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Spirit (rover)

Spirit Lander
NASA Mars Rover.jpg
Artistic view of a Mars Exploration Rover on Mars
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)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type Mars Exploration Rover
Dry mass 185 kilograms (408 lb) (Rover only)
Start of mission
Launch date June 10, 2003 (2003-06-10)
Rocket Delta II 7925-9.5
Launch site Cape Canaveral SLC-17A
End of mission
Last contact 22 March 2010; 25 May 2011 (2011-05-26)
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
Landing site 14°34′06″S 175°28′21″E / 14.5684°S 175.472636°E / -14.5684; 175.472636 (Spirit rover)
Distance covered 7.73 km (4.8 mi)

Nasa mer marvin.png
The launch patch for Spirit, featuring Marvin the Martian

Mars rovers (NASA)
← Sojourner
Curiosity →
Adirondack

Adirondacksquare.jpg

Rat post grind.jpg
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)
Feature type Rock
Coordinates 14°36′S 175°30′E / 14.6°S 175.5°E / -14.6; 175.5Coordinates: 14°36′S 175°30′E / 14.6°S 175.5°E / -14.6; 175.5

Nasa mer marvin.png
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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