Mars rovers roll on after five years

This artist's rendering shows a view of NASA's Mars Rover as it sets off roam the surface of the red planet. The first of twin rovers, Spirit, is expected to begin taking pictures within hours of landing on January 3, 2003. The rover is about the size of a golf cart and will carry five scientific instruments and rock abrading device. The Panoramic Camera and the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer are located on the large mast shown on the front of the rover. The camera will be supplied by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; and the spectrometer will be supplied by Arizona State University in Tempe. The payload also includes magnetic targets, provided by the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, that will collect magnetic dust for further study by the science instruments. In a landing similar to that of the 1997 Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, a parachute will deploy to slow the spacecraft down and airbags will inflate to cushion the landing. (UPI Photo/NASA)