 |
 |
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
Scientist calls Spirit landing site 'a glorious place' BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: January 4, 2004 A preliminary analysis of the 60 to 80 images relayed back to Earth from the Spirit rover during its initial communications session shows the lander bounced to stop in a near-perfect location to accomplish its scientific objectives. "What a night!" said principal investigator Steve Squyres. "Spirit has shown us her new home in Gusev crater. It's a glorious place. It is a wonderful place from a scientific perspective in several different ways. First of all, not only have we landed at Gusev crater, but we now have the first evidence suggesting where we landed. We have hit what the science team believes to be the science sweet spot of Gusev crater." FIRST LOOK AT THE IMAGES: The goal of the Mars Exploration Rover project is to find out how long water may have persisted on the surface of the red planet and whether it lasted long enough for life to have evolved. Spirit landed in Gusev crater, which scientists believe once harbored a vast lake. Over the next three months, if all goes well, Spirit will creep about the heart of the crater, examining rocks and soil to determine the geologic history of the area. A second, identical lander called Opportunity will bounce down on the other side of the planet Jan. 24 to study mineral deposits that scientists suspect formed in the presence of water. "There are a lot of things that are good about this spot," Squyres said of the Gusev landing site. "It is a place that is almost, when you look at it, it looks like it was tailor made for our vehicle. Our vehicle was built to drive, our vehicle was built to explore. We see rocks, we see enough rocks that we can do great science with them but not so many that they're going to get in our way. So we're going to be able to really motor around this place. So I'm looking forward to some good driving in the weeks and months ahead." The first color views from Spirit's higher-resolution panoramic camera are expected late today. In the meantime, Squyres said it appears areas near the landing site have been swept clear of dust by martian winds, increasing the likelihood Spirit will be able to study pristine lakebed rocks or sediments. "This rock population is as close to ideal as I can possibly have dreamed," he said. "There's a couple of wonderful things about it. Yeah, there's enough rocks, but this is tailor made for driving on. We're going to be really able to move around on this. The other thing is the rocks to a great extent really look swept clean, they're dust on these things but it is a much cleaner surface than we really had any right to expect or hope for. ... We're seeing a lot of exposed rock, but a very good surface for driving. It couldn't be better for what this vehicle was designed for." Over the next several days, the priorities are to check out the operation of Spirit's scientific instruments, to collect color panoramas and to gather infrared views of the landing site to help figure out where to send the rover once it rolls off onto the surface. Roll off is not expected for another week or so, but engineers do not expect any major problems. While airbag material and a rock may block a straight-ahead roll off, the rover can be rotated in place to find a more favorable exit point. The lander ended up with only a slight 2-degree tilt. In the meantime, "we do not know what kind of geologic material we have landed on. Don't have a clue," Squyres said. "I don't know what kind of rocks they are. We haven't seen any Pancam images yet so we've got no color, we've got no infrared. That's going to come in the days ahead. So I don't know if these are sedimentary rocks, if they're lava that's been deposited over it. But if you asked me ahead of time what's a dry lakebed on Mars going to look like, I'd have said a lot like this." NASA science chief Ed Weiler promised to stop calling Mars the "death planet." "I told some people I would have been happy to go to the hotel if we had heard a tone, just a middle C, saying that we had landed," he said. "Tonight, you guys and gals got a symphony. And it was the most beautiful symphony I've ever heard. I will stop calling Mars the death planet. I apologize!"
|
|
|
|
Mission facts Mission preview - Our story examining the Mars Exploration Rover project. Getting to Mars - Our story previewing the rovers' descent and landing to the Martian surface. Illustration - A graphic showing the entry, descent and landing timeline. Gusev Crater - The landing site for the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. MER spacecraft - A technical look at the parts and pieces of the Mars Exploration Rover spacecraft. Mission science - A look at the science instruments and objectives for the Mars rovers. Future exploration - Our story looking at NASA's plans for Mars missions through the decade.  Viking patch  Available now from the Astronomy Now Store: the embroidered mission patch for NASA's Viking Project which reached the Red Planet in 1976. Choose your store:U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Mars Rover mission patch  A mission patch featuring NASA's Mars Exploration Rover is now available from the Astronomy Now Store.Choose your store:U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Soviet Space  For the first time ever available in the West. Rocket & Space Corporation Energia: a complete pictorial history of the Soviet/Russian Space Program from 1946 to the present day all in full color. Available from our store.Choose your store:U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Viking patch This embroidered mission patch celebrates NASA's Viking Project which reached the Red Planet in 1976.Choose your store:U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Apollo 7 DVD  For 11 days the crew of Apollo 7 fought colds while they put the Apollo spacecraft through a workout, establishing confidence in the machine what would lead directly to the bold decision to send Apollo 8 to the moon just 2 months later.Choose your store:U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Gemini 12  Gemini 12: The NASA Mission Reports covers the voyage of James Lovell and Buzz Aldrin that capped the Gemini program's efforts to prove the technologies and techniques that would be needed for the Apollo Moon landings. Includes CD-ROM.Choose your store:U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Columbia Report  A reproduction of the official accident investigation report into the loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its crew of seven. Choose your store:U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Mars Panorama  DISCOUNTED! This 360 degree image was taken by the Mars Pathfinder, which landed on the Red Planet in July 1997. The Sojourner Rover is visible in the image. Choose your store:U.S. Apollo 11 Mission Report  Apollo 11 - The NASA Mission Reports Vol. 3 is the first comprehensive study of man's first mission to another world is revealed in all of its startling complexity. Includes DVD!Choose your store:U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Rocket DVD  If you've ever watched a launch from Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Vandenberg Air Force Base or even Kodiak Island Alaska, there's no better way to describe what you witnessed than with this DVD.Choose your store:U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Get e-mail updates Sign up for our NewsAlert service and have the latest news in astronomy and space e-mailed direct to your desktop (privacy note: your e-mail address will not be used for any other purpose).
|
|
MISSION STATUS CENTER INDEX | PLUS | NEWS ARCHIVE | LAUNCH SCHEDULE ASTRONOMY NOW | STORE ADVERTISE © 2009 Spaceflight Now Inc. |
||||
