勇气号火星车2004年1月4日成功着陆古谢夫撞击坑。2009年5月1日,勇气号陷入一个命名为“特洛伊”的松软的沙坑。由于多次尝试从深陷的沙坑中解救勇气号失败,2010年1月26日NASA宣布勇气号不再行使而变成静止科学观测站。在6年的探测征程中,勇气号行驶了7.73km并且取得了诸多科学发现,例如发现了只有在水环境才能生成的盐类沉积物以及含有硫和蛋白石的矿物质沉积。本文简要综述勇气号6年漫游火星表面的征程以及重大的科学发现,特别展示了行星制图与遥感技术在实现火星车探测的科学和工程任务中发挥的重要作用。
Mars rover Spirit landed in Gusev Crater on January 4, 2004. It became a stationary science platform on 26 Janu- ary 2010 after NASA's efforts to free it from a sand trap had been unsuccessful. During its six years of exploration of the red planet, Spirit traveled 7.73 km and made significant discoveries, e.g. detection of deposits of salts and minerals such as sulfur and opaline silica that only form in the presence of water. This paper presents a brief review of Spirit's six years of Mars roving and major scientific discoveries. In particular, it demonstrates how planetary mapping and remote sensing technologies have been greatly supporting the mission to achieve its science and engineering goals.