Look! Down on the ground. See that small speck at the lower left corner on this picture of Mars? It’s alien technology — ours!
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) snapped this image of Bonneville Crater, near where Spirit, one of NASA’s two roving geology stations, landed in January 2004. The scene was captured by the MRO’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera.
After six years of studies, Spirit succumbed to the harsh Martian climate, but sister rover Opportunity, located on the opposite side of the planet, is still at work. It will be joined by a new rover in August called Curiosity that will assess the planet’s suitability for life.
In the picture, which was taken on Jan. 29, the rover Spirit’s landing pad is visible southwest of Bonneville Crater. Spirit drove off that three-petal platform to explore a range of hills about two miles to the east.
Image: Bird’s-eye view of Mars from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
