Topic: Nasa / Space

What rover Spirit discovered on Mars (photos)

Summary: NASA finally pulled the plug on one of the greatest Mars explorers, the rover Spirit. Here's a look at some of the things it found during its life on the Red Planet.

By Andy Smith | May 25, 2011 -- 12:32 GMT (05:32 PDT)

Previous | Next Image 1 of 19

On May 25, 2011 NASA finally pulled the plug on one of the world's greatest Mars explorers, the rover Spirit. The six-wheeled robot landed on Jan. 3, 2004 on the Red Planet and was expected to last about three months so NASA definitely got its money worth out of the little guy.

Here's a quick tour of some of the biggest discoveries and accomplishments made by Spirit. Here's one of the first looks sent back to Earth by Spirit a day after it landed. Note its air bags in this image.

Credit: NASA

Topic: Nasa / Space

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22 comments

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RE: What rover Spirit discovered on Mars (photos)

I'm a dreamer and I hoped the other unit would get spirit out its bogged down situation. Of course it's not reality-- yet it sounds great --as I said I'm a dreamer.<br>The two units proved to the world that we do built great things after all when we set our minds and enthusiasm to such a project.

Orkan
25 May, 2011 14:51

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- "Spirit" on Mars
  
  Orkan got it right! When we want to we can build great thing and do great things. I think that's what NASA is all about, building great things and doing great things for the "Spirit" of the people.
  
  michael@...
  25 May, 2011 22:55
  
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  - Oh, please. It was a multimillion dollar golf cart.
    
    Using solar panel that barely provided enough power to run a vacuum cleaner. You want big? Try this: an Orion type space craft that could send a team of fifty people to Mars in six weeks with about five thousand tons of equipment. But, oh no, that would require the use of nuclear power. The horrors. Guess we'll continue sending golf carts into space and keep lying to ourselves about how we're dreaming big.
    
    fr_gough
    26 May, 2011 05:48
    
    Reply Vote
  - fr_gough, where did you get that from
    
    @michael@...
    6 weeks to mars?
    
    Will Pharaoh
    26 May, 2011 07:37
    
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  - RE: What rover Spirit discovered on Mars (photos)
    
    @fr_gough One of the first things Obama did when he got in office was slash Nasa's budget and assign them to Arab/Muslim world outreach duties. <br><br>About all we are going to be doing is DREAMING big, no way in heck that stuff you are going on about is happening; not unless there are Muslims on Mars.
    
    Spoiled Pork
    26 May, 2011 08:13
    
    Reply Vote
  - @Will
    
    Look up project Orion. You've been conditioned to think a trip to Mars will take months because nuclear propulsion is off the table. The reality is, there is insufficient energy in chemical bonds for practical space travel. If you want interplanetary space travel, you MUST use nuclear energy.
    
    fr_gough
    26 May, 2011 18:22
    
    Reply Vote
- NASA budget went up
  
  .
  
  wstuermer
  26 May, 2011 12:46
  
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RE: What rover Spirit discovered on Mars (photos)

Amazing! NOW IF we could do as well in our inter-personal skills training???

cats44glory
25 May, 2011 15:33

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RE: What rover Spirit discovered on Mars (photos)

R.I.P. little guy.... you did a great LONG LONG LONG job...

JoeRJr
25 May, 2011 16:23

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RE: What rover Spirit discovered on Mars (photos)

What are those three structures far out? (picture #17 )

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotlight/20100120a.html

alphacentaurian
25 May, 2011 17:00

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- RE: What rover Spirit discovered on Mars (photos)
  
  @alphacentaurian
  
  Those 3 "structures" are part of the rover that juts out over the camera. You can see that they stay mobile while other parts of the image move.
  
  csanchez@...
  26 May, 2011 07:23
  
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What's up with pic #4 (bedrock)?

It looks, um, redacted?

FantaStyx
25 May, 2011 18:31

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- That's because they've been pasted together.
  
  @FantaStyx
  
  Wolfie2K3
  25 May, 2011 20:32
  
  Reply Vote
  - Not redacted, "constructed".
    
    @Wolfie2K3 You are correct. They'll take 3-4 (or sometimes dozens) pictures and put them all together to make a false panoramic image. It just looks strange because the pictures were tilted. Either the camera doesn't have a very wide field of view, or it was zoomed in to get detail.
    
    trybble1
    26 May, 2011 06:52
    
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  - RE: What rover Spirit discovered on Mars (photos)
    
    You're right, the photos were taken while the Spirit was climbing Husband's Hill and are therefore at an angle. Looks like four photos are overlapped.
    
    andy.smith@...
    26 May, 2011 11:13
    
    Reply Vote
Never heard the news

"While on Mars, fans of Spirit were urged to send postcards to keep the little guy happy."

Did any fans of Spirit ever get to Mars?

Wonderworker
25 May, 2011 22:57

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RE: What rover Spirit discovered on Mars (photos)

It is amazing what you can do with a few bucks compared to the billons it has costs in other projects

bhurlock@...
26 May, 2011 08:10

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RE: What rover Spirit discovered on Mars (photos)

- mini dust storms
- evidence of volcanos
- geological history
- sulfur and "possibly" a trace of water (most likely a volcanic deposit formed around gas vents)
- nearly pure silica

IOW, nothing much of note. Just a planet, and we knew that already.

bb_apptix
26 May, 2011 10:31

Reply Vote
Absolutely fascinating photos!

Even though he was nuts and bolts with a camera, he did seem to have a human quality, and it's quite sad that he can no longer be reached. But, he provided us with some great photos and information!

tojada@...
26 May, 2011 13:00

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RE: What rover Spirit discovered on Mars (photos)

You all know that this moon and Mars stuff was all a government fake! Just a place to hide money that was given to bureaucrats and people to hush them up.

dkchal@...
26 May, 2011 16:14

Reply Vote