Columbia Hills

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The view of Columbia Hills from the Spirit landing site
The view of Columbia Hills from the Spirit landing site
Unlabelled overhead view of the Columbia Hills. A labelled version is available here.
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.

The seven peaks are, from north to south:

Sand drift near top of Columbia Hills
Sand drift near top of Columbia Hills

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