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Dust Storm Over Northern Mar
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| Title |
Dust Storm Over Northern Mars |
| Explanation |
Almost on cue [ http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_998_1.asp ], as Mars nears its closest approach to planet Earth in recorded history, ominous seasonal [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/06/28/ index.html ] dust storms are beginning to kick up. Observers [ http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/online.bks/mars/ chap15.htm ] worry that the activity may presage the development of a planet wide dust storm [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011017.html ], frustrating attempts to view Mars in the coming months, a situation similar to the Red Planet's uncooperative behavior [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010727.html ] in 2001. In this example [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/05/28/ index.html ], recorded in mid-May by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft camera, a dust storm the size of a continent sweeps north and east (toward the upper right) across Mars' northern Acidalia Planitia. Meanwhile [ http://humbabe.arc.nasa.gov/mgcm/fun/mars_chro.html ], interplanetary robotic explorers Mars Express [ http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/ index.cfm?fareaid=9 ]/ Beagle 2 [ http://www.beagle2.com/index.htm ], Nozomi [ http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/enterp/missions/nozomi/ index.html ], and the twin Mars Exploration Rovers [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/ ] Opportunity and Spirit, are all bound for Mars and should arrive by early January 2004. |
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Valles Marineris from Mars E
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| Title |
Valles Marineris from Mars Express |
| Explanation |
Looking down from orbit on January 14, ESA's Mars Express [ http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=9 ] spacecraft scanned a 1700 by 65 kilometer swath across Valles Marineris [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030824.html ] - the Grand Canyon of Mars - with its remarkable High Resolution Stereo Camera. This spectacular picture [ http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/ SEMWF0474OD_1.html#subhead1 ] reconstructs part of the scanned region from the stereo colour image data recording the rugged terrain with a resolution of 12 metres per pixel. Joining Mars Global Surveyor [ http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ] and Mars Odyssey [ http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/ ], Mars Express [ http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/ index.cfm?fobjectid=31388 ] has been orbiting the red planet since December 25th, returning scientific data, acting as a communications relay, and even making coordinated [ http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/ SEM8XX374OD_0.html ] atmospheric observations with NASA's Spirit rover [ http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html ] on the surface. The Beagle 2 [ http://www.beagle2.com/index.htm ] lander was released from Mars Express making a landing attempt also on December 25th, but no signal has been received so far. Opportunity Mars Landing News [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html ] |
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Isidis Planitia
PIA05019
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Isidis Planitia |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
24 December 2003 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a small portion of the vast Isidis Planitia, the region in which the Beagle 2 [ http://beagle2.open.ac.uk ] is scheduled to land on 25 December 2003 (GMT, it will be the evening of 24 December 2003 in the U.S.). Much of Isidis Planitia has low hills and mounds like those shown here. Many of these are remnants of a layer (or group of sub-resolution layers) that once more extensively covered Isidis Planitia, but was later stripped away, revealing previously-buried meteor impact craters. The light-toned ridges and somewhat squiggly features are windblown dunes. This picture is located around 10.7°N, 268.6°W, which is in the vicinity of the projected Beagle 2 landing zone. The picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left/lower left. |
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Mars on 25 December 2003
PIA05125
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars on 25 December 2003 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
8 January 2004 This is how Mars appeared to the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) wide angle system on 25 December 2003, the day that Beagle 2 and Mars Express reached the red planet. The large, dark region just left of center is Syrtis Major, a persistent low albedo terrain known to astronomers for nearly four centuries before the first spacecraft went to Mars. Immediately to the right (east) of Syrtis Major is the somewhat circular plain, Isidis Planitia. Beagle 2 arrived in Isidis Planitia only about 18 minutes before Mars Global Surveyor flew over the region and acquired a portion of this global view. Relative to other global images of Mars acquired by MGS over the past several martian years, the surface features were not as sharp and distinct on 25 December 2003 because of considerable haze kicked up by large dust storms in the western and southern hemispheres during th previous two weeks. The picture is a composite of several MGS MOC red and blue daily global images that have been map-projected and digitally wrapped to a sphere. Although the effect here is minor, inspection of this mosaic shows zones that appear smudged or blurry. The high dust opacity on 25 December impacted MOC's oblique viewing geometry toward the edges of each orbit's daily global mapping image, thus emphasizing the "blurry" zones between images acquired on successive orbits. |
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18 Minutes After Beagle 2 La
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PIA05026
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
18 Minutes After Beagle 2 Landing |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
31 December 2003 This oblique Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) wide angle red image shows the Beagle 2 landing zone about 18 minutes after the probe was scheduled to touch down on 25 December 2003. Mars Global Surveyor passed to the west of the site shortly after touch-down, so this image was taken looking east. The white ellipse shows the approximate location of the landing site. The largest crater to the northwest (toward upper left) of the ellipse is about 28 km (17.4 mi) across. The image is streaked and has low contrast because of the combined effects of looking obliquely and the presence of a thin veil of dust that not only hung over this region, but over most of Mars on 25 December 2003. During the previous 2 weeks, a large dust storm, followed by several smaller regional-scale storms, lifted dust in the western hemisphere of Mars. This dust drifted over most of the planet, reducing contrast and degrading the quality of MGS MOC images such as this one. This MOC image is important because it shows that there were no dust storms or other weather phenomena happening at the landing site the day Beagle 2 arrived. The landing site is located in Isidis Planitia near 11°N, 269.7°W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left. This and several other images processed by Malin Space Science Systems, Inc. were shown by the Beagle 2 team during a press conference on 29 December 2003. These and other Beagle 2 images can be seen at: http://www.beagle2.com/resources/landingphotos.htm [ http://www.beagle2.com/resources/landingphotos.htm ]. The Beagle 2 web site is at: http://www.beagle2.com [ http://www.beagle2.com ]. Weekly weather reports for the Beagle 2 and Mars Exploration Rover sites, based on MOC image analysis, can be seen at: http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/mer_weather [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/mer_weather ]. |
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