Columbia Hills (Mars)

For more details on the Columbia Hills in Washington state, USA, see Columbia Hills (Washington).

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 (1.9 mi) 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.

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

Closeup of sand from sanddrift near top of Columbia Hills

See also

• Apollo 1 Hills
• Geography of Mars

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.