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| Press Release Images: Spirit |
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23-Jan-2004
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Rover Team Readies for Second Landing While Trying to Mend Spirit
Full Press Release
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Behold Spirit
This high-resolution image shows a computer-generated model of Spirit's lander at Gusev Crater as engineers and scientists would have expected to see it from a perfect overhead view. The background is a reprojected image taken by the Spirit panoramic camera on Sol 19 (Jan. 21-22, 2004). The top of the image faces north.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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View from above Landing Site
The image on the left is a computer-generated model of Spirit's lander at Gusev Crater as engineers and scientists would have expected to see it from a perfect overhead view. The background is a reprojected image taken by the Spirit panoramic camera on Sol 19 (Jan. 21-22, 2004). The picture on the right is an actual image of the lander on Mars taken Jan. 19, 2004, by the camera on board Mars Global Surveyor. The tops of both images face north.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS/Cornell
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Spirit's Successful Landing
The bright triangle seen in these images is Spirit's lander resting at the Gusev Crater landing site on Mars after a nerve-wracking entry, descent and landing process on Jan. 3, 2004. The left image was taken by the camera on board the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor on Jan. 19, 2004. The right image is the same image enhanced to show the contrast between the lander and the martian surface. The rover is not visible in this image due to the bright glare of the lander.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS
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Spirit's Hardware Up Close on Mars
This image shows, on the left, a close-up of the backshell and parachute Spirit dropped while landing at Gusev Crater on Mars on Jan. 3, 2004. The backshell is the smaller white mark to the left of the parachute. On the right is a close-up of the location believed to be where the heat shield impacted, leaving a visible dark streak. Both images were taken on Jan. 19, 2004, by the camera on board Mars Global Surveyor.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS
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Spirit Lightens the Load
The history of Spirit's descent and landing on the surface of Mars is recorded in this image taken more than two weeks later on Jan. 19, 2004, by the camera on the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor. Spirit landed on Jan. 3, 2004. The two dots in the upper left are the spacecraft's backshell and parachute, which were shed as Spirit's bridle was cut, allowing the lander to bounce to a rest while safely encased in airbags. The white dot near the bottom of the image is the lander, also known as the Columbia Memorial Station, at the Gusev Crater landing site. The lander appears white to the camera because sunlight is hitting the lander's highly reflective surface, causing contrast between the lander and the surrounding martian terrain. This image was taken in the early martian afternoon.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS
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Following Spirit's Tracks
The history of Spirit's descent and landing on the surface of Mars is recorded in this image taken more than two weeks later on Jan. 19, 2004, by the camera on the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor. Spirit landed on Jan. 3, 2004. The two dots in the upper left are the spacecraft's backshell and parachute, which were shed as Spirit's bridle was cut, allowing the lander to bounce to a rest while safely encased in airbags. To the far right of the image, a dark streak above a large crater is believed to be the location where the heat shield impacted. The heat shield had protected the spacecraft during its descent through the martian atmosphere and was jettisoned several kilometers above the surface. A trail of bounce marks made by the airbags as Spirit bounced to a stop can be seen in the middle of the image. To the left of the second bounce mark is a square showing the location where engineers had calculated Spirit's airbags first hit the martian surface, based on data from the descent image motion estimation system located on the bottom of the rover's lander. The white dot near the bottom of the image is the lander, also known as the Columbia Memorial Station, at the Gusev Crater landing site. Beside it is a dot marked "surface feature location," showing the location of the lander estimated by the Spirit team using sight lines to landmarks in the lander's panoramic images. This image was taken in the early martian afternoon.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS
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A Flyby Tour of Spirit's Descent
Telemetry sent down to Earth from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been reconstructed to create this reenactment of the rover's final 30 seconds before landing at Gusev Crater, Mars. Just seconds before the rover touched down and its airbags were inflated, a gust of wind threatened to significantly increase the rover's horizontal speed. But the firing of a lateral rocket, called the Tranverse Impulse Rocket System (blue), kept the rover on course, orienting the main retrorockets (white) to the their correct upright position. Subsequent igniting of these rockets reduced the rover's speed to near zero, 23 feet (7 meters) above the martian surface. The colored bars to the right indicate Spirit's north, east and downward velocities. The telemetry was acquired through the Mars Global Surveyor.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Langley
