The US space probe Spirit was launched on its mission to Mars today to study the geological structure of the Red Planet and try to find out if life could ever have existed there.
The Boeing-built Delta II rocket carrying the
Spirit
- with the Mars Expedition Rover A (MER-A) aboard, the first of two US robots that will closely study the red planet - launched at 1:58 pm (1758 GMT).
"We see a clean separation," a mission control spokesman said. "MER-A, have a safe journey and a successful mission, and MER-B, we'll see you soon."
A camera mounted on the rocket showed images as it sped on its flight path above the Florida coast then the upper strata of the atmosphere at more than 15,000 kilometres (9,300 miles) per hour.
The spacecraft is to traverse some 500 million kilometres (300 million miles) over seven months, then drop into the Gusev crater, 15 degrees south of the Martian equator, in early January 2004.
Two robots, MER-A and MER-B, are to be sent to Mars. The second, MER-B, dubbed Opportunity, is scheduled to launch on June 25th and to land on January 25th, 2004 in an area of Mars known as the Meridiani Planum.
The aim of the mission is to look for signs of water which would indicate that there could have been life or that life was possible. Water in its liquid form is not a feature of the Martian surface but topography which seems in part to have been criscrossed by running water has made many researchers believe it may have been there in the past.
Europe's Mars Express left on June 2nd and is scheduled to finish its 400 million kilometer (250 million mile) trip a few days before the first US MER arrives on January 4th next year.
The two rivals launched so close together because Mars is now at its closest position to the Earth, which only happens every 26 months.
AFP