Page 56 - ShareSpace's Mars Map Teacher's Guide - Sept 2016

vers

ation Rovers
pportunity

The Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity
touched down on Mars in January 2004.
Like Pathfinder, Spirit and Opportunity landed with
the help of airbags. The twin rovers landed on
opposite sides of Mars in areas believed to once have
been full of liquid water.
In this image taken by Spirit, you can see the rovers
tracks.
Opportunity found something never seen by a robot
on Mars before, a meteorite!
Both Spirit and Opportunity discovered a mineral
called Hematite which is known to form in the
presence of water on the Earth. The discovery of
hematite, along with other evidence obtained by the
rovers, showed that liquid water once existed in large
amounts at the Spirit and Opportunity sites.