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Journalism of Courage
NASA’s Spirit rover survived its fiery plunge through the thin Martian atmosphere Saturday evening, bouncing across the planet’s red landscape to a jarring, but safe landing at Gusev Crater. Cheers and clapping erupted in the control room at Pasadena, California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as mission control announced that NASA’s Goldstone antenna in the Mojave Desert had acquired ‘‘a very strong signal from the rover’’ at 11:51 p.m. EST.
Scientists and engineers in the control room who had been visibly tense during the craft’s descent hugged one another and shook hands all around as it became clear that Spirit had made a near-perfect landing. ‘‘This is a big night for NASA,’’ said NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe shortly after the landing. ‘‘We’re back. I’m very, very proud of this team that we are on Mars.’’ He then poured champagne for the team.
The safe arrival, the first since NASA’s Mars Pathfinder reached Mars on July 4, 1997, marks a major step forward in NASA’s search for signs of life on Earth’s closest neighbour. Spirit will spend at least the next three months searching for evidence that water was once common on the surface of Mars, a prerequisite for the existence of life.
Launched June 10 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the craft has travelled more than 300 million miles for its historic rendezvous. Spirit will spend the next nine days checking out its internal systems, charging up its batteries, and photographing the site before it finally rolls off its landing platform and begins its geological work.
Spirit is the most ambitious effort yet to roam the surface of another planet. It is part of a small fleet of spacecraft sent toward Mars in an effort to answer one of the most captivating science question: Has there been life on other planets?
Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, are the most sophisticated of the spacecraft, and hopes are high that they will provide a bounty of information. The stakes were even higher because NASA’s last two Mars missions, the Mars Climate Orbiter and the Mars Polar Lander, failed in 1999.LAT-WP
