Images and Text by Dr. Norbert Gasch
June 10th, 2004
Press Release Images: Spirit
This cylindrical-projection mosaic was created from navigation camera images acquired by NASA
June 10th, 2004
Press Release Images: Opportunity
Perched on the edge of “Endurance Crater,” NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity prepares to roll all six wheels in and then back out to the rim as an engineering test to ensure that the slope and rock surface meet expectations. The rover executed the maneuver successfully and proceeded farther into the crater the following day.
June 9th, 2004
Mars Rovers Continue Unique Exploration of Mars
NASA’s Mars Opportunity rover began its latest adventure today inside the martian crater informally called Endurance. Opportunity will roll in with all six wheels, then back out to the rim to check traction by looking at its own track marks. “We’re going in, but we’re doing it cautiously,” said Jim Erickson, deputy project manager for the Mars Exploration Rovers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
June 9th, 2004
Rovers Enter New Phase of Exploration
Mars research teams are ecstatic about the progress of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, each now in position to open new chapters in exploring the enigmatic red planet. The Opportunity Mars rover at Meridiani Planum has begun wheeling into a huge and deep impact crater, dubbed Endurance. Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, sister ship Spirit has nearly reached the base of the impressive Columbia Hills, perhaps a geological paradise within Gusev Crater.
June 8th, 2004
Rover Update: Wintering on the Red Planet
That double-header of a rover mission to Mars — Spirit and Opportunity — are both moving toward fresh rounds of science-gathering and could survive far longer than once expected. Scientists and engineers that operate the robotic twosome are looking at “wintering over” schemes — putting the mechanized explorers in hibernation mode, and then restarting their duties on Mars next spring. Coming out of hibernation mode in the spring, “we
June 4th, 2004
Mars rover to take risky trip into crater
NASA’s Opportunity rover will be sent into a big impact crater on Mars despite the risk that it may not be able to get out, the space agency said Friday. The potential scientific value of exploring Endurance Crater outweighs the risk that the six-wheeled rover may not be able to drive back up its inner slopes, mission officials said.
June 4th, 2004
Mars Rover Opportunity Gets Green Light To Enter Crater
NASA has decided the potential science value gained by sending Opportunity into a martian impact crater likely outweighs the risk of the intrepid explorer not being able to get back out. Opportunity has been examining the rim of the stadium-sized “Endurance Crater” since late May. The rover team used observations of the depression to evaluate potential science benefits of entering the crater and the traversability of its inner slopes.
June 3rd, 2004
Mars rover sets eyes on long-sought hills New Scientist
The Mars rover Spirit is now within a few hundred metres of the hills it has been trundling towards since March. Images of the Columbia hills suggest there may be outcrops of layered rock to examine, as well as many large boulders. “This is the first time we’ve ever had a close look at hills on Mars,” said James Rice, of Arizona State University, Tempe, and a member of the rovers’ science team. In 1997, the Mars Pathfinder rover landed about 1000 metres from hills, but did not go closer.
June 2nd, 2004
Rovers Examining Hills And Crater In Bonus-Time Mission
More than a month into bonus time after a successful primary mission on Mars, NASA’s Spirit rover has sighted possibly layered rock in hills just ahead, while twin Opportunity has extended its arm to pockmarked stones on a crater rim to gather clues of a watery past.