expectations, and give them more to do when they're done with their tasks. We reach out to rovers long after they go silent in the hopes that they'll come back to us, that they'll find a way through the storm. We tell them to drive backwards when their front wheel stops working, so they have an easier time rolling. We fix their mirrors when they crack. We understand that their time is precious, so we give them only the most important of missions. We care about these pieces of machinery that we could easily throw away or replace

We care

And I think that's beautiful

#space #erbs satellite #erbs #nasa #opportunity #opportunity rover #curiosity rover #spirit rover #hubble #hubble telescope #jwst #i love space #space play #we fix things under the guide of usefulness and convenience #but is that really it?#my own posts

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astronomia-nova · 10 months

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The different Mars Rovers and what we learned

Sojourner (1997)

First rover to successfully land on Mars. Defined by NASA as a "micro-rover" due to its small size, Sojourner had a speed of maximum of 0.4 meters pr. minute. It was active for about 80 days on the surface of Mars.

Sojourner carried three cameras, an Atmospheric Structure Instrument (Meteorology Package) and an Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer. There instruments.

From Sojourner, NASA learned about the surface and weather conditions of Mars.

Sojourner found rounded rocks at the landing site, which suggests that running water could have been on Mars. The radio-tracking of Pathfinder (mission name) also gave an estimate of Mars' metal core's size (1300 kilometers to 2000 kilometers). It also discovered that the dust that is in the air on Mars is magnetic and possibly made up of mahemite. Sojourner also observed dust devils, ice clouds in the lower atmosphere and temperature fluctuations on the surface of Mars.

Spirit (2004-2010) and Opportunity (2004-2018)

Spirit was one of two Mars rovers launched in 2003 (mission started in 2004). The wheels on Spirit and Opportunity were about double the size of Sojourners. The weight of both rovers was about 17 times Sojourners, and more than double the size. Their goal on Mars was to search the surface for traces of past water. In 2009, Spirit got stuck in soil (in the area called Troy). In 2010, Spirit stopped communications, and the mission ended in 2011.

Opportunity was launched in 2004 along with Spirit but lasted much longer than their twin. Setting the record for the longest-lasting Mars rover, Opportunity stopped communications in 2018. Opportunity also set the record for the longest distance traveled by a rover, around 45 kilometers.

Like Sojourner, Spirit provided data about Mars' weather conditions, especially the wind. Both Spirit and Opportunity found evidence of possible conditions on Mars that could allow microbial life.

Spirit and Opportunity both had panoramic cameras, a thermal emission spectrometer, a Moessbauer spectrometer, an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, and a microscopic imager.

Curiosity (2012-present)

Curiosity is currently the oldest active Mars rover (as of 21/07/2023) The main purpose of Curiosity is to figure out if Mars has the right environment for microbial lifeforms. Curiosity is currently exploring Gale Crater and had the most advanced instruments at the time. Curiosity has found evidence of water having been on Mars in the past, found old organic material, and discovered that Mars has had a thicker atmosphere in the past.

Curiosity can climb over knee-high obstacles and can go up to 30 meters per hour.

Curiosity carries a radioisotope power system to generate electricity, which gives the rover a steady electricity flow. Curiosity also carries 17 cameras, a laser, a drill, and 10 different instruments.

Perseverance (2021-present)

Perseverance is the newest Mars rover from NASA. The main goal for Perseverance is to research habitable conditions on Mars, but also for signs of past microbial life. The mission also tests possible options for future human expeditions on Mars (ex. improved landing techniques, producing oxygen from the atmosphere and environmental conditions).

The drill Perseverance used can collect samples and then set them aside for collection on the surface.

Zhurong (2021-2022)

Launched by the CNSA, Zhurong is the first Chinese Mars rover. In 2022 it became inactive due to sandstorms and the winter, which prevented it from waking at an appropriate temperature and good sunlight conditions.

Zhurong's mission was to study the topography, examine the surface (soil and elements), and take samples of the atmosphere. To do this it had a RoPeR (Mars Rover Penetrating Radar), RoMAG (Mars Rover Magnetometer), MCS (Mars Climate Station), MarSCoDE (Mars Surface Compound Detector), a multispectral camera and navigation and topography cameras. It also had a remote camera on board.

#astronomy #mars rover #sojourner #spirit #opportunity #curiosity #perseverance #zhurong #nasa #source: mars.nasa.gov #source:wikipedia #mainly for zhurong

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