Mars rover to start with alternate route
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Mars rover view of 'Sleepy Hollow,' a nearby depression that the six-wheeled robot may visit.
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Pandemonium erupts as Spirit makes a safe landing on Mars.
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PASADENA, California (AP) -- NASA's Mars rover must turn around and use a secondary ramp to reach the surface of the red planet because its best route is blocked by the air bags that cushioned its landing, the space agency said Friday.
Nevertheless, the parked rover still has found minerals that are intriguing scientists.
These first indications of the geologic makeup of Mars could support theories that liquid water existed on the surface of the planet during its ancient past, providing an environment hospitable to life.
Scientists stressed that finding the minerals, called carbonates, does not immediately prove the theory. Instead, the carbonate dust could have formed through interactions with the tiny amounts of water vapor found in the Martian atmosphere.
"We've got a bunch of ideas and we don't know which one is right yet," said Steven Squyres of Cornell University, the mission's main scientist.
The rover Spirit remained parked on its lander, nearly a week after arriving on Mars. Engineers failed in a final attempt to draw in the air bags that are now blocking the safest route to the surface of the planet.
Engineers will instead command Spirit to turn in place 120 degrees to its right and roll off a secondary, unobstructed ramp, said Matt Wallace, mission manager. The six-wheeled robot will not do that until Thursday at the earliest.
While immobile, Spirit has continued to carry out science work, including snapping a panorama of its surroundings with its color camera.
Spirit also has begun measuring the temperature and makeup of the rocks and soil around it with its mini-thermal emission spectrometer.
The instrument sees infrared radiation -- heat -- emitted by rocks and soil. It can measure that radiation in 167 "colors," information that scientists use to deduce the mineral composition of what Spirit sees.
The $820 million project includes a second, identical rover named Opportunity, which is expected to land on the planet on January 24.
NASA sent the two robotic geologists to prospect for evidence that Mars was once a wet world hospitable to life.
Copyright 2004 The
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