Rover shows off its tracks on Mars

LOS ANGELES— After two weeks taking stock of its surroundings, the Mars Curiosity rover has taken its first “baby steps” and sent back images of its first tracks, officials at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Wednesday.

The rover ended up a grand total of about six metres from its landing spot over the course of about 16 minutes, said lead rover driver Matt Heverly. During the test, the carsized machine moved forward about 4.5 metres, turned 120 degrees in place, then backed up about a metre. As it rolled along the Martian surface, the rover’s boxy head turned from side to side, taking shots of its wheels in the process.

As expected, the tracks indicated that the soil is firm and didn’t cause the rover to sink much.

“We should have smooth sailing ahead of us,” Heverly said.

Curiosity is set to begin its first extended drive to a point of scientific interest within the next several days.

Engineers will navigate to a spot called Glenelg, about 395 metres east-southeast of the landing site, which sits at a point where three types of terrain meet. Glenelg could be the first site where the rover uses its drill.

Laboratory scientists aren’t sure how long the drive will take, since they may stop to check out interesting things along the way, said deputy project scientist Joy Crisp.

For example, the team plans to make a pit stop if it finds soil fine enough to practise using its scooping tool.

NASA officials also announced that the site where the rover landed Aug. 5 had been officially named Bradbury Landing in honour of renowned science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, who died in June. He would have turned 92 on Wednesday.

Bradbury, whose works include The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451 and The Illustrated Man, inspired readers to think about Mars in new ways, said NASA program scientist Michael Meyer.

“The Martian Chronicles have inspired our curiosity and opened our minds to the possibility of life on Mars,” he said.