title: Lunalilo

text: The King also wanted to improve Hawaii's economic situation. The Kingdom was in an economic depression, with the whaling industry rapidly declining. Commerce groups asked the king to look at sugar to improve the economy and recommended that a treaty be drawn with the United States to allow Hawaiian sugar to enter the nation tax-free. To make such a treaty, many thought that the Kingdom would have to offer the Pearl Harbor area to the United States in exchange. There was much controversy over this, with both the public and in the legislature. When Lunalilo saw this opposition, he dropped the proposal.


title: Lunalilo

text: During Lunalilo's reign, a mutiny took place in the small Hawaiian army. Some members of the army revolted against the drillmaster and the adjutant general. The king interviewed the troops involved in the mutiny and he persuaded them to lay down their arms. Following this, the king disbanded the army. From that point on, the Kingdom had no armed forces until King Kalākaua restored them.


title: Lunalilo

text: King Lunalilo had some bad health habits; for example, he was an alcoholic. Around August 1873, Lunalilo contracted a severe cold which developed into pulmonary tuberculosis. In hopes of regaining his health, he moved to Kailua-Kona. A few months later, on February 3, 1874, he died from tuberculosis at the age of 39, at Haimoeipo, his private residence in Honolulu. Lunalilo had reigned for one year and twenty-five days.


title: Lunalilo

text: On his deathbed, he requested a burial at Kawaiahaʻo Church on the church's ground. He wanted, he said, to be "entombed among (my) people, rather than the kings and chiefs" at the Royal Mausoleum in Nuʻuanu Valley. This was due to a feud between Lunalilo and the Kamehameha family over his mother Kekāuluohi's exclusion from the list of royalty to be buried there. Thus, on November 23, 1875, his remains were taken from the Mausoleum, where it had rested temporarily awaiting the completion of the Lunalilo Mausoleum, to the completed tomb on the grounds of Kawaiahaʻo Church. His father requested a second funeral and a 21-gun salute from Kalākaua like during his first funeral. Kalākaua granted the second funeral but refused to allow the 21-gun salute. During this procession, eyewitness reports stated that a sudden storm arose, and that twenty-one rapid thunderclaps echoed across Honolulu which came to be known as the "21-gun salute."


title: Lunalilo

text: Like his predecessor, Lunalilo did not designate an heir to the throne. It was said he had intended for Queen Emma to succeed him, but died before a formal proclamation could be made. The most prevalent explanation of this delay is regarding his democratic principles: he wished to have the people choose their next ruler. However, the constitution of 1864 had charged the legislature, not the people, with the task of electing the next king. In the end, Kalākaua of the House of Kalākaua was voted to succeed Lunalilo as king. The election provoked the Honolulu Courthouse riots in which supporters of Queen Emma targeted legislators who supported Kalākaua; thirteen legislators were injured, with J. W. Lonoaea the only one to die from his injuries.


title: Lunalilo

text: In his will, Lunalilo set aside lands for the establishment of the Lunalilo Home, the first charitable trust established by a Hawaiian aliʻi trust, to house the poor, destitute, and infirmed people of Hawaiian descent, with preference given to older people.


title: Mu (negative)

text: The Japanese and Korean term () or Chinese (), meaning "not have; without", is a key word in Buddhism, especially Zen traditions.


title: Mu (negative)

text: The Old Chinese * () is cognate with the Proto-Tibeto-Burman *"ma", meaning "not". This reconstructed root is widely represented in Tibeto-Burman languages; for instance, means "not" in both Written Tibetan and Written Burmese.


title: Mu (negative)

text: The Standard Chinese pronunciation of (, "not; nothing") historically derives from the Middle Chinese , the Late Han Chinese "muɑ", and the reconstructed Old Chinese *.


title: Mu (negative)

text: Other varieties of Chinese have differing pronunciations of . Compare Cantonese ; and Southern Min (Quanzhou) and (Zhangzhou).


title: Mu (negative)

text: The common Chinese word () was adopted in the Sino-Japanese, Sino-Korean, and Sino-Vietnamese vocabularies. The Japanese kanji has readings of or , and a (Japanese reading) of . The Korean is read (in Revised, McCune–Reischauer, and Yale romanization systems). The Vietnamese Hán-Việt pronunciation is or .


title: Mu (negative)

text: In modern Chinese, Japanese and Korean it is commonly used in combination words as a negative prefix to indicate the absence of something (no ..., without ..., un- prefix), e.g., // () for "wireless". In Classical Chinese, it is an impersonal existential verb meaning "not have".


title: Mu (negative)

text: The same character is also used in Classical Chinese as a prohibitive particle, though in this case it is more properly written .


title: Mu (negative)

text: In traditional Chinese character classification, the uncommon class of phonetic loan characters involved borrowing the character for one word to write another near-homophone. For instance, the character originally depicted a winnowing basket (), and scribes used it as a graphic loan for (, "his; her; its"), which resulted in a new character () (clarified with the bamboo radical ) to specify the basket.


title: Mu (negative)

text: The character () originally meant "dance" and was later used as a graphic loan for , "not". The earliest graphs for pictured a person with outstretched arms holding something (possibly sleeves, tassels, ornaments) and represented the word "dance; dancer". After meaning "dance" was borrowed as a loan for meaning "not; without", the original meaning was elucidated with the radical , "opposite feet" at the bottom of , "dance".


title: Mu (negative)

text: "The Gateless Gate", a 13th-century collection of Chan or Zen "kōan", uses the word "wu" or "mu" in its title ("Wumenguan" or "Mumonkan" 無門關) and first kōan case ("Zhao Zhou's Dog" 趙州狗子). Chinese Chan calls the word "mu" 無 "the gate to enlightenment". The Japanese Rinzai school classifies the Mu Kōan as "hosshin" 発心 "resolve to attain enlightenment", that is, appropriate for beginners seeking "kenshō" "to see the Buddha-nature"'.


title: Mu (negative)

text: The koan originally comes from the "Zhaozhou Zhenji Chanshi Yulu" (), "The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Zhao Zhou", koan 132:


title: Mu (negative)

text: The "Book of Serenity" , also known as the "Book of Equanimity" or more formally the "Hóngzhì Chánshī Guǎnglù" , has a longer version of this koan, which adds the following to the start of the version given in the "Zhaozhou Zhenji Chanshi Yulu".


title: Mu (negative)

text: In the original text, the question is used as a conventional beginning to a question-and-answer exchange (mondo). The reference is to the "Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra" which says for example:


title: Mu (negative)

text: This koan is one of several traditionally used by Rinzai school to initiate students into Zen study, and interpretations of it vary widely. Hakuun Yasutani of the Sanbo Kyodan maintained that


title: Mu (negative)

text: This koan is discussed in Part 1 of Hau Hoo's "The Sound of the One Hand: 281 Zen Koans with Answers". In it, the answer of "negative", mu, is clarified as although all beings have potential Buddha-nature, beings who do not have the capacity to see it and develop it essentially do not have it. The purpose of this primary koan to a student is to free the mind from analytic thinking and into intuitive knowing. A student who understands the nature of his question would understand the importance of awareness of potential to begin developing it.


title: Mu (negative)

text: In Robert M. Pirsig's 1974 novel "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "mu" is translated as "no thing", saying that it meant "unask the question". He offered the example of a computer circuit using the binary numeral system, in effect using "mu" to represent high impedance:


title: Mu (negative)

text: The word features prominently with a similar meaning in Douglas Hofstadter's 1979 book, "Gödel, Escher, Bach". It is used fancifully in discussions of symbolic logic, particularly Gödel's incompleteness theorems, to indicate a question whose "answer" is to either un-ask the question, indicate the question is fundamentally flawed, or reject the premise that a dualistic answer can be given.


title: Mu (negative)

text: "Mu" may be used similarly to "N/A" or "not applicable," a term often used to indicate the question cannot be answered because the conditions of the question do not match the reality. A layperson's example of this concept is often invoked by the loaded question "Have you stopped beating your wife?", to which "mu" would be the only respectable response.


title: Idukki Dam

text: The Idukki Dam is a double curvature arch dam constructed across the Periyar River in a narrow gorge between two granite hills locally known as "Kuravan" and "Kurathi" in Idukki, Kerala, India. At , it is one of the highest arch dams in Asia. It is constructed and owned by the Kerala State Electricity Board. It supports a 780 MW hydroelectric power station in Moolamattom, which started generating power on 4 October 1975. The dam type is a concrete, double curvature parabolic, thin arc dam. The Indo-Canadian project was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on February 17, 1976.


title: Idukki Dam

text: This dam was constructed along with two other dams at Cheruthoni and Kulamavu. Together, the three dams and Two saddle dams, Kulamavu Saddle Dam (Near Junction) and Kulamavu Saddle Dam (Right Bank) have created an artificial lake that is in area. The stored water is used to produce electricity at the Moolamattom Power house, which is located inside nearby rocky caves.


title: Idukki Dam

text: Narakakkanam, Azhutha, Vazhikkadavu, Vadakkepuzha and Kuttiar diversion schemes were later added to augment the Idukki reservoir .


title: Idukki Dam

text: The idea of constructing a dam for power generation was first conceived in 1919 in a report submitted by Italian engineer Jacob to the Travancore government, which was rejected. As per history, Shri Chemban Karuvellayan Kolumban, the head of 'Oorali' tribe during 1922, showed the way to the Malankara Estate Superintendent W.J.John and his friend AC Thomas Edattu, who were on hunting trip to forests near the present Arch Dam. Upon hearing the legend of Kuravan and Kurathi Hills, Thomas impressed by the sight of water flow between the mountains; suggested the spot suitable for an Arch dam. In 1932, W.J.John submitted a report to the Government of Travancore on the possibility of constructing a dam at Idukki for Power Generation.


