Mars Rovers May - Nov 2004

A rock dubbed "Uchben" in the Columbia Hills inside Gusev Crater is seen in this photo taken by the Mars Rover Spirit and released Nov. 4, 2004. Spirit, having trekked nearly two miles across the flat terrain of the vast Gusev Crater region where it set down, was zig-zagging up the rugged Columbia Hills and was nearly 200 feet above the surrounding plain.

An image taken by the Opportunity Rover and shown by NASA during a Oct. 7, 2004, press conference, shows a polygonally fractured rock called Escher, located on the southwestern slope of Endurance Crater. New findings raise the possibility Opportunity's work area was soaked long ago, before it dried and eroded into a wide plain.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity examined a boulder called "Wopmay" before heading further east inside Endurance Crater. The frames combined into this false-color view were taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera during the rover's 251st martian day, Oct. 7, 2004. The coloring accentuates iron-rich spherical concretions as bluish dots embedded in the rock, which measures about 3 feet across.

This approximate true-color image taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows an unusual, lumpy rock informally named "Wopmay" on the lower slopes of Endurance Crater. The rock was named after the Canadian bush pilot Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May. Scientists believe the lumps in Wopmay may be related to cracking and alteration processes, possibly caused by exposure to water.

Martian sand dunes are seen in this image taken by NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity and released Aug. 6, 2004, by NASA. The dunes in the foreground are approximately 3 feet high.

This map shows the traverse of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity through the rover's 205th martian day, or sol, Aug. 21, 2004. The background image is from the rover's descent imaging camera. Images inset along the route are from Opportunity's navigation camera. Opportunity began its exploration inside "Eagle" crater near the left edge of the map.

This mosaic from the navigation camera aboard NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was compiled from images taken on the rover's 193rd and 194th sol on Mars, Aug. 9 and 10, 2004. The rover's work area near the bottom of Endurance Crater is featured in this image.

This image taken on June 19, 2004, by the panoramic camera on the Mars Rover Spirit shows a close-up of the rock named "Pot of Gold," seen at lower right, located near the base of the Columbia Hills in Gusev Crater. Scientists are interested in the rock due to the presence of hematite, a mineral usually formed in water.