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News
First of two Rovers now on the way to Mars : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisFirst of two Rovers now on the way to Mars
| Oswego native a deputy team chief...
| by Nancy Atkinson
| 6/19/2003
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The first of two Mars Exploration Rovers was successfully launched on Tuesday, June 10, from Cape Canaveral, Fla. just before 1 p.m. Central Time. Stormy weather on Florida’s space coast delayed the launch for two days, but now the spacecraft carrying the rover named “Spirit” is hurtling its way towards the Red Planet.
Oswego native Chris Potts is the deputy navigation team chief for the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). Potts’ father, Charles Potts, was a respected science, chemistry, and physics instructor at Oswego High School until his retirement.
MER is an ambitious mission to send two rovers to two separate locations on Mars to search for geological evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet’s past. The navigation team is responsible for guiding the spacecraft to Mars, and landing the rovers safely on the surface.
The picture-perfect launch included stunning footage from a camera attached to the outside of the Delta II rocket.
Approximately a half hour after liftoff, the third stage of the rocket fired, boosting the spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit and towards Mars. Shortly after, the navigation team confirmed communication with the spacecraft, and said that so far, all is well.
In a press release, an official from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where Chris Potts works, said that they were delighted with the launch, but that there are plenty of challenges ahead in getting the spacecraft to Mars.
During the voyage, the navigation team will perform a series of tests and calibrations, plus six maneuvers to fine-tune its trajectory.
NASA announced the winner of the “name the rovers” contest as 9-year old Sofi Collis from Scottsdale, Ariz., who christened the two rovers as “Spirit” and “Opportunity.”
“Opportunity” is scheduled to launch on June 25.
“Spirit” joins two other spacecraft, one from Europe and one from Japan, that are already heading to Mars. Scientists are taking advantage of the orbits of Earth and Mars being in close proximity, which occurs every 26 months. This year, however, Mars will be closer to Earth that it has been for 73,000 years. Still, the trip is 311 million miles, and will take seven months.
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