Follow this link to skip to                                      the main content

Text Size

Audio clips with Dr. Steve Squyres, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Principal investigator for the science instruments on NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.

The following audio clips are provided for the news media.

The twin rovers are celebrating an anniversary -- one full Martian year of exploration. This converts to nearly two Earth years, because Earth moves around the sun faster than Mars does. Whether you measure Martian years or Earth years, both rovers have far exceeded their original planned lifetimes.

CUT 1 -- Dr. Steve Squyres explains what they hope to do with Opportunity as it enters its second Martian year.
Running time: 30
+ Play audio (481 Kb - mp3)

Transcript of CUT 1:
We’re driving south, as fast as we can go, basically, trying to get into some terrain that is topographically higher and may offer a different kind of rocks. And then also out ahead of us, it’s still more than a mile away, but out ahead of us is a spectacular crater, called Victoria crater. It’s much deeper than Endurance Carter, and if we could get to that it could potentially provide access to even deeper layers. So we are basically off in search of new kinds of rock.

CUT 2 -- Dr. Steve Squyres says he thought the rovers might find limestone on Mars, but instead they found volcanic basalt, sulfates, and evidence of sulfuric acid in water.
Running time: 15
+ Play audio (244 Kb - mp3)

Transcript of CUT 2:
What this is telling us is that the chemistry is, was very different from what we expected, or at least from what many of us expected, and that it was in many ways a rather chemically harsh place, but still a wet world, and probably a warmer world.

CUT 3 -- Dr. Steve Squyres says the completion of a full Martian year has given them insight into variations over time.
Running time: 23 OUT: "EVIDENCE OVER TIME"
+ Play audio (367 Kb - mp3)

Transcript of CUT 3:
We’ve now had the chance to experience Mars in all of its seasons, and it really does change with the seasons. I mean, Mars in the winter and Mars in the summer are two very, very different places, and we’ve had a chance to experience all that. So there’ve been many milestones, but rather then one great aha moment, it was more a continuous and very satisfying buildup of evidence over time.