January 4, 2004
Spirit Lands
on Mars, Sends Postcards
Mosaic image taken by the navigation camera
on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit.
View all images from this press release A traveling robotic geologist
from NASA has landed on Mars and returned stunning images of
the area around its landing site in Gusev Crater.
Mars Exploration Rover Spirit successfully
sent a radio signal after the spacecraft had bounced and rolled
for several minutes following its initial impact at 11:35 p.m.
EST (8:35 p.m. Pacific Standard Time) on January 3.
"This is a big night for NASA,"
said NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. "We're back. I am
very, very proud of this team, and we're on Mars."
Snapshots from Mars
Click
for larger image
Courtesy NASA/JPL
Members of the mission's flight team at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., cheered and
clapped when they learned that NASA's Deep Space Network had
received a post-landing signal from Spirit. The cheering resumed
about three hours later when the rover transmitted its first
images to Earth, relaying them through NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter.
"We've got many steps to go before
this mission is over, but we've retired a lot of risk with this
landing," said JPL's Pete Theisinger, project manager for
the Mars Exploration Rover Project.
Deputy project manager for the rovers,
JPL's Richard Cook, said, "We're certainly looking forward
to Opportunity landing three weeks from now." Opportunity
is Spirit's twin rover, headed for the opposite side of Mars.
Dr. Charles Elachi, JPL director, said,
"To achieve this mission, we have assembled the best team
of young women and men this country can put together. Essential
work was done by other NASA centers and by our industrial and
academic partners.
Spirit stopped rolling with its base petal
down, though that favorable position could change as airbags
deflate, said JPL's Rob Manning, development manager for the
rover's descent through Mars' atmosphere and landing on the surface.
NASA chose Spirit's landing site, within
Gusev Crater, based on evidence from Mars orbiters that this
crater may have held a lake long ago. A long, deep valley, apparently
carved by ancient flows of water, leads into Gusev. The crater
itself is basin the size of Connecticut created by an asteroid
or comet impact early in Mars' history. Spirit's 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 suitable to sustain life.
Spirit traveled 487 million kilometers
(302.6 million) miles to reach Mars after its launch from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on June 10, 2003. Its twin,
Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, was launched July 7, 2003,
and is on course for a landing on the opposite side of Mars on
Jan. 25 (Universal Time and EST; 9:05 p.m. on Jan. 24, PST).
The flight team expects to spend more than
a week directing Spirit through a series of steps in unfolding,
standing up and other preparations necessary before the rover
rolls off of its lander platform to get its wheels onto the ground.
Meanwhile, Spirit's cameras and a mineral-identifying infrared
instrument will begin examining the surrounding terrain. That
information will help engineers and scientists decide which direction
to send the rover first.
JPL, a division of the California Institute
of Technology, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for
NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington.
Source: NASA/JPL
press release
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