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PIA05240: Spirit Self-motivates
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove itself 3 feet out of 21 feet at Gusev Crater, Mars, on Feb. 8, 2004. This image shows the tracks it created in the martian soil as it drove straight ahead, then to the left.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Exploration Rover (MER) 
 Spacecraft:  Spirit
 Instrument:  Navigation Camera 
 Product Size:  640 x 480 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA05240.tif (229 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA05240.jpg (32.61 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:

The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove itself 1 meter (3 feet) out of 6.4 meters (21 feet) at Gusev Crater, Mars, on Feb. 8, 2004, the 36th sol of its mission. This image shows the tracks it created in the martian soil as it drove straight ahead, then to the left. The rover also drove over Adirondack (seen in image bottom center), the bright rock that was targeted by Spirit's rock abrasion tool, on its way to a rock target called White Boat. This was the first test of the rover's autonomous system, which will be used many times in the days to come.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
2004-02-09