Browse All : Mars and Crater and Mars Exploration Rover (MER)

3 Years on Mars: Opportunity

Overview of Mars Exploration …

1/24/07

Cape Verde, Mars

This Mars Exploration Rover …

4/1/08

Description	This Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity Pancam "super resolution" mosaic of the approximately 6 meter (20 foot) high cliff face of the Cape Verde promontory was taken by the rover from inside Victoria Crater, during the rover's descent into Duck Bay. Super-resolution is an imaging technique that utilizes information from multiple pictures of the same target in order to generate an image with a higher resolution than any of the individual images. Cape Verde is a geologically rich outcrop and is teaching scientists about how rocks at Victoria crater were modified since they were deposited long ago. This image complements super resolution mosaics obtained at Cape St. Mary and Cape St. Vincent and is consistent with the hypothesis that Victoria crater is located in the middle of what used to be an ancient sand dune field. This image was acquired on sols 1342 and 1356 (Nov. 2 and 17, 2007). Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University
Date	4/1/08

Empty Nest

title	Empty Nest
date	01.18.2004
description	This image mosaic taken by the panoramic camera onboard the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the rover's landing site, the Columbia Memorial Station, at Gusev Crater, Mars. This spectacular view may encapsulate Spirit's entire journey, from lander to its possible final destination toward the east hills. On its way, the rover will travel 250 meters (820 feet) northeast to a large crater approximately 200 meters (660 feet) across, the ridge of which can be seen to the left of this image. To the right are the east hills, about 3 kilometers (2 miles) away from the lander. The picture was taken on the 16th martian day, or sol, of the mission (Jan. 18/19, 2004). A portion of Spirit's solar panels appear in the foreground. Data from the panoramic camera's green, blue and infrared filters were combined to create this approximate true color image. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

Hole in One

title	Hole in One
description	The interior of a crater surrounding the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity at Meridiani Planum on Mars can be seen in this color image from the rover's panoramic camera. This is the darkest landing site ever visited by a spacecraft on Mars. The rim of the crater is approximately 10 meters (32 feet) from the rover. The crater is estimated to be 20 meters (65 feet) in diameter. Scientists are intrigued by the abundance of rock outcrops dispersed throughout the crater, as well as the crater's soil, which appears to be a mixture of coarse gray grains and fine reddish grains. Data taken from the camera's near-infrared, green and blue filters were combined to create this approximate true color picture, taken on the first day of Opportunity's journey. The view is to the west-southwest of the rover. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

Rover Landing Sites

title	Rover Landing Sites
description	This Mars 2001 Odyssey composite image from orbit shows Opportunity's landing site at Meridiani Planum, Spirit's landing site at Gusev Crater and other locations on Mars. Image Credit: NASA

Martian Meteorite

title	Martian Meteorite
description	NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found an iron meteorite, the first meteorite of any type ever identified on another planet. The pitted, basketball-size object is mostly made of iron and nickel according to readings from spectrometers on the rover. Only a small fraction of the meteorites fallen on Earth are similarly metal-rich. Others are rockier. As an example, the meteorite that blasted the famous Meteor Crater in Arizona is similar in composition. "This is a huge surprise, though maybe it shouldn't have been," said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin, Spirit. The meteorite, dubbed "Heat Shield Rock," sits near debris of Opportunity's heat shield on the surface of Meridiani Planum, a cratered flatland that has been Opportunity's home since the robot landed on Mars nearly one year ago. "I never thought we would get to use our instruments on a rock from someplace other than Mars," Squyres said. "Think about where an iron meteorite comes from: a destroyed planet or planetesimal that was big enough to differentiate into a metallic core and a rocky mantle." Rover-team scientists are wondering whether some rocks that Opportunity has seen atop the ground surface are rocky meteorites. "Mars should be hit by a lot more rocky meteorites than iron meteorites," Squyres said. "We've been seeing lots of cobbles out on the plains, and this raises the possibility that some of them may in fact be meteorites. We may be investigating some of those in coming weeks. The key is not what we'll learn about meteorites -- we have lots of meteorites on Earth -- but what the meteorites can tell us about Meridiani Planum." The numbers of exposed meteorites could be an indication of whether the plain is gradually eroding away or being built up. NASA Chief Scientist Dr. Jim Garvin said, "Exploring meteorites is a vital part of NASA's scientific agenda, and discovering whether there are storehouses of them on Mars opens new research possibilities, including further incentives for robotic and then human-based sample-return missions. Mars continues to provide unexpected science 'gold,' and our rovers have proven the value of mobile exploration with this latest finding." Initial observation of Heat Shield Rock from a distance with Opportunity's miniature thermal emission spectrometer suggested a metallic composition and raised speculation last week that it was a meteorite. The rover drove close enough to use its Moessbauer and alpha particle X-ray spectrometers, confirming the meteorite identification over the weekend. Opportunity and Spirit successfully completed their primary three-month missions on Mars in April 2004. NASA has extended their missions twice because the rovers have remained in good condition to continue exploring Mars longer than anticipated. They have found geological evidence of past wet environmental conditions that might have, been hospitable to life. Opportunity has driven a total of 2.10 kilometers (1.30 miles). Minor mottling from dust has appeared in images from the rover's rear hazard-identification camera since Opportunity entered the area of its heat-shield debris, said Jim Erickson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., rover project manager. The rover team plans to begin driving Opportunity south toward a circular feature called "Vostok" within about a week. Spirit has driven a total of 4.05 kilometers (2.52 miles). It has been making slow progress uphill toward a ridge on "Husband Hill" inside Gusev Crater. Image Credit: NASA