title: Idukki Dam

text: In 1935, assembly member Shri.K.A.Narayana Pillai brought the Idukki project to the attention of Government of Travancore. Italian engineers Angelo Omedayo and Clantheyo Masele conducted a study in 1937 but things didn't go forward.


title: Idukki Dam

text: In 1947, a preliminary investigation report was prepared and submitted by Sri. P. Joseph John, then The Chief Electrical Engineer to the Government of Travancore. It was during 1956 that the Central Water Commission conducted a detailed investigation based on the Government's request. The project report was prepared in 1961 and the Planning Commission accorded sanction for implementing the scheme in 1963. In 1964, under the leadership of Sri. E.U.Philipose, Superintending Engineer, preliminary works of the project were started.


title: Idukki Dam

text: The construction of this Dam commenced on 30 April 1969. The project lead by Dr.D.Babu Paul IAS, who appointed as Project Coordinator, Idukki Hydel Project & District Collector with several engineers like Sri. C.V Mathews, Sri. M. Ramachandran, (Retired Chief Engineers, Kerala State Electricity Board) . The Government of Canada aided the Project with long-term loans and grants. SNC-Lavalin, Canada, a well-known firm of Consulting Engineers were advising and assisting Project Engineers under Canadian aid, while Hindustan Construction Company (a.k.a. HCC) of Walchand group won the bid for construction.


title: Idukki Dam

text: Storage of water in Idukki reservoir commenced in February, 1973. The inauguration of trial run of the first machine was celebrated on 4 October 1975. Commercial operation of the Power Station was Commissioned on 12 February 1976 by the then Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi.


title: Idukki Dam

text: Idukki Dam is tall, constructed between the two mountains - Kuravanmala () and Kurathimala (). Length of the dam on its top is . It has a width of in the top and in the bottom. The gross storage capacity of the dam is 1.996 cubic kms (70.50 tmc ft). About of concrete was used in the construction of the dam. This project is situated in Idukki District and its underground power house is located at Moolamattom which is about from the dam. One thing to be noted is, Idukki Arch dam doesn't have any shutters to be opened so it has to rely on the Cheruthoni dam to maintain the reservoir water level.


title: Idukki Dam

text: <mapframe text="Dams in Periyar" width="500" height="500" zoom="9" latitude="9.8696" longitude="76.8399" align="center">


title: Idukki Dam

text: The Project harnesses a major portion of the power potential of Periyar, the largest river in Kerala, by the creation of a reservoir of 2,000 M.cum (2 Billion Tonnes) capacity, diversion of waters thus impounded through a water conductor system consisting of a power tunnel and two underground pressure shafts to an underground power house situated in Moolamattom. The installed capacity of the Power House is 780 MW consisting of 6 Units of Pelton-type turbines with a power generation capacity of 130 MW each. The regulated waters of Periyar falls through a drop of about while generating power in the underground power house. The generated power is given to two sub stations. One double circuit line to Kalamassery; one single circuit line to Tamil Nadu; One single circuit line to Pallom, 3 feeder bays for future.


title: Idukki Dam

text: The tail waters flowing to Kudayathurpuzha through tunnel and open channel is diverted for irrigation purposes in the Muvattupuzha Valley.


title: Idukki Dam

text: Earlier, there was a blanket ban on public entry in to the dam due to security reasons. Later, it was relaxed opening the dam for public for 10 days during the Onam and the Christmas seasons. The duration has been increased to one month since last year. Cameras and cell phones are not allowed inside the dam area. The entry fee is Rs. 25 for adults and Rs. 5 for children. The fee for 15-minute boating service for five persons is Rs. 600.


title: Idukki Dam

text: Idukki valley is away from Kottayam, and is a small hill town surrounded by a spread of beautiful, wooded valleys and meandering streams. Idukki is a well known tourist center in Kerala.


title: Idukki Dam

text: The Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary extends over the Thodupuzha and Udumbanchola taluks of Idukki district, spread over and is about above sea level. The Idukki Reservoir formed by three dams - Cheruthoni, Idukki and Kulamavu - extends to . One can find elephants, bisons, sambar deer, wild dogs, jungle cats, tigers, wild boars etc. and a variety of snakes like cobra, viper, krait and a number of non-venomous snakes in this sanctuary. The birds of Idukki are Jungle fowl, myna, laughing thrush, black bulbul, peafowl, woodpecker, kingfisher, eagle etc.


title: Goga Bitadze

text: Goga Bitadze (; born 20 July 1999) is a Georgian professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Listed at and 250 lbs (113 kg), he plays the center position. He was drafted 18th overall by the Pacers in the 2019 NBA draft.


title: Goga Bitadze

text: Born in Sagarejo, Bitadze started playing basketball professionally with VITA Tbilisi in the VTB United League. In 2015, he moved to Serbian club Mega Basket and was loaned to Serbian League team Smederevo 1953 in the following year. Upon his return to Mega in 2017–18, Bitadze was named most valuable player (MVP) of the Junior ABA League and became a key player for the senior team. At the end of 2018, he was loaned to Budućnost in Montenegro and was named EuroLeague Rising Star for the 2018–19 season.


title: Goga Bitadze

text: Bitadze is a member of the Georgian national basketball team. He was named to the national team at EuroBasket 2017 and made his debut at FIBA World Cup qualifiers in 2017. Previously, Bitadze represented Georgia at the junior level in FIBA competition.


title: Goga Bitadze

text: Bitadze was born in Sagarejo, a town in eastern Georgia. His father was a professional basketball player whose career was cut short by injury. Although Bitadze did not watch basketball in his childhood, he started playing the game when he was 6 years old, because he saw himself as "active and tall." As he became more involved in basketball, he began idolizing Georgian players Zaza Pachulia and Tornike Shengelia, as well as NBA stars Pau Gasol and Shaquille O'Neal. On 31 May 2013, Bitadze scored 17 points to help his school team Hyundai win the national under-14 championship over Gori. He also played in the Georgian under-16 league for three years. In 2014–15, his final season with Hyundai at the under-16 level, Bitadze averaged 23.1 points, 16.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 3.8 blocks per game. Through his early career, Bitadze trained in the junior ranks of Georgian club VITA Tbilisi.


title: Goga Bitadze

text: In the 2015–16 season, Bitadze played professionally for VITA Tbilisi in the VTB United League. He made his debut at age 16 and consequently became the youngest player in league history. Through 6 games, Bitadze averaged 2.8 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks in 13.8 minutes per game.


title: Goga Bitadze

text: On 2 December 2015, Bitadze signed with Mega Basket of the Basketball League of Serbia (KLS) and ABA League. Bitadze was drawn to the club because it had produced many NBA players like Nikola Jokić and Ivica Zubac, and he thought the Serbian league was "well run." He described the move, "It was hard for me for a couple of months. I was really frustrated, far away from my family and far away from my friends. It was hard, but then slowly I got used to it... you have to sacrifice in order to achieve something big and get something even bigger." In December 2015, Bitadze averaged 7.8 points and 4 rebounds per game to help Mega's junior team win the Torneo Città di Roma and qualify for the 2015–16 Adidas Next Generation Tournament (ANGT). In three games at the ANGT, he averaged 4.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.


title: Goga Bitadze

text: For the 2016–17 season, Bitadze was loaned to Serbian club Smederevo 1953, which competed in the KLS. Through 19 games, he averaged 10.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game. Bitadze debuted on 8 October 2016, recording 5 points and 4 rebounds in a 75–71 loss to Borac Čačak. On 29 October versus Napredak Kruševac, he scored a season-high 18 points, a mark he would match three more times in the season. Bitadze recorded his first double-double on 1 April 2017 against Dunav Stari Banovci, with 18 points and 11 rebounds. In addition, he assumed a leading role for the Mega Basket junior team at the 2016–17 ANGT. Bitadze averaged 17.7 points per game and led the tournament with 10 rebounds and 3.8 blocks per contest, en route to making the All-Tournament Team.


title: Goga Bitadze

text: He returned to Mega entering the 2017–18 season and mainly played with the senior team. Through 22 games in the ABA League, Bitadze averaged 11.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game, and through 12 games in the KLS, he averaged 15.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. He debuted on 1 October 2017, recording 12 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 blocks in a 95–88 win over Cibona. In January 2018, Bitadze briefly played for Mega's junior team and helped capture the Junior ABA League championship. After averaging 17 points and 11 rebounds in the final tournament, he was named league MVP and earned Ideal Five recognition. On 20 January, Bitadze scored 23 points versus Cedevita, his season-high mark in the ABA League. He declared for the 2018 NBA draft on 12 April and was considered a possible second-round pick. Bitadze recorded 19 points and season-bests of 15 rebounds and 6 blocks on 24 April, in a 92–90 loss to Mladost Zemun in the KLS. On 30 May, he had his best scoring effort of the season, posting 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting in an 83–61 victory over Vršac in KLS play. Bitadze withdrew from the 2018 NBA draft on 11 June, less than two weeks from draft night.


title: Goga Bitadze

text: To start the 2018–19 season, he continued playing for Mega. In an exhibition game versus NCAA Division I team Kentucky on 11 August 2018, Bitadze suffered an injury towards the end of the first half and did not return. On 30 September, in his ABA League season debut, he chipped in 24 points and 12 rebounds in an 80–79 win over Igokea. On 30 October, two days after recording 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks against Mornar Bar, Bitadze was named monthly MVP in the ABA League. In his following appearance on 3 November, he scored a season-high 28 points, shooting 10-of-11 from the field, while posting 11 rebounds and 4 blocks in an 81–74 loss to Partizan. On 24 November, Bitadze scored 28 points again, leading his team to an 82–80 victory over Cibona. Through 11 games for Mega, all of which were in the ABA League, he averaged 20.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks per game.


