NASA scientists sent the robotic rover Spiritout for its first spin on martian soil today by commanding the six-wheeled vehicle to roll off its landing platform 12 days after it arrived on the red planet.
Radio signals instructing Spiritto make its initial excursion were beamed to Mars at 8.21 a.m. Irish time), and confirmation that the rover had ventured onto the planet's surface came with a return transmission about an hour and 40 minutes afterward.
In this handout from NASA, an image from the hazard avoidance camera on the Mars Exploration RoverSpiritshows the vehicle in a near-final turned position on the lander at the Gusev Crater. Photo by NASA/JPL via Getty Images
Moments later, mission controllers received the first pictures taken by rover looking back at the lander, showing tracks left by Spiritin the Martian soil.
The brief outing took Spiritonly about 10 feet (straight ahead but was cheered by project managers at the Pasadena-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as a successful prelude to Spirit's mobile search for signs of life-sustaining water.
For at least the next 78 days, the golf cart-sized explorer is to roam its surroundings in Gusev Crater, a barren, wind-swept basin about the size of Connecticut that scientists believe may have been the site of an ancient lake bed once fed by a long, deep Martian river.
Spirit already has sent back stunning, three-dimensional, color photographs of Mars revealing the planet's terrain in vivid, unprecedented detail.
The JPL team is eager to closely examine soil and rocks using a collection of high-tech geologic gadgets carried on the rover's robot arm.