Eyeing Eagle Crater

title	Eyeing Eagle Crater
description	This image mosaic, compiled from navigation and panoramic camera images during the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's 33rd, 35th, and 36th sols on Mars, shows a panoramic view of the crater where the rover had been exploring since its dramatic arrival in late January 2004. The crater, now informally referred to as "Eagle Crater," is approximately 22 meters (72 feet) in diameter. Opportunity's lander is visible in the center of the image. Track marks reveal the rover's progress. The rover cameras recorded this view as Opportunity climbed close to the crater rim as part of a soil survey campaign. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

Looking Back

title	Looking Back
date	03.26.2004
description	NASA's Opportunity rover looks back at the crater where it landed and spent the first two months of its mission exploring exposed bedrock. This area may have been the shore of a shallow sea. The image is the first 360-degree view from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's new position outside "Eagle Crater," the small crater where the rover landed about two months ago. Scientists are busy analyzing Opportunity's new view of the plains of Meridiani Planum. The plentiful ripples are a clear indication that wind is the primary geologic process currently in effect on the plains. The rover's tracks can be seen leading away from Eagle Crater. At the far left are two depressions - each about a meter (about 3.3 feet) across - that feature bright spots in their centers. One possibility is that the bright material is similar in composition to the rocks in Eagle Crater's outcrop and the surrounding darker material is what's referred to as "lag deposit," or erosional remnants, which are much harder and more difficult to wear away. These twin dimples might be revealing pieces of a larger outcrop that lies beneath. The depression closest to Opportunity is whimsically referred to as "Homeplate" and the one behind it as "First Base." The backshell and parachute that helped protect the rover and deliver it safely to the surface of Mars are also visible near the horizon, at the left of the image. This image was taken by the rover's navigation camera. Image Credi: NASA/JPL

A Bird's-Eye View of Erebus

title	A Bird's-Eye View of Erebus
date	11.23.2005
description	This false-color view combines frames taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on the rover's 652 through 663 Martian days, or sols (Nov. 23 to Dec. 5, 2005), at the edge of Erebus Crater. The mosaic is presented as a vertical projection. This type of projection provides a true-to-scale overhead view of the rover deck and nearby surrounding terrain. The view here shows outcrop rocks, sand dunes, and other features out to a distance of about 25 meters (82 feet) from the rover. Opportunity examined targets on the outcrop called "Rimrock" in front of the rover, testing the mobility and operation of Opportunity's robotic arm. The view shows examples of the dunes and ripples that Opportunity has been crossing as the rover drives on the Meridiani plains. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

'McMurdo' Panorama from Spirit's 'Winter Haven'

