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Mars Exploration Rovers |
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Mars rover Opportunity visits heat shield impact site
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has returned this view of its discard heat shield, which crashed to the planet's surface during the craft's descent and landing last January.
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Mars rovers spot water-clue mineral, frost, clouds
Scientists have identified a water-signature mineral called goethite in bedrock that the NASA's Mars rover Spirit examined in the "Columbia Hills," one of the mission's surest indicators yet for a wet history on Spirit's side of Mars.
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Reports detail Mars rover discoveries of wet history
The most dramatic findings so far from NASA's twin Mars rovers -- telltale evidence for a wet and possibly habitable environment in the arid planet's past -- passed rigorous scientific scrutiny for publication in a major research journal.
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Mars rover Opportunity looking for crater exit
Operators of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity have determined that a proposed route eastward out of "Endurance Crater" is not passable, so the rover will backtrack to leave the crater by a southward route, perhaps by retracing its entry path.
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Spirit adds clues about history of rocks in hills
All the scientific tools on NASA's two Mars Exploration Rovers are still working well, a full 10 months after Spirit's dramatic landing. The ones on Spirit are adding fresh evidence about the history of layered bedrock in a hill the rover is climbing.
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NASA's Mars rovers pass the 50,000-picture mark
A view of the sundial-like calibration target on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, with a bit of martian terrain in the background, is the 50,000th image from the twin rovers that have been exploring Mars since January.
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Problem with Spirit rover's steering reappears
A problem that affects the steering on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has recurred after disappearing for nearly two weeks. Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are working to fully understand the intermittent problem and then implement operational work-arounds.
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Mars rovers probing more water history at two sites
NASA's Spirit and Opportunity have been exploring Mars about three times as long as originally scheduled. The more they look, the more evidence of past liquid water on Mars these robots discover.
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Controllers troubleshooting Mars rover problem
Engineers on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover team are investigating possible causes and
remedies for a problem affecting the steering on Spirit. The relay for steering actuators on Spirit's right-front and left-rear wheels did not operate as commanded last week.
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Mars orbiter sees rover, lander and even tracks
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, starting its third mission extension this week after seven years of orbiting the Red Planet, is using an innovative technique to capture pictures even sharper than most of the more than 170,000 it has already produced. One dramatic example from the spacecraft's camera shows wheel tracks of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit and the rover itself.
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Mars rovers renewed
As NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers resumed reliable contact with Earth, after a period when Mars passed nearly behind the Sun, the space agency extended funding for an additional six months of rover operations, as long as they keep working.
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Mars may have had large sea near rover landing site
Spacecraft observations of the landing area for one of NASA's two Mars rovers now indicate there likely was an enormous sea or lake covering the region in the past, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study.
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Mars rover's stuck rock cutting tool fixed
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has resumed using its rock abrasion tool after a pebble fell out that had jammed the tool's rotors two weeks ago.
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Bedrock in Mars' Gusev Crater hints at watery past
Now that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is finally examining bedrock in the "Columbia Hills," it is finding evidence that water thoroughly altered some rocks in Mars' Gusev Crater. On Opportunity, a tool for exposing the insides of rocks stopped working Sunday, but engineers are optimistic that the most likely diagnosis is a problem that can be fixed soon.
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MARS ROVER ARCHIVE
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International interplanetary networking from Mars
One of NASA's Mars rovers has sent pictures relayed by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter for the first time, demonstrating that the orbiter could serve as a communications link if needed.
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Rocks tell stories in reports of Spirit's first 90 days
Scientific findings from the NASA rover Spirit's first three months on Mars will be published Friday, marking the start of a flood of peer-reviewed discoveries in scientific journals from the continuing two-rover adventure.
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Controllers working to fix Mars rover problems
NASA's Spirit rover has climbed higher into rocky hills on Mars, and its twin, Opportunity, has descended deeper into a crater, but both rovers, for the time being, are operating with some restrictions while team members diagnose unexpected behavior.
