Mars Rover Spirit Marks One Mars Year of Service
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit casts a shadow over
the trench that the rover examined with tools on its
robotic arm. Front hazard-avoidance camera image
taken on Feb. 21, 2004.
Image source: NASA / JPL-Caltech
the trench that the rover examined with tools on its
robotic arm. Front hazard-avoidance camera image
taken on Feb. 21, 2004.
Image source: NASA / JPL-Caltech
Via NASA.
Spirit, the untiring robotic "wonder child" sent by NASA to explore the eerily earthlike fourth planet from the sun, has completed one martian year--that's almost two Earth years--on Mars. Designed to last only 90 martian days (sols), the six-wheeled marvel the size of a golf cart has pursued a steady course of solar-driven geologic fieldwork, bringing back some 70,000 images and a new understanding of Mars as a potential habitat.
During Spirit's martian year, the seasons have changed from summer to winter and back again. In its orbit around the Sun, Mars has returned to where it was when the rover first landed. Having survived seven times its expected lifetime and traveling over 3 miles (about 5,000 meters), Spirit is still going strong.
posted by Fergie @ 11/22/2005 06:35:00 AM
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