U.S. Rover Lands on Mars, Strong Signal Heard

Reuters ^ | Sat, Jan 03, 2004 | Dan Whitcomb and Gina Keating

[anymouse]

A U.S. spacecraft carrying a robotic rover designed to search for signs of life on Mars arrived safely on Saturday, capping an almost seven-month space journey and dangerous six-minute final plunge through the hostile Martian atmosphere.

The spacecraft carrying the Spirit rover made its touchdown on the red planet known by sending back a series of tones to scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The control room erupted in cheers and smiles each time the spacecraft appeared to hit its marks during the six-minute entry sequence but turned to tense silence as flight engineers frantically searched for a signal from Spirit.

The craft broke several minutes of radio silence at 8:52 p.m. PST (11:52 EST) to announce it had survived its perilous journey through the Martian atmosphere and had arrived at its designated landing site in a massive impact crater.

Signals from the spacecraft showed it had landed on its base, as project managers had hoped, capping an approach to the planet that appeared to be textbook-perfect.

The presence of NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe made clear that the $820 million mission's success was of utmost importance to the U.S. space agency, which had seen its last two Mars missions end in failure because of software and mathematical errors.

The spacecraft entered Mars' atmosphere at about 7:29 p.m. PST (10:29 p.m. EST) after an approach that took the spacecraft from a top speed of 12,000 mph to a full stop in six minutes.

To arrive intact on the planet's surface, the spacecraft had to deploy a parachute, jettison its heat shield, and fire retro rockets to slow a descent that officials predicted could be "hell."

A final drop of about four stories was cushioned by giant airbags, which allowed the lander to bounce across the bleak Martian landscape for up to half a mile before coming to rest inside the giant Gusev crater.

Inside the lander is the Spirit rover, a golf-cart sized mobile geology laboratory that will study the rocks and soil on Mars for evidence of water and past or present life.

Project managers said the landing was the riskiest part of a mission that began with launch in June.

Earlier, optimistic scientists from the space agency said their craft appeared to be hurtling toward a "bulls-eye" touch-down.

The scientists had made final adjustments to the parachute deployment to accommodate a dust storm blowing on Mars, but found themselves on such a perfect course that they could scrap more navigation maneuvers.

"Today is a great day to land on Mars," deputy mission manager Mark Adler told reporters.

Spirit's arrival was the climax of a weekend of interplanetary discovery after a U.S. spacecraft on Friday gathered particles from a comet in a first that could give scientists clues about how Earth began.

Project managers picked Gusev, an impact crater bigger than Connecticut, in part because they believed it may have once held a lake.

"We couldn't have possibly hoped to do better," said Louis D'Amario, Mars Exploration Rover navigation team chief. "This is essentially hitting the bulls-eye. We're very happy."

Though the unexpected dust storm was blowing on the other side of the planet from where Spirit was due to land, the scientists said it had warmed and thinned the upper Martian atmosphere, prompting them to plan on an earlier deployment of the parachute.

A second rover, nicknamed Opportunity, is expected to land on the other side of the Red Planet in three weeks.

[anymouse]

Looks like NASA finally got it right. Congratulations to all of the unsung heroes that made this possible and who will never get public credit for their hard work.

[anymouse]

Space ping.

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[DarthMaulrulesok]

Way to go NASA!

Wait a minute...new incoming signal from probe...decoding...hey, it's a message from the Martians...translating...here it is:

"MARS...NEEDS...WOMEN"

[Psycho_Bunny]

The spacecraft entered Mars' atmosphere at about 7:29 p.m. PST

Those morons at Rueters can't get anything straight.  It happened at 8:30 PST.

[recalcitrant]

I wonder what the overall tendency of this will be, as it relates to the potential NASA budget for the short term future?

Mars colony in our century?
USA owned?
Return to the moon, in force?
What effect will this have on Europe and the rest of the world geopolitically?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Major thread here:

Mars Exploration Rover Mission

[LasVegasMac]

NASA finally figured out that pesky foot / meter thing?

Congratulations!

LVM

[Keith in Iowa]

FoxNews Alert - Pictures!!

[Keith in Iowa]

[lainde]

How wonderful!

[GeronL]

pictures!!... yay.. (gee, thats girly... I'll never do that again).. YES!!! (more manly, good)

is that a gopher hole?

[Phil V.]

you ought to replace this BREAKING NEWS thread with the one that should have been in this position ALL DAY.

[Bobby777]

terrific ... it will be cools if the next one lands OK as well ... two of them roving around ...

[Glenn]

Nothing but net!

Atta baby!

[smokeyb]

What effect will this have on Europe and the rest of the world geopolitically?

Let's let the U.N. take care if this ! I say we move their headquarters here !!!

[King Prout]

no, come on... Mars will be useful to productive people. Let the UN have Venus... suit's their kollectiv personality better anyway.

[Elsie]

Wow!

A robotic, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume.", meeting would REALLY be cool!

[Fearless Flyers]

Now we'll be able to find out, as the NASA scientist stated on NBC News Friday evening, "if there is liquid water on Mars"

Their not interested in finding gaseous steam or solid ice only liquid water.

This is our tax dollars at work supporting entitlement programs within NASA. I can accept redundancy in the mechanics and safety devices of the vehicles as a necessity. When in it appears in the grammar of the supposed educated scientists who act as their spokespeople, I discover all my questions about the agencies past failures have been answered?

[biggerten]

begin quote.........

"Their not interested in finding gaseous steam or solid ice only liquid water."

.................end quote

Surely you mean "They're" and not "Their". Grammatically incorrect, don't you know.

Maybe the good Doctor's diction was bad, or he made a simple mistake, like the rest of us humans are wont to do.