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NASA's Mars rovers roll into martian winter
As winter approaches on Mars, NASA's Opportunity rover continues to inch deeper into the stadium-sized crater dubbed "Endurance." On the other side of the planet, the Spirit rover found an intriguing patch of rock outcrop while preparing to climb up the "Columbia Hills" backward. This unusual approach to driving is part of a creative plan to accommodate Spirit's aging front wheel.
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Mars scientists marvel at mysterious rock formation
NASA's two Mars rovers, well past their 90-day prime missions, have entered a dramatic new phase of exploration. The Opportunity rover is working its way down a steep slope into Endurance Crater, slowly creeping back in time as it discovers older and clearly different type rocks. Evidence is mounting that shallow seas once pooled in this region, periodically drying out and reforming. On the other side of Mars, Spirit has found one of the strangest rocks discovered to date, one that defies easy explanation.
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Earth has 'blueberries' just like the Mars rover found
Even before marble-shaped pebbles nicknamed "blueberries" were discovered on Mars by the Opportunity rover, University of Utah geologists studied similar rocks in Utah's national parks and predicted such stones would be found on the Red Planet.
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Spirit, showing signs of old age, reaches Columbia hills
After five months on the frigid surface of Mars, one of NASA's hardy rovers is finally beginning to succumb to old age, developing a robotic form of arthritis that could limit its ability to climb steep slopes, officials said Tuesday.
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Mars rover Opportunity enters stadium-sized crater
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has dipped its wheels into Endurance Crater as controllers follow a cautious approach to ensure the robot doesn't become marooned inside the stadium-sized crater.
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Opportunity heads into crater; Spirit's water clue
NASA's Mars Opportunity rover began its latest adventure Tuesday inside the martian crater informally called Endurance. Opportunity was to roll in with all six wheels, then back out to the rim to check traction by looking at its own track marks.
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Mars rover Opportunity will drive into Endurance Crater
NASA has decided the potential science value gained by sending Opportunity into a martian impact crater likely outweighs the risk of the intrepid explorer not being able to get back out. The soonest Opportunity could enter Endurance is early next week.
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Rover Spirit nears hills as Opportunity probes crater
More than a month into bonus time after a successful primary mission on Mars, NASA's Spirit rover has sighted possibly layered rock in hills just ahead, while twin Opportunity has extended its arm to pockmarked stones on a crater rim to gather clues of a watery past.
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Opportunity rover begins new mode that adds risk
NASA's solar-powered Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is beginning on Thursday what controllers expect to be frequent use of an overnight "deep sleep" mode to stretch the robot's power supply. But the new mode increases risk that, without an overnight heater running, one of the six scientific instruments might fail due the cold.
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Mars rover inspects stone ejected from crater
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has begun sampling rocks blasted out from a stadium-sized impact crater the rover is circling, and the very first one may extend our understanding about the region's wet past.
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Opportunity rover poised on rim of 'spectacular' crater
NASA unveiled a dramatic image from the Opportunity Mars rover Thursday, a color panorama looking into a 30-foot-deep, football field-wide crater showing cliffs of exposed bedrock that may help unlock the geologic history of the region.
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Mars rover looks inside Endurance Crater
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has reached Endurance Crater, returning a stunning view inside the 430-foot diameter impact crater at Meridiani Planum. NASA has released this first look at Endurance in this 180-degree panorama, plus a three-dimensional version.
DOWNLOAD BLACK AND WHITE PANORAMA
DOWNLOAD 3-D VERSION
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Mars rover finds rock like meteorites on Earth
NASA's Opportunity rover has examined an odd volcanic rock on the plains of Mars' Meridiani Planum region with a composition unlike anything seen on Mars before, but scientists have found similarities to meteorites that fell to Earth.
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Mars rover Opportunity receives software upgrade
Following the successful flight software updating on sister-craft Spirit, the Opportunity rover has received its own brainpower makeover. Meanwhile, scientists have revealed the true-color panorama, dubbed "Lion King," generated by Opportunity showing Eagle Crater and the vast plains of Meridiani Planum.
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Mars rovers have missions extended through Sept.
NASA has approved an extended mission for the Mars Exploration Rovers, handing them up to five months of overtime assignments as they finish their three-month prime mission.
