Insioe the mars rouer missions

摘要

I think the longest 11 minutes I ever experienced in my life were those 11 minutes on the evening of Jan. 3, 2004. I, along with other members of the Mars Exploration Rover science team, were assembled in our science operations working group meeting room at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif., awaiting the landing of the rover Spirit in Guscv Crater. We had been listening with anticipation as the mission engineers reported on Spirit's progress in its passage through the Martian atmosphere. Described to the press as "six minutes of terror," Spirit apparently had survived that perilous journey with flying colors. In fact, the rover had just sent back a signal saying that its airbag landing system had deployed and that it was bouncing, but then... silence.