title: Goga Bitadze

text: On 20 December 2018, Bitadze was loaned to Montenegrin club Budućnost, which at the time competed in top-tier continental EuroLeague. He joined the team for the remainder of the season. Reflecting on the transition to his new club, Bitadze said, "It was not an easy situation, especially the first couple of days. I mean, it is still hard now to get used to things. But my teammates and coaches helped me." In his first game for Budućnost, on 24 December, he recorded 12 points and 4 rebounds versus Krka in the ABA League. Four days later, Bitadze made his EuroLeague debut, chipping in 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocks in a 93–88 loss to Bayern Munich. On 3 January 2019, he had another strong EuroLeague performance, posting 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks off the bench in a 111–94 defeat to Olimpia Milano. Over 13 EuroLeague games, Bitadze averaged 12.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game and claimed EuroLeague Rising Star honors as the best under-22 player in the EuroLeague. After Budućnost failed to qualify to the Playoffs of the EuroLeague, Bitadze returned to Mega for the rest of the season.


title: Goga Bitadze

text: On 20 April, he declared for the 2019 NBA draft, for which he was considered a possible lottery pick. On 19 June, during media availability for the draft, Bitadze appeared in a viral photo that showed him being ignored by reporters, who instead surrounded Zion Williamson, the eventual first overall pick, in the background. A number of NBA players, including Dwyane Wade and Draymond Green, suggested him to use the photo as motivation. He was drafted by the Indiana Pacers with the 18th pick overall in the 2019 NBA Draft. On 15 July 2019, the Indiana Pacers announced that they had signed Bitadze. On 28 October 2019, Bitadze made his debut in NBA, coming off from bench in a 99–110 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers with two points and a rebound.


title: Goga Bitadze

text: Bitadze played for the Georgian national under-17 team at the 2015 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship Division B, averaging 14.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks per game en route to a fifth-place finish. He had his best scoring display in the tournament on 13 August 2015, posting 24 points and 11 rebounds in an 80–66 loss to Sweden. At the 2016 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship Division B, Bitadze averaged 11.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 4.1 blocks per game for the Georgian under-18 team. On 6 August 2016, he recorded tournament-best marks of 23 points and 9 blocks while grabbing 13 rebounds in a 103–101 win over Bulgaria. Bitadze returned to national team play in 2017, averaging 10.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game at the FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship Division B.


title: Goga Bitadze

text: Bitadze was first named to the Georgian senior national team at EuroBasket 2017, but a calf ligament injury forced him to sit out of the entire competition. Regardless, he "learned a lot on and off the court" by observing his veteran teammates, including Zaza Pachulia and Giorgi Shermadini. On 24 November 2017, Bitadze debuted for the senior national team versus Germany during qualification for the 2019 FIBA World Cup, scoring 4 points in 17 minutes.


title: First Epistle of John

text: The First Epistle of John is the first of the Johannine epistles of the New Testament, and the fourth of the catholic epistles. There is no scholarly consensus as to the authorship of the Johannine works. The author of the First Epistle is termed John the Evangelist, who most scholars believe is not the same as John the Apostle. Most scholars believe the three Johannine epistles have the same author, but there is no consensus if this was also the author of the Gospel of John.


title: First Epistle of John

text: This epistle was probably written in Ephesus between 95 and 110 AD. The author advises Christians on how to discern true teachers: by their ethics, their proclamation of Jesus in the flesh, and by their love. The original text was written in Koine Greek. The epistle is divided into five chapters.


title: First Epistle of John

text: The main themes of the epistle are love and fellowship with God. The author describes various tests by which readers may ascertain whether or not their communion with God is genuine, and teaches that the proof of spiritual regeneration is a life of active righteousness. It also distinguishes between the world (which is full of evil and under the dominion of Satan) and the children of God (who are set apart from the world).


title: First Epistle of John

text: The epistle is not written in the same form as the other biblical epistles, as it lacks an epistolary opening or conclusion. The epistle is written in a simple style, without syntactical flourishes, and makes frequent use of asyndeton, where related thoughts are placed next to one another without conjunctions. In contrast to the linear style used in the Pauline epistles, biblical scholar Ernest DeWitt Burton suggests that John's thought "moves in circles", forming a slowly advancing sequence of thought. This is similar to the parallel structure of Hebrew poetry, in which the second verse of a couplet often carries the same meaning as the first, although in this epistle the frequent recapitulations of already expressed ideas serve also to add to what has previously been said. In summary, the epistle may be said to exhibit a paraenetic style which is "marked by personal appeal, contrasts of right and wrong, true and false, and an occasional rhetorical question".


title: First Epistle of John

text: Some scholars have proposed the idea that the epistle is really John's commentary on a selection of traditional parallel couplets. While this theory, first propounded by Ernst von Dobschütz and Rudolf Bultmann, is not universally accepted, Amos Wilder writes that, "It is at least clear that there are considerable and sometimes continuous elements in the epistle whose style distinguishes them from that of the author both with respect to poetic structure and syntactic usage."


title: First Epistle of John

text: The epistle is traditionally held to have been composed by John the Evangelist, at Ephesus, when the writer was in advanced age. The epistle's content, language and conceptual style are very similar to the Gospel of John, 2 John, and 3 John. Thus, at the end of the 19th century scholar Ernest DeWitt Burton wrote that there could be "no reasonable doubt" that 1 John and the gospel were written by the same author.


title: First Epistle of John

text: Beginning in the 20th century, however, critical scholars like Heinrich Julius Holtzmann and C. H. Dodd identified the Gospel of John and 1 John as works of different authors. Certain linguistic features of the two texts support this view. For instance, 1 John often uses a demonstrative pronoun at the beginning of a sentence, then a particle or conjunction, followed by an explanation or definition of the demonstrative at the end of the sentence—a stylistic technique which is not used in the gospel. The author of the epistle also "uses the conditional sentence in a variety of rhetorical figures which are unknown to the gospel". This indicates, at the very least, the linguistic characteristics changed over time. Today, following the work of J. Louis Martyn and Raymond Brown, the majority of scholars believe that John and 1 John were written by different members of the same community: the "Johannine Community".


title: First Epistle of John

text: "The Fourth Gospel addresses itself to the challenges posed by Judaism and others outside Johannine circles who have rejected the community's vision of Jesus as preexistent Son, sent by the Father." The New Jerome Biblical Commentary suggests that the three Johannine epistles "describe the fracturing of the Johannine community itself".


title: First Epistle of John

text: The author wrote the epistle so that the joy of his audience would "be full" (1:4); that they would "not practice sin" (2:1); that they would not be deceived by false teachers (2:26); and that "you who believe in the name of the Son of God... may continue to know that you have eternal life" (5:13). There are two main approaches to understanding the overall purpose of the letter, tests of life (popularized by Robert Law) and tests of fellowship (popularized by John Mitchell and Zane Hodges). Whereas the Gospel of John was written for unbelievers (), this epistle was written to those who were already believers (5:13). Ernest DeWitt Burton found it likely that its audience was largely gentile rather than Jewish, since it contains few Old Testament quotations or distinctly Jewish forms of expression.


title: First Epistle of John

text: The epistle also partakes of the debate over Jesus's nature: the debate over "flesh" or the incarnation. In early Christianity, some advocated for docetism, a view that Christ had been a purely divine being. Most notably, the group that would eventually become the Gnostics were docetic. 1 John fiercely denounces this belief in favor of the view that Jesus had a real appearance "in the flesh" on Earth. Chapter 4 writes that "every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God" (NRSV), and other passages say that Jesus shed blood, and if he could not shed blood then his death was meaningless. Chapter 2 also includes a passage that refers to a group of proto-Gnostics: a group that was once with the church but have since left it and deny that the human Jesus was also the spiritual Christ. The author denounces these secessionists as "antichrists". The introduction possibly also addresses the issue, especially if the identification of the author as John, or a pseudepigraphic claim to have been a disciple, is assumed: Chapter 1 writes of having evidence of the truth via eyes and touch. The author may thus be claiming to have known the physical Jesus personally and is emphasizing his physicality as a flesh-and-blood person rather than a spirit or phantasm.


title: First Epistle of John

text: The earliest written versions of the epistle have been lost; some of the earliest surviving manuscripts include:


title: First Epistle of John

text: The Muratorian fragment, dated to AD 170, cites chapter 1, verses 1–3 within a discussion of the Gospel of John. Papyrus 9, dating from the 3rd century, has surviving parts of chapter 4, verses 11–12 and 14–17.


title: First Epistle of John

text: Verses 1-4 of the first chapter constitute a prologue or introduction concerning the Incarnate Word. Like the Prologue to John's Gospel, this introduction tells us that what the author purposes to write about is the Word which is the Life. Anglican commentator Alfred Plummer notes that "the similarity to the of the Gospel is manifest", but with a significant difference, in that the gospel refers to the existence of the , "lógos", word, before the creation, whereas here the point is that the word existed before the incarnation.


title: First Epistle of John

text: A Trinitarian gloss (marginal note) known as the Johannine Comma, added to Latin translations of the epistle in the 4th century, was interpolated (added to the main text) within 1 John 5:7-8 over the course of the Middle Ages. Although no Greek manuscripts before the 15th century include the passage, Erasmus added it to later editions of his edition of the New Testament, beginning in 1522. Bibles translated from his edition integrate the passage, including the King James Version (1611), which renders it as follows ("in italics"):


title: First Epistle of John

text: Translations made since the 18th century and based on a critical edition do not include this text, or include it as a footnote. Because the addition supports the doctrine of trinitarianism, it featured in Protestant and Catholic debates on this subject in the early modern period.


