On Thursday, the rover Spirit left its lander and drove about 10 feet onto Martian soil.
Plans call for it to drive around the immediate neighborhood and then head to a crater about 270 yards away. After that, like any curious sightseer, it will inspect whatever looks interesting. Aanother rover is to arrive Jan. 24. Elsewhere on Mars, the mini-rover Sojourner sits immobile where it ran out of juice in 1997. Thus have we bestowed on Mars two great Earth innovations — traffic and parking.
