Mars Exploration Rovers: Quick Facts

Courtesy: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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