title: First Epistle of John

text: Plummer suggests that here, "as at the end of [John's] Gospel and the Second Epistle, 'Amen' is the addition of a copyist". The Textus Receptus version includes "Ἀμήν", "Amen", at the end but critical editions do not.


title: First Epistle of John

text: Around 415, Augustine of Hippo wrote a commentary in Latin "On the Epistle of John to the Parthians" (in Latin, "ad Parthos"), in which he identifies the addressees of John's letter as Parthians. It has occasionally been suggested that this refers to a community of converts in the Jewish community of Babylonia. Around 730, Bede wrote that Athanasius of Alexandria had also believed in a Parthian destination for "1 John". This tradition, however, is known only from Latin sources. (Three late Greek manuscripts of "2 John" label it "to the Parthians".) On balance, it is likely that John's first letter was written for the Ephesian church and that the Parthian label results from a misreading or misunderstanding.


title: First Epistle of John

text: "1 John 4:16" is a song title in the album ""The Life of the World to Come"" inspired by this verse that was released by the American band The Mountain Goats in 2009.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is a video game based on the "Transformers" franchise, developed by Edge of Reality and WayForward, and published by Activision. It is the third and final entry in the "Cybertron" series, following "" and "", and acts as a spin-off and crossover with the live-action "Transformers" films. One portion of the game takes place in the timeline divergent from the one where the films take place, serving as an alternative to the events of "", and follows the Autobots as they try to retrieve a Cybertronian artifact called the Dark Spark from the mercenary Lockdown. The other portion, set between the first two "Cybertron" games, depicts the Decepticons' attempts to use the Dark Spark to win the war against the Autobots, and the latter's efforts to stop them.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: The game was developed primarily by Edge of Reality, with the Nintendo 3DS version developed by WayForward Technologies. It was published by Activision and released worldwide on June 23, 2014, for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. "Rise of the Dark Spark" received mixed-to-negative reviews.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: The console and Microsoft Windows versions of "Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark" are a third-person shooter, much like its predecessors: "", "", and "". Players can control each transformer in both its robot and vehicle forms. Instead of a traditional health system, the game features a system similar to the "Halo" series of video games. The player character has both a regenerating shield and health, the latter of which can be replenished by a health pack. The game features various challenges which reward the players with weapon upgrades, characters for the multiplayer component, and other bonuses. Upgrades for weapons can be purchased through Teletran 1 kiosks found throughout the game. Every character has their own unique ability. For example, Soundwave can summon his minions, Optimus Prime has a shield to block incoming fire, Sharpshot can turn invisible for a few seconds, and the Combaticons have the ability to combine into the massive Decepticon Bruticus. The Autobot Grimlock, who transforms into a dinosaur, is controlled differently from other characters: he carries only melee weapons (though he can shoot fire out of his mouth when in dinosaur form), and is much larger that other characters, in addition to having more health points.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: The 3DS version of the game is a strategy game role-playing video game. Melee combat is turn-based. The player is given three rounds to deplete their opponent's health. If successful, the enemy is removed from the overworld map. The player can choose from seven different attacks, each with their own recharge time after each use.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: "Transformers: Rise of The Dark Spark" has an extra mode called "Escalation". It is an online multiplayer mode where four players fend off waves of increasingly tough enemies, returned with the addition of upgradable defenses. The mode features over forty playable characters, and has levels based on both Cybertron and Earth. Experience points collected by players are shared between the single-player and multiplayer modes. The Escalation mode is absent in the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: "Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark" is a crossover with the "Transformers" film franchise and the "Cybertron" video game series, the latter consisting of "" and "". The eponymous Dark Spark is a powerful artifact that is capable of ripping holes in dimensions, which brings two "Transformers" universes together. The "Cybertron" universe component of the game takes place before the events of "Fall of Cybertron", while its film series universe component takes place on Earth in 2014, continuing "" and ignoring "". The story consists of fourteen chapters, six of which are set on Earth and eight on Cybertron.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: On Earth, in the film continuity, the Autobots Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Drift investigate the site of a mysterious crash in an abandoned city, encountering a large group of Cybertronian mercenaries led by Lockdown. At the crash site, they find a Cybertronian relic known as the Dark Spark, but before they can retrieve it, Lockdown takes it for himself and uses it to temporarily freeze them in time. As Lockdown makes his escape, Optimus says "I thought this day would never come..." and proceeds explain what the Dark Spark is: a powerful relic of unknown origins, believed to be the antithesis of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. Whereas the Matrix grants wisdom, the Dark Spark gives the user the power to bend the universe and its inhabitants to their own will.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: In the "Cybertron" continuity, Megatron announces that the Decepticons are close to defeating the Autobots and conquering Cybertron, and dispatches Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave to find the Dark Spark in the abandoned Crystal City. During their search, the Decepticons are attacked by a swarm of Insecticons led by Hardshell, Kickback and Sharpshot. Shockwave defeats the trio, earning their fealty and control of the Insecticons. With their help, the Decepticons find the Dark Spark, but before they can retrieve it, the Autobots Sideswipe and Ironhide grab it and run away. Pursued by Insecticons, they regroup with Optimus and Bumblebee at a train station, where they must fight off hordes of Insecticons and Starscream until the next train arrives. The Autobots manage to escape, but Shockwave destroys the train using hidden explosives.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: Shockwave and Sharpshot defeat Ironhide to reclaim the Dark Spark, but while attempting to reunite with the other Decepticons, they are ambushed by the Autobots. After escaping from them, the pair meet up with the Combaticons Onslaught, Vortex, and Swindle, the latter of whom helps them safely deliver the Dark Spark to Kaon, the Decepticons' capital city. Along the way, they are again ambushed by the Autobots, including Cliffjumper, but manage to defeat them. Jazz subsequently leads an Autobot siege on the gates of Kaon, but the Combaticons combine to form Bruticus and repel the attack. Cliffjumper is taken prisoner after unsuccessfully trying to destroy Bruticus with an explosive.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: Optimus and Jazz lead a secret mission to retrieve the Dark Spark and rescue Cliffjumper, but after finding the latter, all three become caught in a virtually inescapable trap. Optimus contacts Perceptor, who sends Jetfire to infiltrate the ruins of the massive Decepticon Trypticon. Despite an encounter with a Decepticon salvage team led by Starscream, Jetfire is able to use Trypticon's laser array to free Optimus, Jazz, and Cliffjumper, and then escape. While Jazz escorts the wounded Cliffjumper to safety, Optimus confronts Megatron, who uses the Dark Spark in combination with Dark Energon to revive several dead Autobots as mindless drones. Optimus defeats Megatron and uses the Matrix of Leadership to send the Dark Spark into deep space, but this injures both of them. While Shockwave carries Megatron away to safety, Optimus contacts Jazz to tell him that the Dark Spark is gone and they via the "Ark".


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: Back in the film continuity, the Autobots track Lockdown to a jungle, with Bumblebee and Drift being sent to scout ahead and find the mercenaries' stronghold. After Drift is captured, Bumblebee rescues him, but the pair are soon overwhelmed by enemy forces. They are saved by the sudden appearance of Grimlock, who helps them defeat the mercenaries, though Lockdown escapes once again. After learning Lockdown is heading to an underground military base in another abandoned city, the Autobots go there to confront him, but only Optimus, Bumblebee, and Drift enter the bunker, as Grimlock is forced to stay behind to defend the entrance. The trio discover Lockdown is building a Time Bridge to bring the Autobot-Decepticon war into the present for personal gain, but the Autobots destroy it while Optimus confronts Lockdown. With Drift's help, Optimus separates Lockdown from the Dark Spark and throws the latter into the Time Bridge, sending it to an unknown point in time. The Autobots and Lockdown escape moments before the Time Bridge explodes, vowing to meet again.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: In an epilogue scene, the "" continuity Optimus sees the Dark Spark crashing on Earth and also says "I thought this day would never come..."


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: The Windows and console versions of "Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark" are powered by Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 and utilize the Havok physics engine. Unlike "Fall of Cybertron" and "War for Cybertron", which were developed by High Moon Studios, primary development for "Rise of the Dark Spark" was handled by Edge of Reality. WayForward Technologies developed the Nintendo 3DS version of the game, which unlike its counterparts is a strategy RPG. It is the first PlayStation 4 game to use its Pre-Load feature, which allows players to download a game before its release date and have it ready to play the day it is released. Owing to the nature of the game's narrative several characters have multiple models to choose from, each related to a given continuity. For example, Autobots Bumblebee and Grimlock feature two separate playable character models, one from the "War for Cybertron" continuity, and one from the cinematic universe. Optimus Prime features two separate character models from these continuities, plus a model.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: Several veteran voice actors voice multiple characters. Peter Cullen reprises his long-time role as Optimus Prime. Of his experience provided voice work for the game, Cullen said "there was a such a respect for the character from the beginning. I wasn’t used to that, it’s something that’s transformed—pardon the pun—over the years." Fred Tatasciore also returns to voice Megatron. Jim Ward voices Perceptor, Scott Whyte voices Hardshell, and Travis Willingham voices Onslaught and Sideswipe. Troy Baker voices Jazz, Jetfire, and Kickback. Gregg Berger voices Grimlock and Lockdown while Steve Blum provides the voices for Sharpshot, Shockwave, and Swindle. Nolan North, voices Bruticus and Cliffjumper and Keith Silverstein voices Blast Off and Rumble. Soundwave is voiced by Isaac C. Singleton Jr. A trailer for "Rise of the Dark Spark" featured American rock band Linkin Park's second single "Until It's Gone".


