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NEW SCIENTIST
The Mars rover Spirit is now within a few hundred metres of the hills it has been trundling towards since March.
Images of the Columbia hills suggest there may be outcrops of layered rock to examine, as well as many large boulders.
"This is the first time we've ever had a close look at hills on Mars," said James Rice, of Arizona State University, Tempe, and a member of the rovers' science team. In 1997, the Mars Pathfinder rover landed about 1000 metres from hills, but did not go closer.
The hills are a tantalising target for the science team as they may hold different types of rocks to those already seen, which could reveal more about Mars's geological history. "These rocks are much older than what we've been driving across," Rice said at a press conference at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Wednesday. "They may be some of the oldest material ever seen on Mars."
The hills rise about 100 metres above the plain Spirit is on, and feature spurs and talus slopes of rock debris. The hills could have been formed by a number of phenomena - volcanic activity, rock deformation or meteorite impact. Spirit is likely to take about a week to travel the last 400 metres.
Computer reboot
But the rover's journey has not been trouble-free. In May, the robotic rover suffered two unexpected computer reboots triggered by software glitches.
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