10-Jan-2004
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NASA's Spirit Stages Martian Stand-up Performance
Full Press Release
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Martian Landscape in 3-D
This 3-D stereo image taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's navigation camera shows the rover's lander and, in the background, the surrounding martian terrain.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
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New Real Estate on Mars
This image mosaic taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic camera shows a new slice of martian real estate southwest of the rover's landing site. The landscape shows little variation in local topography, though a narrow peak only seven to eight kilometers away is visible on the horizon. A circular depression, similar to the one dubbed Sleepy Hollow, can be seen in the foreground. Compared to the Viking and Pathfinder landing sites (PIA02405, PIA00563, PIA00393, PIA00568), the terrain at Gusev Crater, Spirit's landing site, is flat and speckled with a sparse array of rocks.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell University
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Hazy Martian Skies
This image mosaic taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic camera shows the hills southeast of Spirit's landing site. Like a smoggy day in Los Angeles, dusty martian skies limit how much detail can be seen. This lack in visibility is demonstrated by comparing hills on the left to those on the right, located nearly two times farther away. The left panel of this image was captured in the late morning martian hours, looking toward the Sun. The right image was taken in the early afternoon, when the Sun was higher and the skies appeared darker.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell University
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Spirit Stretches Out
This animation flips back and forth between images taken before and after deployment of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's bogie, a part of the rover's suspension system that extends the wheel base. These images were taken by Spirit's rear hazard avoidance camera.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
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Spirit Rises to the Occasion (Animation)
This animation strings together images from the rover's front hazard avoidance camera taken during the stand-up process of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. The first frame shows the rover's wheels tucked under in pre-stand-up position. The following frames show the stages of the stand-up process. The rover first elevates itself and unfolds the wheels. It then lowers, lifts and lowers again into its final position. Note the changing camera perspectives of the martian landscape, indicating the rover's heightened and lowered positions.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
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Lessons from Spirit's Landing
This graph illustrates that models used to predict the atmospheric entry details of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit were right on track. The red curve shows the estimated change in temperature as Spirit descended through the martian atmosphere, from 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the altitude just above parachute deployment. The estimated profile was reconstructed from accelerometer and gyro readings taken by the spacecraft during its descent. This data roughly matches that of the blue curve, which represents the temperature profile predicted before landing. The predicted profile was generated from observations made at Gusev Crater on December 27, 2003, by Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/George Washington University/Langley/ASU
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Overhead View
This mosaic image taken by the navigation camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been reprocessed to project a clear overhead view of the rover on the surface of Mars.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
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Martian Sunsets More Than Just Pretty
This image shows the Sun as it appears on Mars throughout the day. Scientists monitor the dimming of the setting Sun to assess how much dust is in the martian atmosphere. The pictures were taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic camera.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell University
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Dust in the Wind
This plot shows the estimated change in dust levels from December 2003 to early January 2004 at Gusev Crater (red curve) and Meridiani Planum (black curve), the two Mars Exploration Rover landings sites. The measurements, retrieved from Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer, indicate that a large regional dust storm beginning in mid-December raised significant dust near Meridiani. Smaller amounts of dust were spread globally by winds, the effects of which were seen at Gusev Crater. For comparison, a dust optical depth value of 1.0 would correspond to a very smoggy day in Los Angeles or Houston, and a value of 0.1 to a relatively clear day in Los Angeles.
Image credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
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True Colors of Mars
This image taken on Mars by the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the rover's color calibration target, also known as the MarsDial. The target's mirror and the shadows cast on it by the Sun help scientists determine the degree to which dusty martian skies alter the panoramic camera's perception of color. By adjusting for this effect, Mars can be seen in all its true colors.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell University
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Pathfinder Spies Dust Devils
This set of images from NASA's 1997 Pathfinder mission highlight the dust devils that gust across the surface of Mars. The left image shows the dusty martian sky as our eye would see it. The right image has been enhanced to expose the dust devils that lurk in the hazy sky.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
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Images from press conference used to compare landing sites of Viking and Pathfinder
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