[meteorite-list] Newly Launched 'Opportunity' Follows Mars-Bound 'Spirit'

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:21:00 2004
Message-ID: <200307080618.XAA22368_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

Guy Webster July 7, 2003
(818) 354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Don Savage
(202) 358-1727
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

JPL Release No. 2003-095

NEWLY LAUNCHED 'OPPORTUNITY' FOLLOWS MARS-BOUND 'SPIRIT'

NASA launched its second Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, late Monday
night aboard a Delta II launch vehicle whose bright glare briefly
illuminated Florida Space Coast beaches.

Opportunity's dash to Mars began with liftoff at 11:18:15 p.m. Eastern
Daylight Time (8:18:15 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time) from Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station, Fla.

The spacecraft separated successfully from the Delta's third stage 83
minutes later, after it had been boosted out of Earth orbit and onto a
course toward Mars. Flight controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., received a signal from Opportunity at 12:43 a.m. Tuesday
EDT (9:43 p.m. Monday PDT) via the Goldstone, Calif., antenna complex of
NASA's Deep Space Network.

All systems on the spacecraft are operating as expected, JPL's Richard
Brace, Mars Exploration Rover deputy project manager, reported.

"We have a major step behind us now," said Pete Theisinger, project manager.
"There are still high-risk parts of this mission ahead of us, but we have
two spacecraft on the way to Mars, and that's wonderful."

NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science Dr. Ed Weiler said,
"Opportunity joins Spirit and other Mars-bound missions from the European
Space Agency, Japan and the United Kingdom, which together mark the most
extensive exploration of another planet in history. This ambitious
undertaking is an amazing feat for Planet Earth and the human spirit of
exploration."

As of early Tuesday, Opportunity's twin, Spirit, has traveled 77 million
kilometers (48 million miles) since its launch on June 10 and is operating
in good health.

Opportunity is scheduled to arrive at a site on Mars called Meridiani
Planum on Jan. 25, 2004, Universal Time (evening of Jan. 24, Eastern and
Pacific times), three weeks after Spirit lands in a giant crater about
halfway around the planet.

NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter has identified deposits at Meridiani
Planum of a type of mineral that usually forms in wet environments. Both
rovers will function as robotic geologists, examining rocks and soil for
clues about whether past environments at their landing sites may have
been hospitable to life.

JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. It
built the rovers and manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for the
NASA Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.
 
Information about the rovers and the scientific instruments they carry is
available online from JPL at

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer

and from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., at

http://athena.cornell.edu .

-- end--
Received on Tue 08 Jul 2003 02:18:42 AM PDT