The Mars Exploration Rover was commanded by the click of a mouse button to exit down a lander petal at 12:21:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST). It was ordered to head in a north-northwest direction. The six-wheeled robot is now resting in the stark, rock strewn and geologically rich landscape that is Gusev Crater.
Driving range
"Data is streaming in," said Rob Manning, Entry, Descent and Landing Development Manager for the rover effort. "It looks like the egress went very well."
Controllers called it the most significant 10 feet (3 meter) drive in history. The drive took 78 seconds, ending with the back of the rover about 2.6 feet (80 centimeters) from the foot of the egress ramp.
The first image relayed from the rover on Mars, snapped from the backend of the robot, showed the left-behind lander hardware -- now a useless piece of space junk.
Months of scientific sleuthing
"Were on Mars. Spirit has finally landed," Manning said.
One of robots first tasks is to slew its panoramic camera and locate the Sun. Spirit uses that data to compute where to point its main antenna at Earth.
Months of scientific sleuthing by Spirit is dedicated to study martian rock and soil to ascertain whether the past environment in Gusev Crater was ever watery, enough so to have been an abode for life.
Six wheels in the dirt
The entire Mars rover team of scientists and engineers cheered their own success an over three-year-long effort that resulted in todays striking achievement.
"Spirit is now ready to start its mission of exploration and discovery. We have six wheels in the dirt," said Charles Elachi, JPL Director.
"Mars is now our sandboxand we are ready to play and learn," Elachi said during a press briefing shortly after the golf cart-sized rover parked itself on Mars surface.
Peter Theisinger, JPLs Mars Exploration Rover project manager, proudly wore a gift T-shirt, adorned with a picture of Spirit with the words: "My other car is on Mars!"
"Mars is open to the public," said Kevin Burke, Lead Mechanical Engineer for Egress.
Exit ramp victory
The main scientific goal for Spirit is to determine whether Gusev Crater ever contained a lake. Color views taken by Spirit, as well as infrared scans of the terrain, have not definitively revealed the true character of the landing site.
For the last few days, engineers had pivoted Spirit atop its lander platform on Mars for tonights exit ramp victory.
Once science gear onboard Spirit studies easily accessible rock and dirt in the general neighborhood for the next several days, mission controllers have already readied the rovers travel plans.
Rover team members are slated to head for a crater that is about 270 yards (250 meters) northeast of the lander. Scientists are eager to drive up to the rim of the crater. Along the way, the terrain around the hole is expected to be peppered with rocks tossed up during the craters formation.
Spirit will study these ejected rocks as they offer a window into the subsurface of Mars.
Long-distance trek
Scientists are eager to then send the rover toward a range of hills about 2 miles (3 kilometers) away for a look at rocks that sit higher than the landing neighborhood's surface.
However, that distance is some five times as far as NASA's mission-success criteria for how far either rover would drive. The long-distance trek will depend on the overall health of Spirit, and uploading of special software that enables the robot to wheel itself across the landscape in "pedal to the metal" fashion.
When Spirit began to roll across Mars, images revealed that the rovers wheels were being caked with surface material.
"It looks like its sticking to the wheels and lifting up. There are some very, very interesting soil mechanics going on here. Were going to have a very interesting time studying it," Steve Squyres, Principal Investigator from Cornell University for the Mars Exploration Rover project. "It doesnt look like anything Ive seen before," he told SPACE.com .
Opportunity next
It wont be long before Spirit has company.
Spirits twin, the Opportunity rover is zeroing in on Mars, arriving on January 24 at 9:05 p.m., PST. It will land on the opposite side of the planet from where Spirit is roving -- Meridiani Planum, an area rich in gray hematite.
Hematite here on Earth typically forms in association with liquid water, although it can also be formed as a result of volcanism.
Buoyed by the successful deployment of Spirit into Gusev Crater today, Theisinger congratulated the entire Mars Exploration Rover team for their collective triumph.
"Now weve got to do all this again in nine days," Theisinger said.
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