NASA's Amazing "Martian Rovers" Continue Extraordinary Exploration NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit successfully drove off its lander platform and onto the soil of Mars early Thursday. The robot's first picture looking back at the now-empty lander and showing wheel tracks in the soil set off cheers from the robot's flight team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Spirit is now ready to start its mission of exploration and discovery. We have six wheels in the dirt," said JPL Director Dr. Charles Elachi. Since Spirit landed inside Mars' Gusev Crater on Jan. 3 (PST and EST; Jan. 4 Universal Time), JPL engineers have put it through a careful sequence of unfolding, standing up, checking its surroundings and other steps leading up to to

Global Positioning System satellite IIR-10, which launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Dec. 21, is now fully operational. "It is officially 'turned on' for the warfighter as of Jan. 12," said Capt. Thomas R. Ste. Marie, an Air Force launch controller with the 1st Space Launch Squadron. "IIR-10 will appear on GPS user sets as the number 22 and is visible locally from 10:41 p.m. to 4:56 a.m. today. Each day, the time window slips four minutes ahead." This particular satellite has replaced another that began running low on power. It is expected to provide military, commercial and civilian users worldwide with increased positioning and timing accuracy for the next 10 years.