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Mission record

Spirit

Also known as MER 2, MER-A, Mars Exploration Rover A, Mars Exploration Rover 2

National Aeronautics and Space Administration · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

The Spirit rover (Mars Exploration Rover A or MER-2) is one of two rovers launched to Mars in mid-2003. The scientific goals of the rover missions are to gather data to help determine if life ever arose on Mars, characterize the climate of Mars, characterize the geology of Mars, and prepare for human exploration of Mars. Spirit landed in Gusev Crater on 4 January 2004 and drove off the platform onto the surface on 15 January. It explored Gusev crater, taking images and making scientific measurements, although it lost the use of one of its six wheels; on 23 April 2009 the rover broke through a thin crust into a pocket of sand that severely limited its mobility, and by 1 May it could no longer move at all. The last transmission from Spirit occurred on 22 March 2010, after the rover had travelled a total of 7.73 km over a period of 6 years, 2 months.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Delta II 7925
Launch site
Cape Canaveral, United States
Countries
United States
Mission types
Rover, Lander

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched on a Delta II 7925

    Spirit was launched on a standard Delta II 7925 on 10 June 2003 at 17:58:46.773 UT. The two NSSDCA pages disagree in the last place and the disagreement is recorded rather than resolved: the launch/orbital information page rounds the same instant to 2003-06-10T17:58:47Z, and this record keeps the truncated second from the page that publishes the fraction. That page also prints Decay Date: 2004-01-03, the day before the 4 January landing its companion page gives.

    Earth

  2. Landing

    Landed in Gusev Crater

    The landing took place at 04:35 UT on 4 January 2004 (Earth received time), (11:35 p.m. Jan. 3 EST) approximately 2:25 p.m. local time, about one hour before Earth set, in Gusev Crater, at 14.572 S, 175.478 E. The landing ellipse was centered at 14.82 S, 175.15 E and was 96 km by 19 km oriented at 76 degrees. The committed time is the Earth received time the page prints, because no other is published there.

    Mars

  3. Deployment

    Drove off the landing platform

    The rover drove off the platform onto the surface of Mars on 15 January at 8:41 UT (3:41 a.m. EST). The landing platform's name is carried from GCAT rather than from NSSDCA: deepcat row D00812 gives Name Columbia Memorial Station and PLName MER-2 Lander, and no NSSDCA page cited here names the platform, so the vehicle rests on GCAT alone and carries no status of its own.

    Mars

  4. Milestone

    Broke through a crust into a pocket of sand

    The rover explored Gusev crater, taking images and making scientific measurements, although it lost the use of one of its six wheels. On 23 April 2009, the rover broke through a thin crust into a pocket of sand that severely limited its mobility. By 1 May it could no longer move at all. Numerous attempts to move the rover were unsuccessful, and the solar panels could not be oriented in a direction to produce enough power to make it through the winter.

    Mars

  5. Mission end

    Last transmission after 7.73 km travelled

    The last transmission from Spirit occurred on 22 March 2010. The rover travelled a total of 7.73 km over a period of 6 years, 2 months.

    Mars

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Spirit · Rover

    Destinations: Mars

  • Columbia Memorial Station · Lander

    Destinations: Mars

Trajectory record

Time-dependent navigation trajectory

Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.

J2000 · Sun-centered display · positions interpolated between source states

Coverage: June 10, 2003 to January 4, 2004

Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.

  • Spirit cruise: Reconstructed · June 10, 2003 to January 4, 2004

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through October 11, 2026