Spirit finally starts roving on Mars

THE Spirit rover successfully rolled onto Mars early yesterday, placing its six wheels on solid Martian ground for the first time since the robot bounced down on the red planet nearly two weeks ago.

Engineers and scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory cheered loudly after receiving confirmation at 5am that the manoeuvre was a success.

“Mars now is our sandbox, and we are ready to play and learn,” said JPL director Charles Elachi.

Black-and-white pictures beamed from Spirit showed its two rear wheels on the Martian soil, with its lander behind it. Two parallel tracks led away from the lander.

“This is a big relief. We are on Mars. Spirit has landed,” said Rob Manning, manager of the entry, descent and landing portion of the mission. “Our wheels are finally dirty.”

Jennifer Trosper, mission manager for surface operations, opened a celebratory bottle of champagne at a news conference.

“Now we are the mission that we all envisioned three-and-a-half 3 1/2 years ago,” she said.

Mr Elachi noted President George W Bush’s call on Wednesday for moon missions and long-term robotic and human journeys to Mars.

“We at NASA, we move awfully fast,” Elachi joked. “In less than 15 hours, we are doing our first step.”

Spirit was to have taken less than two minutes to travel the 10 feet from the unfolded petals of its lander onto Mars. Engineers said the move would likely be the riskiest of Spirit’s entire three-month mission.

Engineers delayed the move for three days to give Spirit time to reposition itself atop its lander, where it had sat since arriving. Spirit had to turn in place 115 degrees to line up with one of the exit ramps that ring the lander.

Originally, Spirit was to roll straight off the lander on its ninth day on Mars. But the now-deflated air bags that cushioned the rover’s January 3 landing blocked that way, forcing Spirit to perform a slow pirouette, turning clockwise in three separate moves.

Mission plans called for Spirit to spend several days parked beside its lander after rolling off, giving it time to find its bearings and perform some preliminary analysis of the soil and rocks around it.

NASA then planned for Spirit to begin a meandering trip in the direction of an impact crater about 825 feet away. Spirit was designed to travel dozens of yards a day.

On its way, scientists said Spirit would prospect for geologic evidence that the now dry red planet was once wetter and hospitable to life. Spirit landed in the middle of Gusev Crater, a 95-mile-wide depression scientists believe contained a lake during the ancient past.

Even while parked, Spirit remained busy. It used its nine cameras to take at least 3,900 pictures of its surroundings. Mission scientists used those images to chart the rover’s planned movements.

The $820 million project also includes a second, identical rover named Opportunity. Spirit’s twin should land on the opposite side of Mars on January 24.