M A I N   N E W S

Rover sends signals from Mars

Pasadena, January 4
A US spacecraft carrying a robotic rover designed to search for signs of life on Mars arrived safely yesterday, capping an almost seven-month space journey and dangerous six-minute final plunge through the hostile Martian atmosphere.

The spacecraft carrying the Spirit rover made its touchdown on the red planet known by sending back a series of tones to scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The control room erupted in cheers and smiles each time the spacecraft appeared to hit its marks during the six-minute entry sequence but turned to tense silence as flight engineers frantically searched for a signal from Spirit.

The craft broke several minutes of radio silence at 10.22 am (IST) today to announce it had survived its perilous journey through the Martian atmosphere and arrived at its designated landing site in a massive impact crater.

Signals from the spacecraft showed it had landed on its base, as project managers had hoped, capping an approach to the planet that appeared to be textbook-perfect.

The presence of NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe made clear that the $ 820 million mission’s success was of utmost importance to the US space agency, which had seen its last two Mars missions end in failure because of software and mathematical errors.

The spacecraft entered Mars’ atmosphere at about 8.59 am (IST) today after an approach that took the spacecraft from a top speed of 12,000 mph to zero in six minutes.

To arrive intact on the planet’s surface, the spacecraft had to deploy a parachute, jettison its heat shield, and fire retro rockets to slow a descent that officials predicted could be “hell”.

A final drop of about four stories was cushioned by giant airbags, which allowed the lander to bounce across the bleak Martian landscape for up to half a mile (0.8 km) before coming to rest inside the giant Gusev crater.

Inside the lander is the Spirit rover, a golf-cart sized mobile geology laboratory, that will study rocks and soil on Mars for evidence of water and past or present life.

Project managers said the landing was the riskiest part of a mission that began with launch in June.

Earlier, optimistic scientists from the space agency said their craft appeared to be hurtling toward a “bulls-eye” touch-down.

The scientists had made final adjustments to the parachute deployment to accommodate a duststorm blowing on Mars, but found themselves on such a perfect course that they could scrap more navigation maneuvers.

“Today is a great day to land on Mars,” deputy mission manager Mark Adler told reporters.

Spirit’s arrival was the climax of a weekend of interplanetary discovery after a US spacecraft on Friday gathered particles from a comet in a first that could give scientists clues about how Earth began. — Reuters