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American Morning

Interview With Orlando Figueroa

Aired January 23, 2004 - 07:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There's some big trouble on Mars. The Spirit rover is no longer transmitting data from the red planet. NASA scientists call it a serious anomaly and they're trying to determine just what the problem is.
Joining us this morning from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California is Orlando Figueroa.

He is NASA's director of Mars exploration.

Nice to see you, Mr. Figueroa.

Thanks for being with us.

ORLANDO FIGUEROA, NASA DIRECTOR, MARS EXPLORATION: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: How big a problem is this? I mean transmitting data, it seems to me, would be a massive, massive problem. What's exactly happening and how big is this problem?

FIGUEROA: Well, the problem started about 48 hours ago when we started experiencing difficulties commanding to it from our stations in Australia. And since then we have been unable to communicate the way we normally do with the rover. And any time you have communication issues with any of our satellites, it's a big concern. I mean it's something that's fundamental to be able to communicate to it and be able to check its health.

This morning around 3:00 a.m. Pacific time, we were able to send up a series of commands and new sequences and new instructions and we are waiting to hear back from the rover. We had a few signs yesterday through the day that indicated that the rover is listening, but not quite in a way we would like, you know, a powerful communication link that allows us to get data and a lot of information about it.

O'BRIEN: Is it your sense, and I know that you're still waiting to get that information back from the earlier tests, but is it your sense that this problem is fixable or not?

FIGUEROA: Well, you know, at the moment, we have indications that the rover seems to have protected itself, which is good news. It has several fault protection algorithms that try to keep it healthy, good temperature, you know, the power, try to preserve the power and the energy. And it appears, the preponderance of opinion, anyway, is that there may be a software issue or some management of the memory. That being the case, it's something that we have many tools available to us to try to fix it. O'BRIEN: If it's not fixable, how big of a setback is this for NASA?

FIGUEROA: Well, of course, we have the rover twin on its way. Opportunity will be landing on the evening of the 24th. That's tomorrow night. And we want as a minimum to get one of the two working properly.

Now, we, of course, haven't given up on this one and would be disappointed, but provided that the other one succeeds, we can recover the full mission.

O'BRIEN: I want to turn and ask you a quick question about some reports that we're hearing from European scientists about the European orbiter Mars Express. They say they have detected frozen water.

Is there anything new about this? I thought that NASA actually detected something similar a while back.

And, also, comment for me, if you will, on the timing of their announcement, too.

FIGUEROA: Well, they, our Odyssey spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars since 2001, did discover vast amounts of frozen water in the northern and southern latitudes. And we were surprised by the fact that there was so much and so close to the surface. So it's not new news. But we are happy to see that their satellite is also able to pick up where it exists.

O'BRIEN: At the same time, good news for them on a day when we're hearing only really bad news about the Spirit so far.

Do you think the timing is a little unusual or do you think that's sort of only the work of conspiracy theorists?

FIGUEROA: I think it's just coincidental. You know, there will be -- we'll continue to send scientific data as soon as they have it available, images from their side, as well. And, you know, it's all part of a -- the partnership that exists in the scientific community.

O'BRIEN: NASA Director Orlando Figueroa joining us this morning.

Mr. Figueroa, Thanks for watching us.

Appreciate it.

FIGUEROA: My pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 23, 2004 - 07:21   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There's some big trouble on Mars. The Spirit rover is no longer transmitting data from the red planet. NASA scientists call it a serious anomaly and they're trying to determine just what the problem is.
Joining us this morning from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California is Orlando Figueroa.

He is NASA's director of Mars exploration.

Nice to see you, Mr. Figueroa.

Thanks for being with us.

ORLANDO FIGUEROA, NASA DIRECTOR, MARS EXPLORATION: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: How big a problem is this? I mean transmitting data, it seems to me, would be a massive, massive problem. What's exactly happening and how big is this problem?

FIGUEROA: Well, the problem started about 48 hours ago when we started experiencing difficulties commanding to it from our stations in Australia. And since then we have been unable to communicate the way we normally do with the rover. And any time you have communication issues with any of our satellites, it's a big concern. I mean it's something that's fundamental to be able to communicate to it and be able to check its health.

This morning around 3:00 a.m. Pacific time, we were able to send up a series of commands and new sequences and new instructions and we are waiting to hear back from the rover. We had a few signs yesterday through the day that indicated that the rover is listening, but not quite in a way we would like, you know, a powerful communication link that allows us to get data and a lot of information about it.

O'BRIEN: Is it your sense, and I know that you're still waiting to get that information back from the earlier tests, but is it your sense that this problem is fixable or not?

FIGUEROA: Well, you know, at the moment, we have indications that the rover seems to have protected itself, which is good news. It has several fault protection algorithms that try to keep it healthy, good temperature, you know, the power, try to preserve the power and the energy. And it appears, the preponderance of opinion, anyway, is that there may be a software issue or some management of the memory. That being the case, it's something that we have many tools available to us to try to fix it. O'BRIEN: If it's not fixable, how big of a setback is this for NASA?

FIGUEROA: Well, of course, we have the rover twin on its way. Opportunity will be landing on the evening of the 24th. That's tomorrow night. And we want as a minimum to get one of the two working properly.

Now, we, of course, haven't given up on this one and would be disappointed, but provided that the other one succeeds, we can recover the full mission.

O'BRIEN: I want to turn and ask you a quick question about some reports that we're hearing from European scientists about the European orbiter Mars Express. They say they have detected frozen water.

Is there anything new about this? I thought that NASA actually detected something similar a while back.

And, also, comment for me, if you will, on the timing of their announcement, too.

FIGUEROA: Well, they, our Odyssey spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars since 2001, did discover vast amounts of frozen water in the northern and southern latitudes. And we were surprised by the fact that there was so much and so close to the surface. So it's not new news. But we are happy to see that their satellite is also able to pick up where it exists.

O'BRIEN: At the same time, good news for them on a day when we're hearing only really bad news about the Spirit so far.

Do you think the timing is a little unusual or do you think that's sort of only the work of conspiracy theorists?

FIGUEROA: I think it's just coincidental. You know, there will be -- we'll continue to send scientific data as soon as they have it available, images from their side, as well. And, you know, it's all part of a -- the partnership that exists in the scientific community.

O'BRIEN: NASA Director Orlando Figueroa joining us this morning.

Mr. Figueroa, Thanks for watching us.

Appreciate it.

FIGUEROA: My pleasure.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com