However, color images as well as the first scan from Spirit's Mini-Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) of the neighborhood terrain expected late today will help make the decision on where first the robot should roam.
Mini-TES is an instrument that sees infrared radiation emitted by objects. The Mini-TES is soon to receive its checkout.
A slight problem has cropped up. One of two motors that steers the high-gain antenna shows evidence of running rough. That problem is being assessed, and is not considered a major headache at this time.
Matt Wallace, a Mission Manager for Spirit, said that work today includes further retraction of airbags underneath the lander. Color panoramic images are to be relayed to Earth later tonight.
Putting all the good news aside, there remains the all-important task of deploying Spirit directly onto Mars' surface. Furthermore, sets of wheels must be moved into down-and-locked driving position.
Not out of the woods
Spirit is still far from being out of the woods and onto the sands of Mars, in terms of its readiness to explore. Still to come is use of pyrotechnic devices that cut cables freeing the robot from its landing perch.
Although these devices are highly reliable, if they don't work properly Spirit could not start its sojourn across Mars.
"If for some reason, heaven forbid, we couldn't fire a cable cutter, our rover mission becomes a lander mission," Squyres told SPACE.com . "We wouldn't be able to do any science with any instruments on our [rover] arm. We can take panoramic pictures and work the Mini-TES 'till the cows come home, but the scenery is never going to change. So we're looking forward to getting that cable cut," he said.
"And that's just what we intend to do," said Wallace.
Although a number of mission critical steps are ahead, rover teams here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have already set their science compass on one fascinating surface feature.
Now dubbed "Sleepy Hollow" -- a name stemming from the condition of exhausted but exhilarated Mars Exploration Rover (MER) team members -- a depression or possible crater can be seen within short driving range of the robot.
That area may well be the first scientific stomping ground for Spirit.
Depression or crater?
"It's a hole in the grounda window into the interior of Mars," declared Squyres.
That circular depression is roughly 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter. It is at the most a scant 50 feet (15 meters) away from the landing platform upon which Spirit now rests, tightly secure to its landing base.
Squyres said that the feature could be an impact crater, complete with exposed rock at rim's edge. That hole might be a secondary crater -- created by falling fragments from a far larger object that struck elsewhere on Mars' surface.
"It's a very, very exciting feature for us," Squyres added. There are a number of similar depressions that can be seen in early pictures broadcast from Mars by Spirit.
To get to Sleepy Hollow will be a day trip, once Spirit is able to motor itself across Mars.
"But we haven't earned our Martian driving license yet," Squyres said. "If it takes a week, that's okay by me."
On the way to Sleepy Hollow, two good sized rocks can be seen. A stopover to inspect those well-positioned objects might be on tap. "That has not escaped our attention," Squyres noted..
Rover Trap
That data could well declare Sleepy Hollow to be a "rover trap" -- filled to the brim with dust that might bog down the six-wheeled robot.
While Sleepy Hollow is an old feature, it also looks to have one bit of new history.
It appears to contain disturbed surface material. Spirit's airbag landing system may have bounced in and out of the feature before coming to full-stop. If so, study of the airbag imprint should offer clues as to how solid the material is within the depression.
"It has been a good day on Marsit just keeps coming," Wallace said, detailing the establishment of a very healthy Spirit-to-Earth communications link. To help position a critical antenna to face Earth, images were taken of the Sun.
"Like the ancient mariners used sextants to locate themselves by shooting the Sun," Wallace said, Spirit ground controllers accomplished the same thing to perfectly orient the high-gain antenna. This was done autonomously by the rover.
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