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NASA's rover ready to roll down to surface of Mars

Posted on: Thursday, 15 January 2004, 06:00 CST

NASA's rover ready to roll down to surface of Mars, start looking around

Associated Press

Thursday, January 15, 2004

Pasadena, Calif. -- NASA's Spirit rover completed repositioning itself Wednesday and was ready to roll off its lander and onto the surface of Mars to begin its three-month journey of discovery, the space agency said.

Controllers planned to command Spirit early today to roll down a ramp and come to a stop on Martian soil. The 10-foot trip should take less than two minutes.

It was expected to be the riskiest step Spirit would take while on Mars. Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory hoped to learn between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. today if the maneuver was a success.

After that, the space agency plans to keep Spirit parked for several days, taking measurements of soil and rocks around the rover, before scientists send it trundling off on a zigzagging path to look for evidence that the Red Planet was once hospitable to life.

Wednesday, the rover finished the last of three turns atop its lander, rotating 115 degrees in order to line up its six wheels with the ramp.

The rover was actually supposed to use another ramp that would have taken it directly onto the surface of the planet. But the air bags that cushioned the rover's landing on Mars were blocking the way, requiring the pirouette.

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