Mars Exploration Rovers 2003:
Spirit's First Photographs of the Martian Surface
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More of Spirit's color pictures The first color image by NASA's Mars exploration rover Spirit is the highest resolution picture ever taken of another planet to date.
Image credit: NASA/JPL click image to enlarge
This black-and-white image was the first horizon panorama
sent back to Earth by NASA's Mars exploration rover Spirit.
Parts of the lander are in the foreground.
Image credit: NASA/JPL click image to enlarge
NASA named Spirit's landing site the Columbia Memorial Station
in honor of the astronauts lost in space February 1, 2003.
Spirit carried a plaque designed by Mars exploration rover
engineers commemorating the space shuttle Columbia astronauts.
This photograph made by Spirit's navigation camera on the
landing site shows the six-inch aluminum plaque mounted on the back of the rover's high-gain antenna.
Image credit: NASA/JPL click image to enlarge and show surrounding area
This black-and-white overhead view by Spirit's navigation camera
is a mosaic of the rover on the surface of Mars. The front of the rover
is up. Retracted airbags are visible beneath the spacecraft.
Image credit: NASA/JPL click image to enlarge
A camera looking down shot this photo of the Gusev Crater
landing area as Spirit descended by parachute to the Martian surface.
Image credit: NASA/JPL click image to enlarge
An orbiting NASA spacecraft made this photo
of Gusev Crater from above. The crater is about
the size of the state of Connecticut on Earth.
Image credit: NASA/JPL click image to enlarge
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