It's an awful wait for scientists.

With all those pictures streaming in from the Mars rover Spirit, why not send the geology robot on its way? It's been sitting idle in the same spot since it landed Saturday, and the good stuff is out there.

"We need to get down off the lander," Ray Arvidson, a senior mission scientist, said yesterday during the daily briefing in Pasadena, Calif.

The latest estimate for Spirit to roll is Wednesday.

Maybe.

"We're just as anxious as the science team to get off. We're working as hard as possible," said Art Thomas, one of the engineers caring for the rover.

Thus continues the tug of war between science and engineering when it comes to space.

Thomas said he understands the frustration of scientists who want to get his baby dirty. The images that make their way across 150 million miles of space in less than 10 minutes are dazzling.

Rocks. Plains. Distant hills. All ripe for the picking.

On Monday, researchers excitedly named a nearby crater Sleepy Hollow and said it appeared to be a natural hole that could contain signs of water and life. Yesterday, new pictures got many scientists worked up about heading for some hills about a mile away.

"It's like herding a bunch of cats. They're all trained to be independent and vocal," said Arvidson, a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis.

But the engineers want to make sure that everything on Spirit continues to work properly.

"The relationship is good. We tell them what we'd like to do and they say, 'What's the risk factor?' " said Ohio State University researcher Rongxing Li, who is in California helping to map the area surrounding the lander.

Both sides prepared together for the mission.

"The engineers always agreed with us then," Li said.

Two concerns -- a voltage spike in the rover's high-gain antenna and a possible snagging of Spirit's wheels on its now-deflated air bags -- have been minimized.

But from 150 million miles, even minor glitches are significant when you are talking about a mission that costs $820 million.

Spirit, scientists hope, will be well on its way before its twin, Opportunity, lands on the opposite side of the planet Jan. 24.

Researchers are getting a good idea about the makeup of the soil and rocks, meaning Spirit will spend less time near its lander.

"By the time we roll out, we'll know most things there already," Li said.

mlafferty@dispatch.com

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