NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit

The deck of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is so dusty that the rover almost blends into the dusty background in this image assembled from frames taken by the panoramic camera (Pancam) during the period October 26-29, 2007. Dust on the solar panels reduces the amount of electrical power the rover can generate from sunlight each sol. The vertical projection used here produces the best view of the rover deck, though it distorts the ground and antennas somewhat. The eight-pointed star shape near the front of the rover (bottom of the image) marks the location of the camera mast, which is out of view of the Pancam atop the mast. NASA announced May 24, 2011 that it will cease its daily attempts to contact Spirit, the robotic rover on Mars that went incommunicado last year.