'McMurdo' Panorama from Spir …

title	'McMurdo' Panorama from Spirit's 'Winter Haven'
description	This 360-degree view, called the "McMurdo" panorama, comes from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. From April through October 2006, Spirit has stayed on a small hill known as "Low Ridge." There, the rover's solar panels are tilted toward the sun to maintain enough solar power for Spirit to keep making scientific observations throughout the winter on southern Mars. This view of the surroundings from Spirit's "Winter Haven" is presented in approximately true color. Oct. 26, 2006, marks Spirit's 1,000th sol of what was planned as a 90-sol mission. (A sol is a Martian day, which lasts 24 hours, 39 minutes, 35 seconds). The rover has lived through the most challenging part of its second Martian winter. Its solar power levels are rising again. Spring in the southern hemisphere of Mars will begin in early 2007. Before that, the rover team hopes to start driving Spirit again toward scientifically interesting places in the "Inner Basin" and "Columbia Hills" inside Gusev crater. The McMurdo panorama is providing team members with key pieces of scientific and topographic information for choosing where to continue Spirit's exploration adventure. The Pancam began shooting component images of this panorama during Spirit's sol 814 (April 18, 2006) and completed the part shown here on sol 932 (Aug. 17, 2006). The panorama was acquired using all 13 of the Pancam's color filters, using lossless compression for the red and blue stereo filters, and only modest levels of compression on the remaining filters. The overall panorama consists of 1,449 Pancam images and represents a raw data volume of nearly 500 megabytes. It is thus the largest, highest-fidelity view of Mars acquired from either rover. Additional photo coverage of the parts of the rover deck not shown here was completed on sol 980 (Oct. 5 , 2006). The team is completing the processing and mosaicking of those final pieces of the panorama, and that image will be released on the Web shortly to augment this McMurdo panorama view. This beautiful scene reveals a tremendous amount of detail in Spirit's surroundings. Many dark, porous-textured volcanic rocks can be seen around the rover, including many on Low Ridge. Two rocks to the right of center, brighter and smoother-looking in this image and more reflective in infrared observations by Spirit's miniature thermal emission spectrometer, are thought to be meteorites. On the right, "Husband Hill" on the horizon, the rippled "El Dorado" sand dune field near the base of that hill, and lighter-toned "Home Plate" below the dunes provide context for Spirit's travels since mid-2005. Left of center, tracks and a trench dug by Spirit's right-front wheel, which no longer rotates, have exposed bright underlying material. This bright material is evidence of sulfur-rich salty minerals in the subsurface, which may provide clues about the watery past of this part of Gusev Crater. Spirit has stayed busy at Winter Haven during the past, six months even without driving. In addition to acquiring this spectacular panorama, the rover team has also acquired significant new assessments of the elemental chemistry and mineralogy of rocks and soil targets within reach of the rover's arm. The team plans soon to have Spirit drive to a very nearby spot on Low Ridge to access different rock and soil samples while maintaining a good solar panel tilt toward the sun for the rest of the Martian winter. Despite the long span of time needed for acquiring this 360-degree view -- a few images at a time every few sols over a total of 119 sols because the available power was so low -- the lighting and color remain remarkably uniform across the mosaic. This fact attests to the repeatability of wintertime sols on Mars in the southern hemisphere.

Victoria Crater' at Meridian …

title	Victoria Crater' at Meridiani Planum
date	10.06.2006
description	This image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows "Victoria crater," an impact crater at Meridiani Planum, near the equator of Mars. The crater is approximately 800 meters (half a mile) in diameter. It has a distinctive scalloped shape to its rim, caused by erosion and downhill movement of crater wall material. Layered sedimentary rocks are exposed along the inner wall of the crater, and boulders that have fallen from the crater wall are visible on the crater floor. The floor of the crater is occupied by a striking field of sand dunes. Since January 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been operating at Meridiani Planum. Five days before this image was taken, Opportunity arrived at the rim of Victoria crater, after a drive of more than 9 kilometers (over 5 miles). The rover can be seen in this image, at roughly the "ten o'clock" position along the rim of the crater. This view is a portion of an image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on Oct. 3, 2006. The complete image is centered at minus7.8 degrees latitude, 279.5 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 297 kilometers (185.6 miles). At this distance the image scale is 29.7 centimeters (12 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects about 89 centimeters (35 inches) across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel and north is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:30 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 59.7 degrees, thus the sun was about 30.3 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 113.6 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer. This is an enhanced-color view generated from images acquired by the HiRISE camera using its red filter and blue-green filter. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mroor http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/UA

Mars Exploration Rover "Spirit" Launches

Mars Exploration Rover "Spir …

title	Mars Exploration Rover "Spirit" Launches
date	06.10.2003
description	Amid billows of smoke and steam, the Delta II rocket with its Mars Exploration Rover (MER-A) payload lifts off the pad on time at 1:58 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. MER-A, known as "Spirit," is the first of two rovers being launched to Mars. When the two rovers arrive at the red planet in 2004, they will bounce to airbag-cushioned landings at sites offering a balance of favorable conditions for safe landings and interesting science. The rovers see sharper images, can explore farther and examine rocks better than anything that has ever landed on Mars. The designated site for the MER-A mission is Gusev Crater, which appears to have been a crater lake. The second rover, MER-B, is scheduled to launch June 25. Image Credit: NASA

Opportunity's Second Martian Birthday at Cape Verde

Opportunity's Second Martian …

title	Opportunity's Second Martian Birthday at Cape Verde
date	10.20.2007
description	A promontory nicknamed "Cape Verde" can be seen jutting out from the walls of Victoria Crater in this approximate true-color picture taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The rover took this picture on martian day, or sol, 1329 (Oct. 20, 2007), more than a month after it began descending down the crater walls - and just 9 sols shy of its second Martian birthday on sol 1338 (Oct. 29, 2007). Opportunity landed on the Red Planet on Jan. 25, 2004. That's nearly four years ago on Earth, but only two on Mars because Mars takes longer to travel around the sun than Earth. One Martian year equals 687 Earth days. The overall soft quality of the image, and the "haze" seen in the lower right portion, are the result of scattered light from dust on the front sapphire window of the rover's camera. This view was taken using three panoramic-camera filters, admitting light with wavelengths centered at 750 nanometers (near infrared), 530 nanometers (green) and 430 nanometers (violet). Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

