Any reason - best pictures, best science, best wow factor, best whatever - if you could have only one rover - which would it be

Doug

Spirit:
- The first succesful landing, pictures etc for MERs
- Surviving the software bug
- Travelling along way to get to the real scientific target
- Climbing the hills

Opportunity
- Landing in a crater on flat plains
- Instant scientific results
- Extraordanary location on Mars
- Descending into the crater

Sorry, but I wont choose. They've both been brilliant.

antti

If I were a geologist, certainly Opportunity would be my favorite simply because of the wealth of data it brought back immediately but Spirit has constantly drawn me to its pictures because it keeps going somewhere new. Each day you wonder what new sight it's come across. I truly can't wait til Spirit crests that hill it's on, finds a relatively flat place and does the mother of all pans with it's high-res pancam. We got a little look into the that valley to the southeast of the hills and it had that mystical other-world appearance to it. What bizarre looking rock outcroppings it's found on top of the hill as well. I've been busting my brain to understand the processes that would've created them.

This is one of my favourite images from Opportunity, taken on Sol 83:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...0P2431R1M1.HTML

...and this image from Spirit, Sol 100:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...2P2544L7M1.HTML

Isnt it odd - I'm the same - but it's the evidence that we've actually been there that I like the most.

The Lion King panorama was great - and I liked the pan I did about 20 sols out from Bonneville of the tracks curling thru the terrain.

I think a colour pan from Spirit looking back down on the distance out to bonneville some 2km away will be amazing, with the tracks just curving up at the foot of the hill

Doug

Here's another favourite from Opportunity. Sol 102; NavCam.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...00P1986R0M1.JPG

I have soooooooo many favourites

Hadnt spotted that one before - another beauty

......this just in:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...0P2283L2M1.HTML

If only they'd moved the camera just a little to the right lol

We'll have the full pan tomorrow at the press conf I'd imagine.

Most likely, and it's also possible they are not yet releasing the image with rover tracks leading up to Bonneville just for that purpose.

I wonder how far back the tracks will be visible. Im surprised they appear so prominent though.

Nope- the exploratorium has them all now

Doug

Hmm, Doug, were you able to find an image that is the next one toward *right* from this frame? I looked through everything in exploratorium and couldn't find it... The rover tracks should continue at that image.

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pa...00P2283L2M1.JPG

Aah yes thank you!