3/10/2004
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This hole was made by the rover's rock abrasion tool, located on its instrument deployment device, or "arm." The hole is located on a target called "McKittrick" at the "El Capitan" region of the Meridiani Planum, Mars, rock outcrop. It was made on the 30th martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's journey. The grinding process at has generated a significant amount of reddish dust. Color and spectral properties of the dust show that it may contain some fine-grained crystalline red hematite. Courtesy NASA/JPL 3/1/2004
2/29/2004
This hole was made by the rover's rock abrasion tool, located on its instrument deployment device, or "arm." The hole is located on a target called "Guadalupe" at the "El Capitan" region of the Meridiani Planum, Mars, rock outcrop. It was made on the 30th martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's journey. The grinding process at has generated a significant amount of reddish dust. Color and spectral properties of the dust show that it may contain some fine-grained crystalline red hematite. 2/29/2004
The silver colored metal of the ring on the solar abrasion tool is a reddish brown after the dust settled on it, probably from fine-grained hematite. 2/29/2004
2/28/2004
2/28/2004
2/27/2004
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2/22/2004
The image is from the right pan camera, made up of ultraviolet bandwidths. 2/20/2004
2/20/2004
The "El Capitan" region of the rock outcrop at Meridiani Planum, Mars. This image shows fine, parallel lamination in the upper area of the rock, which also contains scattered sphere-shaped objects ranging from 1 to 2 millimeters (.04 to .08 inches) in size. There are also more abundant, scattered vugs, or small cavities, that are shaped like discs. These are about 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) long. 2/20/2004
2/20/2004
The "El Capitan" region of the rock outcrop at Meridiani Planum, Mars. 2/20/2004
The "capture magnet," which attracts atmospheric dust particles from the front deck of the rover. The lighter-colored areas in the image are clean sections of the magnet virtually free of dust, and the dark areas are places where dust has collected. Dust particles in the martian atmosphere are estimated to be about 1 micrometer in size (1/1000th of a millimeter or 1/1000th of .04 inches). The material below the magnet's aluminum surface is laid out in concentric rings, giving the image a bull's-eye appearance. The magnet was designed in this configuration to collect as much atmospheric dust as possible. Spirit and Opportunity each carry seven magnets. 2/19/2004
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity dragged one of its wheels back and forth across the sandy soil at Meridiani Planum to create a hole (bottom left corner) approximately 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) long by 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) wide by 9 centimeters (3.5 inches) deep. The rover's instrument deployment device, or arm, will begin studying the fresh soil at the bottom of this trench later today for clues to its mineral composition and history. Scientists chose this particular site for digging because previous data taken by the rover's miniature thermal emission spectrometer indicated that it contains crystalline hematite, a mineral that sometimes forms in the presence of water. The brightness of the newly-exposed soil is thought to be either intrinsic to the soil itself, or a reflection of the Sun. 2/19/2004
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity dragged one of its wheels back and forth across the sandy soil at Meridiani Planum to create a hole (bottom left corner) approximately 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) long by 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) wide by 9 centimeters (3.5 inches) deep. The rover's instrument deployment device, or arm, will begin studying the fresh soil at the bottom of this trench later today for clues to its mineral composition and history. Scientists chose this particular site for digging because previous data taken by the rover's miniature thermal emission spectrometer indicated that it contains crystalline hematite, a mineral that sometimes forms in the presence of water. The brightness of the newly-exposed soil is thought to be either intrinsic to the soil itself, or a reflection of the Sun. 2/19/2004
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Rock abrasion tool, also known as "rat" (circular device in center), located on the rover's instrument deployment device, or "arm." 2/8/2004
2/7/2004
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2/7/2004
A region at the end of the rock outcrop lining the small crater, called "Eagle Crater." The sphere-like grains or "blueberries" dotting the rocks in the outcrop can also be seen above the rocks, suggesting that these geologic features have origins beyond Eagle Crater. 2/7/2004
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These layered rocks measure only 10 centimeters (4 inches) tall and are thought to be either volcanic ash deposits or sediments carried by water or wind. 1/27/2004
1/26/2004
Opportunity Photos
Mars in Color, from “Spirit”
4/11/2004
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no violet/indigo 4/5/2004
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This image was taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on sol 79 after completing a two-location brushing on the rock dubbed "Mazatzal." A coating of fine, dust-like material was successfully removed from targets named "Illinois" (right) and "New York" (left), revealing clean rock underneath. The center of the two brushed spots are approximately 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) apart and were aggressively analyzed by the instruments on the robotic arm on sol 80. On sol 81, the rover drilled into the New York target to expose the original rock underneath. 3/26/2004
3/25/2004
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3/25/2004
This hazard-avoidance camera image was taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on sol 79 after completing a two-location brushing on the rock dubbed "Mazatzal." A coating of fine, dust-like material was successfully removed from targets named "Illinois" (right) and "New York" (left), revealing clean rock underneath. In this image, Spirit's panoramic camera mast assembly, or camera head, can be seen shadowing Mazatzal's surface. The center of the two brushed spots are approximately 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) apart and were aggressively analyzed by the instruments on the robotic arm on sol 80. On sol 81, the rover drilled into the New York target to expose the original rock underneath. Note: The raw images are under the pan camera with color filters. ??? 3/24/2004
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this panoramic camera image of the rock target named "Mazatzal" on sol 77 (March 22, 2004). It is a close-up look at the rock face and the targets that will be brushed and ground by the rock abrasion tool in upcoming sols. Mazatzal, like most rocks on Earth and Mars, has layers of material near its surface that provide clues about the history of the rock. Scientists believe that the top layer of Mazatzal is actually a coating of dust and possibly even salts. Under this light coating may be a more solid portion of the rock that has been chemically altered by weathering. Past this layer is the unaltered rock, which may give scientists the best information about how Mazatzal was formed. Because each layer reveals information about the formation and subsequent history of Mazatzal, it is important that scientists get a look at each of them. For this reason, they have developed a multi-part strategy to use the rock abrasion tool to systematically peel back Mazatzal's layers and analyze what's underneath with the rover's microscopic imager, and its Moessbauer and alpha particle X-ray spectrometers. The strategy began on sol 77 when scientists used the microscopic imager to get a closer look at targets on Mazatzal named "New York," "Illinois" and "Arizona." These rock areas were targeted because they posed the best opportunity for successfully using the rock abrasion tool; Arizona also allowed for a close-up look at a range of tones. On sol 78, Spirit's rock abrasion tool will do a light brushing on the Illinois target to preserve some of the surface layers. Then, a brushing of the New York target should remove the top coating of any dust and salts and perhaps reveal the chemically altered rock underneath. Finally, on sol 79, the rock abrasion tool will be commanded to grind into the New York target, which will give scientists the best chance of observing Mazatzal's interior. The Mazatzal targets were named after the home states of some of the rock abrasion tool and science team members. 3/23/2004
used violet for blue 3/22/2004
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This image of the rock called "Mazatzal" was taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. It reveals some interesting features on this future rock abrasion tool target, including variants in tone, a sugary surface texture and scalloped areas where parts of the rock seem to have been worn away. Mazatzal's uniqueness is made even more obvious when it is compared to the more typical, basaltic rock in the lower right of the image. 3/21/2004