STEVE SQUYRES: We got to Sol 90 for both rovers and we had fun. So we’re doing rover drag races. I mean, the two rovers were competing with each other to see who could do the most meters on a given Sol.
ANGELA BASSETT (V.O.) Rover Diary:
What we really need is more bedrock, deeper down in the ground. The closest thing is that big crater off to the east named Endurance.
ANGELA BASSETT (V.O.) Rover Diary: Sol 99 for Spirit; head for the hills.
STEVE SQUYRES: The beautiful thing about that crater is it is a time-ordered sequence of events preserved like a book that you can read with the old rocks at the bottom and younger and younger and younger rocks piled up on top.
DOUG ELLISON: With Spirit we had this disappointment, like this landing site is not what we thought it would be.
ILM SFX ANIMATION: Oppy looks down on the edge of Endurance…
ABIGAIL FRAEMAN: But Spirit looked off, and there were these hills rising in the distance which were named the Columbia Hills. And so if there’s any potential evidence of drinkable water, maybe we’ll find it in them hills.
STEVE SQUYRES: There’s scientific gold down there, but we had never intended to drive a rover down such a steep slope.
ILM SFX ANIMATION: Oppy trekking towards Endurance.
DOUG ELLISON: It’s very easy to kill a robot on another planet when you’re on a place like Endurance.
ABIGAIL FRAEMAN: And, on the other side of the planet, our lucky rover, Opportunity, was on a whole other adventure.
PRODUCTION ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE STEVE SQUYRES: “I would plan to drive as far down as we need to drive.” ABIGAIL FRAEMAN: The tension between scientists and engineers is the scientists are the ones who want to do the crazy thing. You know, “I want to drive at this 35° slope ’cause that rock is so interesting.” And the engineers are the ones who say, “No, no, no, that’s not safe. You can’t do that. This thing you want to do is completely bananas.” PRODUCTION ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE Matt Wallace: “Frankly, if we can’t climb pretty reliably up these rocks, we’re not going into this crater.”
ASHLEY STROUPE: So we built a big test bed with basically a full-scale model of the rover. PRODUCTION ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE ROB MANNING: “Whoa, a little slippage here.”
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