The robotic rover Spirit has rolled off its landing platform for its first spin on martian soil, steered by Earth-bound NASA engineers sitting 115 million miles away.
The 78-second outing took Spirit only about 10 feet (3 meters) straight ahead but was hailed by project managers at the Pasadena-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a flawless prelude to the six-wheeled craft’s historic quest for signs of life-sustaining water.
“We have six wheels in the dirt. Mars is now our sandbox, and we are ready to play and learn,” lab director Charles Elachi told reporters.
NASA radio commands directing Spirit to make its initial excursion were beamed to Mars at 12:21 a.m. PST (8.21 a.m. British time), and confirmation that the rover had ventured onto the planet’s surface came with a return transmission about 90 minutes afterward.
Moments later, elated mission controllers received the first pictures taken by rover looking back at the now-empty lander, showing a pair of tracks Spirit left in the martian soil after it crawled down a ramp onto the dusty surface.
“To me, this is the most significant milestone in the history of the project,” said Steven Squyres, the mission’s principal investigator.
Have your own Mars landing party with panoramic 3D images.
NASA’s Maestro program lets you look at Mars the way NASA does. It’s the primary software tool used by scientists to operate the Mars Exploration Rovers from JPL. Anyone can download Maestro for free and use it to follow along with the rovers’ progress during the mission. Maestro can view pictures from Mars in 2D and 3D and create rover activity plans.
Carneigne Mellon’s EventScope provides first-hand access to 3D data right from NASA. The software is free and gives the user the ability to download unlimited Remote Experience files to learn about and explore Mars. By using EventScope, educators can collaborate with both students and remote scientists within an immersive virtual environment. The EventScope Authoring Tool provides advanced users with the ability to author and edit navigable 3D remote experiences, science lessons, and compelling scientific presentations. It can use any VRML model. Or start with EventScope models based on NASA data.
Google has the latest news from Mars while Dailywireless has details on Mars Telecommunications and Telepresence.
