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Spirit Mars Rover Mission to the Columbia Hills, Gusev Crater: Mission overview and selected results from the Cumberland Ridge to Home Plate
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
Johnson Space Center, NASA, Houston, Texas, USA
Johnson Space Center, NASA, Houston, Texas, USA
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
NASA Ames/SETI Institute, Moffett Field, California, USA
Lockheed Martin Corporation, Littleton, Colorado, USA
Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Department of Physics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
U. S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
U. S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
Institut für Anorganische und Analytische Chemie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, Germany
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Department of Mineral Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, Maryland, USA
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Johnson Space Center, NASA, Houston, Texas, USA
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Max Planck Institute for Sonnensystemforschung, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
Department of Geosciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York, USA
This paper summarizes the Spirit rover operations in the Columbia Hills of Gusev Crater from sols 513 to 1476 and provides an overview of selected findings that focus on synergistic use of the Athena Payload and comparisons to orbital data. Results include discovery of outcrops (Voltaire) on Husband Hill that are interpreted to be altered impact melt deposits that incorporated local materials during emplacement. Evidence for extensive volcanic activity and aqueous alteration in the Inner Basin is also detailed, including discovery and characterization of accretionary lapilli and formation of sulfate, silica, and hematite-rich deposits. Use of Spirit's data to understand the range of spectral signatures observed over the Columbia Hills by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM) hyperspectral imager (0.4–4 μm) is summarized. We show that CRISM spectra are controlled by the proportion of ferric-rich dust to ferrous-bearing igneous minerals exposed in ripples and other wind-blown deposits. The evidence for aqueous alteration derived from Spirit's data is associated with outcrops that are too small to be detected from orbital observations or with materials exposed from the shallow subsurface during rover activities. Although orbital observations show many other locations on Mars with evidence for minerals formed or altered in an aqueous environment, Spirit's data imply that the older crust of Mars has been altered even more extensively than evident from orbital data. This result greatly increases the potential that the surface or shallow subsurface was once a habitable regime.
Received 12 May 2008; accepted 31 July 2008; published 6 November 2008.
Citation: (2008), Spirit Mars Rover Mission to the Columbia Hills, Gusev Crater: Mission overview and selected results from the Cumberland Ridge to Home Plate, J. Geophys. Res., 113, E12S33, doi:10.1029/2008JE003183.
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