Spirit was never designed to last this long.
You know, the rover was never designed to
go through Martian winter, and she went through
three winters successfully. They were never
designed to survive rover-killing dust storms,
and yet Spirit survived several significant
dust storms. Spirit climbed the 'Husband Hill,'
so did Martian mountaineering, yet another
thing it was never designed to do. So out
of this rover that had a very limited scope
of mission to begin with, we were able to
do these magnificent adventures, and the rover
was very successful on that. It's a testament
to the people who designed and built the rover,
and a testament to the people who operated
the rover on the surface. The whole mission
has had an amazing ability to turn what looks
initially like it's going to be adversity
into a great triumph. And Spirit in particular
has really been known for this quality. One
of the things that characterized Spirit on
the surface of Mars, was the ability of that
rover to turn lemons into lemonade. A couple
years into the mission, Spirit's right front
wheel broke.
And we had to learn to drive the rover backwards.
In fact, re-learn how to drive the rover.
And we would drag that wheel. But out of that
adversity came perhaps the most significant
scientific discovery on the surface of Mars.
We were hoping that Spirit would find evidence
of past water history on Mars. And not only
did Spirit find evidence of past water history
on Mars, she found evidence of ph neutral
water at 'Comanche Spur.' And she found evidence
of hot water existing and kind of acting for
long periods of time in the region near 'Home
Plate,' which we call 'Silica Valley.' So
from a science perspective, Spirit smashed
expectations.
She did way better than we would ever possibly
have hoped for. What Spirit has told us, is
that Mars was at one time like the Earth,
some three-and-a-half to four billion years
ago. There was liquid water on the surface,
there was a thicker atmosphere, there were
warmer temperatures. And there were even sources
of energy things like hot springs. These were
all discoveries that Spirit has made. And
this completely changes our thinking about
Mars -- that Mars was in fact, at one time,
a place that could have supported life.
Spirit's legacy in terms of Mars exploration
might be that she's made Mars a real place
for us. She has helped to see what we would
see if we were there. I also hope that she,
again, has a broader legacy in terms of continuing
to inspire people. To explore, to reach out
beyond what they think they can accomplish.
We always knew that there would come a time
when one of the rovers wouldn't be there.
That's the interesting thing, is that you
do become very attached. And you think of
these rovers really as part of your team and
part of your family. For years now, I've been
getting the question: well how are you going
to feel when she's gone? And I've always had
this image of, sort of the New Orleans jazz
funeral procession, where there's some sadness,
of course. Because Spirit has been, essentially
my entire career at JPL working with these
two rovers. There is just so much to celebrate.
A life, if you will, that lasted beyond any
expectation and discovered wonderful things.
So it's very bittersweet. I'm always going
to be really proud of Spirit.
You know, Spirit was my first Mars rover and
if you've ever had a first car, you know a
little bit about what that's like. I have
loved Spirit from the early days when it seemed
like nobody else did, and I still do, and
she's always going to have a special place
to me, in my heart. I was there with her at
the very beginning. And she just took me,
and everybody, on a terrific ride across the
surface of Mars, showed us things that nobody
had ever seen before in the history of humanity.
She opened up that other world for us and
made it possible for us to see it for the
first time as if we were there. And I'm always
going to be -- you know it's the kind of thing
I grew up dreaming about when I was a kid.
And to get a chance to do that for real, with
my real life, you know, Spirit made that happen
for me.
And she's always going to be special to me
just for that alone.
