3. Now we have figuratively and literally reached our destination. I have previously emphasized that you should pay close attention to Kilroy's rock and notice how its appearance evolves over the course of the six days Spirit spent at Bonneville.
Finally, it's time to see why I have gone into so much detail presenting context and background…
2. Ok, so you've had a good look at "the rock" imaged by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit (MER-A) on sol (Martian day) 66. You have some perspective as to where it sits (next to the rim of Bonneville crater) and what's around it (near a large relatively darkly colored rock and close to a smaller rock with an X on it's end.) You have also…
1. Conventional wisdom suggests that present day Mars is a barren and desolate world incapable of supporting even the simplest forms of life. This is a notion which the composite panoramic photograph above does nothing to dispel. In keeping with that assumption, robotic missions sent to the red planet…
A Framework For The Evaluation And Characterization Of Select Surficial Martian Objects From Mars Exploration Rover Spirit Images
This article was written to document and detail the steps taken in the analysis and evaluation of select surficial objects as captured in images taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in March 2004. Analysis and research into a specific object began on March 18, 2004 with the web publication of a panorama image of the Bonneville Crater’s edge. The foundation of this paper was begun concurrent with the analysis of images. Formal writing began after 2005 and was supplemented with data and perspectives from scholarly works gained from the landing of Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity. Final updates to rectify an overly terse original were made in 2025. The previously unreleased paper was not intended for publication in any scholarly journal, nor used as a promotional effort for the web site Kilroyonmars.com but, rather as a stand alone effort to be distributed when the time was appropriate. It is assumed that the original un-enhanced version has been seen despite having not been made public.
Get out your 3D glasses to view these images! In addition to being really cool, these anaglyphs are of practical use in helping us to better understand what we are seeing. In copmparison to standard two dimensional images 3D imaging provides us with a great deal more information in two ways. The first is that two separate images of the same object provides us with what in essence is greater resolution from the use of two separate images are used to create the effect. The second is that addition of a third spatial dimension inherent in the anaglyph format helps us to differentiate between objects and to better understand relative placement and separation between objects that we might not see in the 2D image.
NASA Spacecraft Confirms Martian Water, Mission Extended
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Laboratory tests aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander have identified water in a soil sample. The lander's robotic arm delivered the sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by the heating of samples.
The controversial observation could be explained by the mission's previous discovery of perchlorate salts in the soil, since the salts can keep water liquid at sub-zero temperatures. Researchers say this antifreeze effect makes it possible for liquid water to be widespread just below the surface of Mars, but point out that even if it is there, it may be too salty to support life as we know it.
A few days after Phoenix landed on 25 May 2008, it sent back an image showing mysterious splotches of material attached to one of its legs. Strangely, the splotches grew in size over the next few weeks, and Phoenix scientists have been debating the origin of the objects ever since.
An analyst born 53 days before NASA. A midwesterner now living in the southeast. 
