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...
climb field figure geologist geologists hill land lay nearest robotic spirit top
What field geologists typically do - and Spirit is a robotic field geologist - is you climb to the top of the nearest hill and take a look around so you get the lay of the land and figure out where you want to go,
carry climb head hill husband summit
We still want to get to the summit of Husband Hill and then head down into the 'Inner Basin' on the other side. But now we have more flexibility in how we carry out the plan. Before, it was climb or die.
climb columbia far heck hills looked touched
That's no Mt. Everest, but it's a heck of a climb for our little rover. When we first touched down at Gusev Crater on Jan. 4, 2004, the Columbia Hills looked impossibly far away.
climb columbia far heck hills looked touched
That's no Mt. Everest, but it's a heck of a climb for our little rover, ... When we first touched down at Gusev Crater on Jan. 4, 2004, the Columbia Hills looked impossibly far away.
argument asked british climb compelling everest famous george million mission mount reason reply rover trying
The British mountaineer George Mallory was once famously asked why he was trying to climb Mount Everest and his famous reply was 'because it is there.' That's a compelling argument when you are a mountaineer. But for an $850 million rover mission you better have a better reason than that.
area climb climbing field found gained geologist good motivated plotting point rock science spirit time
This climb was motivated by science. Every time Spirit has gained altitude, we've found different rock types. Also, we're doing what any field geologist would do in an area like this: climbing to a good vantage point for plotting a route.
area climbing field geologist good plotting point
Also, we're doing what any field geologist would do in an area like this: climbing to a good vantage point for plotting a route.
hiking hills climbs
We didn't know if the rover could climb up or down the hills of the crater.
almost cause expected guess mars mystery occasional odd remains root vehicle
The root cause of the reset remains a mystery, but I guess the occasional odd glitch is to be expected from a vehicle that's been on Mars for almost 600 sols.
cases explosions hot perhaps springs trace violent water
It was a hot, violent place with volcanic explosions and impacts. Water was around, perhaps localized hot springs in some cases and trace amounts of water in other cases.
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,
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.
challenge driving five six terrain
Driving in that terrain was a challenge with all six wheels. With five wheels, it was a mess.
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.