Columbia Memorial

title	Columbia Memorial
date	01.06.2004
description	The landing site of the Mars Spirit rover in honor of the astronauts who died in the tragic accident of the Space Shuttle Columbia in February. The area in the vast flatland of the Gusev Crater where Spirit landed this weekend will be called the Columbia Memorial Station. Since its historic landing, Spirit has been sending extraordinary images of its new surroundings on the red planet over the past few days. Among them, an image of a memorial plaque placed on the spacecraft to Columbia's astronauts and the STS-107 mission. The plaque is mounted on the back of Spirit's high-gain antenna, a disc-shaped tool used for communicating directly with Earth. The plaque is aluminum and approximately six inches in diameter. The memorial plaque was attached March 28, 2003, at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Chris Voorhees and Peter Illsley, Mars Exploration Rover engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., designed the plaque. Image Credit: NASA

Spirit Descent

title	Spirit Descent
date	01.03.2004
description	This image, taken by the descent image motion estimation system camera located on the bottom of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's lander, shows a view of Gusev Crater as the lander descends to Mars. The picture is taken at an altitude of 1400 meters. Numerous small impact craters can be seen on the surface of the planet. These images help the onboard software to minimize the lander's horizontal velocity before its bridal is cut, and it falls freely to the surface of Mars. See more Spirit images in the Mars Exploration Rover Image Gallery. Image Credit: NASA

Mars in 3-D

title	Mars in 3-D
description	This sprawling look at the martian landscape surrounding the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is the first 3-D stereo image from the rover's navigation camera. A surface depression nicknamed "Sleepy Hollow" can be seen to center left of the image. Scientists theorize that this topographic feature, measuring about 10 meters (30 feet) in diameter and located approximately 10 to 20 meters (30 to 60 feet) away from Spirit, is either an impact crater or a product of wind-erosion. See more images in the Mars Exploration Rover Image Gallery. Image credit:NASA/JPL

Peeking Out

title	Peeking Out
description	From its new location at the inner edge of the small crater surrounding it, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was able to look out to the plains where its backshell (left) and parachute (right) landed. This approximate true-color image was created by combining data from the panoramic camera's red, green and blue filters. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

Spirit Launch

title	Spirit Launch
date	06.10.2003
description	A trail of smoke is all that identifies the Delta II rocket with the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit aboard as it hurtles into space. Liftoff occurred on time at 1:58 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Spirit was the first of two rovers launched to Mars in the summer of 2003. Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, landed on opposite sides of the planet in January 2004. The rovers see sharper images, can explore farther and examine rocks better than anything that has ever landed on Mars. Spirit's destination was Gusev Crater, which appears to have been a crater lake. Image Credit: NASA

Endurance Crater

title	Endurance Crater
description	This navigation camera mosaic, created from images taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on sols 115 and 116 (May 21 and 22, 2004) provides a dramatic view of "Endurance Crater." The rover engineering team carefully plotted the safest path into the football field-sized crater, eventually easing the rover down the slopes around sol 130 (June 12, 2004). To the upper left of the crater sits the rover's protective heatshield, which sheltered Opportunity as it passed through the martian atmosphere. The 360-degree view is presented in a cylindrical projection, with geometric and radiometric seam correction. Image Credit: NASA/JPL

Above Spirit

title	Above Spirit
date	01.03.2004
description	A mosaic image taken by Spirit's navigation camera shows the Mars Exploration Rover sitting on its landing platform only hours after touching down on Gusev Crater. The image has been reprocessed to imove the view. See more Spirit images in the Mars Exploration Rover Image Gallery. Image Credit: NASA

Mars: Closest Encounter

Title	Mars: Closest Encounter

Right on Target

Title	Right on Target
Description	This map shows the estimated location of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit within Gusev Crater, Mars. Engineers targeted Spirit for the center of the blue ellipse. Measurements taken during the rover's descent by the Deep Space Network predicted its landing site to be the spot marked with a black dot. Later measurements taken on the ground by both the Deep Space Network and the orbiter Mars Odyssey narrowed the predicted landing site to a spot marked with a white dot. When initially choosing a landing site for the rover, engineers avoided hazardous terrain outlined here in yellow and red. This map consists of data from Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor.
Date	01.13.2004

Right on Target-2

Title	Right on Target-2
Description	This map shows a close-up look at the estimated location of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit within Gusev Crater, Mars. Measurements taken during the rover's descent by the Deep Space Network predicted its landing site to be the spot marked with a black dot. Later measurements taken on the ground by both the Deep Space Network and the orbiter Mars Odyssey narrowed the predicted landing site to a spot marked with a white dot. When initially choosing a landing site for the rover, engineers avoided hazardous craters outlined here in yellow and red. This map consists of data from Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor.
Date	01.13.2004