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: As of 2020, Activision has discontinued support for "Rise of the Dark Spark", and the game's multiplayer servers have been shut down.


title: Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

text: The console and Windows versions of "Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark", developed by Edge of Reality, received unfavourable reviews from critics. Approval ratings for this version averaged between 60.00% and 30.00% at GameRankings, while Metacritic reports scores in the 40s. IGN gave it a "bad" rating of 4.0 out of 10.0, due to "interesting" and "colorful" design, a "complex" story, and the total absence of multiplayer support on Wii U. The Nintendo 3DS version, developed by WayForward Technologies, received better reviews with a GameRankings score of 60.00% and no Metacritic score reported.


title: Vada (food)

text: Vada is a category of savoury fried snacks native to South India. Vadas can be described variously as fritters, cutlets, or dumplings. Alternative names for this food include vadai, vade, and bada. Vadas are sometimes stuffed with vegetables and traditionally served with chutneys and sambar.


title: Vada (food)

text: In North India and Pakistan, Bhalla is a similar food. It is sold in chaat shops and kiosks; Green bean paste is added with spices, which is then deep fried to make croquets. They are then garnished with dahi (yogurt), Saunth chutney (dried ginger and tamarind sauce) and spices. Bhalla is usually served cold unlike the Aloo Tikki.


title: Vada (food)

text: The various types of vadas are made from different ingredients, ranging from legumes (such as medu vada of South India) to potatoes (such as batata vada of West India). They are often served as a breakfast item or a snack, and also used in other food preparations (such as dahi vada and vada pav).


title: Vada (food)

text: According to K. T. Achaya, Vadai (Vada) was popular among ancient Tamils during 100 BCE – 300 CE. A type of vada is mentioned as "vataka" in "Manasollasa", a 12th-century Sanskrit encyclopedia compiled by Someshvara III, who ruled from present-day Karnataka. In this recipe, green beans are soaked, de-skinned, and ground to a paste. The paste is shaped into balls and deep-fried. Early literature from the present-day states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh also mentions bara (vada) and "mungaura" (a vada made from mung).


title: Vada (food)

text: Many immigrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar migrated to places such as Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, South Africa, Mauritius, and Fiji in the mid-19th century to the early 20th century as indentured laborers. Bara became an important part of the Indian cuisine in these countries. In Trinidad and Tobago, bara became a component of one of their most famous street foods called doubles. Doubles is served with two baras filled with curried channa and topped with various chutneys or achars.


title: Vada (food)

text: Vadai (Vada) may be made from legumes, sago or potatoes. Commonly used legumes include pigeon pea, chickpea, black gram and green gram. Vegetables and other ingredients are added to improve taste and nutritive value.


title: Vada (food)

text: For legume-based vadas, the legumes ("dal") are soaked with water, and then ground to a batter. The batter is then seasoned with other ingredients, such as cumin seeds, onion, curry leaves (sometimes previously sauteed), salt, chillies or black pepper grains. Often ginger and baking soda are added to the seasoning in shops to increase the fluffy texture and improve fermentation for large batches. The mixture is then shaped and deep-fried, resulting in vadas with a crispy skin and fluffy centre. The preparation of "kalmi" vadas involves cutting the resulting product into pieces and re-frying them.


title: Vada (food)

text: Vadas are often eaten as snacks or as an accompaniment to another dish. In restaurants, they can be ordered as an à la carte item, but are not the main course. They are preferably eaten freshly fried, while still hot and crunchy. They are served with a variety of dips including sambar, watery or dry chutneys and dahi (yogurt, often called "curd" in Indian English).


title: Vada (food)

text: Medu vadas are typically served along with a main course such as dosa, idli, or pongal. Sambar and coconut chutneys are the standard accompaniments for medu vadas.


title: Tchoukball

text: Tchoukball is an indoor team sport developed in the 1970s by Swiss biologist Hermann Brandt. Brandt was concerned about the number of injuries in sport at the time and as part of an educational study he wanted to create a sport that reduced injuries, was not aggressive between players and enabled people of all shapes, sizes, genders, cultures, and backgrounds to play together.


title: Tchoukball

text: The sport is usually played on an indoor court measuring 27 metres by 16 metres. At each end there is a rebounder (a device similar to a trampoline off which the ball bounces) which measures one square metre and a semicircular D-shaped forbidden zone measuring three metres in radius. Each team can score on both ends of the court, and comprises 12 players, of whom 7 may be on the court at any one time. In order to score a point, the ball must be thrown by an attacking player, hit the rebounder and bounce outside the 'D' without being caught by the defending team. Physical contact is prohibited, and defenders may not attempt to intercept the attacking team's passes. Players may take three steps with the ball, hold the ball for a maximum of three seconds, and teams may not pass the ball more than three times before shooting at the rebounder.


title: Tchoukball

text: Tchoukball has become an international sport, played in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Niger, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, the United States, and Vietnam. It is governed by the International Tchoukball Federation (FITB), which was founded in 1971.


title: Tchoukball

text: Tchoukball was created in Switzerland by Hermann Brandt, who was concerned by the numerous serious injuries among athletes resulting from sports prone to aggression and physical contact. He believed that sports should be not only for champions, but also contribute to the creation of a better and more humane society. He designed tchoukball to contain elements of handball (it is played with hands, and the balls used are similar), volleyball (as the defending team must prevent the ball from falling) and squash (since there is a rebound).


title: Tchoukball

text: Depending on the category of players (Men/Women/M18/M15/M12), different sizes of balls are used ranging from a circumference of 54 cm to 60 cm and weighs between 325 grams to 475 grams.


title: Tchoukball

text: Two teams of 7 players each (men or women) compete to score points with the team with the most points at the end winning the game.


title: Tchoukball

text: Each side of the court comprises a left shooter, right shooter and 1 or 2 defenders, while the centre usually stays near the middle of the court if this formation is used. The shooters are generally in charge of shooting although in some cases the defender can also take the shot. The defenders are in charge of coordinating the first line of defence while the centre pivot takes charge of the second line of defence.


title: Tchoukball

text: However other formations include not using a centre pivot, the team would bypass the centre and throw full length court passes directly to the shooters/inners. This gives an extra first line defender or a dedicated second line defender.


title: Tchoukball

text: The FITB, founded in 1971, is based in Geneva, Switzerland. It now comprises 47 member associations and 22 (15+7) countries with a designated FITB Representative. It supports and advises national associations and individuals willing to spread tchoukball in new areas. For instance, tchoukball was recently integrated in the school program of some regions of Senegal. The FITB was a demonstration sport in the 2009 World Games, which took place in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission was a robotic space mission involving two Mars rovers, "Spirit" and "Opportunity", exploring the planet Mars. It began in 2003 with the launch of the two rovers to explore the Martian surface and geology; both landed on Mars at separate locations in January 2004. Both rovers far outlived their planned missions of 90 Martian solar days: MER-A "Spirit" was active until March 22, 2010, while MER-B "Opportunity" was active until June 10, 2018.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The mission's scientific objective was to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity on Mars. The mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, which includes three previous successful landers: the two Viking program landers in 1976 and Mars Pathfinder probe in 1997.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The total cost of building, launching, landing and operating the rovers on the surface for the initial 90-sol primary mission was US$820 million. Each rover received five mission extensions, as they continued to function past their initially planned duration. The fifth mission extension was granted in October 2007, and ran to the end of 2009. The total cost of the first four mission extensions was $104 million, and the fifth mission extension cost at least $20 million.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: In July 2007, during the fourth mission extension, Martian dust storms blocked sunlight to the rovers and threatened the ability of the craft to gather energy through their solar panels, causing engineers to fear that one or both of them might be permanently disabled. However, the dust storms lifted, allowing them to resume operations.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: On May 1, 2009, during its fifth mission extension, "Spirit" became stuck in soft soil. After nearly nine months of attempts to get the rover back on track, including using test rovers on Earth, NASA announced on January 26, 2010 that "Spirit" was being retasked as a stationary science platform. This mode would enable "Spirit" to assist scientists in ways that a mobile platform could not, such as detecting "wobbles" in the planet's rotation that would indicate a liquid core. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) lost contact with Spirit after last hearing from the rover on March 22, 2010, and continued attempts to regain communications lasted until May 25, 2011, bringing the elapsed mission time to 6 years 2 months 19 days, or over 25 times the original planned mission duration.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: In recognition of the vast amount of scientific information amassed by both rovers, two asteroids have been named in their honor: 37452 Spirit and 39382 Opportunity. The mission is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which designed, built, and is operating the rovers.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: On January 24, 2014, NASA reported that then current studies by the remaining rover "Opportunity" as well as by the newer Mars Science Laboratory rover "Curiosity" would now be searching for evidence of ancient life, including a biosphere based on autotrophic, chemotrophic and/or chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms, as well as ancient water, including fluvio-lacustrine environments (plains related to ancient rivers or lakes) that may have been habitable. The search for evidence of habitability, taphonomy (related to fossils), and organic carbon on the planet Mars was then switched to a primary NASA objective.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The MER-A and MER-B probes 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.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: On January 21, 2004, the Deep Space Network lost contact with "Spirit", for reasons originally thought to be related to a flare shower over Australia. The rover transmitted a message with no data, but later that day missed another communications session with the Mars Global Surveyor. The next day, JPL received a beep from the rover, indicating that it was in fault mode. On January 23, the flight team succeeded in making the rover send. The fault was believed to have been caused by an error in the rover's flash memory subsystem. The rover did not perform any scientific activities for ten days, while engineers updated its software and ran tests. The problem was corrected by reformatting "Spirit" flash memory and using a software patch to avoid memory overload; "Opportunity" was also upgraded with the patch as a precaution. "Spirit" returned to full scientific operations by February 5.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: On March 23, 2004, a news conference was held announcing "major discoveries" of evidence of past liquid water on the Martian surface. A delegation of scientists showed pictures and data revealing a stratified pattern and cross bedding in the rocks of the outcrop inside a crater in Meridiani Planum, landing site of MER-B, "Opportunity". This suggested that water once flowed in the region. The irregular distribution of chlorine and bromine also suggests that the place was once the shoreline of a salty sea, now evaporated.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: On April 8, 2004, NASA announced that it was extending the mission life of the rovers from three to eight months. It immediately provided additional funding of US$15 million through September, and $2.8 million per month for continuing operations. Later that month, "Opportunity" arrived at Endurance crater, taking about five days to drive the 200 meters. NASA announced on September 22 that it was extending the mission life of the rovers for another six months. "Opportunity" was to leave Endurance crater, visit its discarded heat shield, and proceed to Victoria crater. "Spirit" was to attempt to climb to the top of the Columbia Hills.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: With the two rovers still functioning well, NASA later announced another 18-month extension of the mission to September 2006. "Opportunity" was to visit the "Etched Terrain" and "Spirit" was to climb a rocky slope toward the top of Husband Hill. On August 21, 2005, "Spirit" reached the summit of Husband Hill after 581 sols and a journey of .


