Spirit traverse in Gusev crater

Spirit · 2004 CE – 2010 CE · Mars

Spirit traverse in Gusev crater — Spirit · 2004 CE – 2010 CE · Mars — Recorded expedition route · schematic map

Look for rocks shaped by water on the floor of a crater that may once have been a lake.

Historical context

Spirit was sent to a crater that a long valley empties into, on the reasonable assumption that it had once been a lake. It found lava instead, drove two and a half kilometres to a range of hills and there, dragging a broken wheel, uncovered the residue of a hot spring. Its mission was rescued twice, by a flash memory fix and by the wind.

The voyage, step by step

  1. Columbia Memorial Station

    4 January 2004

    Spirit bounced to a stop in Gusev crater on 4 January 2004 and the site was named for the seven astronauts lost with the shuttle Columbia a year before.

  2. The rim of Bonneville

    2004 CE

    Three hundred metres from the lander the rover looked into a crater two hundred metres wide and found only basalt.

  3. Across the plain

    2004 CE

    With the prime mission over and the rover still healthy, the team aimed it at a range of hills two and a half kilometres away.

  4. West Spur

    2004 CE

    The first rocks of the Columbia Hills were soft, layered and chemically altered: water had worked on them.

  5. A summit on Mars

    August 2005

    In August 2005 the rover reached the top of Husband Hill, some ninety metres above the plain, and turned to photograph where it had come from.

  6. White silica

    2007 CE

    Dragging a wheel that had seized the year before, the rover ploughed up a trench of almost pure silica beside a low volcanic plateau.

  7. Troy

    May 2009

    In May 2009 the rover broke through a crust into soft sulphate sand and sank to its hubs at a spot the team named Troy.

Outcome

7.73 km driven, a hill climbed and nearly pure silica found at Home Plate.

Spirit

Mars Exploration Rover that drove 7.73 km across Gusev crater between 2004 and 2010 and found traces of ancient hot water.

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Sources

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