We all have our favorite photographs from trips we've taken. For two of the scientists who have led the Mars Rover missions starting in 2004, two shots stand out.
For Cornell's Steve Squyres, who's presenting this afternoon on continued progress of rovers Spirit and Opportunity, a shot called "Everest Pan," taken in 2005 from the summit of Husband Hill near Gusev Crater is his favorite. "It's just a spectacular view. It's the highest point in the entire traverse," the rover principal investigator told Science. "You can see the geology of the entire mission." In the distance, for example, is the rim of Gusev crater, 80 km away, where Spirit found geochemical and visual evidence of water a year before the picture was taken.
Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, Squyres's deputy on
the mission, prefers a composite shot dubbed the "McMurdo" panorama.
(Taken during a winter sleep by the rover, the shot is named for
Antarctica's McMurdo base, which like Spirit sits in the southern
hemisphere, albeit on a different planet.) The clear shot of
"sulfate-bearing minerals" visible in the light-toned stripe on the
right rover track has special significance for him, the geologist says,
as such minerals form in groundwater. Also, Arvidson notes, he
"designed the winter campaign" during which the photo was taken.
--Eli Kintisch
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