January 5, 2004
Mars Team
Energized About "Sleepy Hollow" Near Rover
"Sleepy Hollow," a shallow depression
in the Mars ground near NASA's Spirit rover, may become an early
destination when the rover drives off its lander platform in
a week or so.
That possible crater and other features
delighted engineers and scientists examining pictures from the
Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's first look around.
First 3-D panorama of landing
site -- Click
for larger image
/ Courtesy NASA/JPL
"Reality has surpassed fantasy. We're
like kids in a candy store," said Art Thompson, rover tactical
activity lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif. "We can hardly wait until we get off the lander and
start doing fun stuff on the surface."
A clean bill of health from a checkout
of all three science instruments on Spirit's robotic arm fortified
scientists' anticipation of beginning to use those tools after
the rover gets its six wheels onto the ground.
Also, Spirit succeeded Sunday in finding
the Sun with its panoramic camera and calculating how to point
its main antenna toward Earth by knowing the Sun's position.
"Just as the ancient mariners used
sextants for 'shooting the Sun,' as they called it, we were successfully
able to shoot the Sun with our panorama camera, then use that
information to point the antenna," said JPL's Matt Wallace,
mission manger.
Within sight of Spirit are several wide,
shallow bowls that may be impact craters, said Dr. Steve Squyres
of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, principal investigator
for the spacecraft's science payload. "It's clear that while
we have a generally flat surface, it is pockmarked with these
things.
The mission's scientists, who are getting
little rest as they examine the pictures from Spirit, chose the
name "Sleepy Hollow" for one of these circular depressions.
This one is about 9 meters (30 feet) across and about 12 meters
(40 feet) north of the lander, Squyres said.
"It's a hole in the ground,"
he said. "It's a window into the interior of Mars."
One of the next steps in preparing Spirit
for rolling onto the soil is to extend the front wheels, which
are tucked in for fitting inside a tight space during the flight
from Earth.
Spirit arrived at Mars Jan. 3 (EST and
PST; Jan. 4 Universal Time) after a seven month journey. Its
task is to spend the next three months exploring for clues in
rocks and soil about whether the past environment at this part
of Mars was ever watery and possibly suitable to sustain life.
Spirit's twin Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity,
will reach its landing site on the opposite side of Mars on Jan.
25 (EST and Universal Time; Jan. 24 PST) to begin a similar examination
of a site on the opposite side of the planet from Gusev Crater.
Source: NASA/JPL
press release
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