Spirit Rover
Artistic view of a Mars Exploration Rover on Mars
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| Mission type | Rover | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | NASA | ||||
| COSPAR ID | 2003-027A | ||||
| Website | Mars Exploration Rover | ||||
| Mission duration | Planned: 90 Martian solar days (~92 Earth days) Operational: 2269 days from landing to last contact (2208 sols) Mobile: 1944 Earth days landing to final embedding (1892 sols) Total: 2695 days from landing to mission end (2623 sols) |
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| Spacecraft properties | |||||
| Spacecraft type | Mars Exploration Rover | ||||
| Dry mass | 185 kilograms (408 lb) (Rover only) | ||||
| Start of mission | |||||
| Launch date | June 10, 2003 | ||||
| Rocket | Delta II 7925-9.5 | ||||
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral SLC-17A | ||||
| End of mission | |||||
| Last contact | 22 March 2010; 25 May 2011 | ||||
| Orbital parameters | |||||
| Reference system | Heliocentric (transfer) | ||||
| Mars rover | |||||
| Spacecraft component | Rover | ||||
| Landing date | January 4, 2004, 04:35 UTC SCET MSD 46216 03:35 AMT |
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| Landing site | 14°34′06″S 175°28′21″E / 14.5684°S 175.472636°E | ||||
| Distance covered | 7.73 km (4.8 mi) | ||||
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Above: An approximate true-color view of Adirondack, taken by Spirit's pancam.
Right:Digital camera image (from Spirit's Pancam) of Adirondack after a RAT grind (Spirit's rock grinding tool) |
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| Feature type | Rock |
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| Coordinates | 14°36′S 175°30′E / 14.6°S 175.5°ECoordinates: 14°36′S 175°30′E / 14.6°S 175.5°E |
The launch patch for Spirit, featuring Marvin the Martian
Spirit, also known as MER-A (Mars Exploration Rover – A) or MER-2, is a robotic rover on Mars, active from 2004 to 2010. It was one of two rovers of NASA's ongoing Mars Exploration Rover Mission. It landed successfully on Mars at 04:35 Ground UTC on January 4, 2004, three weeks before its twin, Opportunity (MER-B), landed on the other side of the planet. Its name was chosen through a NASA-sponsored student essay competition. The rover became stuck in late 2009, and its last communication with Earth was sent on March 22, 2010.
The rover completed its planned 90-sol mission. Aided by cleaning events that resulted in more energy from its solar panels, Spirit went on to function effectively over twenty times longer than NASA planners expected. Spirit also logged 7.73 km (4.8 mi) of driving instead of the planned 600 m (0.4 mi), allowing more extensive geological analysis of Martian rocks and planetary surface features. Initial scientific results from the first phase of the mission (the 90-sol prime mission) were published in a special issue of the journal Science.
On May 1, 2009 (5 years, 3 months, 27 Earth days after landing; 21.6 times the planned mission duration), Spirit became stuck in soft soil. This was not the first of the mission's "embedding events" and for the following eight months NASA carefully analyzed the situation, running Earth-based theoretical and practical simulations, and finally programming the rover to make extrication drives in an attempt to free itself. These efforts continued until January 26, 2010 when NASA officials announced that the rover was likely irrecoverably obstructed by its location in soft soil, though it continued to perform scientific research from its current location.
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