SPIRIT (NASA ROVER)

On January 25, 2004, NASA's Opportunity rover landed on Mars! This was the second of NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers to land on the red planet. Its counterpart, the Spirit rover, arrived just three weeks earlier. Opportunity is now the longest-running Mars rover mission. It was only intended to last 90 days, but the rover has been trekking around the Red Planet for more than 50 times its expected lifetime. Over the years, Opportunity has found meteorites on Mars, observed dust storms and looked for clues about the presence of water in Mars' ancient past.

On January 3, 2004, NASA's Spirit rover landed on Mars! Also known as Mars Exploration Rover 2, this was the first of NASA's twin rovers to land on the Red Planet. The other was named Opportunity. These rovers were designed to last just 90 days on Mars, but Spirit lasted more than six years! It touched down at the Gusev crater, where scientists believed to be an old lake bed that was once filled with water. NASA named the landing site Columbia Memorial Station to honor the astronauts who were killed in the Columbia disaster less than a year earlier.

Curiosity is a car-sized robotic rover exploring Gale Crater on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission. As of November 30, 2016, Curiosity has been on Mars for 1535 sols since landing on August 6, 2012. Credit: NASA Follow Us: Facebook: https://goo.gl/QapZAe Twitter: https://goo.gl/RoQSmJ

A fleet of robotic spacecraft is exploring the Red Planet, sending back an ever-growing flood of data. While rovers like Curiosity blaze tracks through the fine Martian soil, orbiters like MAVEN and MRO circle high overhead, gazing down at the planet's atmosphere and surface and relaying ground-based data back to Earth. The Mars fleet is providing mission controllers at NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Indian Space Research Organisation with a remote presence on Mars. This visualization shows the landing sites of NASA's past and present landers and rovers; the nearly circular orbits of NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter; the elliptical orbits of NASA's MAVEN satellite and ESA's Mars Express; and the highly elliptical path of ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission. The orbits of Mars' two moons, Phobos and Deimos, are also depicted. Learn more about the planet Mars at http://www.spacetv.net/mars/ Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

1. Image of Mars surface from rover Opportunity, with animation zoom in 2. Wide shot of press conference 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Jim Bell, NASA Opportunity Mission Imaging Expert: "It's just a little snapshot, a postcard of our new home with Opportunity and following on this will be hopefully even more spectacular." 4. Pan of planet surface showing flattened spaces where the lander bounced 5. Wide shot of news conference 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Chris Jones, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Director of Flight Projects: "The news of the rest of the payload is also very good. We did the first health checks yesterday of the microscopic imager, the alpha particle spectrometer and the Mossbauer spectrometer on Opportunity and I am pleased to report that all are in perfect health." 7. STILL of horizon at lip of crater 8. Wide shot of cameras 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Jennifer Trosper, Spirit Mission Chief: "Spirit is doing better. It's kind of like we have a patient in rehab (rehabilitation) here, and we are nursing her back to health." 10. Surface crust of Mars, with pullout to big picture STORYLINE: NASA's Opportunity rover sent its first colour "postcard" on Monday from the crater on Mars where it landed during the weekend, and engineers prepared to begin purging computer files on the spacecraft's hobbled twin to restore its health. The new image from Opportunity shows the smooth, brick-red slopes of a shallow crater, broken up by a fragmented slab of bedrock that has excited scientists. Opportunity began sending images to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory about four hours after it bounced to a landing late on Saturday on the opposite side of the Red Planet from its temporarily crippled twin, Spirit. Bounce marks left by the rover's air bags when it landed were clearly visible. Mars at the time was 124 (m)million miles from Earth. Opportunity plunged into the Martian atmosphere at more than 12,000 mph (19,311 km) and bounced down on Mars just six minutes later, swaddled in protective air bags. It hit with a force estimated to be just two to three times that of Earth's gravity. Engineers had designed it to withstand as much as 40 Gs, said Chris Jones, director of flight projects at JPL. On Monday, NASA said Opportunity was in excellent health and Spirit was on the mend after a serious software problem that cut off what had been a steady flow of pictures and scientific data. Opportunity landed in a crater roughly 20 yards across and rimmed with gentle slopes that shouldn't block the rolling robot once it gets going, said Steve Squyres, the mission's main scientist. Together, the twin rovers make up a $820 (m) million mission to seek out geologic evidence that Mars was once a wetter world possibly capable of sustaining life. NASA launched Spirit on June 10 and Opportunity on July 7. Each carries nine cameras and six scientific instruments. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/4c1ca14ebb7771177e360eb9cd07fc9a Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

