NASA’s ’Spirit’ Rises On Its Way To Mars
A NASA robotic geologist named Spirit began its seven-month journey to Mars at 1:58:47 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (10:58:47 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time) today when its Delta II launch vehicle thundered aloft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
The spacecraft, first of a twin pair in NASAs Mars Exploration Rover project, separated successfully from the Deltas third stage about 36 minutes after launch, while over the Indian Ocean. Flight controllers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., received a signal from the spacecraft at 2:48 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (11:48 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time) via the Canberra, Australia, antenna complex of NASAs Deep Space Network. All systems are operating as expected.
Spirit will roam a landing area on Mars that bears evidence of a wet history. The rover will examine rocks and soil for clues to whether the site may have been a hospitable place for life. Spirits twin, Opportunity, which is being prepared for launch as early as 12:38 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time June 25 (9:38 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on June 24) , will be targeted to a separate site with different signs of a watery past.
“We have plenty of challenges ahead, but this launch went so well, were delighted,” said JPLs Pete Theisinger, project manager for the Mars Exploration Rover missions.
The spacecrafts cruise-phase schedule before arriving at Mars next Jan. 4, Universal Time (Jan. 3 in Eastern and Pacific time zones), includes a series of tests and calibrations, plus six opportunities for maneuvers to adjust its trajectory. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for the NASA Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.
Information about the rovers and the scientific instruments they carry is available online from JPL at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer and from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., at http://athena.cornell.edu .
Media Contact
All latest news from the category: Physics and Astronomy
This area deals with the fundamental laws and building blocks of nature and how they interact, the properties and the behavior of matter, and research into space and time and their structures.
innovations-report provides in-depth reports and articles on subjects such as astrophysics, laser technologies, nuclear, quantum, particle and solid-state physics, nanotechnologies, planetary research and findings (Mars, Venus) and developments related to the Hubble Telescope.
Newest articles
Bringing bio-inspired robots to life
Nebraska researcher Eric Markvicka gets NSF CAREER Award to pursue manufacture of novel materials for soft robotics and stretchable electronics. Engineers are increasingly eager to develop robots that mimic the…
Bella moths use poison to attract mates
Scientists are closer to finding out how. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are as bitter and toxic as they are hard to pronounce. They’re produced by several different types of plants and are…
AI tool creates ‘synthetic’ images of cells
…for enhanced microscopy analysis. Observing individual cells through microscopes can reveal a range of important cell biological phenomena that frequently play a role in human diseases, but the process of…