They were only supposed to last three months. But this month, NASA’s twin robot geologists, the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, celebrate their fifth anniversary exploring the Red Planet. Spirit parachuted onto Gusev crater on January 3, 2004, while Opportunity arrived at Meridiani Planum three weeks later, on January 24.

Surviving sandstorms, a malfunctioning wheel and other aging equipment, along with the low-light levels of Martian winters, both rovers have discovered supporting evidence that the planet was once wetter and warmer. Collectively, the rovers have returned some 250,000 images and 36 gigabytes of data, traversing more than 13 kilometers of terrain including one mountain and several craters.

Engineers will now direct Spirit toward two destinations about 183 meters south of a region near a low plateau called Home Plate. One of the sites is a mound that may reveal the origin of Home Plate. The other target is a pit called Goddard, which appears to be a crater created by a volcanic explosion, a feature never before examined by the rovers.

Opportunity’s next target is a 22-kilometer–wide crater called Endeavour, which is about 20 times wider than Victoria Crater, where the craft spent most of the past two years. — Ron Cowen

More details about this image: This panoramic view of Mars was taken by the rover Spirit, which has now been studying the Red Planet for five years. The view is from the spot where Spirit has spent its third winter on the Martian southern hemisphere, mainly on the northern edge of a low plateau nicknamed Home Plate. Images combined into this panorama were taken by Spirit beginning on the mission's 1,477th Martian day, or sol, or February 28, 2008, and finishing on Sol 1691, or October 5, 2008. The rover stayed in place for most of 2008 because of the low energy available to it during the winter of the Martian southern hemisphere. Credit: JPL/NASA, Cornell University, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science

• Print
• |
• Comment
• |
• |
• |
• Tweet
• |

Found in: Atom & Cosmos