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CNN Live At Daybreak
Latest Developments With The Mars Rover Spirit Mission
Aired January 06, 2004 - 05:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now that the Mars Rover Spirit is safely on the surface of the red planet, NASA scientists are waiting eagerly for each and every image it sends back to earth.
CNN space correspondent Miles O'Brien gives us a peek.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ART THOMPSON, MARS MISSION TEAM: I'd like to start off by saying wow.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And so would we. NASA's Spirit rover is sitting pretty in the middle of a Martian crater 100 million miles away, swiveling its eagle eyed head, looking for places to go and rocks to reconnoiter, all the while checking in like a homesick child.
THOMPSON: Once again, in this instance, reality has far surpassed fantasy. All the years of working and dreaming about getting this vehicle on the surface and the last seven months of practicing operations, she's just too easy to operation.
O'BRIEN: Easy as it may seem, it comes on the heels of Saturday's death defying plunge into the Martian atmosphere, which beat the odds. Spirit arrived with parachute, rockets and air bags blazing seven months after launch, four years after NASA's last Martian lander cratered after the agency cut too many corners.
This time, they tripled the budget and built a twin rover set to reach Mars in three weeks.
STEVE SQUYRES, SPIRIT CHIEF SCIENTIST: To finally see our dreams come true on another world is like nothing I can describe.
O'BRIEN: So now what? The team is combing through images like this to create a road map of where to steer Spirit once they put it in gear. They hope the cameras, along with a censor that measures the heat radiating from rocks, will lead them to proof this is an ancient lake bed.
MATT GOLOMBEK, MARS MISSION SCIENTIST: This is like, you know, your eyes, only more so, in that you can look around this whole scene and decide what's important. You've got a whole bunch of rocks, now which one's the really key one to go look at?
O'BRIEN (on camera): But before they make a move, they will use Spirit's scientific instruments and cameras to take a close look at the terrain and all the rocks that are around them. Yes, there are a bunch of rocks on Mars, but not all of them are created equal.
Miles O'Brien, CNN, Pasadena, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 6, 2004 - 05:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now that the Mars Rover Spirit is safely on the surface of the red planet, NASA scientists are waiting eagerly for each and every image it sends back to earth.
CNN space correspondent Miles O'Brien gives us a peek.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ART THOMPSON, MARS MISSION TEAM: I'd like to start off by saying wow.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And so would we. NASA's Spirit rover is sitting pretty in the middle of a Martian crater 100 million miles away, swiveling its eagle eyed head, looking for places to go and rocks to reconnoiter, all the while checking in like a homesick child.
THOMPSON: Once again, in this instance, reality has far surpassed fantasy. All the years of working and dreaming about getting this vehicle on the surface and the last seven months of practicing operations, she's just too easy to operation.
O'BRIEN: Easy as it may seem, it comes on the heels of Saturday's death defying plunge into the Martian atmosphere, which beat the odds. Spirit arrived with parachute, rockets and air bags blazing seven months after launch, four years after NASA's last Martian lander cratered after the agency cut too many corners.
This time, they tripled the budget and built a twin rover set to reach Mars in three weeks.
STEVE SQUYRES, SPIRIT CHIEF SCIENTIST: To finally see our dreams come true on another world is like nothing I can describe.
O'BRIEN: So now what? The team is combing through images like this to create a road map of where to steer Spirit once they put it in gear. They hope the cameras, along with a censor that measures the heat radiating from rocks, will lead them to proof this is an ancient lake bed.
MATT GOLOMBEK, MARS MISSION SCIENTIST: This is like, you know, your eyes, only more so, in that you can look around this whole scene and decide what's important. You've got a whole bunch of rocks, now which one's the really key one to go look at?
O'BRIEN (on camera): But before they make a move, they will use Spirit's scientific instruments and cameras to take a close look at the terrain and all the rocks that are around them. Yes, there are a bunch of rocks on Mars, but not all of them are created equal.
Miles O'Brien, CNN, Pasadena, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
