Daily Updates - April 16, 2004
Spirit Status at end of sol 100

With 100 sols under her belt and 706.5 meters (.44 miles) on her odometer, Spirit keeps on roving toward the Columbia Hills.

Spirit began sol 100, which ended at 12:35 a.m. PDT, on April 15, 2004, by closing the doors on the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, stowing the robotic arm and backing up from the rock called "Route 66" in preparation for an afternoon drive. Before taking off, Spirit used the miniature thermal emission spectrometer to examine a patch of Route 66's surface that had been scrubbed in a daisy-shaped mosaic of brushings by the rock abrasion tool. In the early martian afternoon, the rover began a 64-meter (210 feet) drive, Spirit's longest one-sol drive so far. The final 24 meters (78.7 feet) of the drive were navigated with the enhanced autonomous navigation capabilities of Spirit's newly uploaded software. The new software has nearly doubled the meters-per-hour rate to 32 (105 feet-per-hour).

After the traverse, Spirit completed post-drive imaging and used the miniature thermal emission spectrometer on sky and ground targets.

Sol 101, which will end at 1:14 a.m. PDT on April 16, 2004, will be a remote science and driving sol for Spirit as she continues to make her way toward the Columbia Hills.

Spirit Daily Update Archive