Having helped design the Mars rovers Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity, NASA engineer Kobie Boykins reveals what these robots are telling us about the existence of life on the red planet. ➡ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/NatGeoSubscribe ➡ Get More Nat Geo Live: http://bit.ly/MoreNatGeoLive About Nat Geo Live (National Geographic Live): Thought-provoking presentations by today's leading explorers, scientists, and photographers. Get More National Geographic: Official Site: http://bit.ly/NatGeoOfficialSite Facebook: http://bit.ly/FBNatGeo Twitter: http://bit.ly/NatGeoTwitter Instagram: http://bit.ly/NatGeoInsta About National Geographic: National Geographic is the world's premium destination for science, exploration, and adventure. Through their world-class scientists, photographers, journalists, and filmmakers, Nat Geo gets you closer to the stories that matter and past the edge of what's possible. Upcoming Events at National Geographic Live! http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/ The National Geographic Live series brings thought-provoking presentations by today’s leading explorers, scientists, photographers, and performing artists right to you. Each presentation is filmed in front of a live audience at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C. New clips air every Monday. The Curious Life of a Mars Rover | Nat Geo Live https://youtu.be/7zpojhD4hpI National Geographic https://www.youtube.com/natgeo

Two Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landed on the Red Planet in January, 2004, on a 90-day mission. Spirit's mission lasted 2,269 days (over 6 years) and ended in 2010. Ten years after landing, the Opportunity rover continues to explore. The rover's science team explains how Opportunity traversed the Red Planet, examined the diverse environment and sent back data that transformed our understanding of Mars.

Some of the team members from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover project were still in college -- or even high school -- when the rovers landed in 2004. Hear their stories of becoming part of this remarkably long-lived and successful mission.

It's been ten years since NASA's Spirit rover first touched down on the surface of Mars. Spirit would go on to redefine the Red Planet and inspire the next generation of space exploration. Subscribe to TIME ►► http://po.st/SubscribeTIME Get closer to the world of entertainment and celebrity news as TIME gives you access and insight on the people who make what you watch, read and share. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2EFFA5DB900C633F Money helps you learn how to spend and invest your money. Find advice and guidance you can count on from how to negotiate, how to save and everything in between. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYOGLpQQfhNKdqS_Wccs94rMHiajrRr4W Find out more about the latest developments in science and technology as TIME’s access brings you to the ideas and people changing our world. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYOGLpQQfhNIzsgcwqhT6ctKOfHfyuaL3 Let TIME show you everything you need to know about drones, autonomous cars, smart devices and the latest inventions which are shaping industries and our way of living https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2862F811BE8F5623 Stay up to date on breaking news from around the world through TIME’s trusted reporting, insight and access https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYOGLpQQfhNJeIsW3A2d5Bs22Wc3PHma6 CONNECT WITH TIME Web: http://time.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TIME Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/time Google+: https://plus.google.com/+TIME/videos Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en Magazine: http://time.com/magazine/ Newsletter: time.com/newsletter ABOUT TIME TIME brings unparalleled insight, access and authority to the news. A 24/7 news publication with nearly a century of experience, TIME’s coverage shapes how we understand our world. Subscribe for daily news, interviews, science, technology, politics, health, entertainment, and business updates, as well as exclusive videos from TIME’s Person of the Year, TIME 100 and more created by TIME’s acclaimed writers, producers and editors. Ten Years After Mars Rover Spirit Landing | TIME https://www.youtube.com/user/TimeMagazine

This illustration depicts how each of the twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars in January, 2004, cushioned inside airbags that bounced several times before coming to rest. The rover and a three-petal landing platform were folded up inside the set of inflated bags for each landing.