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: "Spirit" celebrated its one Martian year anniversary (669 sols or 687 Earth days) on November 20, 2005. "Opportunity" celebrated its anniversary on December 12, 2005. At the beginning of the mission, it was expected that the rovers would not survive much longer than 90 Martian days. The Columbia Hills were "just a dream", according to rover driver Chris Leger. "Spirit" explored the semicircular rock formation known as Home Plate. It is a layered rock outcrop that puzzles and excites scientists. It is thought that its rocks are explosive volcanic deposits, though other possibilities exist, including impact deposits or sediment borne by wind or water.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: "Spirit's" front right wheel ceased working on March 13, 2006, while the rover was moving itself to McCool Hill. Its drivers attempted to drag the dead wheel behind Spirit, but this only worked until reaching an impassable sandy area on the lower slopes. Drivers directed "Spirit" to a smaller sloped feature, dubbed "Low Ridge Haven", where it spent the long Martian winter, waiting for spring and increased solar power levels suitable for driving. That September, "Opportunity" reached the rim of Victoria crater, and Spaceflight Now reported that NASA had extended mission for the two rovers through September 2007. On February 6, 2007, "Opportunity" became the first spacecraft to traverse on the surface of Mars.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: "Opportunity" was poised to enter Victoria Crater from its perch on the rim of Duck Bay on June 28, 2007, but due to extensive dust storms, it was delayed until the dust had cleared and power returned to safe levels. Two months later, "Spirit" and "Opportunity" resumed driving after hunkering down during raging dust storms that limited solar power to a level that nearly caused the permanent failure of both rovers.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: On October 1, 2007, both "Spirit" and "Opportunity" entered their fifth mission extension that extended operations into 2009, allowing the rovers to have spent five years exploring the Martian surface, pending their continued survival.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: On August 26, 2008, "Opportunity" began its three-day climb out of Victoria crater amidst concerns that power spikes, similar to those seen on "Spirit" before the failure of its right-front wheel, might prevent it from ever being able to leave the crater if a wheel failed. Project scientist Bruce Banerdt also said, "We've done everything we entered Victoria Crater to do and more." "Opportunity" will return to the plains in order to characterize Meridiani Planum's vast diversity of rocks—some of which may have been blasted out of craters such as Victoria. The rover had been exploring Victoria Crater since September 11, 2007. As of January 2009, the two rovers had collectively sent back 250,000 images and traveled over .


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: After driving about since it left Victoria crater, "Opportunity" first saw the rim of Endeavour crater on March 7, 2009. It passed the mark along the way on sol 1897. Meanwhile, at Gusev crater, "Spirit" was dug in deep into the Martian sand, much as "Opportunity" was at Purgatory Dune in 2005.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: In November 2009, Washington University in St. Louis Professor Raymond Arvidson was named deputy principal investigator for the MER Mission.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: On January 3 and 24, 2010, "Spirit" and "Opportunity" respectively marked six years on Mars. On January 26, NASA announced that "Spirit" will be used as a stationary research platform after several months of unsuccessful attempts to free the rover from soft sand.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: NASA announced on March 24, 2010, that "Opportunity", which has an estimated remaining drive distance of 12 km to Endeavour Crater, has traveled over 20 km since the start of its mission. Each rover was designed with a mission driving distance goal of just 600 meters. One week later, they announced that "Spirit" may have gone into hibernation for the Martian winter and might not wake up again for months.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: On September 8, 2010, it was announced that "Opportunity" had reached the halfway point of the 19-kilometer journey between Victoria crater and Endeavour crater.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: On May 22, 2011, NASA announced that it would cease attempts to contact "Spirit", which had been stuck in a sand trap for two years. The last successful communication with the rover was on March 22, 2010. The final transmission to the rover was on May 25, 2011.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: In April 2013, a photo sent back by one of the rovers became widely circulated on social networking and news sites such as Reddit that appeared to depict a human penis carved into the Martian dirt.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: On May 16, 2013, NASA announced that "Opportunity" had driven further than any other NASA vehicle on a world other than Earth. After "Opportunity's" total odometry went over , the rover surpassed the total distance driven by the Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: On July 28, 2014, NASA announced that "Opportunity" had driven further than any other vehicle on a world other than Earth. "Opportunity" covered over , surpassing the total distance of driven by the Lunokhod 2 lunar rover, the previous record-holder.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: On March 23, 2015, NASA announced that "Opportunity" had driven the full distance of a marathon, with a finish time of roughly 11 years, 2 months.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: In June 2018, "Opportunity" was caught in a global-scale dust storm and the rover's solar panels were not able to generate enough power, with the last contact on June 10, 2018. NASA resumed sending commands after the dust storm subsided but the rover remained silent, possibly due to a catastrophic failure or a layer of dust covering its solar panels.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: A press conference was held on February 13, 2019, that after numerous attempts to obtain contact with "Opportunity" with no response since June 2018, NASA declared


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: "Opportunity" mission over, which also drew the 16-year long Mars Exploration Rover mission to a close.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The Mars Exploration Rover was designed to be stowed atop a Delta II rocket. Each spacecraft consists of several components:


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The cruise stage is the component of the spacecraft that is used for travel from Earth to Mars. It is very similar to the Mars Pathfinder in design and is approximately 2.65 meters (8.7 ft) in diameter and tall, including the entry vehicle (see below).


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The primary structure is aluminium with an outer ring of ribs covered by the solar panels, which are about in diameter. Divided into five sections, the solar arrays can provide up to 600 watts of power near Earth and 300 W at Mars.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Heaters and multi-layer insulation keep the electronics "warm". A freon system removes heat from the flight computer and communications hardware inside the rover so they do not overheat. Cruise avionics systems allow the flight computer to interface with other electronics, such as the sun sensors, star scanner and heaters.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The star scanner (without a backup system) and sun sensor allowed the spacecraft to know its orientation in space by analyzing the position of the Sun and other stars in relation to itself. Sometimes the craft could be slightly off course; this was expected, given the 500-million-kilometer (320 million mile) journey. Thus navigators planned up to six trajectory correction maneuvers, along with health checks.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: To ensure the spacecraft arrived at Mars in the right place for its landing, two light-weight, aluminium-lined tanks carried about 31 kg (about 68 lb) of hydrazine propellant. Along with cruise guidance and control systems, the propellant allowed navigators to keep the spacecraft on course. Burns and pulse firings of the propellant allowed three types of maneuvers:


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The spacecraft used a high-frequency X band radio wavelength to communicate, which allowed for less power and smaller antennas than many older craft, which used S band.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Navigators sent commands through two antennas on the cruise stage: a cruise low-gain antenna mounted inside the inner ring, and a cruise medium-gain antenna in the outer ring. The low-gain antenna was used close to Earth. It is omni-directional, so the transmission power that reached Earth fell faster with increasing distance. As the craft moved closer to Mars, the Sun and Earth moved closer in the sky as viewed from the craft, so less energy reached Earth. The spacecraft then switched to the medium-gain antenna, which directed the same amount of transmission power into a tighter beam toward Earth.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: During flight, the spacecraft was spin-stabilized with a spin rate of two revolutions per minute (rpm). Periodic updates kept antennas pointed toward Earth and solar panels toward the Sun.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The aeroshell maintained a protective covering for the lander during the seven-month voyage to Mars. Together with the lander and the rover, it constituted the "entry vehicle". Its main purpose was to protect the lander and the rover inside it from the intense heat of entry into the thin Martian atmosphere. It was based on the Mars Pathfinder and Mars Viking designs.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The aeroshell was made of two main parts: a heat shield and a backshell. The heat shield was flat and brownish, and protected the lander and rover during entry into the Martian atmosphere and acted as the first aerobrake for the spacecraft. The backshell was large, cone-shaped and painted white. It carried the parachute and several components used in later stages of entry, descent, and landing, including:


