The thing that sets Mars apart is that it is the one planet that is enough like Earth that you can imagine life possibly once having taken hold there.
I want to make as many people as possible feel like they are part of this adventure. We are going to give everybody a sense of what exploring the surface of another world is really like.
Mars is telling us something. I'm not sure what it is because It's speaking martian. But it's telling us something
We didn't know if the rover could climb up or down the hills of the crater.
These rovers are living on borrowed time. We're so past warranty on them. You try to push them hard every day because we're living day to day.
I can't ever remember not wanting to be a scientist.
Is there water still on Mars? I don't have a view on that because we don't have good data to answer that question. One of the biggest mistakes you can make if you're a scientist is to think you know the answer, or wish for a certain answer, before you actually have it.
That's really what science is just trying to figure stuff out, and I like figuring stuff out.
My style of leadership is to lead with the lightest touch that I possibly can.
What we initially conceived as a fairly simple geologic experiment on Mars ultimately turned into humanity's first real overland expedition across another planet. Spirit explored just as we would have, seeing a distant hill, climbing it, and showing us the vista from the summit. And she did it in a way that allowed everyone on Earth to be part of the adventure.
We have concluded that the rocks here were once soaked in liquid water. It changed their texture, and it changed their chemistry. We've been able to read the tell-tale clues the water left behind, giving us confidence in that conclusion.
There's no way to actually turn the rover off.
The rocks, to a great extent, look swept clean. It's a much cleaner surface than what we had a right to hope for.
Having been given that public trust, we have a responsibility to share with the public.
