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MER-A (Mars Exploration Rover - A), known as Spirit, is the first of the two rovers of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission. It landed successfully on Mars on 04:35 Ground UTC on January 4, 2004, three weeks before its twin Opportunity (MER-B) landed on the other side of the planet. Its name was chosen through a NASA-sponsored student essay competition. Image File history File links Gnome_globe_current_event. ...
ISS in earth orbit. ...
Image File history File links Shuttle. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (3000x2400, 963 KB)This image may be viewed in 3D stereo with same 3D glasses as other NASA Mars images. ...
Image File history File links 3d_glasses_red_cyan. ...
This article is about the American space agency. ...
is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
NASA logo The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) is a department in NASAs Solar System Exploration Division. ...
NASA Mars Exploration Rover Mission patch of Marvin the Martian, deemed fair use File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
NASA Mars Exploration Rover Mission patch of Marvin the Martian, deemed fair use File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
This page is about the cartoon character. ...
Two different Mars rover designs. ...
This article is about the American space agency. ...
Artists Concept of Rover on Mars (credit: Maas Digital LLC) NASAs Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission is an ongoing robotic mission of exploring Mars, that began in 2003 with the sending of two rovers — Spirit and Opportunity — to explore the Martian surface and geology. ...
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ...
Category: ...
is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The launch patch for Opportunity, featuring Duck Dodgers (Daffy Duck). ...
Artists Concept of Rover on Mars (credit: Maas Digital LLC) NASAs Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission is an ongoing robotic mission of exploring Mars, that began in 2003 with the sending of two rovers — Spirit and Opportunity — to explore the Martian surface and geology. ...
The rover has continued to function effectively over thirteen times longer than NASA planners expected, allowing it to perform extensive geological analysis of Martian rocks and planetary surface features; as of 2007 its mission is ongoing. An archive of approximately weekly updates on its status can be found at the NASA/JPL website. Initial scientific results from the first phase of the mission (roughly, the 90-sol prime mission) were published in a special issue of the journal Science[1] This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...
2007 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The JPL complex in Pasadena, Ca. ...
Landing site: Columbia Memorial Station
 Spirit's landing site (denoted with a star)
Spirit landing site, as imaged by MRO (2006-12-04) Spirit landed in Gusev crater about 10 km from the center of the target ellipse[2] at latitude -14.5718°, longitude 175.4785°.[3] Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 600 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1000 × 1000 pixel, file size: 376 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ...
Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 600 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1000 × 1000 pixel, file size: 376 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ...
Download high resolution version (1849x1227, 2060 KB)MGS photo of spirit landing site showing tracks and rover ((PD)) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Download high resolution version (1849x1227, 2060 KB)MGS photo of spirit landing site showing tracks and rover ((PD)) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was a US spacecraft developed by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (3796x2432, 2476 KB)This part of HiRISE image (PSP_001414_1780_RED.jp2) shows the landing site of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit http://hiroc. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (3796x2432, 2476 KB)This part of HiRISE image (PSP_001414_1780_RED.jp2) shows the landing site of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit http://hiroc. ...
NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit. ...
This article is about the crater on Mars. ...
Tycho crater on Earths moon. ...
A kilometer (Commonwealth spelling: kilometre), symbol: km is a unit of length in the metric system equal to 1,000 metres (from the Greek words χίλια (khilia) = thousand and μÎÏ„Ïο (metro) = count/measure). ...
This article is about the geographical term. ...
Longitude is the east-west geographic coordinate measurement most commonly utilized in cartography and global navigation. ...
A panorama shows a slightly rolling surface, littered with small rocks, with hills on the horizon up to 27 km away.[4] The MER team named the landing site "Columbia Memorial Station," in honor of the seven astronauts killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. U.S. Space Shuttle astronaut Bruce McCandless II using a manned maneuvering unit. ...
The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earths atmosphere, shortly before concluding its 28th mission, STS-107. ...