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Spirit finds hints of past water at Gusev site
Clues from a wind-scalloped volcanic rock on Mars investigated by NASA's Spirit rover suggest repeated possible exposures to water inside Gusev Crater, scientists said Thursday.
Gusev is halfway around the planet from the Meridiani region where Spirit's twin, Opportunity, recently found evidence that water used to flow across the surface.
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New phase of exploration beginning for Mars rovers
NASA's Spirit will begin trekking toward hills on its eastern horizon in the next few days, entering a new phase of the rover's exploration of Mars just before its prime three-month mission ends and its extended mission begins, rover team members said Friday.
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Rover finds evidence of ancient sea on Mars
Three weeks ago, NASA announced definitive evidence that Mars once featured an abundance of water supporting a habitable environment. But major questions remained. Tuesday, scientists unveiled photographs from NASA's Opportunity rover showing cross-bedded sedimentary rocks indicating that at least at one point on the martian surface - Meridiani Planum - a shallow, salty sea once ebbed and flowed.
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Opportunity rover bids farewell to crater home
Two months after scoring an "interplanetary hole in one" by landing inside a crater on Mars, the rover Opportunity drove out of the bowl-shaped crater Monday and sent back images of the remarkably smooth, flat terrain at Meridiani Planum.
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Mineral in Mars 'berries' adds to water story
A major ingredient in small mineral spheres analyzed by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity furthers understanding of past water at Opportunity's landing site and points to a way of determining whether the vast plains surrounding the site also have a wet history.
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Spirit rover reveals Bonneville Crater in color
The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has returned a stunning panorama from the rim of Bonneville Crater. The 180-degree mosaic shows the crater's interior and surrounding terrain. The heat shield that protected Spirit during the fiery descent through the Martian atmosphere is seen sitting on the opposite side of the crater.
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Spirit looks down into crater after reaching rim
NASA's Spirit has begun looking down into a crater it has been approaching for several weeks, providing a view of what's below the surrounding surface.
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Rovers watch solar eclipses by Martian moons
NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers have become eclipse watchers. Opportunity is the first space probe to see moons pass in front of the sun from the surface of another world.
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The great 'bunny' chase at Mars rover landing site
Like a rabbit in a hat, the identity of an oddity that looks like "bunny ears" in a picture from Mars has eluded the science and engineering teams. The public, also fascinated with the mysterious object, has asked in a slew of e-mails: What is it?
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Volcanic rock in Gusev Crater hints at past water
NASA's Spirit has found hints of a water history in a rock at Mars' Gusev Crater, but it is a very different type of rock than those in which NASA's Opportunity found clues to a wet past on the opposite side of the planet.
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Rover confirms past liquid water on Mars
NASA's Opportunity rover, studying exposed bedrock in the crater where it landed by chance in January, has found clear evidence that Mars once supported a wet, habitable environment, one that would have been suitable for life, scientists announced Tuesday.
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Rover shows sunset on Mars
Capturing an awe-inspiring view, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has photographed the setting Sun from its landing site. In addition to the sunset images, scientists released a variety of other pictures at Thursday's rover science news conference.
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Opportunity probes trench, Spirit to dig one, too
By inspecting the sides and floor of a hole it dug on Mars, NASA's Opportunity rover is finding some things it did not see beforehand, including round pebbles that are shiny and soil so fine-grained that the rover's microscope can't make out individual particles.
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Prime mission half over, Spirit looks for bonus time
The first Mars Exploration Rover, beset for a time by computer troubles but now trekking on a geology adventure to an impact crater, has reached the midway mark of its primary mission.
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Opportunity digs Mars
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is putting its mark on the Red Planet, digging a small hole so its suite of science instruments can probe soil enriched with hematite, a mineral that typically forms in the presence of water.
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Road trip to Bonneville Crater continues for Spirit
Proving to be a real Mars hotrod, the Spirit rover has become the most traveled vehicle on the Red Planet, surpassing the distance accumulated by the Pathfinder rover nearly seven years ago.
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International interplanetary networking succeeds
A pioneering demonstration of communications between NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit and the European Space Agency Mars Express orbiter succeeded. While Mars Express was flying over the area Spirit was examining, the orbiter transferred commands from Earth to the rover and relayed data from the robotic explorer back to Earth.