Right on Target-3

Title	Right on Target-3
Description	This map shows the estimated location of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit within Gusev Crater, Mars. Measurements taken during the rover's descent by the Deep Space Network predicted its landing site to be the spot marked with a black cross. Later measurements taken on the ground by both the Deep Space Network and the orbiter Mars Odyssey narrowed the predicted landing site to a spot marked with a white cross. When initially choosing a landing site for the rover, engineers avoided hazardous craters outlined here in yellow and red. This map consists of data taken during Spirit's descent by the descent image motion estimation system located at the bottom of the rover.
Date	01.13.2004

Roll-Off Dress Rehearsal at …

Title	Roll-Off Dress Rehearsal at JPL
Description	This image shows a test rover as it attempts a complete 115-degree turn on the lander in the JPL In-Situ Instruments Laboratory, or "testbed." This is where engineers tested the rover's three-point turn before completing the manuever with the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit at Gusev Crater on Mars. At this point, the test rover has turned 95 degrees, with 115 degrees being its goal position.
Date	01.14.2004

Rover Tracks Seen from Orbit

title	Rover Tracks Seen from Orbit
Description	Wheel tracks left by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, and even the rover itself, are visible in this image from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. North is up in this image. The tracks and rover are in the area south of a crater informally named "Bonneville," which is just southeast of the center of the image. The orbiter captured this image with use of an enhanced-resolution technique called compensated pitch and roll targeted observation. It took the picture on March 30, 2004, 85 martian days, or sols, after Spirit landed on Mars. The rover had driven from its landing site to the rim of Bonneville and was examining materials around the crater's rim. In this portion of the plains inside the much larger Gusev Crater, Spirit created wheel tracks darker than the undisturbed surface, as seen in the rover's own images showing the tracks (for example, http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05450 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05450 ]). The contrast allows the tracks to show up in the image obtained from orbit. Also visible are Spirit's lander, backshell and parachute, and the scar where its heat shield hit the ground. The full image covers an area 3 kilometers (2 miles) wide, at 14.8 degrees south latitude and 184.6 degrees west longitude. Pixel size is about 1.5 meters (5 feet) by one-half meter (1.6 feet). Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

Spirit Rover on 'Husband Hil …

title	Spirit Rover on 'Husband Hill'
Description	Two Earth years ago, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit touched down in Gusev Crater. The rover marked its first Mars-year (687 Earth days) anniversary in November 2005. Shortly before Spirit's Martian anniversary, the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor acquired an image covering approximately 3 kilometers by 3 kilometers (1.9 miles by 1.9 miles) centered on the rover's location at that time in the "Columbia Hills.""Husband Hill," the tallest in the range, is just below the center of the image. The image has a resolution of about 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) per pixel. North is up, illumination is from the left. The location is near 14.8 degrees south latitude, 184.6 degrees west longitude. The image was acquired on Nov. 2, 2005. A white box indicates the location of an excerpted portion on which the location of Spirit on that date is marked. Dr. Timothy J. Parker of the Mars Exploration Rover team at the NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., confirmed the location of the rover in the image. The region toward the bottom of the image shows the area where the rover is currently headed. The large dark patch and other similar dark patches are accumulations of windblown sand and granules. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Spirit's Neighborhood in 'Columbia Hills,' in Stereo

Spirit's Neighborhood in 'Co …

title	Spirit's Neighborhood in 'Columbia Hills,' in Stereo
Description	Two Earth years ago, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit touched down in Gusev Crater. The rover marked its first Mars-year (687 Earth days) anniversary in November 2005. On Nov. 2, 2005, shortly before Spirit's Martian anniversary, the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor acquired an image covering approximately 3 kilometers by 3 kilometers (1.9 miles by 1.9 miles) centered on the rover's location in the "Columbia Hills." The tinted portion of this image gives a stereo, three-dimensional view when observed through 3-D glasses with a red left eye and blue right eye. The tallest peak is "Husband Hill," which was climbed by Spirit during much of 2005. The region south (toward the bottom) of these images shows the area where the rover is currently headed. The large dark patch and other similar dark patches in these images are accumulations of windblown sand and granules. North is up, illumination is from the left. The location is near 14.8 degrees south latitude, 184.6 degrees west longitude. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Spirit on "Husband Hill," with 2004 Comparison

