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ZL2VAL > ROVERS 11.02.04 11:45l 53 Lines 1879 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 060505ZL2VAL
Read: GUEST
Subj: Spirit sets distance record
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<OK0PPL<DB0RES<ON0AR<ZL2BAU<ZL2BAU<ZL1AB<ZL2AB
Sent: 040211/1004Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:35588 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : ROVERS@WW
Feb 10, 2004
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- The Spirit rover shattered a one-day distance record
on Mars, rolling nearly 70 feet across the planet's rocky surface,
NASA said Tuesday.
The drive covered more than three times the greatest distance that
NASA's tiny Sojourner rover ever traveled in a day on its own 1997
mission to Mars, mission manager Jim Erickson said.
"The basic goal was to drive as far as they could and see how things
went in the time that they had," Erickson said of the drive, which
ended late Monday without any problems.
Spirit drove "blind" about half the distance, following a planned
route to a stopping point. For the second half of the short trip,
the rover drove to a second stopping point, autonomously executed a
turn, and then rolled onward before stopping, Erickson said.
"Everything seemed to go fine there. Tomorrow's plan is further
driving. The day after that is driving even further," Erickson said.
NASA sent Spirit toward a crater nicknamed "Bonneville" that sits
about 800 feet from where the spacecraft landed. NASA hopes the
six-wheeled rover eventually will cover as much as 140 feet a day,
Erickson said.
Spirit's twin, Opportunity, also was on the move at its landing
site, halfway around the planet. NASA sent the pair of rovers on an
$820 million mission to look for geologic evidence that Mars was
once a wetter place that might have been hospitable to life.
=========================
73 de Alan, (Sysop ZL2AB).
AX25:ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
APRS:!3903.34S/17406.45E]
IP :zl2val@qsl.net
Message timed: 22:56 on 2004-Feb-11 (NZ local)
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Points to ponder
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