On January 27 NASA memorialized the crew of Apollo 1 by naming three hills to the north of "Columbia Memorial Station" as the Apollo 1 Hills. On February 2, the astronauts on Columbia's final mission were further memorialized when NASA named a set of hills to the east of the landing site the Columbia Hills Complex, denoting seven peaks in that area Anderson, Brown, Chawla, Clark, Husband, McCool and Ramon. (NASA has submitted these geographical feature names to the IAU for approval.)
is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Apollo 1 is the official name given to the Apollo/Saturn 204 (AS-204) spacecraft, destroyed by fire during a training exercise on January 27, 1967, at Pad 34 (Launch Complex 34 at Cape Canaveral - then known as Cape Kennedy) atop a Saturn IB rocket. ...
Apollo Hills panorama from the MER-A landing site The Apollo 1 Hills are three vastly separated hills located in Gusev Crater, on Mars, identified with the Spirit Rover. ...
is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
The view of Columbia Hills from the MER-A landing site The Columbia Hills are a range of low hills inside Gusev crater on Mars. ...
Logo of the IAU The International Astronomical Union (French: Union astronomique internationale) unites national astronomical societies from around the world. ...
 Apollo Hills panorama from the Spirit landing site
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (3500x700, 531 KB) http://marsrovers. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (3500x700, 531 KB) http://marsrovers. ...
Events and discoveries
Timeline
Current Spirit traverse map, to sol 1055 (December 21, 2006) The primary surface mission for Spirit was planned to last 90 Sols. The mission received several extensions and as of May 2007 had passed 1200 Sols, more than 13 times the primary mission length. As of August 11, 2007, Spirit has been operational on the surface of Mars for 1282 Sols, one Sol longer than the Viking 2 lander, which was powered by a nuclear reactor whereas Spirit is powered by solar arrays. Therefore Spirit is currently the planet lander with the second longest operational period, only exceeded by the Viking 1 lander which lasted for 2245 Sols on the surface of Mars. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 755 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1270 × 1008 pixel, file size: 540 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Current Spirit traverse map. ...
Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 755 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1270 × 1008 pixel, file size: 540 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Current Spirit traverse map. ...
Various schemes have been used or proposed to keep track of time and date on the planet Mars independently of Earth time and calendars. ...
May 2007 is the fifth month of that year. ...
is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
Frost on Mars. ...
Core of a small nuclear reactor used for research. ...
The Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars as part of NASAs Viking program. ...
A detailed chronology of events and discoveries may be found in the Spirit rover timeline entry. The following paragraphs discuss the more notable findings. This is the Timeline for Spirit rover of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. ...
An archive of approximately weekly updates on the rover's status can be found at Spirit Update Archive.[5]
Sleepy Hollow "Sleepy Hollow," a shallow depression in the Mars ground near NASA's Spirit rover, was targeted as an early destination when the rover drove off its lander platform. NASA scientists were very interested in this crater. It is 9 meters (30 feet) across and about 12 meters (40 feet) north of the lander. Sleepy Hollow is the name given to a circular, shallow depression in Gusev Crater on Mars near the landing site of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in 2004. ...
 First 3-D panorama of landing site: the crater under the sun is "Sleepy Hollow" received on 5 January. "Just as the ancient mariners used sextants for 'shooting the Sun,' as they called it, we were successfully able to shoot the Sun with our panorama camera, then use that information to point the antenna," said JPL's Matt Wallace, mission manager. Download high resolution version (1892x384, 73 KB)Sleepy Hollow, a shallow depression in the Mars ground near NASAs Spirit rover, may become an early destination when the rover drives off its lander platform in a week or so. ...
Download high resolution version (1892x384, 73 KB)Sleepy Hollow, a shallow depression in the Mars ground near NASAs Spirit rover, may become an early destination when the rover drives off its lander platform in a week or so. ...
is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Image File history File links 3d_glasses_red_cyan. ...