Spirit on "Husband Hill," wi …

title	Spirit on "Husband Hill," with 2004 Comparison
Description	Two Earth years ago, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit touched down in Gusev Crater. The rover marked its first Mars-year (687 Earth days) anniversary in November 2005. On Nov. 2, 2005, shortly before Spirit's Martian anniversary, the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor acquired an image centered on the rover's location in the "Columbia Hills." The location of Spirit on that date is circled on the image on the right. On the left, for comparison, is an image from Jan. 10, 2004, when few dreamed that the Spirit would ever reach the hills from its landing site about three kilometers (two miles) away. The newer image has a resolution of about 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) per pixel. North is up, illumination is from the left. The location is near 14.8 degrees south latitude, 184.6 degrees west longitude. Dr. Timothy J. Parker of the Mars Exploration Rover team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., confirmed the location of the rover in the 2005 image. The scale bar is 50 meters (164 feet). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Gusev Crater

title	Gusev Crater
Description	This mosaic of daytime infrared images of Gusev Crater, taken by the camera system on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, has been draped over topography data obtained by Mars Global Surveyor. The daytime temperatures range from approximately minus 45 degrees C (black) to minus 5 degrees C (white). The temperature differences in these daytime images are due primarily to lighting effects, where sunlit slopes are warm (bright) and shadowed slopes are cool (dark). Gusev crater is a potential landing site for the Mars Exploration Rovers. The large ancient river channel of Ma'Adim that once flowed into Gusev can be seen at the top of the mosaic. This image mosaic covers an area approximately 180 kilometers (110 miles) on each side centered near 14 degrees S, 175 degrees E, looking toward the south in this simulated view. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The thermal emission imaging system was provided by Arizona State University, Tempe. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, Colo., is the prime contractor for the project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University

Description	Browse Image \| Medium Image (129 kB) \| Large (20.4 MB) Hi-Res (NASA's Planetary Photojournal) [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08813 ]

Description

Tracks left by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity as it traveled along the rim of Victoria Crater can be seen clearly in this image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. This is a subframe of a larger image that the camera acquired on June 26, 2007. The larger image will be released as HiRISE catalogue number PSP_004289_1780 after geometric processing. Opportunity first approached Victoria Crater at an alcove informally named "Duck Bay" (see tracks at left). It then drove along the crater's sinuous edge in a clockwise direction before heading back to Duck Bay, where it is expected to enter the crater in early July 2007.

Description	Browse Image \| Medium Image (62 kB) \| Large (326 kB)

Description

Area "c" of the image shows Spirit's heat shield at the edge of Bonneville Crater. Area "d" of the image shows the current location of Spirit. Toward the top of the image is "Home Plate," a plateau of layered rocks that Spirit explored during the early part of its third year on Mars. Spirit itself is clearly seen just southeast of Home Plate. Also visible are the tracks made by the rover before it arrived at its current location. This image is a small portion of an image catalogued as PSP_001513_1655 [ http://hiroc.lpl.arizona.edu/images/PSP/PSP_001513_1655/ ] taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on Sept. 29, 2006. The full image is centered at minus 7.8 degrees latitude, 279.5 degrees east longitude. The image is oriented such that north is toward the top. The range to the target site was 297 kilometers (185.6 miles). At this distance the image scale is 29.7 centimeters (11.7 inches) per pixel (with 1 by 1 binning), so objects as small as about 89 centimeters (35 inches) across are resolved. The image was taken at 3:30 p.m. local Mars time. The scene is illuminated from the west with a solar-incidence angle of 59.7 degrees, which means the sun was about 30.3 degrees above the horizon. When the image was taken, the season on Mars was southern winter.

Opportunity's Close-up of 'Oilean Ruaidh' (Stereo)

Opportunity's Close-up of 'O …

marscollection, nasa

An iron meteorite is the lat …

485132main_PIA13417-anaglyph

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2010-09-29
creator	NASA
identifier	485132main_PIA13417-anaglyph

Close-up of a Meteorite - 'Oilean Ruaidh' (False Color)

Close-up of a Meteorite - 'O …

marscollection, nasa

This is an image of the mete …

485986main_pia13418

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2010-10-05
creator	NASA
identifier	485986main_pia13418

Opportunity's Close-up of a Meteorite - 'Oilean Ruaidh'

Opportunity's Close-up of a …

marscollection, nasa

This is an image of the mete …

485998main_pia13419

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2010-10-05
creator	NASA
identifier	485998main_pia13419

Opportunity's Close-up of 'Oilean Ruaidh' (Right Eye)

Opportunity's Close-up of 'O …

marscollection, nasa

An iron meteorite is the lat …

485110main_PIA13417-right

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2010-09-29
creator	NASA
identifier	485110main_PIA13417-right

Opportunity's Close-up of 'Oilean Ruaidh' (Left Eye)

Opportunity's Close-up of 'O …

marscollection, nasa

An iron meteorite is the lat …

485121main_PIA13417-left

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2010-09-29
creator	NASA
identifier	485121main_PIA13417-left

'Cambridge Bay' Outcrop Examined by Opportuntity

'Cambridge Bay' Outcrop Exam …

marscollection, nasa

This panorama taken by NASA' …

480423main_pia13372

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2010-09-07
creator	NASA
identifier	480423main_pia13372

The Road Less Traveled

nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …

On Jan. 4, 2004, Spirit--the …

508330main_PIA05925

mediatype	IMAGE
mediatype	image
date	2011-01-03
creator	NASA
identifier	508330main_PIA05925

