Launched 13 years ago to the day, NASA’s Spirit rover set out for Mars. It’s twin rover, Opportunity, would follow just a month later.
Together, their mission was to find answers to the history of water on Mars. Both spacecraft landed in regions that seemed to be affected by ancient liquid water. Their goals included helping to determine if there ever was life on Mars based on data they gathered and preparing for human exploration of the red planet.
What did Spirit find? Evidence that the environment was a lot wetter in the red planet’s past!
Photo Credit: jpl.nasa.gov
Although Spirit’s mission was only 90 days, it lasted for well over 2,000 days past it’s mission!
The spacecraft had many instruments onboard. They enabled the study of how Martian rocks formed and made close-up investigations of minerals in rocks and soils. They evaluated the temperature of the atmosphere and looked for iron-bearing rocks and soils.
Spirit found that rock cracks may have had small amounts of water in them. In some of the rocks, water could have affected their surfaces.
Photo Credit: NASA
Spirit’s landing site, Gusev Crater, is an area that appeared to have once held a lake. There is also a wide channel that looks as though it was carved by water flowing into the crater. The now-dry channel runs for hundreds of miles downhill.
To learn more about Mars Exploration Rovers, check out http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/home/index.html