Opportunity successfully landed on Mars * Spirit had 1,700 files deleted and is gradually coming back and even transmitted black and white images
Avi Blizovsky
In the photo: Right: Opterioniti's empty nest and the wheel tracks. Left: The Spirit in action, first picture in a week
Update 14:20 p.m. - Opportunity rolled onto Mars soil successfully
The robotic all-terrain vehicle Opportunity, which landed about a week ago on the meridian level of Mars, successfully rolled off the lander into the rusty soil of Mars today at 13:05 PM, Israel time.
The dangerous journey passed without incident, and the sign of this was in the form of a black and white image that was transmitted to Earth through a satellite orbiting Mars. "We now have a dozen wheels on the ground," flight director Chris Lewicki said after Opportunity joined its twin brother Spirit on the Martian surface, with each vehicle having six wheels.
Images captured by Opportunity's rear hazard camera show the empty lander and a matching pair of wheel tracks on the ground. The scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory cheered when the pictures arrived. More photos keep coming.
NASA says that it took Opportunity less than two minutes to roll the three meters off the lander's flat platform onto the Martian soil in the crater where it landed a week ago. The step is one of the dangers facing the vehicle. Once the vehicle rolls out of the 3-meter-deep crater, it will be on the ground The most known slide on Mars.
This Spirit took 12 days, due to an airbag blocking the safest way and it was necessary to perform a 120 degree turn operation and use a secondary ramp. Since then the Spirit has rolled a short distance across the rocky surface at the landing site. Software problems caused the car to stop temporarily on January 21.
On Friday, NASA erased 1,700 files from the Spirit's flash memory, so that the vehicle's storage areas can now be better managed. Engineers then rebooted the vehicle.
"I'm happy to report that it seems to be working great," said Glenn Reeves, chief engineer of the robot's software. He said NASA could declare Spirit fully recovered on Sunday."
Opportunity, on the other hand, did not suffer from such obstacles. NASA also accelerated the vehicle's work schedule so it could begin its work more quickly.
While parked on the lander the rover discovered signs of a mineral on Earth that formed in the presence of water, a finding that means the dry planet was once wet and friendly to life.
13: 10 Update
NASA scientists broadcast an order a little while ago for Opportunity to disembark and travel three meters into the Martian soil.
Later we will know if the command was executed, and how it was executed.
Update 12:00 The Spirit Camera is back on the air
NASA recently released new images from the Spirit vehicle - this is the first image launched from the vehicle since it ceased functioning over a week ago.
The images were taken and transmitted to Earth on Wednesday, and NASA broadcast them on Thursday. The image shows the rover using an instrument called the Mössbauer Spectrometer, mounted on its robotic arm. Spirit was in the middle of pressing an instrument against a rock called Adriandak to measure its mineral composition when it began experience communication failures.
NASA said its engineers are working to return Spirit to full operation. Meanwhile, Spirit's twin, Opportunity, which landed last Sunday on the far side of Mars, may roll off the lander to begin its science mission as early as this week.
On Friday, Opportunity transmitted data about a mineral that typically forms on Earth in the presence of water — a finding that means the desert planet was once friendly to life. This is exactly the question for which two vehicles were sent to Mars.
The first findings came just hours before Opportunity is scheduled to roll on its six wheels to the surface of Mars for the first time. The engineers plan to order the vehicle to roll 3 meters to the Martian soil on Saturday, at 13:12 Israel time. Confirmation of this is expected to arrive about three hours later.
