Spirit at Work

Landing Site
Operations Summary
Detailed Topics

Landing Site

Spirit landed at Gusev crater on January, 3rd 2004, 8:35 p.m. PST (4:35 UT January, 4th). Gusev crater has a diameter of 95 miles (150 km), as the landing site is located 14.57°S, 175.47°E, West of an eroded crater feature and South of mesas located about where Ma'adim Vallis is entering Gusev Crater. Landing site was renamed "Columbia Memorial Station" in honor of astronauts who disappeared in February 2003 Shuttle Columbia accident as hills seen East of site were renamed "Columbia Hills Complex" with each summit named from a crewmember of Shuttle. Further, Apollo 1 crew was memorialized by their names given to other surroundings hills. Apollo 1 crew disappeared due to a flash fire during a launch pad test in view of Apollo program first piloted flight. Gusev Crater was chosen like a target for the Twin Rovers as this vast Martian crater is thought to have been an ancien lakebed fueled by the Ma'adim Vallis draining system. Gusev crater is located where the vast light hemisphere of Mars is ending, about north of Mare Cimmerium. about rovers entry, descent and landing scheme, see this table

pictures (from left to right): landing site azimuths; landing site color panoramic view; most detailed ever Mars picture (landing site). pictures courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' based on a NASA/JPL picture, NASA/JPL/Cornell, NASA/JPL respectively

Operations Summary

Most Detailed View Ever of the Martian surface (Jan. 17-Feb. 2, 2004) This view of the landscape surrounding Spirit's landing site is the most detailed ever of the Martian surface. The surface is similar to what is seen elsewhere at Mars, that is mostly a light-colored, 0.04" (1 mm) fine-grained, layer over a dark-colored, coarser, layer, as the composition is mostly iron and silicon. picture NASA/JPL

A Fine View of a Large Crater (Mar. 12-Apr. 1, 2005) Bonneville Crater is a 656 ft-wide (200 m) crater, providing a fine view of such a relief feature. Soil and rocks are basalt and olivine. picture NASA/JPL/Cornell

An Understanding of a Vast Martian Landscape (Apr. 1-Aug. 4, 2004) The journey performed between the landing site and the Columbia Hills provided a global view of a Martian landscape. Intercrater plains, ejecta, craters, hollows, and a piedmont of Martian hills. picture NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems/ASU/New Mexico Museum of Natural History

A Martian Crater's Inner Wall (Aug. 4, 2004-Feb. 28, 2005) Spirit's landing site is inside Gusev Crater. The rover provided this fine view of Gusev Crater's wall, 50 miles away (80 km). Wall is 1.6 miles (2.5 km) tall. The view is somehow akin to what has been seen at lunar craters by the Apollo missions. picture site 'Amateur Astronomy' based on a picture NASA/JPL

Dust Devils Live from Mars! From the slopes of the Columbia Hills, and maybe due to the advance of spring at Mars, Spirit was able to see dust devils in the action and to capture movies of them! A premiere, and a premiere! The picture there is a still only we extracted from a movie. picture extracted from a movie NASA/JPL

A Lot of Water at Gusev Crater (phase starting on Mar. 1, 2005) As it reached an intermediate plateau in the Columbia Hills, Spirit was rewarded with several, large rocky layers. The science made there points to volcanic material layered through a watery process, with a lot of water at Gusev Crater in the past! picture NASA/JPL/Cornell

Spirit's Wintering Quarters in the Columbia Hills (end of 2006) Until the Martian winter was over -about by the end of 2006- Spirit wintered in the midst of the Columbia Hills. The rover was able to hold a slight work however there, working with the solar energy available through its solar panels. picture NASA/JPL/Cornell

Spirit Wintering for A Second Time in the Columbia Hills (end of 2007) Spirit, still covered with the dust of the intense storms it endured during the Earth's summer 2007, is preparing for a second wintering period in the Columbia Hills, as of December 2007. picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

Spirit Wintering for A Third Time in the Columbia Hills (July 2008) Spirit is wintering for a third Martian winter in the Columbia Hills. picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University

Spirit Transformed Into a Fixed Science Station in the Columbia Hills! (February 2010) The view of Spirit once transformed into a fixed science station, as taken fisheye with its rear hazard-avoidance camera. That is showing the rear wiew of where it has been definitively parked, on a low plateau in the Columbia Hills, called Home Plate, as it could not be freed from the sand trap where it had fallen there, a crusty surface with sand hidden underneath, since April 2009 and a second wheel stopping work 7 months later. picture NASA/JPL-Caltech

Spirit Over! (May 2011) NASA, on May 25th, 2011, officially ended operational planning activities for the Mars rover Spirit and transitioned the MER Project to a single-rover operation. The rover operated for more than six years after landing in January 2004 for what was planned as a three-month mission driving 4.8 miles (7.73 km), more than 12 times the goal set for the mission. Spirit managed to cross a plain and then to climb hills with slopes up to 30 degrees, becoming the first rover to summit a hill on another planet. The rover returned more than 124,000 images, ground off 15 rock targets and scoured 92 targets with a brush to prepare the targets for inspection with spectrometers and a microscopic imager. The Twin Rovers mission also was conducted in a way that allowed the general public on Earth to be part of the adventure as astronomers really had at disposal a robotic geologist who behaved similarly to how a expedition would have. Martian cold is believed to be the cause of the termination of Spirit

Detailed Topics

Topics below are detailing some aspects of Martian features as seen by the rovers. Those sections are common to both Opportunity and Spirit

Water at Mars? - Mars Atmosphere - Wind Work at Mars - Eclipses at Mars - Computing Use Innovation With the Twin Rovers - Rovers' Management During a Mars Conjunction