[meteorite-list] Six-Wheeling on Mars: Spirit Rover Drives Off Lander

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:02 2004
Message-ID: <200401151654.IAA04323_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040115drive.html

Six-wheeling on Mars: Spirit rover drives off lander
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
January 15, 2004

The command ordering the Spirit rover to roll off its lander and onto the surface
of Mars was transmitted at 3:21:30 a.m. EST.

"Flight, I have alpha, alpha, charlie, tango, underscore, romeo, two-one,
niner-six, decimal alpha, decimal zero, zero in the radiation cue," a controller
informed flight director Chris Lewicki when the instructions were ready to go.

"OK, alpha, alpha, charlie, tango, underscore, romeo, two-one, niner-six,
decimal alpha, decimal zero, zero," Lewicki confirmed. "This is our command
(for) the most significant 3-meter drive in recorded history." The control team
laughed. "That's a good readback, you're clear to radiate."

"On my mark," the controller replied. "Three, two, one, mark!"

And with that, coded instructions began racing toward Mars, more than 100
million miles away, where the Spirit lander sat patiently atop its lander, poised
for roll off.

It would take an hour and a half for the rover to complete its slow move off the
lander's northwest egress aid and onto the surface, to find the sun, reorient its
high-gain antenna and radio telemetry back to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
confirming its initial foray.

As the waiting began, mission manager Jennifer Trosper cued up the theme
song from the TV series "Rawhide" and the familiar refrain "rollin', rollin',
rollin'" blared out in the flight control room."

It was the moment the engineers and scientists had been waiting for since
Spirit bounced to a successful landing on Mars Jan. 3.

"This is a night that is extraordinarily rich in significance for all of us, certainly
for those of us on the science team and I know for everybody here as well,"
principal investigator Steve Squyres told the team. "When I first presented this
long-term (exploration) plan to the public a couple of days ago, I said it was
rich in scientific potential. But I also said it was going to be a shared adventure
unlike any other in human history. When I said that, what I meant for the press
and the public was that it was an adventure we would share with the whole
world.

"But on a much deeper and more personal level, it's an adventure that I'm just
incredibly proud to share with the people in this room and this team. And so,
when we see that picture (showing the lander in the background) and
everybody starts getting all choked up and running around hugging people again,
please forgive me. Thanks."

Finally, at 4:53 a.m., a controller called out: "We have carrier in lock," meaning
NASA's Deep Space Network tracking antennas once again were receiving a
signal from Spirit. Five minutes later, a controller reported telemetry confirmed
that Spirit had, in fact, moved three meters, or about 9.8 feet from its starting
point atop the lander.

"Sounds like it was a nice trip," Lewicki said. "All we need now are the
pictures."

Then, two minutes later, the first grainy black-and-white thumbnail image from
a rear-facing navigation camera came in, clearly showing the lander, perched
atop its crumpled airbags, in the background. Spirit was finally on the surface of
Mars and the flight team burst into cheers and applause. Squyres embraced
Lewicki and science manager John Callas gave Trosper a bouquet of flowers.

"That's a big relief!" said Rob Manning, the engineer who oversaw Spirit's
entry, descent and landing 12 days ago. "We're on Mars. Spirit has landed."

Project manager Pete Theisinger held up a T-shirt with an image of the rover on
one side, along with the words "My other car is on Mars!!!" Then someone cued
up the song "Who Let The Dogs Out?"

A few minutes later, a higher resolution image came in, clearly showing Spirit's
two back wheels and ruddy tire tracks leading back to the lander's egress aids.
Martian soil could be seen clumped up on the rear left wheel as the team once
again burst into cheers.

"Our wheels are finally dirty," Manning observed. "This is very exciting. What a
relief."
Received on Thu 15 Jan 2004 11:54:13 AM PST