http://RoyDawsonHomes.com NASA has ended operational planning activities for the Mars rover Spirit and transitioned the Mars Exploration Rover Project to a single-rover operation focused on Spirit's still-active twin, Opportunity. This marks the completion of one of the most successful missions of interplanetary exploration ever launched. Spirit last communicated on March 22, 2010, as Martian winter approached and the rover's solar-energy supply declined. The rover operated for more than six years after landing in January 2004 for what was planned as a three-month mission. NASA checked frequently in recent months for possible reawakening of Spirit as solar energy available to the rover increased during Martian spring. A series of additional re-contact attempts ended today, designed for various possible combinations of recoverable conditions. "Our job was to wear these rovers out exploring, to leave no unutilized capability on the surface of Mars, and for Spirit, we have done that," said Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spirit drove 4.8 miles (7.73 kilometers), more than 12 times the goal set for the mission. The drives crossed a plain to reach a distant range of hills that appeared as mere bumps on the horizon from the landing site; climbed slopes up to 30 degrees as Spirit became the first robot to summit a hill on another planet; and covered more than half a mile (nearly a kilometer) after Spirit's right-front wheel became immobile in 2006. The rover returned more than 124,000 images. It ground the surfaces off 15 rock targets and scoured 92 targets with a brush to prepare the targets for inspection with spectrometers and a microscopic imager. "What's really important is not only how long Spirit worked or how far Spirit drove, but also how much exploration and scientific discovery Spirit accomplished," Callas said. One major finding came, ironically, from dragging the inoperable right-front wheel as the rover was driving backwards in 2007. That wheel plowed up bright white soil. Spirit's Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer and Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer revealed that the bright material was nearly pure silica. "Spirit's unexpected discovery of concentrated silica deposits was one of the most important findings by either rover," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for Spirit and Opportunity. "It showed that there were once hot springs or steam vents at the Spirit site, which could have provided favorable conditions for microbial life." The silica-rich soil neighbors a low plateau called Home Plate, which was Spirit's main destination after the historic climb up Husband Hill. "What Spirit showed us at Home Plate was that early Mars could be a violent place, with water and hot rock interacting to make what must have been spectacular volcanic explosions. It was a dramatically different world than the cold, dry Mars of today," said Squyres. The trove of data from Spirit could still yield future science revelations. Years of analysis of some 2005 observations by the rover's Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer and Moessbauer Spectrometer produced a report last year that an outcrop on Husband Hill bears a high concentration of carbonate. This is evidence of a wet, non-acidic ancient environment that may have been favorable for microbial life. "What's most remarkable to me about Spirit's mission is just how extensive her accomplishments became," said Squyres. "What we initially conceived as a fairly simple geologic experiment on Mars ultimately turned into humanity's first real overland expedition across another planet. Spirit explored just as we would have, seeing a distant hill, climbing it, and showing us the vista from the summit. And she did it in a way that allowed everyone on Earth to be part of the adventure." JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rovers Opportunity and Spirit for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more about the rovers, see: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov.

Edited raw footage compilation of the launches of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Shot with HD cameras on a tracker at Kennedy Space Center. Master: DVCProHD. NASA Identifier: AVC-2003-175-1 Courtesy Video | NASA | Date: 07.21.2009 AiirSource℠ covers events and missions from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. http://youtube.com/AiirSource Like & share this video to show your support! Subscribe to stay updated: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=AiirSource Comments or suggestions? Stay connected with us here: Google+ http://google.com/+AiirSource Facebook http://facebook.com/AiirSource Twitter @AiirSource http://twitter.com/AiirSource

