SCI/TECH: "Opportunity" Lands 'Side-Down' on Mars, page 1

At about 12:10am EST Opportunity had a flawless entry and landing on the Mars Surface with a 2 to 3g landing, according to NASA. This is a very "light" drop as the unit is rated for landings of up to 40g. Within hours, the lander has deployed and began sending back pictures.

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Yahoo News



Above image was taken by NASA's Odyssey spacecraft, and is a close-up of Opportunity's predicted landing site at a region on Mars called Meridiani Planum.

NASA Press Release...
jpl.nasa.gov
First Images of Opportunity Site Show Bizarre Landscape
January 25, 2004

NASA's Opportunity rover returned the first pictures of its landing site early today, revealing a surreal, dark landscape unlike any ever seen before on Mars.

Opportunity relayed the images and other data via NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. The data showed that the spacecraft is healthy, said Matt Wallace, mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"Opportunity has touched down in a bizarre, alien landscape," said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin, Spirit. "I'm flabbergasted. I'm astonished. I'm blown away."

(more at above link)





[Edited on 25-1-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

I am watching the NASA Web brodcast of the landing, some updates:

At 12:18am EST Opportunity is still rolling on the ground.

12:25 no fault tones, no errors occured during rollout

12:28 JPL is still receiving up and down beeps, but say they don't believe they are still rolling

12:33 Signal has been lost

12:36 Antenna signal is bouncing off the surface of Mars creating interferance


News conference scheduled for 10:30pm PST and 2:00am PST

I got to say that it was really intresting watching the Team at JPL, I could feel their emotions. Wish I was there like Al Gore.

MSNBC



[Edited on 25-1-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

NASA TV coverage of Opportunity

What the Real Media stream of the NASA coverage. www.jpl.nasa.gov... NASA is reporting that Opportunity has a solid data connection with the Mars Golbal Surveyor and there has not been any error codes of any type reported. The landing was "soft and flawless" according to one NASA source, with the exception of settling on the side-pedal.

It Works! This 360-degree panorama is one of the first images beamed back to Earth from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shortly after it touched down at Meridiani Planum, Mars. The image was captured by the rover's navigation camera. Image Credit: NASA/JPL [Edited on 25-1-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

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