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Computer Animation
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A Flyby Tour of Spirit's Descent-2
Telemetry sent down to Earth from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been reconstructed to create this computer-generated movie of the rover's final 30 seconds before landing at Gusev Crater, Mars. Just seconds before the rover touched down and its airbags were inflated, a gust of wind threatened to significantly increase the rover's horizontal speed. But the firing of a lateral rocket, called the Tranverse Impulse Rocket System (blue), kept the rover on course, orienting the main retrorockets (white) to the their correct upright position. Subsequent igniting of these rockets reduced the rover's speed to near zero, 23 feet (7 meters) above the martian surface. The telemetry was acquired through the Mars Global Surveyor.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Analytical Mechanics Associates
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Wind Gusts: No Longer a Rover's Achilles Heel
This image shows the path (blue line) taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during its descent to Gusev Crater, Mars. Just seconds before landing, the rover fired its lateral rocket, called the Tranverse Impulse Rocket System, to protect against a horizontal gust of wind. The turquoise and yellow arrows show the actual speed and direction of Spirit; the purple arrow indicates what the rover's speed and direction would have been without the corrective maneuver. The red dot indicates where the parachute bridle was cut. North is denoted by the red-tipped arrow in the white cross. This picture consists of reconstructed telemetry mapped on top of surface images captured by the descent image motion estimation system camera located on the bottom of the rover.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
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Bouncing Down to Mars
This image shows the path (blue line) taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit as it bounced down to its final resting spot in Gusev Crater, Mars. Data taken by Spirit during descent indicates that the rover bounced 28 times, including one dip into a crater. The green dot shows where the parachute bridle was cut, and the red dot indicates where the main retrorockets were fired. North is denoted by the red-tipped arrow in the white cross. This picture consists of reconstructed telemetry data mapped on top of surface images captured by the descent image motion estimation system camera located on the bottom of the rover.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
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On Its Own
This 3-D image combines computer-generated models of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit and its lander with real surface data from the rover's panoramic camera. It shows Spirit's position just after it rolled off the lander on Jan. 15, 2004.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
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Hematite Deposits at Opportunity Landing Site
This vertical cross-section of the Meridiani Planum region shows that
the hematite-bearing plains are part of an extensive set of deposits
on top of the ancient, heavily cratered terrain. The Mars Exploration
Rover Opportunity is targeted to land here on January 24, 2004 Pacific Standard Time. The background surface image of Meridiani Planum was acquired by the Mars Orbital Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. On Earth, grey hematite is an iron oxide mineral that typically forms in the presence of liquid water. The
rover Opportunity will study the martian terrain and examine the hematite deposits to determine whether liquid water was present in the past when rocks were being formed.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/ASU
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Targeting a Hematite-rich Terrain
This image shows the abundance and location of the mineral grey hematite at the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site, Meridiani Planum, Mars.
Opportunity is targeted to land somewhere inside the oval, approximately 71 kilometers (45 miles) long, on January 24, 2004 Pacific Standard Time. The background surface image of Meridiani Planum is a mosaic of daytime infrared images acquired by the thermal emission imaging system instrument on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. Superimposed on this image mosaic is a rainbow-colored map showing the abundance and location of grey hematite, as mapped by the thermal emission spectrometer on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. Red and yellow indicates higher concentrations, whereas green and blue areas denote lower levels. On Earth, grey hematite is an iron oxide mineral that typically forms in the presence of liquid water. The rover Opportunity will study the martian terrain to determine whether liquid water was present in the past when rocks were being formed, and ultimately will address whether that past environment was favorable for life.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/ASU
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