January 25, 2004
Second Rover
Lands on Mars, Sends Photos
Opportunity has arrived at its destination
on the opposite side of the planet as its twin rover, Spirit,
and is sending images of a landscape quite unlike anything seen
before on Mars.
Dr. Steve Squyres, the principal investigator
for the science instruments on the rovers, referred to the features
seen on the first photos as bizarre and alien. "I'm blown
away," he said.
The terrain is darker than at any previous
Mars landing site and has the first accessible bedrock outcropping
ever seen on Mars. The outcropping immediately became a candidate
target for the rover to visit and examine up close.
The First Color Image from
Opportunity
Click
for larger image
Courtesy NASA/JPL/Cornell
Opportunity relayed the images and other
data via NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. The data showed that the
spacecraft is healthy, said Matt Wallace, mission manager at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Wallace noted that the straight-ahead path
looks clear for the rover to roll off its lander platform, unlike
how Spirit's path was initially blocked by an airbag that failed
to retract completely.
Mission engineers at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., received the first signal from
Opportunity on the ground on Mars at 9:05 p.m. Pacific Standard
Time Saturday via the NASA Deep Space Network, which was listening
with antennas in California and Australia.
Opportunity landed in a region called Meridiani
Planum, halfway around the planet from the Gusev Crater site
where Spirit, landed three weeks ago. Earlier today, mission
managers reported progress in understanding and dealing with
communications and computer problems on Spirit.
"In the last 48 hours, we've been
on a roller coaster," Dr. Ed Weiler, NASA associate administrator
for space science, said. "We resurrected one rover and saw
the birth of another."
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said at
a subsequent press briefing, "This was a tremendous testament
to how NASA, when really focused on an objective, can put every
ounce of effort, energy, emotion and talent to an important task.
This team is the best in the world, no doubt about it."
By initial estimates, Opportunity landed
about 24 kilometers (15 miles) down range from the center of
the target landing area. That is well within an outcropping of
a mineral called gray hematite, which usually forms in the presence
of water. "We're going to have a good place to do science,"
Richard Cook, deputy project manager for the rovers, said.
The main task for both rovers in coming
months is to explore the areas around their landing sites for
evidence in rocks and soils about whether those areas ever had
environments that were watery and possibly suitable for sustaining
life.
JPL, a division of the California Institute
of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover
project for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington.
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