First color photograph
 The first color photograph sent by Spirit; it was the highest resolution color photograph taken on another planet.
 The press release cut of the first color photograph. "Sleepy Hollow" is visible at the right of this photograph. To the right is the first color image of Mars taken by the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. It is the highest resolution image ever taken on the surface of another planet. "We're seeing a panoramic mosaic of four pancam images high by three wide," said camera designer Jim Bell of Cornell University. There are actually 12 million pixels in this image, it's 4,000 high by 3,000 wide. This, however, is only the tip of the iceberg, as this image, received on 6 January 2004, is about one eighth of a single pancam panorama and isn't stereo. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (3498x3851, 1063 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Spirit rover Wikipedia:Picture peer review Wikipedia:Picture peer review/Spirts First Photo ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (3498x3851, 1063 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Spirit rover Wikipedia:Picture peer review Wikipedia:Picture peer review/Spirts First Photo ...
View of Mars from Spirit rover. ...
View of Mars from Spirit rover. ...
“Cornell†redirects here. ...
is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The colors may be a little off, since the Panoramic Camera uses filters sensitive to colors outside the range of the human eye.
January 21 flash memory management anomaly On 2004 January 21 (Sol 18), Spirit abruptly ceased communicating with mission control. The next day the rover radioed a 7.8 bit/s beep, confirming that it had received a transmission from Earth but indicating that the spacecraft believed it was in a fault mode. Commands would only be responded to intermittently. This was described as a very serious anomaly, but potentially recoverable if it were a software or memory corruption issue rather than a serious hardware failure. Spirit was commanded to transmit engineering data, and on January 23 sent several short low-bitrate messages before finally transmitting 73 megabits via X band to Mars Odyssey. The readings from the engineering data suggested that the rover was not staying in sleep mode. As such, it was wasting its battery power and overheating — risk factors that could potentially destroy the rover if not fixed soon. On Sol 20, the command team sent it the command SHUTDWN_DMT_TIL ("Shutdown Dammit Until <time>") to try to cause it to suspend itself until a given time. It seemingly ignored the command. Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
The X band (3-cm radar spot-band) of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum roughly ranges from 5. ...
Artists concept of the 2001 Mars Odyssey Spacecraft 2001 Mars Odyssey is an unmanned spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. ...
The leading theory at the time was that the rover was stuck in a "reboot loop". The rover is programmed to reboot if there's a fault aboard itself. However, if there is a fault that occurs during reboot, it could potentially reboot forever. The fact that the problem persisted through reboot suggested that the error was not in RAM, but in either the flash memory, the EEPROM, or a hardware fault. The last case would likely mean the doom of the rover. Anticipating the potential for errors in the flash memory and EEPROM, the designers had made it so that the rover could be booted without ever touching the flash memory. The radio itself could decode a limited commandset — enough to tell the rover to reboot without using flash. Without access to flash memory, Spirit booted fine, and the reboot cycle was broken. A USB flash drive. ...
An EEPROM (also called an E2PROM)[] or Electronically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory, is a non-volatile storage chip used in computers and other devices to store small amounts of volatile (configuration) data. ...
On January 24 the rover repair team announced that the problem was with Spirit's flash memory and the software that wrote to it. The flash hardware was believed to be working correctly but the file management module in the software was "not robust enough" for the operations the Spirit was engaged in when the problem occurred, indicating that the problem was caused by a software bug as opposed to faulty hardware. NASA engineers finally came to the conclusion that there were too many files on the file system, which was a relatively minor problem. Most of these files contained unneeded in-flight data. After realizing what the problem was, the engineers deleted some files, and eventually reformatted the entire flash memory system. On February 6 (Sol 33), the rover was restored to its original working condition, and science activities resumed.[6] is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
History's first grinding of a rock on Mars
 Pancam image of Adirondack taken after RAT grind. The round, shallow depression in this image resulted from history's first grinding of a rock on Mars. The Rock Abrasion Tool on NASA's Spirit rover ground off the surface of a patch 45.5 millimeters (1.8 inches) in diameter on a rock called Adirondack during Spirit's 34th sol on Mars, Feb. 6, 2004. The hole is 2.65 millimeters (0.1 inch) deep, exposing fresh interior material of the rock for close inspection with the rover's microscopic imager and two spectrometers on the robotic arm. This image was taken by Spirit's panoramic camera, providing a quick visual check of the success of the grinding. The round, shallow depression in this image resulted from historys first grinding of a rock on Mars. ...
