Steve Squyres Time Quotations

One mystery weve been dealing with for a long time is the origin of the little dark cobbles that we occasionally see out on the plains,

One mystery we've been dealing with for a long time is the origin of the little dark 'cobbles' that we occasionally see out on the plains.

Unfortunately, recovering from something like a reset is a slow, lengthy process. You don't know what caused the problem, and the immediate concern is that whatever triggered it will do it again next time you try it. The thing you have to do is fire up each of the rover's capabilities one at a time, checking each one carefully and individually to see whether it would cause another reset or not. Standard spacecraft troubleshooting practicebut it takes time.

Every time Spirit has gained altitude, we've found different rock types,

We were fearful for a time that the motor may have failed permanently. If that were the case, we'd never be able to use the arm again.

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.

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.