By Mary O’Keefe

It is a place that residents along the foothills may sometimes take for granted, a place where everyday history is being made – either it is the beginning of a new concept for space travel or Earth science exploration or it is the actual engineering of revolutionary spacecrafts and rovers.

Perhaps stating the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a “magical” place is something that scientists and engineers of JPL would take issue with; however, one definition of the word is “beautiful or delightful in such a way as to seem removed from everyday life.” That seems to be a perfect description of what occurs at JPL.

At the end of each year, CVW looks over past events and looks toward the new year; at times those looks involve JPL’s accomplishments and what its future holds.

There were so many things that occurred this past year; one of the most historic was the announcement of Dr. Laurie Leshin as JPL director and vice president of Caltech. This was the first time a woman was appointed as director at JPL.

In addition, in December the NASA/JPL rover Perseverance dropped its first cache of Martian rock samples, which had been collected in a tube and will be picked up on a future Mars mission and brought back to Earth for study. And there are preparations being made to take humans once again to the moon.

One of the best ways to understand what really goes on as a mission evolves from dream to obsession and then reality is to watch “Good Night Oppy.” The film was released last year. It was directed by Ryan White and written by White and Helen Kearns. It tells the story of the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity that landed on Mars in January 2004, 21 days apart. Their mission was for 90 sols (a sol is slightly longer than an Earth day at approximately 24 hours, 39 minutes, 35 seconds).

The film showed how long it took for geologist Steve Squyres, who had an idea of exploring the rocks on Mars with a rover, to lead the presentation of landing and exploring the planet. It also shows how many individuals it took to make this happen and how much pressure there was to “get it right.” A few years earlier two Mars missions had failed in dramatic fashion. Mars Polar Lander crashed into the surface of the planet and Mars Climate Orbiter burned up in the atmosphere. The worst part of the latter was that the mistake was made because those in Mission Control made an error by failing to translate “English units to metric,” according to NASA.

So the pressure was on to land on Mars with these two robots, and “Good night Oppy” shows that pressure and the everyday stress of mission life.

“The anxiety is very high,” said Jennifer Trosper, mission manager, of the time working on the rover mission. “I don’t know at what point I went on blood pressure medication.”

Even after the rovers landed there was still intense stress mixed with joyous celebration as the rovers worked, and then didn’t, then came back online only to face Martian storms. The rovers faced it all and somehow came back to life.

But it is the human qualities that the engineers and scientists gave to Spirit and Opportunity. The rovers became part of their families; they each have their own personality and their own strengths.

The rovers began their day with a song sent via Mission Control; when it had lost contact with Spirit for a while the song Mission Control chose was ABBA’s “S.O.S.” It seemed appropriate and the film showed how “S.O.S.” lightened the mood and even gave hope to those on Earth.

Although Spirit ended its mission on March 22, 2010 and the official end for Opportunity was Feb. 13, 2019 the significance of their story is an important moment in time that was encapsulated in this film as rovers Curiosity and Perseverance continue to roll along Mars’ surface.

One of the people who had a front row seat in the journey of the twin rovers was John Callas, who was project manager of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover project at JPL from 2006 to September 2019. Callas had a way of bringing a relatable quality to everything happening to the rovers on Mars.

“We were amazed they lasted as long as they did,” Callas said of the longevity of the twin rovers as both went years past their original mission expectancy.

However, the rovers did not land and then roll across the Martian surface without incidents. Spirit had a few software issues including a bout of amnesia and then getting stuck in the sand. The right front steering actuator failed in 2005 … but Spirit kept going. Opportunity’s arm, which usually was tucked near its undercarriage during drives, had some mobility issues. So it continued to keep the arm out as it traveled – not something planned but something engineers were able to adjust.

“We learned a lot more about the environment on Mars,” Callas said not only of the success of the rovers but of their challenges as well.

Callas is not on a mission currently; instead, he is the program manager for the NASA fundamental physics program. He no longer has those day-to-day worries of what is going on with the rovers but he does remember that feeling, and remembers what it felt like at the end of Opportunity’s mission.

“We lost contact at the height of a dust storm,” he said. “For eight months, once the storm cleared, we tried to re-establish contact.”

Opportunity had gone into a deep sleep and there was hope that, after all the trials and tribulations this little rover had gone through and came out beeping again, somehow it would send a signal. Those in Mission Control waited for it to have enough power to wake up, but there was no word.

“It’s like having a loved one missing in action,” he said. “You’re hoping for their return but at some point you have to let go and grieve.”

Opportunity and Spirit really did lead the Earth into a new exploration future of discovery.

“For the first time in human civilization we were working on Mars every day,” Callas said. “We became Martians. When people would show up for work they would go to work on Mars. When we use the phrase ‘our world’ we used to think [only of] Earth and now we have [to include] Mars.”

“Good Night Oppy” can be viewed on Amazon.