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Published August 6, 2004 | public
Journal Article

The Spirit Rover's Athena Science Investigation at Gusev Crater, Mars

Abstract

The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit and its Athena science payload have been used to investigate a landing site in Gusev crater. Gusev is hypothesized to be the site of a former lake, but no clear evidence for lacustrine sedimentation has been found to date. Instead, the dominant lithology is basalt, and the dominant geologic processes are impact events and eolian transport. Many rocks exhibit coatings and other characteristics that may be evidence for minor aqueous alteration. Any lacustrine sediments that may exist at this location within Gusev apparently have been buried by lavas that have undergone subsequent impact disruption.

Additional Information

© 2004 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 11 May 2004; accepted 9 July 2004. We are deeply indebted to the many hundreds of engineers and scientists—far too numerous to name here—who made the Mars Exploration Rover Project and the Athena Science Investigation possible. Funding for the MER Project, including most of the Athena payload, was provided by NASA. The APXS and Mössbauer instruments were funded by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and the magnet array was funded by the Danish government. The MER Project was led with skill and dedication by P. Theisinger, and the development of the MER flight system was led with equal skill and dedication by R. Cook and B. Goldstein. J. Rademacher managed the development of the Mini-TES, APXS, and Mössbauer payload elements, M. Schwochert led the engineering teams for Pancam and the Microscopic Imager, and S. Kondos and M. Johnson managed the development of the Rock Abrasion Tool. To all of them, and to the hundreds of members of the MER family who have made this adventure such a joy and privilege to be part of, we express our heartfelt and lasting thanks.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 17, 2023