# Adirondack (Mars)

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Boulder on Mars

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (November 2010)

Adirondack Rock (Above) An approximate true-color view of "Adirondack" rock, taken by Spirit's pancam. (Right) Digital camera image (from Spirit's Pancam) of "Adirondack" rock after a RAT grind (Spirit's rock-grinding tool) Feature type Rock Coordinates 14°36′S 175°30′E / 14.6°S 175.5°E / -14.6; 175.5

**Adirondack** is the nickname for [Mars Exploration Rover](/source/Mars_Exploration_Rover_Mission) [*Spirit*](/source/MER-A)'s first target [rock](/source/Rock_(geology)).[1] Scientists chose Adirondack to be *Spirit*'s first target rock after considering another, called Sashimi, that would have been a shorter, straight-ahead drive.[2] *Spirit* traversed the sandy Martian terrain at [Gusev Crater](/source/Gusev_Crater) to arrive in front of this [football](/source/Football_(ball))-sized rock on January 18, 2004, just three days after it successfully rolled off the [lander](/source/Lander_(spacecraft)).[3]

Scientists named the angular rock after the [Adirondack mountain range](/source/Adirondack_Mountains) in [New York](/source/New_York_(state)).

Cross-section of a typical rock from the plains of [Gusev crater](/source/Gusev_crater) - most rocks contain a coating of dust - water-deposited veins are visible.

The rock was selected as *Spirit*'s first target because its dust-free, flat surface was ideally suited for grinding. Clean surfaces also are better for examining a rock's top coating.[3] *Spirit* also returned [microscopic](/source/Microscope) images and Mössbauer spectrometer readings of Adirondack taken the day before the rover developed computer and communication problems on January 22, 2004. Both are unprecedented investigations of any rock on another [planet](/source/Planet). The microscopic images indicate Adirondack is a hard, [crystalline](/source/Crystalline) rock. The peaks large and small in Adirondack's [electromagnetic spectrum](/source/Electromagnetic_spectrum) reveal that the [minerals](/source/Minerals) in the rock include [olivine](/source/Olivine), [pyroxene](/source/Pyroxene) and [magnetite](/source/Magnetite) - a common composition in volcanic [basalt](/source/Basalt) rocks on Earth.[4]

Adirondack turned out to be typical of the other rocks on the plains. [*Spirit* rover](/source/Spirit_Rover)'s instruments determined that Adironack and other rocks of the plains contain the minerals [pyroxene](/source/Pyroxene), [olivine](/source/Olivine), [plagioclase](/source/Plagioclase), and [magnetite](/source/Magnetite). These rocks can be classified in different ways. The amounts and types of minerals make the rocks primitive basalts—also called [picritic basalts](/source/Picritic_basalts). The rocks are similar to ancient terrestrial rocks called basaltic [komatiites](/source/Komatiites). Rocks of the plains also resemble the basaltic [shergottites](/source/Shergottite), meteorites which came from Mars. One classification system compares the amount of alkali elements to the amount of silica on a graph; in this system, Gusev plains rocks lie near the junction of basalt, [picrobasalt](/source/Picrobasalt), and tephrite. The Irvine-Barager classification calls them basalts.[5] Adirondack has been very slightly altered, probably by thin films of water because they are softer and contain veins of light-colored material that may be bromine compounds, as well as coatings or rinds. Small amounts of water may have gotten into cracks inducing mineralization processes.[6][7] Coatings on the rocks in the plains may have occurred when rocks were buried and interacted with thin films of water and dust.[8] One sign that they were altered was that it was easier to grind these rocks compared to the same types of rocks found on Earth.[8]

## See also

- [Aeolis quadrangle](/source/Aeolis_quadrangle)

- [Composition of Mars](/source/Composition_of_Mars)

- [List of rocks on Mars](/source/List_of_rocks_on_Mars)

- [Scientific information from the Mars Exploration Rover mission](/source/Scientific_information_from_the_Mars_Exploration_Rover_mission)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Spirit Drives to First Target - NASA"](https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/spirit-drives-first-target/). Retrieved 2026-04-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Spirit Drives to a Rock Called 'Adirondack' for Close Inspection"](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/spirit-drives-to-a-rock-called-adirondack-for-close-inspection/). *NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)*. Retrieved 2026-04-01.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_3-1) [""They of the Great Rocks" - NASA Science"](https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/they-of-the-great-rocks/). 2004-01-19. Retrieved 2026-04-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Spaceflight Now | Destination Mars | Thousands of files deleted on Spirit to fix computer trouble"](https://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040201spirit.html). *spaceflightnow.com*. Retrieved 2026-04-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** McSween, etal. 2004. "Basaltic Rocks Analyzed by the Spirit Rover in Gusev Crater". *Science* : 305. 842-845

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** McSween, etal. 2004. Basaltic Rocks Analyzed by the Spirit Rover in Gusev Crater. *Science* : 305. 842-845

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Arvidson, R. E., et al. (2004) *Science*, 305, 821-824

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:1_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:1_8-1) ["Aeolis quadrangle"](https://marspedia.org/Aeolis_quadrangle). *Marspedia*. Retrieved 2026-04-01.

## External links

- [Official Mars Rovers site](https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/index.cfm)

- [January 19, 2004 JPL press release](https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/newsroom/pressreleases/20040119a.html)

v t e Features on Mars visited by Spirit List of surface features of Mars visited by Spirit and Opportunity Craters Bonneville crater Gusev crater Thira crater Rocks (list) Adirondack Home Plate Humphrey Pot of Gold Other Husband Hill Larry's Lookout Sleepy Hollow Mars Exploration Rover Timeline of Spirit

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Adirondack (Mars)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adirondack_(Mars)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adirondack_(Mars)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.