"Sleepy Hollow," a
shallow depression in the Mars ground near NASA's Spirit rover, may
become an early destination when the rover drives off its lander
platform in a week or so. That possible crater and other features
delighted engineers and scientists examining pictures from the Mars
Exploration Rover Spirit's first look around.
"Reality has surpassed fantasy. We're like kids in a candy
store," said Art Thompson, rover tactical activity lead at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We can hardly wait
until we get off the lander and start doing fun stuff on the
surface."
A clean bill of health from a checkout of all three science
instruments on Spirit's robotic arm fortified scientists'
anticipation of beginning to use those tools after the rover gets
its six wheels onto the ground.
Also, Spirit succeeded Sunday in finding the Sun with its
panoramic camera and calculating how to point its main antenna
toward Earth by knowing the Sun's position.
"Just as the ancient mariners used sextants for 'shooting the
Sun,' as they called it, we were successfully able to shoot the Sun
with our panorama camera, then use that information to point the
antenna," said JPL's Matt Wallace, mission manger.
Within sight of Spirit are several wide, shallow bowls that may
be impact craters, said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University,
Ithaca, NY, principal investigator for the spacecraft's science
payload. "It's clear that while we have a generally flat surface,
it is pockmarked with these things.
The mission's scientists, who are getting little rest as they
examine the pictures from Spirit, chose the name "Sleepy Hollow"
for one of these circular depressions. This one is about 9 meters
(30 feet) across and about 12 meters (40 feet) north of the lander,
Squyres said.
"It's a hole in the
ground," he said. "It's a window into the interior of Mars."
One of the next steps in preparing Spirit for rolling onto the
soil is to extend the front wheels, which are tucked in for fitting
inside a tight space during the flight from Earth.
Spirit arrived at Mars Jan. 3 (EST and PST; Jan. 4 Universal
Time) after a seven month journey. Its task is to spend the next
three months exploring for clues in rocks and soil about whether
the past environment at this part of Mars was ever watery and
possibly suitable to sustain life.
Spirit's twin Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, will reach
its landing site on the opposite side of Mars on Jan. 25 (EST and
Universal Time; Jan. 24 PST) to begin a similar examination of a
site on the opposite side of the planet from Gusev Crater.