The Rover Spirit

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Spirit is located just south of the Martian equator and is just now getting over its bout with the Martian winter.  The rover was never without the Sun completely because it was near the equator, the “Martian tropics” as is were.  Phoenix isn’t so lucky, located in the Martian arctic, soon to have no Sun to produce power to keep the internal components somewhat warm, the Martian winter will claim the lander, sadly the end is just a couple weeks away.

Spirit is shown in this nice Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image, here’s the description from the MER website (they also have a much larger version than I have here):

Clear skies and low-angle sunlight are an outdoor photographer’s dream. On the shortest day of Martian winter, June 24, 2008, Spirit had both. Conditions were ideal for an orbiter’s shot of the Mars rover parked on the sunlit slope of a volcanic plateau. Shadows outlined shapes in the landscape, such as the upturned edges of the bowl-shaped plateau known as “Home Plate.” Shadows also reveal nearby ridges, slopes, and large boulders. Spirit is the dark “bump,” marked by a yellow arrow.

Detailed images such as this one will help scientists select a future path for Spirit. For plotting a path on Mars, a powerful orbiting camera, long shadows, and a clear sky are about as good as it gets.