NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this panoramic camera image on sol 91. It shows Spirit's current resting place at the base of a 60-centimeter-wide (23.6-inch-wide), 24-centimeter-high (9.4-inch-wide) rock dubbed "Route 66".
Found along Spirit's trek toward the Columbia Hills, this rock peaked scientist's interest because its light-toned and scalloped surface is very similar to the previously targeted rock called "Mazatzal." Scientists are debating whether to spend time analyzing Route 66, or to bank energy and keep driving toward its ultimate goal, the eastern-lying Columbia Hills.

Scientists have some time to debate the issue because Spirit will remain at this location through the flight software update that will occur during sols 94 to 98.

This image, acquired by the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, highlights the vast plains of Meridiani Planum. The science team is currently focused on the sinuous crack, which consists of a series of deep dimples sprinkled with rocks that resemble, from a distance, those in the "Eagle Crater" outcrop. On sol 70, Opportunity drove approximately 100 meters (about 328 feet) northeast to a target area along the crack dubbed "Anatolia." In the coming sols, the rover will study the crack in greater detail.

7 April 2004
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows the results of an oblique meteor impact near 4.4°S, 10.1°W. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this panoramic camera image of the southeast rim of Gusev Crater on sol 68. Like the more recent image acquired on sol 91, it captures the crater wall as it descends into the mouth of the Ma'adim Vallis channel. The martian skies were dustier when this image was taken, making the crater rim more difficult to see. The sky appears "noisier" than in the sol 91 image because the panoramic camera was operating at a higher temperature.
The same modifications were applied to this image as were applied to the sol 91 image to make the crater rim more visible.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this panoramic camera image on sol 91 (April 5, 2004). Spirit is looking to the southeast, and through the martian haze has captured the rim of Gusev Crater approximately 80 kilometers (49.7 miles) away on the horizon.
The right side of this image reveals the portion of the crater edge that descends into the mouth of Ma'adim Vallis, a channel that opens into Gusev Crater. Spirit is currently traveling toward the informally named "Columbia Hills," which lie to the left of the region pictured here.

This image is similar to a panoramic camera image taken on sol 68, but Gusev's ridge is more visible here because the atmospheric dust caused by winter dust storms has settled. Scientists expect to get even clearer images than this one in upcoming sols.

This image has been modified to make the crater rim more visible

This image from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's navigation camera was taken on the rover's 71st sol on the red planet. On the previous sol, the rover drove beside a sinuous trough in the plains of Meridiani Planum to get a closer look at its curious dimples. The rover then approached the pictured trough area referred to as "Anatolia." From a distance, the rocks here resemble those in the "Eagle Crater" outcrop. These rocks will be imaged in greater detail with the rover's cameras.

A traverse map for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit traces the path Spirit drove during its prime mission of 90 sols. The base image for this map was taken seconds before landing by Spirit's downward-looking descent image motion estimation system camera.

The drive route planned for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during its extended mission is represented by the green line in this traverse map. The gold line traces the path Spirit drove during its prime mission of 90 sols.

One objective for the rover's extended mission is to continue eastward to reach the high ground named "Columbia Hills," still about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away at the beginning of the extended mission.

The base image for this map was taken from orbit by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. The entire area is within Gusev Crater.

Following a long drive, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this backwards glance at its tracks across the landscape on sol 90 of its mission (April 4, 2004). The image is from Spirit's navigation camera.

The rear hazard-avoidance camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity caught this view of the rover's freshly made tracks after a record drive of 100 meters (328 feet) during sol 70 of the rover's mission (April 5, 2004).

This image from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's navigation camera shows the rover's forward view at Meridiani Planum, Mars, on Sol 70 of the mission (April 5, 2004). The crater dubbed "Endurance Crater," a future rover target less than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) away, can be seen on the far right. On the left is a trough region dubbed "Anatolia," located some 150 meters (492 feet) away from the rover's previous location "Eagle Crater." The shadow of the rover's panoramic camera mast assembly can be seen on the bottom right.

This enhanced false-color mosaic image from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit panoramic camera shows the view acquired after the rover drove approximately 50.2 meters (165 feet) on the martian afternoon of sol 89 (April 3, 2004). The view shows the direction of the rover's future drive destination. In the distance are the eastern-lying "Columbia Hills." This image was assembled from images in the panoramic camera's near-infrared (750 nanometer), green (530 nanometer), and violet (432 nanometer) filters. The colors have been exaggerated to enhance the differences between cleaner and dustier rocks, and lighter and darker soils.