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...
found gained rock spirit time
Every time Spirit has gained altitude, we've found different rock types,
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,
appear berries bit clearly debating numerous rocks seem seen smaller
The berries are more numerous here, and some seem to be smaller than any weve ever seen. And interestingly, some dont appear to be round. Were still debating what this means, but clearly the hematite is distributed a bit differently here than it has been in any other rocks weve seen at Meridiani,
along chris dig driving dust hills lee mountain remember rock shadow side slip struggling stuck stuff wheels wind
Chris will remember vividly as we were struggling along the northwestern flank of that mountain how much loose, fine-grain stuff there was. Our wheels would dig in, we'd slip around and we'd dig in deep. Remember that potato-sized rock we got stuck in the wheel once? It was really treacherous driving because there was accumulated dust there. We were probably in the wind shadow on the lee side of the hills at that point.
ancient change earliest explosions flow glimpse happening hot impacts mars past provide raining rocks stuff violent water wonderful
They provide a wonderful glimpse into what Mars was like in the earliest part of its history, ... It was a violent place. It was a place where meteorite impacts were happening frequently. It was a place where there volcanic explosions happening frequently. Hot stuff was raining from the skies. There was water. When rocks were deposited, water would flow through those rocks and change their chemistry. This is a glimpse into the ancient past of 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,
heck mount rover
That's no Mount Everest, but for a little rover this is a heck of a climb.
convinced gives vehicle
A sol like that gives you confidence. I'm really convinced now that we're able to keep the vehicle safe.
last layer speaks water
One possibility is that it's the last layer to form. It speaks to yet another water episode.
cost easy happened mars problem rover time wrong
Easy problem to find and fix, but it happened at just the wrong time and cost us data, and one more sol, ... Another first for the Mars Exploration Rover Project.
course far five hills sit
Our requirement for how far we should be able to traverse over the course of the mission, was 600 meters. These hills are five times that far away. OK, so don't sit here and think, 'Oh, we're going to go to the hills.' We're going to go 'toward' the hills.
bite landed opportunity waiting
That was waiting to bite us. If Opportunity had landed first, it would have had the same problem.
calls certainly good guy land looks promised rugged team turn
That very rugged stuff. There is a guy on our team who actually calls this the geologic promised land. I don't know if it's going to turn out to be that good or not and I don't know if we'll ever get there, but it certainly looks interesting.