Cumbrian Sky

This is a difficult time for followers of Opportunity and Spirit, the two Mars Exploration Rovers. Since their triumphant landing in 2004 we’ve come to think of them as almost immortal, come to believe that they can not only survive but laugh heartily in the face of any problem or crisis Mars could throw at them. Three and a half years into the rovers’ 90 day mission Spirit, the first of the two rovers to land, is still exploring and studying Gusev Crater, specifically the foothills of the Columbia Hills, despite having to drag a dead wheel behind her like an injured robot Lassie.

Halfway around Barsoom, after landing in Eagle Crater - in a spectacular cosmic “hole in one” worthy of Tiger Woods – and rolling around the inside of several smaller craters, Opportunity has reached the magnificent Victoria Crater, a mile wide, jagged-edged wound in the rocky flesh of Mars that she reached after an epic trek south across mile after endless mile of wind-rippled dust dunes, one of which trapped her for what seemed like an eternity. Both rovers have shown bravery above and beyond the call of duty, and out here we have followed their adventures with growing respect – and fear, knowing that any day a vital mechanical component could fail, or a computer could crash, ending their mission.

Losing either or even both of the rovers to a sudden technical failure would be terrible, but not unexpected. Mars is a harsh place, an unforgiving environment for any machine; its oxidising dust, wild temperature fluctuations and brutal terrain all make Mars a very effective murderer of space-probes – but it seems that Mars has come up with a less dramatic but much crueller way of finally trying to kill the rovers: a dust storm.

As you read this, Oppy and Spirit are both becalmed on Mars, cowering under a martian sky turned foul and molasses-dark with dust. And while Spirit’s condition is “serious but stable”, poor Opportunity is in serious trouble. She can’t see the Sun, the sky is so saturated with dust, and as the rovers rely on the Sun to provide them with solar power and keep them alive, the problem, and danger, is obvious. Starved of sunlight, Oppy is standing on the edge of the abyss in more ways than one… and all we can do here on Earth is wait, and watch, and hope the Sun breaks through the cloudy sky soon.

So now might be a good time to reflect on just how amazing the rovers are, and to be optimistic and think back to some of the highlights of their missions, especially Oppy’s, as she’s the rover in the most immediate danger. My highlights list would have to include watching Oppy’s landing online, in a little 2” x 2” Real player box on my computer screen. The picture kept breaking up and freezing, and the sound kept distorting or fading away completely, but watching the faces in mission control as Oppy streaked through Mars’ thin atmosphere and then bounced and bounced and bounced again, finally coming to a halt inside Eagle Crater, was a very emotional, very exciting time. I’m not ashamed to say I cried when she was down safely, and seeing clips on science programs still makes me shiver.

Eagle Crater proved to be a fascinating place, and Oppy spent many sols studying the outcrop of pale, crumbling rock protruding from the crater’s wall, and investigating the mysterious “berries” that filled the pits and hollows of the outcrop, but I wasn’t sorry when we left, because peeking over the edge of the crater had revealed to Oppy a vast plain stretching off to the horizon, a plain that just begged to be roved and explored. So, as a self-confessed "scenery freak" my pre-Victoria highlight was definitely Oppy reaching and then driving into Endurance Crater. I must admit I had got rather sick of sol after sol of endless rippling dust dunes, so when Burns Cliff appeared on the horizon, catching the sunlight and looking like the fossilised spine of some ancient martian dinosaur jutting out of the ground I knew we were going to see some really great views. I wasn't disappointed either. Endurance was a great playground for an armchair geologist like me, and Oppy sent back amazing views of the cliffs, thin clouds drifting across the pale pink sky above the crater, and a huge boulder called Wopmay which she found sitting there halfway into the crater, looking like some bizarre stone sculpture, or a fossilised dinosaur brain. I was really sorry when Oppy turned her back on that stone, and of all the rocks and boulders I've seen through the rovers' eyes I think Wopmay is the one I'd like to own, although 'McKay' sitting on top of Homeplate comes a very close second, thanks to Spirit.

