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American Morning
Exploring Mars
Aired January 15, 2004 - 07:14 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It was a small roll for a rover, but it could be a giant leap for mankind -- at least that's what NASA is saying. The Spirit rover rolled onto the surface of Mars just a couple of hours ago. The next step in this mission is to determine if Mars was once a wet and warm planet.
Space correspondent Miles O'Brien has been following it all for us. He's live in Washington, D.C.
Good morning to you -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
If you think it's wicked cold in Boston, try Mars on for size. It's about 150 below at night. It might hover around zero by day. But Spirit no worse for the wear. As a matter of fact, things are going very well 12 days after the landing of the golf cart-sized robotic geologist.
Off the landing pad it went. Take a look at its own tracks. It took a picture of it, as it went all of 10 feet. Not exactly screeching its tires, all six of them, as it moved off the landing pad. The top speed for Spirit is just barely nine miles an hour.
But nevertheless, these pictures mean an awful lot to ground controllers, indicating that finally six wheels are on the surface of Mars, and off to the -- well, I wouldn't call it the races -- but at least a decent crawl on its way to an important crater, which scientists believe holds some keys to understanding where all of the water went on Mars. The scene in the control room was one of jubilation once, again. The water is a key because it offers some sort of indication as to the possibility of life.
Look at the team there. They've had a good run, haven't they? NASA in many respects, you might say, is on a roll, literally and figuratively.
This mission could last as long as 90 days, maybe even longer if everything goes well. It is a solar-powered machine. Eventually, there will be so much dust on those solar panels, Soledad, that Spirit won't be able to continue its mission. Nevertheless, maybe -- just maybe -- it will get to that crater, get out its microscope, take a look at a rock and see the eyes of a fossil. Who knows?
S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. It looks great. I'm sure they're just thrilled there at NASA. All right, Miles O'Brien for us this morning in Washington. Miles, thanks. 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 15, 2004 - 07:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It was a small roll for a rover, but it could be a giant leap for mankind -- at least that's what NASA is saying. The Spirit rover rolled onto the surface of Mars just a couple of hours ago. The next step in this mission is to determine if Mars was once a wet and warm planet.
Space correspondent Miles O'Brien has been following it all for us. He's live in Washington, D.C.
Good morning to you -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
If you think it's wicked cold in Boston, try Mars on for size. It's about 150 below at night. It might hover around zero by day. But Spirit no worse for the wear. As a matter of fact, things are going very well 12 days after the landing of the golf cart-sized robotic geologist.
Off the landing pad it went. Take a look at its own tracks. It took a picture of it, as it went all of 10 feet. Not exactly screeching its tires, all six of them, as it moved off the landing pad. The top speed for Spirit is just barely nine miles an hour.
But nevertheless, these pictures mean an awful lot to ground controllers, indicating that finally six wheels are on the surface of Mars, and off to the -- well, I wouldn't call it the races -- but at least a decent crawl on its way to an important crater, which scientists believe holds some keys to understanding where all of the water went on Mars. The scene in the control room was one of jubilation once, again. The water is a key because it offers some sort of indication as to the possibility of life.
Look at the team there. They've had a good run, haven't they? NASA in many respects, you might say, is on a roll, literally and figuratively.
This mission could last as long as 90 days, maybe even longer if everything goes well. It is a solar-powered machine. Eventually, there will be so much dust on those solar panels, Soledad, that Spirit won't be able to continue its mission. Nevertheless, maybe -- just maybe -- it will get to that crater, get out its microscope, take a look at a rock and see the eyes of a fossil. Who knows?
S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. It looks great. I'm sure they're just thrilled there at NASA. All right, Miles O'Brien for us this morning in Washington. Miles, thanks. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