The round, shallow depression in this image resulted from historys first grinding of a rock on Mars. ...
The Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) is a grinder and brush installed on the MER-A (Spirit) and MER-B (Opportunity) Mars rovers that brushes and grinds rock surfaces. ...
Adirondack is the nickname for Mars Exploration Rover Spirits first target rock. ...
"The RAT performed beyond our expectations," beamed Steve Gorevan, of Honeybee Robotics, New York, lead scientist for the rock abrasion tools on both rovers. "With the docile cutting parameters we set, I didn't think that it would cut this deep. In fact, when we saw virtually a complete circle, I was thrilled beyond anything I could have ever dreamed. Following up that glorious circular brushing — it's like back-to-back homers." The Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) is a grinder and brush installed on the MER-A (Spirit) and MER-B (Opportunity) Mars rovers that brushes and grinds rock surfaces. ...
Mimi
 False color image of "Mimi". This color image taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic camera on Sol 40 is centered on an unusually flaky rock called Mimi. Mimi is only one of many features in the area known as "Stone Council", but looks very different from any rock that scientists have seen at the Gusev crater site so far. Mimi's flaky appearance leads scientists to a number of hypotheses. Mimi could have been subjected to pressure either through burial or impact, or may have once been a dune that was cemented into flaky layers, a process that sometimes involves the action of water. Source: http://marsrovers. ...
Source: http://marsrovers. ...
A false color image showing the Chesapeake Bay and the city of Baltimore. ...
Humphrey and clues for water On March 5, 2004, NASA announced that Spirit had found hints of water history on Mars in a rock dubbed "Humphrey". Dr. Raymond Arvidson, Ph.D., the McDonnell University Professor and chair of Earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, reported during a NASA press conference: "If we found this rock on Earth, we would say it is a volcanic rock that had a little fluid moving through it." In contrast to the rocks found by the twin rover Opportunity, this one was formed from magma and then acquired bright material in small crevices, which look like crystallized minerals. If this interpretation holds true, the minerals were most likely dissolved in water, which was either carried inside the rock or interacted with it at a later stage, after it formed.[7] This article is about the day. ...
Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
“Washington University†redirects here. ...
Magma is molten rock located beneath the surface of the Earth (or any other terrestrial planet), and which often collects in a magma chamber. ...
Bonneville Crater On 11 March 2004, the Spirit rover reached Bonneville crater after a 400 yard journey. This crater is 150 yards across and about 30 yards deep. JPL decided that it would be a bad idea to send the rover down into the crater, as they saw no targets of interest inside. Spirit drove along the southern rim, tore up some sand dunes, and continued to the southwest towards the Columbia Hills. is the 70th day of the year (71st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Bonneville crater is a 200-metre impact crater on Mars. ...
Looking back at the lander. | | Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1198x807, 506 KB)Spirit rover looking back at its lander on sol 65 from NASA File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1198x807, 506 KB)Spirit rover looking back at its lander on sol 65 from NASA File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x263, 72 KB)Bonneville crater, Mars, imaged by MER-A (NASA). ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x263, 72 KB)Bonneville crater, Mars, imaged by MER-A (NASA). ...