But the arrival of Oppy at Victoria Crater has been the highlight of her incredible journey so far. Not so much the view itself, which was pretty amazing, but the way Mars enthusiasts on internet forums walked alongside Oppy as she advanced towards it, scanning the horizon looking for the crater to appear... sighting ‘Beacon’, and 'debating' what it was and which side of the crater it was on... Then, finally, after days of watching mounds growing on the horizon, and glimpsing hints of what looked the tops of outcrops came the arrival at the edge of Victoria, and as the ground literally dropped away in front of us we had our first view of the great buttresses of ancient martian stone on the crater’s far side, beyond a huge blanket of rippling dust dunes spread out over the crater's floor… I could almost hear Oppy give a contented sigh as she rolled to a halt, knowing she'd done her best, and could do no more. She was home.

I remember sitting here at my computer on that day, looking at that first "into Victoria" view and thinking that if Oppy died then, at that very moment, she'd have shown me the Mars I've always seen in my mind. Looking at the Pancam and Navcam images in the days that followed I had a very vivid vision of future martians going to Victoria - preserved as a martian National Park or Heritage site - and following the "Oppy Trail" around the crater's edge, much as they will do the "Spirit Trail" up and down Husband Hill then past Ultreya and on to Homeplate. That really will happen, I have no doubt. Future generations of martians will stroll around the crater, posing for photos beside crystal plaques marking the places where Oppy stopped to take her famous images. I wish I could be one of them, and I envy those martians of the future, because as I saw that crater open up in front of me in the days that followed, with each new picture it became ever clearer to me that Oppy had reached a place that will be seen by future martians - settlers and natives - as a very special place indeed.

But one memory stands out from the whole of Opportunity’s adventure so far. Standing – virtually - next to Oppy on that magical first day at Victoria, seeing the inside and farside of the crater for the first time, gazing in awe at its naked geology I felt like Lafayette Houghton Bunnell, one of the members of the Mariposa Battalion that became the white discoverers of the Yosemite Valley in 1851. Riding into the valley in search of Native American tribal leaders involved in raids on nearby American settlements, Bunnell and his fellow soldiers came face to face with its now famous towering granite cliffs and gushing, rainbow-framed waterfalls. Whatever expressions of wonder and amazement appeared on his face were surely the same ones that appeared on mine as I gazed into my screen and saw Victoria Crater’s great cliffs and gargoyles of umber rock. I’ll never forget that.

Now, knowing that poor Oppy is standing there, eyes stinging in the dusty wind, unable to see or feel the Sun, is very hard. I know she’s just a machine in reality, but to me she’s much more. She’s the best thing we have to areal astronaut on Mars, the best thing we will have for another generation at least, and I genuinely worry about her. One day she’ll die, that’s inevitable, but when she does it should be a fitting death; she shouldn’t suffer, she should go in a moment as any brave explorer or adventurer deserves to. She certainly shouldn’t just fade away, growing colder and colder, weaker and weaker as dust hides the Sun and slowly smothers her like a pillow pressed over her face. I’d hate that.

If she could think, what would she be thinking? Well, I've written a new poem which ponders that very question... "The Storm"

Some people think it's wrong to give human traits to the rovers, to "mere machines", that it's... well... a bit flowery and huggy-feely, and I can see their point. Although put together with the grace and precision of a pocket watch, Opportunity and Spirit are, after all, just collections of nuts, bolts, circuit boards and wires. But that's missing the point. The point is, they were built by humans, by us, by curious, impatient monkeys that evolved from jumping and whooping about in trees to be capable of imagining, designing, building and sending a robot to rove Mars, and now, after years of sending back images of that faraway red world those rovers are in trouble, which means we are in trouble. At a time when many of us evolved monkeys seem hell bent on killing each other over religion or politics or both, when we have lunatics crashing planes into buildings or blowing themselves up, when our leaders cover their ears and sing "la la la" at the mention of global warming and climate change, the missions of the Mars rovers represents something noble, something grand, something we can - and should - all be proud of.

There is no human tissue in the rovers, they're not some Borg-like combination of human and machine, but I do believe, seriously, that they were built with such love and dedication and hope that they each have a heart of a kind, and that's why I am sitting here tonight, looking at the sky, thinking Hang in there Oppy....

Hang in there…

UPDATE: Since this entry was posted the situation re the dust storm has improved, and senior members of the rover team have been expressing optimism that the rovers will survive and continue their missions. Not uncrossing my fingers just yet tho..!

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