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Cold motor causes Spirit to remain parked for a day
A missed communications window caused by a cold antenna motor on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit prevented the robot from racking up any additional distance on its odometer Tuesday night.
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Spirit rover establishes new Mars driving record
The rover Spirit drove into the Martian history books Monday night by making the longest single-day traverse on the Red Planet, eclipsing the mark set by Mars Pathfinder's Sojourner rover in 1997.
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Orbiter sees Opportunity rover on the Martian surface
As navigation experts pinpoint the rover Opportunity's precise location, the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor has spotted the craft sitting in a small crater. In other news Monday, scientists are working to understand mysterious spherical grains scattered around the landing site that the rover's microscopic imager is examining.
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One rover set to cruise, other in science mode
The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit was to leave its first rock subject late Sunday and begin the long journey toward an impact crater, a day later than planned after a self-imposed software hold. Meanwhile, Opportunity has commenced its examination of the rock outcropping at its landing site by taking amazing microscopic images.
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Rover takes a bite out of rock in the name of science
Its two diamond-tipped teeth gnawing at 3,000 revolutions per minute, the Mars rover Spirit has bore a hole in Adirondack, providing scientists a window inside the volcanic rock. Meanwhile, Opportunity has completed its drive to a rock dubbed Snout.
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Spirit readies for long drive after rock cleaning, grinding
Whipping half-inch stainless steel bristles against a pyramid-shaped rock, the Spirit rover has performed "the greatest interplanetary brushing of all time," a scientist joked Friday with the unveiling the latest images from Mars.
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Opportunity cruising to exposed bedrock
Driving up the inclined wall of the small crater the craft landed in, the Mars rover Opportunity was expected to arrive at the outer edge of bedrock outcropping early Saturday to begin its geologic work.
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Opportunity sees tiny spheres in Martian soil
Opportunity has examined its first patch of soil in the small crater where the rover landed on Mars and found strikingly spherical pebbles among the mix of particles there. "There are features in this soil unlike anything ever seen on Mars before," says the lead scientist.
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Rover's arm reaches for clues about Mars' history
Lending a hand to unlock the geologic riddles of Mars, the rover Opportunity has extended its instrument-laden arm to begin probing soil on the floor of a small crater where the craft landed.
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Martian hills dedicated to fallen Columbia crew
The Martian hills, located east of the Spirit Mars Exploration Rover's landing site, will be dedicated to the space shuttle Columbia STS-107 crew, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe announced Monday.
READ ANNOUNCEMENT
HILLS NAMED FOR APOLLO 1 CREW
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Files deleted on Spirit to fix computer trouble
A week-and-a-half after falling ill to computer woes, NASA on Sunday declared its Mars Exploration Rover Spirit was healthy again.
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Opportunity finds what it went to Mars looking for
With the pop of a champagne cork, a scientist announced Saturday that the Mars rover Opportunity has found scattered across the landing site a mineral that typically forms in water.
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Opportunity rover a true Marsmobile
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has successfully driven off its lander base, reaching the Red Planet's surface two days ahead of schedule. The craft will spend a few days examining the soil before rolling to the bedrock outcrop nearby.
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Opportunity's drive moved up to Saturday morning
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity will be driving off its lander even earlier than envisioned yesterday. The $400 million craft is now slated to reach the surface by early Saturday morning (U.S. time).
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Opportunity could drive off lander base Saturday night
Launched to Mars folded and crouched in its landing cocoon, NASA's Opportunity rover has nearly completed the complex blossoming into a road-ready vehicle and could take its first drive onto the Red Planet's surface Saturday night.
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Photo received from recovering Spirit rover
Working as space-age surgeons 100 million miles away, ground controllers are trying to precisely pinpoint the software glitch that halted the Mars rover Spirit's mission to explore Gusev Crater last Wednesday. If successful, officials say the robot geologist could be out of recovery and back at work early next week.
