Columbia Hills

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The view of Columbia Hills from the Spirit landing site

Unlabelled overhead view of the Columbia Hills. A labelled version is available here.

The Columbia Hills are a range of low hills inside Gusev crater on Mars. They were observed by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit when it landed within the crater in 2004. They were promptly given an unofficial name by NASA since they were the most striking nearby feature on the surface. The hills lie approximately 3 kilometres away from the rover's original landing position. The range is named to memorialize the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. On February 2, 2004, the individual peaks of the Columbia Hills were named after the seven astronauts who died in the disaster.

Spirit is currently exploring the region between Husband Hill and McCool Hill. Mission planners intend to ascend McCool Hill in the upcoming Martian summer.

The seven peaks are, from north to south:

• Anderson Hill - named after Michael P. Anderson
• Brown Hill - named after David M. Brown
• Chawla Hill - named after Kalpana Chawla
• Clark Hill - named after Laurel Clark
• Husband Hill - named after Rick D. Husband
• McCool Hill - named after William C. McCool
• Ramon Hill - named after Ilan Ramon

Sand drift near top of Columbia Hills

[edit] See also

• Apollo 1 Hills
• Geography of Mars

[edit] External links

• Google Mars infrared view of the Columbia Hills
• Official Mars Rovers site
• Everest panorama - anaglyph view from the top of Husband Hill. For a better view open this URL in QuickTime Player and then maximize the player. Red-blue glasses required.

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