Steve Squyres
Steve Squyres
Steven W. Squyresis the James A. Weeks Professor of Physical Sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. His research area is in planetary sciences, with a focus on large solid bodies in the solar system such as the terrestrial planets and the moons of the Jovian planets. Squyres is principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. He is the recipient of the 2004 Carl Sagan Memorial Award and the 2009 Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Communication in...
home material mean seen stuff widespread
We have no idea yet how widespread Home Plate-like material may be. We have not seen anything like this before, but it doesn't mean there isn't more stuff out there.
across columbia far hills january looked necessary night order plains quickly realized seemed sought stuff touched water whether
When we first touched down at Gusev Crater on the night of January 4, 2004, the Columbia Hills seemed impossibly far away. It was a necessary place for us to get to, though, because as we looked across the plains we quickly realized these plains were made of basaltic lava. This was stuff that was interesting but did not tell us what we really sought to know about Gusev Crater, and that is whether there had been water here. So in order to find something, in order to find something different, we had to make that mile-and-a-half drive.
awe business deciding seeing waiting
We're just waiting. We're just in awe of what we're seeing and we're just waiting to see the whole thing so we can really get about the business of deciding what to do.
busy
We'll be busy here for a long time.
hope survive winter
We hope to survive another winter on Mars.
anniversary entire mars seen year
I actually see the Mars year anniversary as being more significant, ... We will have seen Mars over an entire seasonal cycle.
dipping geology says similar textures
It's very similar in composition, with very similar textures when you look at it with a microscope, but it's dipping in all different directions. What it says is that the geology around here is pretty complicated.
darker hard outer parts rock shells
These look like hard outer shells on some parts of some outcrops, and they're darker and a little redder than the rock that they encrust.
darker hard outer parts rock shells
These look like hard outer shells on some parts of some outcrops, and theyre darker and a little redder than the rock that they encrust,
conjecture data gotten point purely table until
But that's purely conjecture at this point à a working hypothesis. Everything is on the table until we've gotten more data down.
image sheer terms
In terms of sheer scenic grandeur, it is the most spectacular image we've taken. It's like nothing else on Mars.
bedrock head heading home looking toward
For Spirit, we're going to head down the hill, looking for bedrock and heading toward Home Plate,
bedrock bit decision drive mostly north onto start swing terrain western
We can see most of the crater from where we are right now, and we've made the decision that we're going to traverse around it on its western side. We're actually going to start the drive around the crater by going north a little bit ... to get onto terrain that's mostly bedrock ... before we swing west.
curious figure
We've been very curious to figure out what they are.