Spacecraft
- Cruise vehicle dimensions: 2.65 meters diameter, 1.6 meters tall
- Rover dimensions: 1.5 meter high by 2.3 meters wide by 1.6 meter long
- Weight: 1,062 kilograms total at launch, consisting of 174-kilogram rover, 365-kilogram lander, 198-kilogram backshell and parachute, 90-kilogram heat shield and 183-kilogram cruise stage, plus 52 kilograms of propellant
- Power: Solar panel and lithium-ion battery system providing 140 watts on Mars surface
- Science instruments: Panoramic cameras, miniature thermal emission spectrometer, Mössbauer spectrometer, alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, microscopic imager, rock abrasion tool, magnet arrays
Spirit Mission
- Launch vehicle: Delta II 7925
- Launch: June 10, 2003, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
- Earth-Mars distance at launch: 103 million kilometers
- Mars landing: Jan. 4, 2004, at about 2:30 p.m. local Mars time (signal received at Earth 8:35 p.m. PST Jan. 3)
- Landing site: Gusev Crater, possible former lake in giant impact crater
- Earth-Mars distance on landing day: 170.2 million kilometers
- One-way speed-of-light time Mars-to-Earth on landing day: 9.46 minutes
- Total distance traveled Earth to Mars (approximate): 487 million kilometers
- Near-surface atmospheric temperature at landing site: -100 C to 0 C
- Primary mission: 90 Mars days, or "sols" (equivalent to 92 Earth days)
Opportunity Mission
- Launch vehicle: Delta II 7925H (larger solid-fuel boosters than 7925)
- Launch: July 7, 2003, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
- Earth-Mars distance at launch: 78 million kilometers
- Mars landing: Jan. 25, 2004, at about 1:15 p.m. local Mars time (signal received at Earth 9:05 p.m. PST Jan. 24)
- Landing site: Meridiani Planum, where mineral deposits suggest wet past
- Earth-Mars distance on landing day: 198.7 million kilometers
- One-way speed-of-light time Mars-to-Earth on landing day: 11 minutes
- Total distance traveled Earth to Mars (approximate): 456 million kilometers
- Near-surface atmospheric temperature at landing site: -100 C to 0 C
- Primary mission: 90 Mars days, or "sols" (equivalent to 92 Earth days)
Program
- Cost: Approximately $820 million total, consisting approximately of $645 million spacecraft development and science instruments; $100 million launch; $75 million mission operations and science processing
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