Columbia Hills
The Columbia Hills are a flat, approx. 5 km long and up to 3 km wide mountain range on Mars . They are located within the great Gusev crater . They were discovered by the Spirit lander , which sank successfully in the crater in 2004.
Surname
At first the mountains were called the East Hill Complex . But later they renamed a few days after they previously in crashed space shuttle Columbia in Columbia Hills to, with seven individually identifiable surveys were named after each one of it perished astronauts.
Hills
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 B. Clark
- Husband Hill - named after Rick D. Husband
- McCool Hill - named after William C. McCool
- Ramon Hill - named after Ilan Ramon
Husband Hill has been particularly well known and researched. Spirit climbed it in about 400 Martian days ( Sols ). The rover began its ascent on a ledge on the hill called West Spur. Then he drove north along the flank and then came to the Tennessee Valley. For the first time, you could take a look at the land behind the mountains. Then he drove along a ridge in the valley to the top. The mountain rises about 100 to 120 meters above the surrounding plain. For a long time Husband Hill was considered the largest of the Columbia Hills. More precise measurements showed, however, that the neighboring McCool Hill to the south is a few meters higher.
During the ascent, a unique view opened up over the entire Gusev crater and many breathtaking panoramic images were obtained. As the rover descended again in a southerly direction, it was exploring a place that could only be seen on satellite images as a large black spot on the slope of Husband Hills. It was a dune field, which was named in El Dorado. Spirit drove through a small valley between Husband Hill and McCool Hill. On the basis of this, he researched a geological feature - the home plate, a stone tablet with a diameter of around 100 m.
Spirit overwintered on the McCool Hills slope in 2006/2007. The slope of the slope enabled the solar panels to have a more favorable angle of incidence to the lower sun during the Martian winter.