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Built by Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, Colorado, the aeroshell is made of an aluminium honeycomb structure sandwiched between graphite-epoxy face sheets. The outside of the aeroshell is covered with a layer of phenolic honeycomb. This honeycomb is filled with an ablative material (also called an "ablator"), that dissipates heat generated by atmospheric friction.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The ablator itself is a unique blend of cork wood, binder and many tiny silica glass spheres. It was invented for the heat shields flown on the Viking Mars lander missions. A similar technology was used in the first US crewed space missions Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. It was specially formulated to react chemically with the Martian atmosphere during entry and carry heat away, leaving a hot wake of gas behind the vehicle. The vehicle slowed from in about a minute, producing about 60 m/s (6 "g") of acceleration on the lander and rover.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The backshell and heat shield are made of the same materials, but the heat shield has a thicker, , layer of the ablator. Instead of being painted, the backshell was covered with a very thin aluminized PET film blanket to protect it from the cold of deep space. The blanket vaporized during entry into the Martian atmosphere.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The parachute helped slow the spacecraft during entry, descent, and landing. It is located in the backshell.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The 2003 parachute design was part of a long-term Mars parachute technology development effort and is based on the designs and experience of the Viking and Pathfinder missions. The parachute for this mission is 40% larger than Pathfinder's because the largest load for the Mars Exploration Rover is 80 to 85 kilonewtons (kN) or when the parachute fully inflates. By comparison, Pathfinder's inflation loads were approximately 35 kN (about 8,000 lbf). The parachute was designed and constructed in South Windsor, Connecticut by Pioneer Aerospace, the company that also designed the parachute for the "Stardust" mission.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The parachute is made of two durable, lightweight fabrics: polyester and nylon. A triple bridle made of Kevlar connects the parachute to the backshell.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The amount of space available on the spacecraft for the parachute is so small that the parachute had to be pressure-packed. Before launch, a team tightly folded the 48 suspension lines, three bridle lines, and the parachute. The parachute team loaded the parachute in a special structure that then applied a heavy weight to the parachute package several times. Before placing the parachute into the backshell, the parachute was heat set to sterilize it.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Zylon Bridles: After the parachute was deployed at an altitude of about above the surface, the heatshield was released using 6 separation nuts and push-off springs. The lander then separated from the backshell and "rappelled" down a metal tape on a centrifugal braking system built into one of the lander petals. The slow descent down the metal tape placed the lander in position at the end of another bridle (tether), made of a nearly long braided Zylon.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Zylon is an advanced fiber material, similar to Kevlar, that is sewn in a webbing pattern (like shoelace material) to make it stronger. The Zylon bridle provides space for airbag deployment, distance from the solid rocket motor exhaust stream, and increased stability. The bridle incorporates an electrical harness that allows the firing of the solid rockets from the backshell as well as provides data from the backshell inertial measurement unit (which measures rate and tilt of the spacecraft) to the flight computer in the rover.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Rocket assisted descent (RAD) motors: Because the atmospheric density of Mars is less than 1% of Earth's, the parachute alone could not slow down the Mars Exploration Rover enough to ensure a safe, low landing speed. The spacecraft descent was assisted by rockets that brought the spacecraft to a dead stop above the Martian surface.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Radar altimeter unit: A radar altimeter unit was used to determine the distance to the Martian surface. The radar's antenna is mounted at one of the lower corners of the lander tetrahedron. When the radar measurement showed the lander was the correct distance above the surface, the Zylon bridle was cut, releasing the lander from the parachute and backshell so that it was free and clear for landing. The radar data also enabled the timing sequence on airbag inflation and backshell RAD rocket firing.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Airbags used in the Mars Exploration Rover mission are the same type that Mars Pathfinder used in 1997. They had to be strong enough to cushion the spacecraft if it landed on rocks or rough terrain and allow it to bounce across Mars' surface at highway speeds (about 100 km/h) after landing. The airbags had to be inflated seconds before touchdown and deflated once safely on the ground.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The airbags were made of Vectran, like those on Pathfinder. Vectran has almost twice the strength of other synthetic materials, such as Kevlar, and performs better in cold temperatures. Six 100 denier (10 mg/m) layers of Vectran protected one or two inner bladders of Vectran in 200 denier (20 mg/m). Using 100 denier (10 mg/m) leaves more fabric in the outer layers where it is needed, because there are more threads in the weave.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Each rover used four airbags with six lobes each, all of which were connected. Connection was important, since it helped abate some of the landing forces by keeping the bag system flexible and responsive to ground pressure. The airbags were not attached directly to the rover, but were held to it by ropes crisscrossing the bag structure. The ropes gave the bags shape, making inflation easier. While in flight, the bags were stowed along with three gas generators that are used for inflation.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The spacecraft lander is a protective shell that houses the rover, and together with the airbags, protects it from the forces of impact.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The lander is a tetrahedron shape, whose sides open like petals. It is strong and light, and made of beams and sheets. The beams consist of layers of graphite fiber woven into a fabric that is lighter than aluminium and more rigid than steel. Titanium fittings are glued and fitted onto the beams to allow it to be bolted together. The rover was held inside the lander by bolts and special nuts that were released after landing with small explosives.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: After the lander stopped bouncing and rolling on the ground, it came to rest on the base of the tetrahedron or one of its sides. The sides then opened to make the base horizontal and the rover upright. The sides are connected to the base by hinges, each of which has a motor strong enough to lift the lander. The rover plus lander has a mass of about 533 kilograms (1,175 pounds). The rover alone has a mass of about . The gravity on Mars is about 38% of Earth's, so the motor does not need to be as powerful as it would on Earth.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The rover contains accelerometers to detect which way is down (toward the surface of Mars) by measuring the pull of gravity. The rover computer then commanded the correct lander petal to open to place the rover upright. Once the base petal was down and the rover was upright, the other two petals were opened.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The petals initially opened to an equally flat position, so all sides of the lander were straight and level. The petal motors are strong enough so that if two of the petals come to rest on rocks, the base with the rover would be held in place like a bridge above the ground. The base will hold at a level even with the height of the petals resting on rocks, making a straight flat surface throughout the length of the open, flattened lander. The flight team on Earth could then send commands to the rover to adjust the petals and create a safe path for the rover to drive off the lander and onto the Martian surface without dropping off a steep rock.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The moving of the rover off the lander is called the egress phase of the mission. The rover must avoid having its wheels caught in the airbag material or falling off a sharp incline. To help this, a retraction system on the petals slowly drags the airbags toward the lander before the petals open. Small ramps on the petals fan out to fill spaces between the petals. They cover uneven terrain, rock obstacles, and airbag material, and form a circular area from which the rover can drive off in more directions. They also lower the step that the rover must climb down. They are nicknamed "batwings", and are made of Vectran cloth.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The rovers are six-wheeled, solar-powered robots that stand high, wide and long. They weigh , of which is the wheel and suspension system.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Each rover has six aluminium wheels mounted on a rocker-bogie suspension system, similar to that on Sojourner, that ensures wheels remain on the ground while driving over rough terrain. The design reduces the range of motion of the rover body by half, and allows the rover to go over obstacles or through holes (depressions) that are more than a wheel diameter () in size. The rover wheels are designed with integral compliant flexures which provide shock absorption during movement. Additionally, the wheels have cleats which provide grip for climbing in soft sand and scrambling over rocks.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Each wheel has its own drive motor. The two front and two rear wheels each have individual steering motors. This allows the vehicle to turn in place, a full revolution, and to swerve and curve, making arcing turns. The motors for the rovers have been designed by the Swiss company Maxon Motor. The rover is designed to withstand a tilt of 45 degrees in any direction without overturning. However, the rover is programmed through its "fault protection limits" in its hazard avoidance software to avoid exceeding tilts of 30 degrees.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Each rover can spin one of its front wheels in place to grind deep into the terrain. It is to remain motionless while the digging wheel is spinning. The rovers have a top speed on flat hard ground of 50 mm/s (2 in/s). The average speed is 10 mm/s, because its hazard avoidance software causes it to stop every 10 seconds for 20 seconds to observe and understand the terrain into which it has driven.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: When fully illuminated, the rover triplejunction solar arrays generate about 140 watts for up to four hours per Martian day (sol). The rover needs about 100 watts to drive. Its power system includes two rechargeable lithium ion batteries weighing each, that provide energy when the sun is not shining, especially at night. Over time, the batteries will degrade and will not be able to recharge to full capacity.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: For comparison, the Mars Science Laboratory's power system is composed of a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) produced by Boeing. The MMRTG is designed to provide 125W of electrical power at the start of the mission, falling to 100W after 14 years of service. It is used to power the MSL's many systems and instruments. Solar panels were also considered for the MSL, but RTGs provide constant power, regardless of the time of day, and thus the versatility to work in dark environments and high latitudes where solar energy is not readily available. The MSL generates 2.5 kilowatt hours per day, compared to the Mars Exploration Rovers, which can generate about 0.6 kilowatt hours per day.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: It was thought that by the end of the 90-sol mission, the capability of the solar arrays to generate power would likely be reduced to about 50 watts. This was due to anticipated dust coverage on the solar arrays, and the change in season. Over three Earth years later, however, the rovers' power supplies hovered between 300 watt-hours and 900 watt-hours per day, depending on dust coverage. Cleaning events (dust removal by wind) have occurred more often than NASA expected, keeping the arrays relatively free of dust and extending the life of the mission. During a 2007 global dust storm on Mars, both rovers experienced some of the lowest power of the mission; "Opportunity" dipped to 128 watt-hours. In November 2008, "Spirit" had overtaken this low-energy record with a production of 89 watt-hours, due to dust storms in the region of Gusev crater.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The rovers run a VxWorks embedded operating system on a radiation-hardened 20 MHz RAD6000 CPU with 128 MB of DRAM with error detection and correction and 3 MB of EEPROM. Each rover also has 256 MB of flash memory. To survive during the various mission phases, the rover's vital instruments must stay within a temperature of −40 °C to +40 °C (−40 °F to 104 °F). At night, the rovers are heated by eight radioisotope heater units (RHU), which each continuously generate 1 W of thermal energy from the decay of radioisotopes, along with electrical heaters that operate only when necessary. A sputtered gold film and a layer of silica aerogel are used for insulation.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The rover has an X band low-gain and an X band high-gain antenna for communications to and from the Earth, as well as an ultra high frequency monopole antenna for relay communications. The low-gain antenna is omnidirectional, and transmits data at a low rate to Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas on Earth. The high-gain antenna is directional and steerable, and can transmit data to Earth at a higher rate. The rovers use the UHF monopole and its CE505 radio to communicate with spacecraft orbiting Mars, the Mars Odyssey and (before its failure) the Mars Global Surveyor (already more than 7.6 terabits of data were transferred using its Mars Relay antenna and Mars Orbiter Camera's memory buffer of 12 MB). Since MRO went into orbit around Mars, the landers have also used it as a relay asset. Most of the lander data is relayed to Earth through Odyssey and MRO. The orbiters can receive rover signals at a much higher data rate than the Deep Space Network can, due to the much shorter distances from rover to orbiter. The orbiters then quickly relay the rover data to the Earth using their large and high-powered antennas.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Each rover has nine cameras, which produce 1024-pixel by 1024-pixel images at 12 bits per pixel, but most navigation camera images and image thumbnails are truncated to 8 bits per pixel to conserve memory and transmission time. All images are then compressed using ICER before being stored and sent to Earth. Navigation, thumbnail, and many other image types are compressed to approximately 0.8 to 1.1 bits/pixel. Lower bit rates (less than 0.5-bit/pixel) are used for certain wavelengths of multi-color panoramic images.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: ICER is based on wavelets, and was designed specifically for deep-space applications. It produces progressive compression, both lossless and lossy, and incorporates an error-containment scheme to limit the effects of data loss on the deep-space channel. It outperforms the lossy JPEG image compressor and the lossless Rice compressor used by the Mars Pathfinder mission.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The cameras are mounted 1.5 meters high on the Pancam Mast Assembly. The PMA is deployed via the Mast Deployment Drive (MDD). The Azimuth Drive, mounted directly above the MDD, turns the assembly horizontally a whole revolution with signals transmitted through a rolling tape configuration. The camera drive points the cameras in elevation, almost straight up or down. A third motor points the Mini-TES fold mirrors and protective shroud, up to 30° above the horizon and 50° below. The PMA's conceptual design was done by Jason Suchman at JPL, the Cognizant Engineer who later served as Contract Technical Manager (CTM) once the assembly was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. Raul Romero served as CTM once subsystem-level testing began. Satish Krishnan did the conceptual design of the High-Gain Antenna Gimbal (HGAG), whose detailed design, assembly, and test was also performed by Ball Aerospace at which point Satish acted as the CTM.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Four monochromatic hazard cameras (Hazcams) are mounted on the rover's body, two in front and two behind.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The "Spirit" and "Opportunity" rovers were named through a student essay competition. The winning entry was by Sofi Collis, a third-grade Russian-American student from Arizona.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: I used to live in an orphanage. It was dark and cold and lonely. At night, I looked up at the sparkly sky and felt better. I dreamed I could fly there. In America, I can make all my dreams come true. Thank you for the 'Spirit' and the 'Opportunity.'