Missoula and Lahonten Craters, en route to Columbia Hills Spirit reached Missoula crater on Sol 105. The crater is roughly 100 yards across and 20 yards deep. Missoula crater was not considered a high priority target due to the older rocks it contained. The rover skirted the northern rim, and continued to the southeast. Download high resolution version (5000x681, 585 KB)Missoula crater on Mars. ...
Download high resolution version (5000x681, 585 KB)Missoula crater on Mars. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Lahonten crater on Sol 120 It then reached Lahonten crater on Sol 118, and drove along the rim until Sol 120. Lahonten is about 60 yards across and about 10 yards deep. A long, snaking sand dune stretches away from its southwestern side, and Spirit went around it. Download high resolution version (1024x1024, 234 KB)Lahonten crater on Mars ((PD)) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Download high resolution version (1024x1024, 234 KB)Lahonten crater on Mars ((PD)) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Columbia Hills On Sol 159, Spirit reached the first of many targets at the base of the Columbia Hills called West Spur. Hank's Hollow was studied for 23 sols. Within Hank's Hollow was the strange looking rock dubbed "Pot of Gold". The view of Columbia Hills from the MER-A landing site The Columbia Hills are a range of low hills inside Gusev crater on Mars. ...
The knobby Martian rock Pot of Gold Pot of Gold is the nickname for a knobby, softball-sized rock in Gusev Crater on Mars. ...
From here, Spirit took a northerly path along the base of the hill towards the target Wooly Patch, which was studied from Sol 192 to Sol 199. By Sol 203, Spirit had driven southward up the hill and arrived at the rock dubbed "Clovis". Clovis was ground and analyzed from Sol 210 to Sol 225. Following Clovis came the targets of Ebenezer (Sols 226-235), Tetl (Sol 270), Uchben and Palinque (Sols 281-295), and Lutefisk (Sols 296-303). From Sols 239 to 262, Spirit powered down for solar conjunction. Solar Conjunction occurs when a planet or other solar system object is on the opposite side of the sun than the Earth. ...
Slowly, Spirit has made its way around the summit of Husband Hill, and at Sol 344 was ready to climb over the newly designated "Cumberland Ridge" and into "Larry's Lookout" and "Tennessee Valley". Larrys Lookout is located on Husband Hill, Gusev Crater, Mars. ...
On Sol 371, Spirit arrived at a rock named "Peace" near the top of Cumberland Ridge. Spirit ground it with the RAT tool on Sol 373.
By Sol 390 (Mid-February 2005), Spirit was advancing towards "Larry's Lookout", by driving up the hill backwards in reverse. The scientists at this time were trying to conserve as much energy as possible for the climb.
Spirit also investigated some targets along the way, including the soil target, "Paso Robles", which contained the highest amount of salt found on the red planet. The soil also contained a high amount of phosphorus in its composition, however not nearly as high as another rock sampled by Spirit, "Wishstone". Squyres said of the discovery, "We're still trying to work out what this means, but clearly, with this much salt around, water had a hand here". For other uses, see Salt (disambiguation). ...
General Name, symbol, number phosphorus, P, 15 Chemical series nonmetals Group, period, block 15, 3, p Appearance waxy white/ red/ black/ colorless Standard atomic weight 30. ...
On 9 March 2005 (probably during the Martian night), the rover's solar panel efficiency jumped from around 60% of what it had originally been to 93%, followed on 10 March by the sighting of dust devils. NASA scientists speculate a dust devil must have swept the solar panels clean, possibly significantly extending the duration of the mission. This also marks the first time dust devils had been spotted by either Spirit or Opportunity, easily one of the top highlights of the mission to date. Dust devils had previously been photographed by only the Pathfinder probe. is the 68th day of the year (69th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
March 10 is the 69th day of the year (70th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Dust Devil Johnsonville, South Carolina A dust devil is a rotating updraft, 1000 meters or more high and tens of meters in diameter. ...