The Temperature of "Enduranc …

PIA06015

Sol (our sun)

Miniature Thermal Emission S …

Title	The Temperature of "Endurance
Original Caption Released with Image	The colored dots in this image mosaic denote thermal data in features that make up the impact crater known as "Endurance." The data was taken by the miniature thermal emission spectrometer instrument on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The information has been overlaid onto a view of the crater from the rover's navigation camera. Blue denotes cooler temperatures of about 220 degrees Kelvin (-63.67 degrees Fahrenheit or -53.15 degrees Celsius), and red denotes warmer temperatures of about 280 degrees Kelvin (44.33 degrees Fahrenheit or 6.85 degrees Celsius).

Covered Ground

PIA05441

Sol (our sun)

Panoramic Camera

Title	Covered Ground
Original Caption Released with Image	This image is a traverse map, illustrating Spirit's path over the last 45 sols. When the rover reached the point called "Laguna Hollow," it had driven 131 meters (430 feet) from Columbia Memorial Station. The rover heading is 45 degrees to the northeast. On the horizon behind the lander looms the landmark informally named "Grissom Hill." Over the relatively flat traverse, Spirit has made observations of rocks such as "Adirondack" and utilized the tools on its arm to investigate soil in several locations. Spirit stayed at "Laguna Hollow" for 3 sols, dug a trench and observed the floor and wall of it with three of the instruments on its arm: the Moessbauer spectrometer, the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and the microscopic imager. Spirit is about halfway to the edge of the crater dubbed "Bonneville.

Gusev Crater

PIA04260

Sol (our sun)

Thermal Emission Imaging Sys …

Title	Gusev Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	This mosaic of daytime infrared images of Gusev Crater, taken by the camera system on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, has been draped over topography data obtained by Mars Global Surveyor. The daytime temperatures range from approximately minus 45 degrees C (black) to minus 5 degrees C (white). The temperature differences in these daytime images are due primarily to lighting effects, where sunlit slopes are warm (bright) and shadowed slopes are cool (dark). Gusev crater is a potential landing site for the Mars Exploration Rovers. The large ancient river channel of Ma'Adim that once flowed into Gusev can be seen at the top of the mosaic. This image mosaic covers an area approximately 180 kilometers (110 miles) on each side centered near 14 degrees S, 175 degrees E, looking toward the south in this simulated view. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The thermal emission imaging system was provided by Arizona State University, Tempe. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, Colo., is the prime contractor for the project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Looking into "London

PIA06383

Sol (our sun)

Microscopic Imager

Title	Looking into "London
Original Caption Released with Image	This mosaic image from the microscopic imager on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the rock abrasion tool target, "London." The image was taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on its 149th sol on Mars (June 24, 2004). Scientists "read" the geology of the image from bottom to top, with the youngest material pictured at the bottom of the image and the oldest material in the layers pictured at the top. Millimeter-scale layers run horizontally across the exposed surface, with two sliced sphere-like objects, or "blueberries" on the upper left and upper right sides of the impression. This material is similar to the evaporative material found in "Eagle Crater." However, the intense review of these layers in Endurance Crater is, in essence, deepening the water story authored by ancient Mars. In Eagle Crater, the effects of water were traced down a matter of centimeters. Endurance Crater's depth has allowed the tracing of water's telltale marks up to meters. Another process that significantly affects martian terrain is muddying the water story a bit. Although it is clear that the layers in Endurance were affected by water, it is also evident that Aeolian, or wind, processes have contributed to the makeup of the crater.

Clouds over 'Endurance' on S …

PIA07105

Sol (our sun)

Navigation Camera

Title	Clouds over 'Endurance' on Sol 290
Original Caption Released with Image	Clouds add drama to the sky above "Endurance Crater" in this mosaic of frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity at about 9:30 a.m. on the rover's 290th sol (Nov. 16, 2004). The view spans an arc from east on the left to the southwest on the right. These clouds are part of a band that forms near the equator when Mars is near the part of its orbit that is farthest from the Sun. For Opportunity (and Spirit and the rest of the southern hemisphere), this occurs in late fall and early winter. During this period, atmospheric temperatures and the amount of water vapor combine to form large-scale clouds. These clouds look like Earth's cirrus clouds and share other similarities with cirrus clouds in that they are believed to be composed entirely of water-ice particles with sizes on the order of several micrometers (a few ten-thousandths of an inch). The images that are combined to produce this view have been processed to remove geometrical distortion associated with the camera's 45-degree field of view. In addition, special image processing has been applied to enhance the clouds and make them visible across the entire mosaic. The rim of Endurance was processed using the same technique, illustrating how much enhancement was done. Glare from the Sun washed out the clouds on the left in the original images, this glare was removed.