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Prior to this, during the development and building of the rovers, they were known as MER-1 Rover 1 ("Opportunity") and MER-2 Rover 2 ("Spirit"). Internally, NASA also uses the mission designations MER-A ("Spirit") and MER-B ("Opportunity") based on the order of landing on Mars.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory maintains a pair of rovers, the "Surface System Test-Beds" (SSTB) at its location in Pasadena for testing and modeling of situations on Mars. One test rover, SSTB1, weighing approximately , is fully instrumented and nearly identical to "Spirit" and "Opportunity". Another test version, "SSTB-Lite", is identical in size and drive characteristics but does not include all instruments. It weighs , much closer to the weight of "Spirit" and "Opportunity" in the reduced gravity of Mars. These rovers were used in 2009 for a simulation of the incident in which "Spirit" became trapped in soft soil.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The NASA team uses a software application called ""Surface Attitude Position and Pointing"" (SAPP), to view images collected from the rover, and to plan its daily activities. There is a version available to the public called Maestro.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Although the Gusev crater appears from orbital images to be a dry lakebed, the observations from the surface show the interior plains mostly filled with debris. The rocks on the plains of Gusev are a type of basalt. They contain the minerals olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase, and magnetite, and they look like volcanic basalt as they are fine-grained with irregular holes (geologists would say they have vesicles and vugs).


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: 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.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: 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).


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: There are a variety of rocks in the Columbia Hills, some of which have been altered by water, but not by very much water.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: These rocks can be classified in different ways. The amounts and types of minerals make the rocks primitive basalts—also called picritic basalts. The rocks are similar to ancient terrestrial rocks called basaltic komatiites. Rocks of the plains also resemble the basaltic shergottites, meteorites which came from Mars. One classification system compares the amount of alkali elements to the amount of silica on a graph; in this system, Gusev plains rocks lie near the junction of basalt, picrobasalt, and tephrite. The Irvine-Barager classification calls them basalts.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Plain's rocks have been very slightly altered, probably by thin films of water because they are softer and contain veins of light colored material that may be bromine compounds, as well as coatings or rinds. It is thought that small amounts of water may have gotten into cracks inducing mineralization processes.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Coatings on the rocks may have occurred when rocks were buried and interacted with thin films of water and dust.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: One sign that they were altered was that it was easier to grind these rocks compared to the same types of rocks found on Earth.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The first rock that "Spirit" studied was Adirondack. It turned out to be typical of the other rocks on the plains.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: 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.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: As the rover climbed above the plains onto the Columbia Hills, the mineralogy that was seen changed. Scientists found a variety of rock types in the Columbia Hills, and they placed them into six different categories. The six are: Clovis, Wishbone, Peace, Watchtower, Backstay, and Independence. They are named after a prominent rock in each group. Their chemical compositions, as measured by APXS, are significantly different from each other. Most importantly, all of the rocks in Columbia Hills show various degrees of alteration due to aqueous fluids.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: They are enriched in the elements phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, and bromine—all of which can be carried around in water solutions. The Columbia Hills' rocks contain basaltic glass, along with varying amounts of olivine and sulfates.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The olivine abundance varies inversely with the amount of sulfates. This is exactly what is expected because water destroys olivine but helps to produce sulfates.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The Clovis group is especially interesting because the Mössbauer spectrometer (MB) detected goethite in it. Goethite forms only in the presence of water, so its discovery is the first direct evidence of past water in the Columbia Hills's rocks. In addition, the MB spectra of rocks and outcrops displayed a strong decline in olivine presence,


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: although the rocks probably once contained much olivine. Olivine is a marker for the lack of water because it easily decomposes in the presence of water. Sulfate was found, and it needs water to form.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Wishstone contained a great deal of plagioclase, some olivine, and anhydrate (a sulfate). Peace rocks showed sulfur and strong evidence for bound water, so hydrated sulfates are suspected. Watchtower class rocks lack olivine consequently they may have been altered by water. The Independence class showed some signs of clay (perhaps montmorillonite a member of the smectite group). Clays require fairly long term exposure to water to form.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: One type of soil, called Paso Robles, from the Columbia Hills, may be an evaporate deposit because it contains large amounts of sulfur, phosphorus, calcium, and iron.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: Towards the middle of the six-year mission (a mission that was supposed to last only 90 days), large amounts of pure silica were found in the soil. The silica could have come from the interaction of soil with acid vapors produced by volcanic activity in the presence of water or from water in a hot spring environment.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: After "Spirit" stopped working scientists studied old data from the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer, or Mini-TES and confirmed the presence of large amounts of carbonate-rich rocks, which means that regions of the planet may have once harbored water. The carbonates were discovered in an outcrop of rocks called "Comanche."


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: In summary, "Spirit" found evidence of slight weathering on the plains of Gusev, but no evidence that a lake was there. However, in the Columbia Hills there was clear evidence for a moderate amount of aqueous weathering. The evidence included sulfates and the minerals goethite and carbonates which only form in the presence of water. It is believed that Gusev crater may have held a lake long ago, but it has since been covered by igneous materials. All the dust contains a magnetic component which was identified as magnetite with some titanium. Furthermore, the thin coating of dust that covers everything on Mars is the same in all parts of Mars.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The "Opportunity" rover landed in a small crater, dubbed "Eagle", on the flat plains of Meridiani. The plains of the landing site were characterized by the presence of a large number of small spherules, spherical concretions that were tagged "blueberries" by the science team, which were found both loose on the surface, and also embedded in the rock. These proved to have a high concentration of the mineral hematite, and showed the signature of being formed in an aqueous environment. The layered bedrock revealed in the crater walls showed signs of being sedimentary in nature, and compositional and microscopic-imagery analysis showed this to be primarily with composition of Jarosite, a ferrous sulfate mineral that is characteristically an evaporite that is the residue from the evaporation of a salty pond or sea.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The mission has provided substantial evidence of past water activity on Mars. In addition to investigating the "water hypothesis", "Opportunity" has also obtained astronomical observations and atmospheric data.


title: Mars Exploration Rover

text: The extended mission took the rover across the plains to a series of larger craters in the south, with the arrival at the edge of a 25-km diameter crater, Endeavour Crater, eight years after landing. The orbital spectroscopy of this crater rim show the signs of phyllosilicate rocks, indicative of older sedimentary deposits.


title: Kenji Goto

text: Goto was born on 23 October 1967 in the city of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from Hosei University in Tokyo in 1991, he worked for a media production company before establishing Independent Press in 1996. He also worked with U.N. organizations including UNICEF and the U.N. Refugee Agency.