Pot of Gold rock Pot of Gold Rock File links The following pages link to this file: Spirit rover Mars photos Categories: NASA images ...
| Spirit's traverse up Husband Hill Download high resolution version (1000x635, 155 KB)Spirits Traverse Up Husband Hill File links The following pages link to this file: Spirit rover Mars photos Categories: NASA images ...
| Spirit artificially added to image (taken by itself) of Larry's Lookout Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2400x1350, 282 KB) original description: This synthetic image of the Spirit Mars Exploration Rover in the Columbia Hills was produced using Virtual Presence in Space technology. ...
| Photograph of a Martian sunset taken by Spirit at Gusev crater, May 19th, 2005. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2486x1914, 975 KB)Photograph of Martian sunset taken May 19th, 2005 by NASAs Mars Exploration Rover: Spirit at Gusev crater. ...
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Husband Hill summit On Sol 582, August 21, 2005, Spirit reached the summit of Husband Hill and acquired a 360 degree panorama picture. is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Husband Hill is one of the Columbia Hills in Gusev crater, Mars. ...
 View from the Summit taken by Spirit on August 23, 2005 as the rover completed climb up "Husband Hill." |
 Vista from top of Husband Hill |
Image File history File links Spirits Spectacular View From the Summit 09. ...
Image File history File links Spirits Spectacular View From the Summit 09. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (3595x983, 1264 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Spirit rover ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (3595x983, 1264 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Spirit rover ...
Home Plate Spirit arrived at the north west corner of Home Plate, a raised and layered outcrop on sol 744 after an effort to maximize driving. Scientific observations have been conducted with Spirit's robotic arm. Image taken by Spirit, showing its microscopic imager moving into position over the layered rocks of Home Plate. Home Plate is an informal nickname used by NASA scientists to refer to a geological feature on Mars currently under study by the Spirit rover. ...
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Curious rock near edge of "Home Plate" with a jutting portion. (Animated GIF image for stereoscopic perception). | | | Image File history File links Home_plate_anim. ...
Image File history File links Home_plate_anim. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1205x904, 653 KB) Crop of NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image D ([1]) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1205x904, 653 KB) Crop of NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image D ([1]) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit. ...
McCool Hill Spirit's next stop was originally planned to be the north face of McCool Hill, where Spirit would receive adequate sunlight during the Martian winter. On March 16, 2006 JPL announced that Spirit's troublesome front wheel had stopped working altogether. Despite this, Spirit was still making progress toward McCool Hill because the control team programmed the rover to drive toward McCool Hill backwards, dragging its broken wheel.[8] In late March, Spirit encountered loose soil which was impeding its progress toward McCool Hill. A decision was made to terminate attempts to reach McCool Hill and instead park on a nearby ridge named Low Ridge Haven. McCool Hill is the tallest of the Columbia Hills in Gusev crater, Mars. ...
March 16 is the 75th day of the year (76th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Low Ridge Haven Reaching the ridge on April 9, 2006 and parking on the ridge with an 11° incline to the north, Spirit spent the next eight months on the ridge during which time undertaking observations of changes in the surrounding area.[9] No drives were attempted because of the low power levels the rover was experiencing during the Martian winter. The rover made its first drive, a short turn to position targets of interest within reach of the robotic arm, in early November 2006, following the shortest days of winter and solar conjunction when communications with Earth were severely limited. As of sol 1102 (February 7, 2007), Spirit's total odometry was 6,926.42 meters (4.3 miles).[10] is the 99th day of the year (100th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
While at Low Ridge, Spirit imaged two rocks of similar chemical nature to that of Opportunity's Heat Shield Rock, a meteorite on the surface of Mars. Named "Zhong Shan" for Sun Yat-sen and "Allan Hills" for the location in Antarctica where several Martian meteorites have been found, they stood out against the background rocks which were darker. Further spectrographic testing is being done to determine the exact composition of these rocks, which may turn out to also be meteorites. Heat shield, with Heat Shield Rock just above and to the left in the background (click to enlarge) Heat Shield Rock is a basketball-sized iron-nickel meteorite found on Mars by the Mars rover Opportunity in January 2005. ...
