[meteorite-list] Opportunity Rolls Onto Martian Ground

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:11 2004
Message-ID: <200401311830.KAA18124_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster (818) 354-5011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Donald Savage (202) 358-1547
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

NEWS RELEASE: 2004-047 January 31, 2004

Opportunity Rolls Onto Martian Ground

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove down a reinforced
fabric ramp at the front of its lander platform and onto the soil of
Mars' Meridiani Planum this morning.

Also, new science results from the rover indicate that the site does
indeed have a type of mineral, crystalline hematite, that was the
principal reason the site was selected for exploration.

Controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory received confirmation
of the successful drive at 3:01 a.m. Pacific Standard Time via a relay
from the Mars Odyssey orbiter and Earth reception by the Deep Space
Network. Cheers erupted a minute later when Opportunity sent a
picture looking back at the now-empty lander and showing wheel tracks
in the martian soil.

For the first time in history, two mobile robots are exploring the
surface of another planet at the same time. Opportunity's twin,
Spirit, started making wheel tracks halfway around Mars from Meridiani
on Jan. 15.

"We're two for two! One dozen wheels on the soil." JPL's Chris
Lewicki, flight director, announced to the control room.

Matt Wallace, mission manager at JPL, told a subsequent news briefing,
"We knew it was going to be a good day. The rover woke up fit and
healthy to Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run,' and it turned out to be
a good choice."

The flight team needed only seven days since Opportunity's landing to
get the rover off its lander, compared with 12 days for Spirit earlier
this month. "We're getting practice at it," said JPL's Joel Krajewski,
activity lead for the procedure. Also, the configuration of the
deflated airbags and lander presented no trouble for Opportunity,
while some of the extra time needed for Spirit was due to airbags at
the front of the lander presenting a potential obstacle.

Looking at a photo from Opportunity showing wheel tracks between the
empty lander and the rear of the rover about one meter or three feet
away, JPL's Kevin Burke, lead mechanical engineer for getting the
rover off the lander, said "We're glad to be seeing soil behind our
rover."

JPL's Chris Salvo, flight director, reported that Opportunity will be
preparing over the next couple days to reach out with it robotic arm
for a close inspection of the soil.

Gray granules covering most of the crater floor surrounding
Opportunity contain hematite, said Dr. Phil Christensen, lead
scientist for both rovers' miniature thermal emission spectrometers,
which are infrared-sensing instruments used for identifying rock types
from a distance. Crystalline hematite is of special interest because,
on Earth, it usually forms under wet environmental conditions. The
main task for both Mars Exploration Rovers in coming weeks and months
is to read clues in the rocks and soil to learn about past
environmental conditions at their landing sites, particularly about
whether the areas were ever watery and possibly suitable for
sustaining life.

The concentration of hematite appears strongest in a layer of dark
material above a light-covered outcrop in the wall of the crater where
Opportunity sits, Christensen said. "As we get out of the bowl we're
in, I think we'll get onto a surface that is rich in hematite," he
said.
 
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space
Science, Washington, D.C. Images and additional information about the
project are available from JPL at

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov

and from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., at

http://athena.cornell.edu/ .

-end-
Received on Sat 31 Jan 2004 01:30:15 PM PST