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VIDEO: WEDNESDAY'S MARS ROVER STATUS NEWS CONFERENCE QT
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Shuttle Challenger crew memorialized on Mars
NASA has announced plans to name the landing site of the Mars Opportunity rover in honor of the space shuttle Challenger's final crew. The area in the vast flatland called Meridiani Planum, where Opportunity landed this weekend, will be called the Challenger Memorial Station.
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This amazing panorama of the martian surface at Columbia Hills was taken by the Spirit rover. Expert narration is provided by camera scientist Jim Bell. (2min 12sec file)
Mars Exploration Rover project manager Jim Erickson and panoramic camera lead scientist Jim Bell offer comments on the status of the Spirit and Opportunity missions (1min 33sec file)
A problem with the Opportunity rover's Rock Abrasion Tool is explained in detailed by JPL mission manager Chris Salvo. (4min 14sec file)
Spirit's examination of rock outcropping at Gusev Crater has yielded new clues about the history of water there, as explained by Doug Ming, a rover science team member from Johnson Space Center. (5min 59sec file)
A stunning new picture from the Mars rover Spirit taken from the hillside shows the sweeping plains of Gusev and the crater's rim on the distant horizon. Expert narration is provided by Steve Squyres, the rover lead scientist. (1min 22sec file)
Steve Squyres, the rover lead scientist, descibes Opportunity's ongoing work inside Endurance Crater and narrates new pictures that includes clouds moving across the Martian sky. (5min 50sec file)
Scientists and mission officials explain the latest findings and exploration by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers during this news conference on August 18. (49min 40sec file)
Scientists explain the Mars rover Spirit's discovery of hematite at the Columbia Hills and Opportunity's work inside Endurance Crater during this briefing from June 25. (40min 17sec file)
Mars rover Spirit's arrival at the Columbia Hills, trouble with one of its wheels and Opportunity's descent into Endurance Crater and all of the latest pictures are presented at this briefing from June 15. (30min 27sec file)
Cameras on Opportunity provides this "ride-along" view of the rover's risky drive into Endurance Crater. Expert narration by science team member Scott McLennan. (30sec file)
Another stunning color panorama from the Mars rover Opportunity looking into Endurance Crater and the surrounding plains is presented with expert narration by science team member Scott McLennan. (1min 30sec file)
Spirit has generated this panorama from the base of the Columbia Hills. Expert narration is provided by science team member Larry Soderblom. (1min 15sec file)
New pictures from Mars rover Spirit showing the "Pot of Gold" rock area and other features are revealed with expert narration by science team member Larry Soderblom. (4min 47sec file)
Plans to drive the Mars rover Opportunity into Endurance Crater and new results from Spirit's search for past water at Gusev Crater are announced at this briefing from June 8. (38min 18sec file)
Opportunity's path into Endurance Crater and plans for the drive are explained by mission manager Jim Erickson. (1min 28sec file)
The rover lead scientist, Steve Squyres, explains what Opportunity will study inside Endurance Crater and what the results would say about Mars. (3min 09sec file)
Steve Squyres, rover principal investigator, narrates a new panorama from Spirit showing the Columbia Hills. (2min 01sec file)
"A brand new mission" is beginning for the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit as it nears the Columbia Hills as described in this presentation by science team member James Rice. (5min 57sec file)
New pictures from the Mars rover Opportunity as it drives around the rim of Endurance Crater are presented with narration by science team member Wendy Calvin. (5min 25sec file)
Mission officials and scientists discuss the condition and progress of Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity plus the latest science news in this briefing from June 2. (40min 55sec file)
An interview with Joy Crisp, project scientist for the Mars Exploration Rovers. (3min 47sec file)
The spectacular high-resolution, color panorama from the Mars rover Opportunity at the edge of Endurance Crater is presented with expert narration by Steve Squyres, the mission's lead scientist. (2min 08sec file)
Explore the Columbia Hills at Gusev Crater where Spirit is headed in this computer-generated movie using imagery from orbit. Expert narration by Amy Knudson, science team collaborator. (3min 11sec file)
The Mars rover Opportunity's arrival at Endurance Crater and Spirit's trek to the Columbia Hills are topics in this news conference from May 6. (42min 12sec file)