Scientist discusses Mars rovers

Steven Squyres, a principal investigator on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project, spoke on the ongoing 2004 rover mission Wednesday evening to a packed Reynolds Auditorium. Squyres discussed his experiences and findings working with the vehicles and gave an update on the mission.

He also shared some of the brilliant, vivid images taken by the rovers — some taken as recently as this past weekend.

"Mars is a terrible place. It's a cold, dry, desolate world that's not well-suited for life today," Squyres said. "However, there are interesting hints that that's not always been the case."

Through the two rovers' discoveries, scientists are slowly uncovering the history of Mars.

Based on the data collected by the rovers and their analysis of the chemical composition of Martian rocks, there is strong evidence that water existed on Mars' surface in the past, Squyres said. This does not necessarily mean that life existed on Mars, though.

While Squyres believes the presence of water seems to point us towards the existence of life, he said it is too early to draw conclusions.

Squyres, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University, has been involved in numerous space missions, including the Voyager, the Magellan to Venus and the Mars observer mission. Currently, he and the team of about 170 people he leads at NASA are responsible for the scientific activities of the Opportunity and Spirit rovers — which cost about $850 million combined.

Wednesday marked day 461 of the planned 90-day mission to Mars, which has been extended in part because of the discovery of Martian winds, Squyres said. At one point, the solar panels powering the rovers were becoming covered with dust, decreasing the power generation by nearly two-thirds. Mini-tornados, however, cleaned away the dust and restored power generation to almost full capacity. The rovers are expected to last about 18 more months.

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The rovers have a very complex navigation system. Because it takes 10 minutes for a radio signal to travel from earth to Mars at the speed of light, "we had to build into the vehicle vision and intelligence. We can actually program the level of cowardice or courage into the vehicles. When it gets to a scary group of rocks, it analyzes the situation before deciding on the path [of least danger]," Squyers said.

The Spirit and the Opportunity rovers, which are about six feet in length, are equipped with a myriad of tools. In addition to a high-resolution camera, each rover has three spectrometers to help identify the rock composition, a microscope and a rock abrasion tool, which is essentially a drill to break into rocks.

"This mission came about from the work of literally thousands of scientists who made this possible," Squyers said. "It was a remarkable team effort by a remarkable group of people. For all of us who've had the pleasure to work on this mission, it has been the pleasure of a life time."