In January of 2004, twin robotic explorers named Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars. Expected to last for 90 days, their mission has now gone on for more than eight years. Its objective is to search for evidence of past water on Mars, and to determine if Mars ever had conditions that would have been suitable for life. To develop Spirit and Opportunity, a team of more than 4,000 highly motivated engineers and scientists overcame a host of technical challenges. These challenges were multiplied by an extraordinarily tight schedule that was driven by the motions of the planets. This talk will provide an up-to-date summary of the missions of Spirit and Opportunity, from their initial conception through their development, launch, landing, and operations on the surface of Mars. Steve W. Squyres is the Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. His research area is in planetary sciences, with a focus on large solid bodies in the solar system such as the terrestrial planets and the moons of the Jovian planets. Squyres is principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER). He is the recipient of the 2004 Carl Sagan Memorial Award and the 2009 Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Communication in Planetary Science. On October 28, 2010, Dr. Squyres received the 2010 Mines Medal for his achievements as a researcher and professor. Squyres has participated in a number of planetary spaceflight missions. From 1978 to 1981 he was an associate of the Voyager imaging science team, participating in analysis of imaging data from the encounters with Jupiter and Saturn. He was a radar investigator on the Magellan mission to Venus, a member of the Mars Observer gamma-ray spectrometer flight investigation team, and a co-investigator on the Russian Mars '96 mission. He is a member of the imaging science team on the Cassini mission to Saturn and was a member of the gamma- ray X-ray spectrometer team on NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission. Dr. Squyres' research focuses on the robotic exploration of planetary surfaces, the history of water on Mars, geophysics and tectonics of icy satellites, tectonics of Venus, planetary gamma- ray and x-ray spectroscopy. Research for which he is best known includes study of the history and distribution of water on Mars and of the possible existence and habitability of a liquid water ocean on Europa. He received his B.A. in Geological Sciences and his Ph.D. in Astronomy (Planetary Studies) from Cornell University. The IMAX documentary film Roving Mars was based on Squyres' book Roving Mars : Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet.

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2012/02/27/William_J_Clancey_Voyages_of_Scientific_Discovery William J. Clancey, Chief Scientist of Human-Centered Computing at the Intelligent Systems Division of the NASA Ames Center, talks about the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) program. Adjusting to Mars' atmosphere, Clancey shares that the two teams controlling separate rovers even adopted Mars' time schedule. ---- For more than eight years, scientists have been doing fieldwork on Mars, the first overland investigation of another planet. Working through programmed robotic laboratories, called the Mars Exploration Rovers, they have a virtual experience of being on Mars. The Spirit and Opportunity teams have driven over 25 miles, taken thousands of photographs, analyzed the chemistry of the terrain, and inspected rocks by grinding them and taking microscopic images. How does working remotely through a robotic laboratory change the nature of field science? How does it change the scientists? A cognitive scientist with privileged access to mission operations, Clancey explains that the "robotic geologists" are not the rovers, but the scientists who have imaginatively projected themselves into the body of the machine. Dr. William J. Clancey is Chief Scientist for Human-Centered Computing at NASA Ames Research Center, Computational Sciences Division, where he manages the Work Systems Design & Evaluation Group. He is on leave from the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola.

The accomplishments of the Mars Rovers and where they are now. Before there was Curiosity. www.carolmeiervoiceover.com

This video is composed of 3,418 frames taken by Spirit's front-right hazcam played back at 6 frames per second. The images are either 1024 x1024, 512 x 512, or 256 x 256 pixels. This time-lapse covers 4.8 miles of driving over the course of 5 years, 3 months, 27 days.

"How To get to Mars" is a clip from the IMAX documentary "Roving Mars" from 2006. This is an edited short version. My photos: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/105656643463219506384/+aheli DVD - Roving Mars 2006 : Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet @ amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Roving-Mars-Spirit-Opportunity-Exploration/dp/B003XU7W0A ★ The Largest Stars in the Universe | Infographic Animation ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqAJnrL27OY ★ The Most Astounding Fact - Neil deGrasse Tyson | Kinetic ►Typography https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2DXqJ7mjKY ★ TOP 10 - Best of Hubble Space Telescope - 2015 ► http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmx19_0GX8o Game Of Thrones - Theme (OneCamBand Western Cover) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rln_qHoWIqg From Wiki : Spirit, MER-A (Mars Exploration Rover -- A), 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 higher power from its solar panels, Spirit went on to function effectively over twenty times longer than NASA planners expected following mission completion. 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. The rover continued in a stationary science platform role until communication with Spirit stopped on sol 2210 (March 22, 2010). JPL continued to attempt to regain contact until May 24, 2011, when NASA announced that efforts to communicate with the unresponsive rover had ended. A formal farewell was planned at NASA headquarters after the Memorial Day holiday and was televised on NASA TV. Hope you enjoyed it!

