NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit acquired this mosaic on the mission’s
1,202nd Martian day, or sol (May 21, 2007), while investigating the area
east of the elevated plateau known as “Home Plate” in the “Columbia Hills.”
The mosaic shows an area of disturbed soil, nicknamed “Gertrude Weise” by
scientists, made by Spirit's stuck right front wheel.
The trench exposed a patch of nearly pure silica, with the composition of
opal. It could have come from either a hot-spring environment or an
environment called a fumarole, in which acidic, volcanic steam rises
through cracks. Either way, its formation involved water, and on Earth,
both of these types of settings teem with microbial life.
Spirit acquired this mosaic with the panoramic camera’s 753-nanometer,
535-nanometer, and 432-nanometer filters. The view presented here is an
approximately true-color rendering.
