NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

A Long Way From Home

This pair of pieced-together images from Spirit's rear navigation camera reveals a long and rocky path of nearly 240 meters (787 feet) the rover drove from its landing site at Gusev Crater.

The lander can still be seen in the distance, but will never be "home" again for the journeying rover. This image is also a tribute to the effectiveness of the autonomous navigation system that the rovers use during parts of their martian drives. Instead of driving directly through the "hollow" seen in the middle right of the image, the autonomous navigation system guided Spirit around the high ridge bordering the hollow.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/

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