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Spirit Summits Bonneville Crater
Summary (Mar 12, 2004): Surpassing its mission success criterion for driving on Mars, the Spirit rover is well into its second month on the surface and has logged its first 1000 feet on the odometer. Today, the first images looking down into its near-term destination, the Bonneville crater, delighted mission scientists anxious to view the crater ejecta and any layered rock histories.Display Options:                |
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| Overhead view of the first 1000 feet of rover driving after its descent and landing. Credit: NASA/JPL |
Spirit has spent more than 60 sols, two thirds of the nominal mission, en route to the rim of the large crater dubbed "Bonneville." The rover stopped on occasion to examine rocks along the way, many of which probably found their resting places after being ejected from the nearly 200-meter-diameter (656-foot) crater.
The science team sent the rover to "Bonneville" to find out more about where the rocks they have examined so far originated. Reaching the rim of this deep dish has been a major priority since day one.
According to science team member Dr. John Grant of Washington D.C.'s National Air and Space Museum, the "Bonneville" crater could be a giant window into the ancient past of the Gusev landing site. He said, "The rocks that we see scattered around our landing site may be ejecta from inside "Bonneville," but we won't know that for sure until we actually investigate the crater. We can look at the rocks' form and chemistry, but we don't know how they fit into the big picture. If we can find their occurrence within the walls of "Bonneville" crater, we'll be one step closer to understanding the processes that shaped the entire Gusev area over time."
Most scientists agree that a fitting prize for this long drive would be to find an outcrop of bedrock material that was not transported, but formed in the crater. When a meteorite slams into the ground and creates a crater, it throws surface debris out to the sides, revealing the older, mostly buried material, a sort of natural "road cut." The real gem would be to find exposed layers of the ancient rock within the "cut" walls of the crater, which would give scientists a peek into how the area formed. "The Gusev landing site is at least partially covered in a layer of ejecta material," said Grant. "As Mars was repeatedly pelted with meteorites, the ejecta kept piling on top of other ejecta leaving a blanket of debris and little trace of what the original surface was. We want to see beneath all that impact debris, into what is really filling the Gusev crater. Hopefully "Bonneville" crater will give us a clue to what the material is at the top of that pile."
What's Next
The twin rovers operating on opposite sides of Mars are about to enter different phases, as Opportunity gears up for a drive just when Spirit settles into a crater. In the last few weeks, the main tasks have been flipped, as Opportunity explored its own crater and Spirit took on its long and increasingly rugged drive.Panoramic Camera scientist, Dr. Jim Bell summarized where the two missions stand in their timelines, by saying that for Opportunity, "We will continue to tour the crater, then head out. That will be kind of interesting, heading out across the plains, just as Spirit heads into its crater. So far we have obtained over 12,000 images, and everything is healthy and happy."
Related Web Pages
Mars Rovers, JPLSpirit's Sol images and slideshow
Opportunity image gallery and slideshow
NASA's RATs Go Roving on Mars
Water Signs
Microscopic Imager
Gusev Crater
Pancam- Surveying the Martian Scene
Mössbauer spectrometer
Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer
Note: Mars Life
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Friday, March 12, 2004
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