Mars Rovers Images and Updates
Two small robotic rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are continuing their studies of Mars after finding evidence of that water flowed across the planet's surface in the distant past. Spirit landed inside Gusev crater, a possible ancient lakebed, while Opportunity alit in Meridiani Planum, a region rich in a mineral that requires water for its formation. Each rover has completed its primary mission, which lasted 90 Mars days (about 92 Earth days), with each rover covering more than one kilometer (0.6 mi.). This image gallery captures some of the highlights of these missions.
For more information: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
| Making Tracks (April 2, 2009) |
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A stuck wheel on the Spirit rover dug a deep furrow in the Columbia Hills of Mars, revealing a white material just below the surface. The material may be rich in silica, indicating that it formed in a warm, wet environment in the distant past. Spirit has discovered that the Columbia Hills were once much like Yellowstone National Park, with geysers, hot springs, and explosions of steam from below the surface. The landscape looks distorted because this is an extreme wide-angle view from the rover's rear navigation camera. One of the rover's six wheels died months ago, so the rover now moves backwards, dragging the dead wheel through the soil. [NASA/JPL/Caltech] |
| New Opportunities (January 6, 2009) |
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The Opportunity rover makes tracks as it leaves behind Victoria crater, where it spent most of 2008. The rover, which landed on Mars five years ago for a planned 90-day mission, is now heading toward a much larger crater about seven miles away. It's already covered more than a mile as it navigates potentially treacherous sands, which could bog down the aging rover. [NASA/JPL/Cornell] For more information, see our January 6 program. |
| Martian Dust-Up (November 25, 2007) |
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A giant dust storm covered much of Mars earlier this year, threatening the two rovers that have operated on Mars for almost four years. These two images show how the storm progressed. At top, the surface is clearly visible from the orbiting Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, even though wisps of dust are already showing up, and a thick cloud of dust is visible at top left. (The dark areas are gaps in the camera's data.) At bottom, in a picture of the same region taken four weeks later, almost none of the surface is visible. The Opportunity rover is inside the small white circle in the two pictures. [NASA/JPL/MSSS] For more information, see our November 25 program. |
| Going In (September 28, 2007) |
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The Opportunity rover is poking into layers of rock on the inside of Victoria Crater after rolling into the crater over the last few days. The Martian crater is about a half-mile wide. The rocks along its edge were deposited over hundreds of millions of years, so the rover will be giving scientists a peek into the planet's distant past. [NASA/JPL] |
| Stepping Up to the Plate (April 12, 2007) |
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The Spirit rover is maneuvering around a feature known as Home Plate in the Columbia Hills of Mars. It investigated the site last year, as shown in this image from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, then backed away during the Martian winter. Now that spring has arrived in the planet's northern hemisphere, Spirit has returned to the large feature, which is made of layers of rock. [NASA/JPL/Univ. Arizona] For more information, see our April 12 program. |
| Dirty Devils (October 25, 2006) |
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Four "dust devils" swirl across Mars in this 2005 image from the Spirit rover. Although these are relatively small, some Martian dust devils seen from orbit can be miles tall and thousands of feet in diameter. [Credit: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M] For more information, see the October 26 program. |
| Peek-A-Boo! (October 8, 2006) |
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The new Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is just getting ready to begin its main science mission, shows off its capabilities by photographing the Opportunity rover on the rim of Victoria crater. Rover scientists are looking for a route into the half-mile-wide crater. The crater walls contain sheer cliff faces more than 50 feet tall. Layers within these walls contain a geologic record of billions of years of Martian history. [Credit: NASA/JPL/Univ. Arizona] |
| Watery Mars? (April 3, 2006) |
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Layers of rock that may have formed at the bottom of wet or damp ground highlight this view from the Opportunity rover on Mars. Scientists are debating just how much water was present in the far distant past in this region, known as Meridiani Planum. Small sand dunes sit atop the rocks. [Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell] For more information, see our April 3 program. |
| King of the Hill (September 8, 2005) |
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The Spirit Mars rover surveys the floor of Gusev Crater from its perch at the top of Husband Hill in this recent false-color image. After months of climbing and extensive studies along the way, the rover reached the top of the hill last week. It will remain there for several days or weeks before continuing its trek across Mars. Deposits of dust are visible on the crater floor, and mountains ring the crater in the distance. [Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell] |
| Twistin' the Day Away (August 12, 2005) |
