Spirit's Solar Panels Still Shiny After All This Time

MARSDAILY

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jan 5, 2006
The most recent self-portrait of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the solar panels still gleaming in the martian sunlight and carrying only a thin veneer of dust two years after the rover landed and began exploring the red planet.

Spirit took this mosaic of images on the 586th sol, or day, of exploration (Aug. 27, 2005), as part of a mammoth undertaking that resulted in the largest panorama ever produced on Mars. This image is a subset of that panorama, showing just the rover.

The vertical projection used here produces the best view of the rover deck itself, though it distorts the ground and antennas somewhat.

This image is an approximate true-color rendering using the 600-nanometer, 530-nanometer and 480-nanometer filters.

MARSDAILY

Mission To Mars Via Antarctica

Paris, France (ESA) Jan 04, 2006
A few weeks before leaving for the Antarctic Concordia Station, the Italian-French crew that will spend over one year in one of the harshest, isolated environments on Earth, attended two days of preparatory training at ESA's Headquarters in Paris, France. During their stay at the research station the crew will participate in a number of ESA experiments - the outcome of which will help prepare for long-term missions to Mars.