PIA11972: Spirit's View Beside 'Home Plate' on Sol 1823
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
 Spacecraft:  Spirit
 Instrument:  Navigation Camera
 Product Size:  4060 x 1031 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA11972.tif (4.19 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA11972.jpg (494.7 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its navigation camera to take the images that have been combined into this 180-degree view of the rover's surroundings during the 1,823rd Martian day, or sol, of Spirit's surface mission (Feb. 17, 2009).

The center of the view is toward the south-southwest.

The rover had driven 7 meters (23 feet) eastward earlier on Sol 1823, part of maneuvering to get Spirit into a favorable position for climbing onto the low plateau called "Home Plate." However, after two driving attempts with negligible progress during the following three sols, the rover team changed its strategy for getting to destinations south of Home Plate. The team decided to drive Spirit at least partway around Home Plate, instead of ascending the northern edge and taking a shorter route across the top of the plateau.

Layered rocks forming part of the northern edge of Home Plate can be seen near the center of the image. Rover wheel tracks are visible at the lower edge.

This view is presented as a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Image Addition Date:
2009-04-05