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Mars Exploration Rover Entry, Descent and Landing on Mars

January 02, 2002

This animation features the Mars Exploration Rover's entry into the martian atmosphere and final soft landing using airbags.

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This 360-degree view from a site dubbed "Engineering Flats" shows the rover's shadow.
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This 360-degree view from a site dubbed "Engineering Flats" shows the rover's shadow.
Spirit's View from 'Engineering Flats'
This July 7, 2017, scene from the Navcam on NASA's Opportunity Mars rover shows a view from the upper end of "Perseverance Valley" on the inner slope of Endeavour Crater's rim. At left, the valley...
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This July 7, 2017, scene from the Navcam on NASA's Opportunity Mars rover shows a view from the upper end of "Perseverance Valley" on the inner slope of Endeavour Crater's rim. At left, the valley descends about 200 yards to the crater floor. In the middle, the crater rim extends southeastward.
View Down 'Perseverance Valley' After Entry at Top
Buzz Aldrin, an Apollo 11 astronaut who walked on the moon, makes a holographic appearance in 'Destination: Mars,' a mixed-reality tour of a part of Mars that NASA's Curiosity rover has explored.
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Buzz Aldrin, an Apollo 11 astronaut who walked on the moon, makes a holographic appearance in 'Destination: Mars,' a mixed-reality tour of a part of Mars that NASA's Curiosity rover has explored.
Buzz Aldrin
This color view of a mineral vein called "Homestake" comes from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.
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This color view of a mineral vein called "Homestake" comes from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.
'Homestake' Vein in Color
This stereo view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows "Lunokhod 2 Crater," which lies south of "Solander Point" on the west rim of Endeavour Crater. Lunokhod 2 Crater is approximate...
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This stereo view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows "Lunokhod 2 Crater."
'Lunokhod 2' Crater on Mars (Stereo)
Overhead and on-the-ground views of the 25-mile journey NASA's Opportunity Mars rover has made since landing in 2004. (No audio)
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Opportunity's Long Tracks on Crater Rim
Opportunity's Long Tracks on Crater Rim
This blink comparison aids evaluation of a drive by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 2,099th Martian day, or sol (Nov. 28, 2009).
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This blink comparison aids evaluation of a drive by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 2,099th Martian day, or sol (Nov. 28, 2009).
Little Movement in Spirit's Sol 2099 Drive
Hundreds of images taken by Spirit were combined into this 360-degree view of "Husband Hill Summit" and the rover's deck.
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Hundreds of images taken by Spirit were combined into this 360-degree view of "Husband Hill Summit" and the rover's deck.
Summit Panorama with Rover Deck
Mars Exploration Rover parachute deployment testing
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Mars Exploration Rover parachute deployment testing
Parachute Test
The circular shapes seen on the martian surface in these images are "footprints" left by Opportunity's airbags during landing as the spacecraft gently rolled to a stop.
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The circular shapes seen on the martian surface in these images are "footprints" left by Opportunity's airbags during landing as the spacecraft gently rolled to a stop.
Airbag Tracks on Mars
NASA's Curiosity finds crystals, Opportunity celebrates her 5,000th day on Mars and the MarCO smallsats get solar arrays.
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NASA's Curiosity finds crystals, Opportunity celebrates her 5,000th day on Mars and the MarCO smallsats get solar arrays.
Mars Report: February 2018
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been making tracks on Mars for seven months now, well beyond its original 90-day mission. The rover traveled more than 3 kilometers (2 miles) to reach the "...
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit traveled more than 3 kilometers (2 miles) to reach the "Columbia Hills" pictured here.
Making Tracks on Mars (3-D)
A lunar eclipse, a solar eclipse and Mars has a close encounter with a comet.
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What's Up for October?
What's Up for October?
Researchers used NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity to find a water-related mineral on the ground that had been detected from orbit, and found it in the dark veneer of rocks on the rim of En...
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Researchers used NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity to find a water-related mineral on the ground that had been detected from orbit, and found it in the dark veneer of rocks on the rim of Endeavour Crater.
Mineral Detected from Orbit Found in Dark Veneers (Annotated)
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recorded the component images for this self-portrait about three weeks before completing a decade of work on Mars.
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recorded the component images for this self-portrait about three weeks before completing a decade of work on Mars.
Self-Portrait by Opportunity Mars Rover in January 2014
One of two Mars Exploration Rovers sits inside its cruise stage waitingto undergo environmental testing at NASA's Jet PropulsionLaboratory.
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One of two Mars Exploration Rovers sits inside its cruise stage waitingto undergo environmental testing at NASA's Jet PropulsionLaboratory.
Mars Exploration Rover
Engineers for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission are completing assembly and testing for the twin robotic geologists at JPL. This
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Engineers for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission are completing assembly and testing for the twin robotic geologists at JPL. This
Assembly and Testing Mars Exploration Rovers
This Aug. 15, 2014, scene from the Pancam on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity looks back toward part of the west rim of Endeavour Crater that the rover drove along, heading southward, duri...
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This Aug. 15, 2014, scene from the Pancam on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity looks back toward part of the west rim of Endeavour Crater that the rover drove along, heading southward, during the summer of 2014. This version is in false color, making the rover's wheel tracks more apparent.
Rover Tracks in Northward View Along West Rim of Endeavour, False Color
This view captured by Spirit called "Legacy" panorama, combines images taken between the landing site and the rim of "Bonnevile Crater."
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This view captured by Spirit called "Legacy" panorama, combines images taken between the landing site and the rim of "Bonnevile Crater."
Legacy Panorama on Spirit's Way to 'Bonneville'
Wheel tracks from NASA's Mars rover Opportunity descending and departing the "Cape Tribulation" segment of Endeavour Crater's rim are visible in this April 21, 2017, view from the rover's Panoramic...
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Wheel tracks from NASA's Mars rover Opportunity descending and departing the "Cape Tribulation" segment of Endeavour Crater's rim are visible in this April 21, 2017, view from the rover's Panoramic Camera (Pancam). The rover looked back northward during its trek south to "Perseverance Valley."
Putting Martian 'Tribulation' Behind
NASA's Opportunity rover captured an image of this rock nicknamed "Jornada del Muerto" while in Perseverance Valley. The wind-carved streaks along its face were very similar to rocks seen at the ri...
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Close up of a Martian rock nicknamed "Jornada del Muerto"
Opportunity Discovers 'Dead Man's Journey'
This image hows several dust devils moving from right to left across a plain inside Mars' Gusev Crater, as seen from the vantage point of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in hills rising from t...
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This image hows several dust devils moving from right to left across a plain inside Mars' Gusev Crater, as seen from the vantage point of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in hills rising from the plain.
Dust Devil in Gusev
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity captured this view after beginning to ascend the northwestern slope of "Solander Point" on the western rim of Endeavour Crater.
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity captured this view after beginning to ascend the northwestern slope of "Solander Point" on the western rim of Endeavour Crater.
Mars Hill-Climbing Opportunity at 'Solander Point,' Right Eye
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine discusses the successful completion of the Opportunity Mars rover mission during a news briefing at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California...
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NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine discusses the successful completion of the Opportunity Mars rover mission during a news briefing at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Behind him to the left is a model of Opportunity and to the right behind him is an image of Mars.
NASA Administrator and Mars
An oblique, northward-looking view based on stereo orbital imaging, shows the location of Opportunity on its journey from Cape York to Solander Point when HiRISE took the new color image.
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An oblique, northward-looking view based on stereo orbital imaging, shows the location of Opportunity on its journey from Cape York to Solander Point when HiRISE took the new color image.
Location of Opportunity Rover

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