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At least four dust devils scoot across the floor of Gusev Crater in this recent series of images from the Mars Spirit rover. These small twisters form as the Sun heats the desert surface, creating updrafts of air. Similar twisters are a common sight in the American Southwest. NASA is preparing to launch another mission to Mars: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Its launch has been delayed to Friday morning. It will arrive at Mars in March, and will snap the sharpest images of Mars ever taken from orbit. [NASA/JPL] |
| Below the Rim (June 23, 2005) |
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The Sun sets beneath the rim of Gusev crater in this recent image from the Spirit rover on Mars. Fine particles of dust in the atmosphere give the sky a pink tint and make the Sun look blue. [NASA]JPL] |
| Rollin' On (June 6, 2005) |
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After spending several weeks stuck in a small sand dune, the Opportunity Mars rover pulled free over the weekend. This wide-angle image shows the depth of the fine-grained dune in the wheel rut at right. The rover inched its way out of the dune for several days before finally reaching ground that was solid enough for it to resume normal driving. [NASA/JPL] |
| Strange Meteorite (May 10, 2005) |
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This metallic meteorite is unremarkable on its own: a mixture of iron and nickel similar to hundreds of meteorites discovered before. What sets it apart is its location: the sands of Mars. The Opportunity rover photographed it several months ago after climbing out of a large Martian crater. It is the first meteorite ever discovered on the surface of any body other than Earth. [Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell] For more information, see our May 10 program. |
| Dune Bug (May 5, 2005) |
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The Opportunity rover casts its shadow across the sands of Mars in this recent false-color image. The foreground color approximates the true color of the sand dunes that Opportunity is navigating, although the overall cast is bluer than on Mars. The ridge that cuts across the shadow of the rover's camera mast is about one foot tall. Opportunity is stuck in a field of small dunes, although engineers expect to design a plan that will get the rover out of the dunes, allowing it to continue its explorations. [NASA/JPL] |
| Rocky Path (April 16, 2005) |
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Thousands of angular rocks, sculpted by Martian winds -- and perhaps water -- clutter the slopes of the Columbia Hills, where the Mars rover Spirit continues to explore. NASA recently gave Spirit and its twin rover, Opportunity, an 18-month extension to continue their studies. Both rovers already have exceeded their planned lifetimes by one year. Mission scientists caution that despite the extension, because of their ages and the harsh Martian environment, either rover could quit working at any time. [Credit: NASA/JPL] |
| Sandy Ripples (March 3, 2005) |
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Small ridges of sand, sculpted by the Martian winds, ripple across the plain known as Meridiani Planum in this recent image from the Opportunity rover. Opportunity and its sister rover, Spirit, continue to traverse Mars more than a year after arriving at the planet. [Credit: NASA/JPL]
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| Still Going (January 3, 2005) |
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Spirit, the first of two Mars Exploration Rovers to touch down on the Red Planet, celebrates its first anniversary on Mars on January 3. The rover is climbing a small hill, and scientists hope it will continue to operate long enough to climb back down and circle to the other side of the hills, which are named for the astronauts who died aboard space shuttle Columbia. Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, were designed to work for 90 Mars days (92 Earth days), but have now quadrupled that planned lifetime. [Credit: NASA/JPL] |
| A Bit of Home (December 30, 2004) |
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Sunlight glints off the wrecked remains of the heatshield that protected the Opportunity rover during its descent to Mars 11 months ago. Opportunity recently emerged from Endurance crater, where it spent six months, to continue driving across the plains of Meridiani Planum. Its first target is the heatshield, seen in this image that was transmitted to Earth on December 26 (Mars day 324 for Opportunity). The shield protected Opportunity from the heat of entry through the Martian atmosphere, and dropped away before landing. It skipped and skidded (dark marks at right) before coming to rest. Small bits of debris are scattered around the shield. Opportunity's sister rover, Spirit, will celebrate its first anniversary on Mars on January 3. It is climbing Husband Hill, a small ridge halfway around Mars from Opportunity's landing site. [Credit: NASA/JPL] |
| Creamy Crater (August 9, 2004) |
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Ripples that look like a creamy cake frosting are really wind-blown sand deposits at the bottom of Endurance Crater on Mars. The Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover snapped this close-up picture of the crater floor last week. Opportunity has descended about 70 feet below the crater's rim. [Credit: NASA/JPL] |
| Shadow Play (July 10, 2004) |
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The Spirit rover casts a long shadow in the late-afternoon sunlight on Mars. The rover's tracks form dark streaks across the center of the image. Spirit spent several days studying the bright rock formation at left center, which is completely ringed by the rover's tracks. Spirit has now more than doubled its planned mission of 90 Mars days, and has traveled almost two miles (3 km). Flight controllers are getting ready to give it a long-distance "tune-up" before it continues to its next destination. [Credit: NASA/JPL] |
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