1. Mars Exploration Rovers

2. SpiritOpportunity Mars Exploration Rovers  Launch: June 10, 2003  Landed on Mars: January 4  Location: Gusev Crater  Planned mission duration: 90 days  Mass: 185 kg  Power: solar panels  Mission concluded: May 24, 2011 (last transmission to Earth: March 22, 2010)  Launch: July 7, 2003  Landed on Mars: January 25  Location: Meridiani Planum  Planned mission duration: 90 days  Mass: 185 kg  Power: solar panels  Mission concluded: N/A – ongoing

3. MER Landing Site Locations

4. Instruments  Cameras:  Panoramic Camera (Pancam)  Microscopic Imager (MI)  Hazard Cameras (Hazcams)  Navigation Cameras (Navcams)  Spectrometers:  Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES)  Mössbauer Spectrometer (MB)  Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS)  Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT)  Magnet Array

5. MER Imagery and Data  How would you rate the quality of the images?  What observations can you make?  How would you interpret these observations?  What could you say about Mars from these images?  Can you use previous mission data to make a generalization?  What can you say we know about Mars at this point? How certain are you?  What questions would you ask about Mars?  How would you attempt to answer these questions?  What are limitations to this type of mission (rover/instruments)?

16. What we learned about Mars from MER  There are several minerals that form in water at both landing sites  Bedrock exists and is accessible  Not all of Mars is the same as the Viking and Pathfinder landing sites (barren plains with rocks strewn everywhere)  Hills, bedrock, plains of sand, and large and small craters can all be explored by a MER-sized rover  The RAT is a useful tool for revealing the insides of rocks  A stuck wheel can also be a useful tool for revealing what is under the surface  The Earth is visible from the surface of Mars  Ground truth of orbital observations – hematite at Meridiani Planum  A rover designed for a 90-day mission may last many years