http://www.FunToWatch.TV Rocks examined by NASA's Spirit Mars Rover hold evidence of a wet, non-acidic ancient environment that may have been favorable for life. Confirming this mineral clue took four years of analysis by several scientists. Video Credit : NASA

Scenes from around NASA on the day Spirit landed on Mars. Spirit, mission designation MER-A (Mars Exploration Rover - A), is the first of the 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 completed its planned 90-sol mission. Aided by cleaning events that resulted in higher power from its solar panels, Spirit went on to function effectively over twenty times longer than NASA planners expected following mission completion. Spirit also logged about 10 kilometers of driving instead of the planned 1 km, 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.

Rover Landing in Mars

Mars Rovers Exploration Spirits Mission. Contributers Channel. http://www.youtube.com/rglioybrra

The Mars Exploration Rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" were sent to Mars for what was planned to be a 90 day mission. 5 years later they are still roving the surface of Mars, making new discoveries almost every day. This video celebrates the extraordinary success of these "Intrepid Explorers".

Want to see Mars Rover Opportunity? Click here: http://youtu.be/rWI2WuqhQ2A These are pictures compiled from Mars Rover Spirit using the front HAZCAM left side lens from martian days (sols) 1 through 1724. That's nearly five earth years shrunk into a 7 minute video. 00:15 Roll off the landing module 03:01 Rock scanning 03:52 Large hill side rock 04:49 Right front wheel stops rolling 06:12 A dusty time watch year 6 here: http://youtu.be/gaaz9A8Pu5k listen to this video set to music here: http://youtu.be/GFFsvAqf5vo

Winter is coming and Spirit is trapped out of the sustaining light of the sun. ➡ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/NatGeoSubscribe About National Geographic: National Geographic is the world's premium destination for science, exploration, and adventure. Through their world-class scientists, photographers, journalists, and filmmakers, Nat Geo gets you closer to the stories that matter and past the edge of what's possible. Get More National Geographic: Official Site: http://bit.ly/NatGeoOfficialSite Facebook: http://bit.ly/FBNatGeo Twitter: http://bit.ly/NatGeoTwitter Instagram: http://bit.ly/NatGeoInsta Five Years on Mars : http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/five-years-on-mars-3963/Overview/?source=4003 Mars Rover: Spirit | National Geographic https://youtu.be/Rljneh_N9WI National Geographic https://www.youtube.com/natgeo

Here are models of three different Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Mars rovers. The small one is Pathfinder, sent to Mars in 1996. The middle is a model of one of two rovers still working on mars, Spirit and Opportunity. And the largest is a model of the Mars Science Laboratory, a future mars rover which is scheduled to launch in the fall of 2011 (originally scheduled for 2009), arriving on Mars in October 2010. JPL is located in Pasadena California, home of the Rose Bowl and Rose Parade. I'm a Unix Systems Administrator (and Linux fanatic) at JPL and was lucky enough to work on a project that helped map the landing area for the MER mission. More at http://www.kevitivity.com Mars Pathfinder: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/ Spirit and Opportunity (MER): http://marsrover.nasa.gov/home/ Mars Science Lab website: http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ Radar Astronomy at JPL (my group): http://gssr.jpl.nasa.gov/

Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity

The Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity have both found evidence for water-related processes at their landing sites. In Gusev crater, Spirit found only trace evidence for the action of water on the lava-covered plains of the crater floor. This water action left thin salt-rich deposits on the surfaces of rocks and in fractures within rocks, and what appear to be magnesium sulfate salt concentrations in soils. The older rocks in the Columbia Hills, however, show evidence for substantial alteration by water. At Meridiani Planum, Opportunity has found layered sedimentary rocks that are a mixture of fine-grained silicate particles and chemical sediments precipitated from liquid water....