[GioFX]

THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2004
1257 GMT (7:57 a.m. EST)

Data from the Spirit rover shows it completed this morning's drive off the lander at 3:41 a.m. EST. Confirmation was received on Earth just before 5 a.m. EST, verifying that Spirit had performed the 10-foot voyage on its own.

The move took approximately 78 seconds, ending with the back of the rover about 2.6 feet away from the lander egress ramp, officials report.

"It's as if we get to drive a nice sports car, but in the end we're just the valets who bring it around to the front and give the keys to the science team," says flight director Chris Lewicki.

That science team will be making daily decisions about where to send Spirit as the roving robot geologist uses its instruments to study rocks, the Martian soil and atmosphere. Starting late tonight (Earth time) the rover's science arm will be checked out.

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Aggiungo che ci è voluto così tanto perchè, mentre in automatico, data solo la distanza e la direzione del punto finale, arriva a 5 cm/s, in manuale con comando da terra la velocità è di circa un quinto.