The US robotic probe that landed on
Mars 10 days ago has rolled off its lander
and on to the Martian surface.
The Spirit rover rolled down the three- metre-ramp on to the red soil of Mars, widely considered one of the riskiest steps in the US Space Agency's mission.
If all goes well, it will take part in joint experiments with US and European orbital spacecraft.
It can now embark on its mission of exploration to find evidence of water, past and present, in the Martian soil.
Confirmation of the successful manoeuvre off its landing pad was given at 1000 GMT.
Source (more details): BBC News
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Full Version: Rover rolls on to Martian soil
| QUOTE |
The Spirit rover rolled down the three- metre-ramp on to the red soil of Mars, widely considered one of the riskiest steps in the US Space Agency's mission. |
I'm not sure if anyone here has seen the NASA CG animation but it portrayed the ramp as being very steep; it didn't even seem like the Rover would be able to drive down it without flipping over (I don't know how heavy it is but would like to). The wheels have excellent traction so this would also account for the ramp getting away with being so steep but it's still unbelievable. They most likely made it this way (long) so the Rover could fit in the probe with room to spare, but it's a pretty tight fit.
Here's the latest (closeup) photo of Mars terrain.
*-*Broken rocks and a "magic carpet" of smeared soil are among clues to water discovered in a 360-degree panoramic photo taken by the US rover Spirit released by NASA scientists.*-*
Click for larger view.
Different source.
WorldTechNews
awesome. This is amazing to follow.
Isn't it though. Everytime I have access to a T1 line (I'm a resource hog), I buffer (loads in about 1s for 8mb worth of video 
) NASA videos and view the latest raw images.
) NASA videos and view the latest raw images.
I've kept up with this ALOT. I've collected about 200Mb worth of videos and images (haven't seen all the videos yet, but most of them) from the site already 
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