Postcards from Mars: The Amazing Photos of Opportunity and Spirit Rovers

Spirit of Troy

This full-circle view from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the terrain surrounding the location called "Troy," where Spirit became embedded in soft soil during the spring of 2009.

Come Get Me Out of Here

This panorama of images from the Spirit rover, taken on Sol 1925 (June 2, 2009), is helping engineers assess the rover's current state and plan her extraction from the soft soil in the region now called "Troy." The images were taken by Spirit's microscopi

Blow Away

Data from Spirit's power subsystem indicated that some dust blew off the rover's solar array on the following day, Sol 1812 (Feb. 6, 2009).

Driving Me Backwards

Spirit looks back at its tracks on Sol 1861 of its mission on Mars. Its immobile right-front wheel, which forces the rover to drive backwards, churned up bright soil. The edge of Home Plate forms the horizon on the right side of this image. Husband Hill i

A View From Home Plate

This view is from the spot where Spirit has spent its third Martian southern-hemisphere winter in 2008, on the northern edge of a low plateau informally called "Home Plate." A dotted line marks the edge of Home Plate, which is about 80 meters or 260 feet

It's A Wheel Drag

This view from the navigation camera near the top of the mast on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the tracks left by the rover as it drove southward and backward, dragging its inoperable right-front wheel, to the location where the rover broke t

Next Stop: Giant Crater

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its panoramic camera (Pancam) to capture this view of the rim of Endeavour crater, the rover's destination in a multi-year traverse along the sandy Martian landscape. The image was taken during the 2,226 Mart

You Got Your Blueberry in My Chocolate

On the left, an image of the rock "Chocolate Hills" investigated by Opportunity. On the right, a false-color image that shows the strange coating found on the rock in blue. The rock is about the size of a loaf of bread.

There's Blueberries in Them Hills

This false-color image from the microscopic imager on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows details of the coating on a rock called "Chocolate Hills," which the rover found and examined at the edge of a young crater called "Concepción." The coat

Think For Yourself

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took this image in preparation for the first autonomous selection of an observation target by a spacecraft on Mars. The more-than-50 rocks in this image, one of which has been selected by the rover for further stu