Willamette Meteorite A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives an impact with the Earths surface without being destroyed. ...
Sun Yat-sen (November 12, 1866 – March 12, 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader often referred to as the father of modern China. Sun played an instrumental role in the eventual overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. ...
 Possible meteorites found at Low Ridge |
 Volcanic rock fragment at Low Ridge | Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2039x3269, 995 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Spirit rover ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2039x3269, 995 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Spirit rover ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1022x1024, 471 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Spirit rover ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1022x1024, 471 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Spirit rover ...
Dust Storms Towards the end of June, 2007, a series of dust storms began clouding the Martian atmosphere with dust. The storms have intensified and by July 20, both Spirit and Opportunity were facing the real possibility of system failure due to lack of power. NASA released a statement to the press which said (in part) "We're rooting for our rovers to survive these storms, but they were never designed for conditions this intense" [11]. The key problem caused by the dust storms is a dramatic reduction in solar power. There was so much dust in the atmosphere that it was blocking 99 percent of direct sunlight to the rover Opportunity, whereas Spirit was getting slightly more sunlight.
Normally the solar arrays are able to generate up to 700 watt hours of power a day. After the storms, the amount of power generated was greatly reduced. If the rovers generate less than 150 watt hours per day they have to start draining their batteries to run survival heaters. If the batteries run dry, key electrical elements are likely to fail due to the intense cold. Both landers were put into the lowest-power setting to wait out the storms. In early August the storms began to clear slightly and the rovers successfully charged their batteries. They will be kept in hibernation to wait out the rest of the storm. [12]
Astronomy Spirit pointed its cameras towards the sky and observed a transit of the Sun by Mars' moon Deimos (see Transit of Deimos from Mars). It also took the only photo of Earth from the surface of another planet in early March 2004. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1194x1007, 375 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Spirit rover Wikipedia:List of images/Places/Earth ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1194x1007, 375 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Spirit rover Wikipedia:List of images/Places/Earth ...
2003 Transit of Mercury The term transit or astronomical transit has two meanings in astronomy: A transit is the astronomical event that occurs when one celestial body appears to move across the face of another celestial body, as seen by an observer at some particular vantage point. ...
Sol redirects here. ...
A natural satellite is an object that orbits a planet or other body larger than itself and which is not man-made. ...
Deimos (IPA or ; Greek Δείμος: Dread), is the smaller and outermost of Mars’ two moons, named after Deimos from Greek Mythology. ...
Deimos transits the Sun, as seen by Mars Rover Opportunity on March 4, 2004 A transit of Deimos across the Sun as seen from Mars takes place when Deimos passes directly between the Sun and a point on the surface of Mars, obscuring a small part of the Suns...
In fall of 2005, Spirit took advantage of a favorable energy situation to make multiple nighttime observations of both of Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos. These observations included a "lunar" (or rather phobal) eclipse as Spirit watched Phobos disappear into Mars's shadow. Some of Spirit's star gazing was designed to look for a predicted meteor shower caused by Halley's Comet but no images of meteors have been formally released. Phobos (IPA: or [ˈfoʊ.bəs]) (systematic designation: ) is the larger and closer of Mars two moons (the other being Deimos). ...
Deimos (IPA or ; Greek Δείμος: Dread), is the smaller and outermost of Mars’ two moons, named after Deimos from Greek Mythology. ...
Time lapse movie of the 3 March 2007 lunar eclipse A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Moon passes through some portion of the Earths shadow. ...
This article is about astronomical eclipses. ...
A meteor shower, some of which are known as a meteor storm or meteor outburst, is a celestial event where a group of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the sky. ...
This article is about the comet. ...
