'Tetl' Rock
This image, taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's trek through the "Columbia Hills" at "Gusev Crater," shows the horizontally layered rock dubbed "Tetl." Scientists hope to investigate this rock in more detail, aiming to determine whether the rock's layering is volcanic or sedimentary in origin. If for some reason this particular rock is not favorably positioned for grinding and examination by the toolbox of instruments on the rover's robotic arm, Spirit will be within short reach of another similar rock, dubbed "Coba." more
'Cahokia' Panorama
This stunning image mosaic of the "Columbia Hills" is the first 360-degree panorama taken since the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit arrived at the hills over a month ago. The rover has been busy studying the rocks here, which show evidence of past alteration by water. The dark patch of soil to the right is the spot where Spirit stopped for engineering work on its right front wheel. Spirit's tracks can be followed from there all the way back to "Bonneville Crater" and the original landing site, more than 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) away.
This approximate true-color image, nicknamed the "Cahokia panorama" after the Native American archaeological site near St. Louis, was acquired between sols 213 to 223 (Aug. 9 to 19, 2004). The panorama consists of 470 images acquired through six panoramic camera filters (750 to 480 nanometers). It took until the week of sol 237 (Sept. 2) to downlink all the data back to Earth. Several more weeks of image processing and geometric mapping by team members at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., to stitch all the images together into this spectacular mosaic.