Opportunity at Work Inside Victoria Crater

Opportunity at Work Inside V …

PIA10077

Sol (our sun)

Hazard Identification Camera

Title	Opportunity at Work Inside Victoria Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its front hazard-identification camera to capture this wide-angle view of its robotic arm extended to a rock in a bright-toned layer inside Victoria Crater. The image was taken during the rover's 1,322nd Martian day, or sol (Oct. 13, 2007). Victoria Crater has a scalloped shape of alternating alcoves and promontories around the crater's circumference. Opportunity descended into the crater two weeks earlier, within an alcove called "Duck Bay." Counterclockwise around the rim, just to the right of the arm in this image, is a promontory called "Cabo Frio."

Spirit Begins Third Martian …

PIA10078

Sol (our sun)

Hazard Identification Camera

Title	Spirit Begins Third Martian Year
Original Caption Released with Image	As it finished its second Martian year on Mars, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit was beginning to examine a group of angular rocks given informal names corresponding to peaks in the Colorado Rockies. A Martian year -- the amount of time it takes Mars to complete one orbit around the sun -- lasts for 687 Earth days. Spirit completed its second Martian year on the rover's 1,338th Martian day, or sol, corresponding to Oct. 8, 2007. Two days later, on sol 1,340 (Oct. 10, 2007), Spirit used its front hazard-identification camera to capture this wide-angle view of its robotic arm extended to a rock informally named "Humboldt Peak." For the rocks at this site on the southern edge of the "Home Plate" platform in the inner basin of the Columbia Hills inside Gusev Crater, the rover team decided to use names of Colorado peaks higher than 14,000 feet. The Colorado Rockies team of the National League is the connection to the baseball-theme nomenclature being used for features around Home Plate. The tool facing Spirit on the turret at the end of the robotic arm is the Moessbauer spectrometer.

Hardened Lava Meets Wind on …

PIA02157

Sol (our sun)

Microscopic Imager

Title	Hardened Lava Meets Wind on Mars
Original Caption Released with Image	NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its microscopic imager to capture this spectacular, jagged mini-landscape on a rock called "GongGong." Measuring only 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) across, this surface records two of the most important and violent forces in the history of Mars -- volcanoes and wind. GongGong formed billions of years ago in a seething, stirring mass of molten rock. It captured bubbles of gases that were trapped at great depth but had separated from the main body of lava as it rose to the surface. Like taffy being stretched and tumbled, the molten rock was deformed as it moved across an ancient Martian landscape. The tiny bubbles of gas were deformed as well, becoming elongated. When the molten lava solidified, the rock looked like a frozen sponge. Far from finished with its life, the rock then withstood billions of years of pelting by small sand grains carried by Martian dust storms that sometimes blanketed the planet. The sand wore away the surface until, little by little, the delicate strands that enclosed the bubbles of gas were breached and the spiny texture we see today emerged. Even now, wind continues to deposit sand and dust in the holes and crevices of the rock. Similar rocks can be found on Earth where the same complex interplay of volcanoes and weathering occur, whether it be the pelting of rocks by sand grains in the Mojave desert or by ice crystals in the frigid Antarctic. GongGong is one of a group of rocks studied by Spirit and informally named by the Athena Science Team to honor the Chinese New Year (the Year of the Dog). In Chinese mythology, GongGong was the god-king of water in the North Land. When he sacrificed his life to knock down Mount BuZhou, he defeated the bad Emperor in Heaven, freed the sun, moon and stars to go from east to west, and caused all the rivers in China to flow from west to east. Spirit's microscopic imager took this image during on the rover's 736th day, or sol, of exploring Mars (Jan. 28, 2006). The rock lies in the "Inner Basin" between "Husband Hill" and "McCool Hill" in Gusev Crater. Spirit acquired the image while the rock was fully shadowed, with diffuse illumination mostly from the top in this view.

Revealing Roosevelt

PIA02186

Sol (our sun)

Microscopic Imager

Title	Revealing Roosevelt
Original Caption Released with Image	This image mosaic from the microscopic imager aboard NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows detailed structure of a small fin-like structure dubbed "Roosevelt," which sticks out from the outcrop pavement at the edge of "Erebus Crater." Roosevelt lines a fracture in the local pavement and scientists hypothesize that it is a fracture fill, formed by water that percolated through the fracture. This would mean the feature is younger than surrounding rocks and, therefore, might provide evidence of water that was present some time after the formation of Meridiani Planum sedimentary rocks. The image shows fine laminations (layers about 1 millimeter or .04 inch thick) that run parallel to the axis of the fin. Some of the textures visible in the image likely indicate that minerals precipitated from the outcrop rocks, but sediment grains are also apparent. The three frames combined into this mosaic were taken during Opportunity's 727th Martian day, or sol (Feb. 8, 2006). In subsequent days, the rover completed textural and chemical inspection of Roosevelt to help the science team understand this structure's significance for Martian history.

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