A transit of Mercury from Mars took place on January 12, 2005 from about 14:45 UTC to 23:05 UTC. Theoretically, this could have been observed by both Spirit and Opportunity, however camera resolution did not permit seeing Mercury's 6.1" angular diameter. They were able to observe transits of Deimos across the Sun, but at 2' angular diameter, Deimos is about 20 times larger than Mercury's 6.1" angular diameter. Ephemeris data generated by JPL Horizons indicates that Opportunity would have been able to observe the transit from the start until local sunset at about 19:23 UTC Earth time, while Spirit would have been able to observe it from local sunrise at about 19:38 UTC until the end of the transit.[13] A transit of Mercury across the Sun as seen from Mars takes place when the planet Mercury passes directly between the Sun and Mars, obscuring a small part of the Suns disc for an observer on Mars. ...
is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
“UTC†redirects here. ...
The launch patch for Opportunity, featuring Duck Dodgers (Daffy Duck). ...
A second of arc or arcsecond is a unit of angular measurement which comprises one-sixtieth of an arcminute, or 1/3600 of a degree of arc or 1/1296000 ≈ 7. ...
Deimos (IPA or ; Greek Δείμος: Dread), is the smaller and outermost of Mars’ two moons, named after Deimos from Greek Mythology. ...
A minute of arc, arcminute, or MOA is a unit of angular measurement, equal to one sixtieth (1/60) of one degree. ...
JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System provides easy access to key solar system data and flexible production of highly accurate ephemerides for solar system objects. ...
Software Upgrades On January 4, 2007, both rovers received new flight software to the onboard computers. The update was received just in time for the third anniversary of their landing. The new systems let the rovers decide whether or not to transmit an image, and whether or not to extend their arms to examine rocks, which would save much time for scientists as they would not have to sift through hundreds of images to find the one they want, or examine the surroundings to decide to extend the arms and examine the rocks. [1] is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ...
Equipment failures Both rovers have passed their original mission time of 90 sols many times over. However, some problems have developed. On sol 779, the right front wheel ceased working after having covered 4.2 mi (7 km) on Mars. Engineers began driving the rover backwards, dragging the dead wheel. The grinding surface of the Rock Abrasion Tool has also worn down, and the device can only be used to brush targets. All of the science instruments and engineering cameras continue to function. The Mössbauer spectrometer takes much longer to produce results than it did earlier in the mission because of the decay of its radioactive source. A Mössbauer spectrometer is a device that performs Mossbauer spectroscopy, or a device that uses the Mössbauer effect to determine the chemical environment of a sample, typically Iron. ...
Honors Honoring Spirit's great contribution to the exploration of Mars, the asteroid 37452 Spirit has been named after it.[14] The name was proposed by Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld who along with Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Tom Gehrels discovered the asteroid on September 24, 1960. 253 Mathilde, a C-type asteroid. ...
Asteroid 37452 Spirit was discovered on September 24, 1960 by Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, Cornelis Johannes van Houten and Tom Gehrels. ...
Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld is a Dutch astronomer. ...
Cornelis Johannes van Houten (1920 – August 24, 2002) was a Dutch astronomer. ...
Tom Gehrels is a Dutch-American astronomer. ...
is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Ruben H. Fleet Museum and the Liberty Science Center also has a IMAX show called Roving Mars that documents the journey of both Spirit and Opportunity on their travel to Mars with both CG concepts of their travel and original pictures and videos of their arrival on Mars Liberty Science Center is an interactive science museum and learning center located in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. ...
See also Computer generated image of one of the two Mars Exploration Rovers which touched down on Mars in 2004. ...
Space exploration is the physical exploration of outer space, both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft. ...
It has been suggested that Space probe be merged into this article or section. ...
Autonomous robots are robots which can perform desired tasks in unstructured environments without continuous human guidance. ...
The launch patch for Opportunity, featuring Duck Dodgers (Daffy Duck). ...
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