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Imager for Mars Pathfinder and Mars Pathfinder from 1997
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360 Degree Panorama Mars Pat
| Title |
360 Degree Panorama Mars Pathfinder Landing Site |
| Full Description |
This is the first contiguous, uniform 360-degree color panorama taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) over the course of sols 8, 9, and 10 (Martian days). Different regions were imaged at different times over the three Martian days to acquire consistent lighting and shadow conditions for all areas of the panorama. At left is a lander petal and a metallic mast which is a portion of the low-gain antenna. On the horizon the double "Twin Peaks" are visible, about 1-2 kilometers away. The rock "Couch" is the dark, curved rock at right of Twin Peaks. Another lander petal is at left-center, showing the fully deployed forward ramp at far left, and rear ramp at right, which rover Sojourner used to descend to the surface of Mars on July 5. Immediately to the left of the rear ramp is the rock Barnacle Bill, which scientists found to be andesitic, possibly indicating that it is a volcanic rock (a true andesite) or a physical mixture of particles. Just beyond Barnacle Bill, rover tracks lead to Sojourner, shown using its Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument to study the large rock Yogi. Yogi, low in quartz content, appears to be more primitive than Barnacle Bill, and appeared more like the common basalts found on Earth. The tracks and circular pattern in the soil leading up to Yogi were part of Sojourner's soil mechanics experiments, in which varying amounts of pressure were applied to the wheels in order to determine physical properties of the soil. During its traverse to Yogi the rover stirred the soil and exposed material from several centimeters in depth. During one of the turns to deploy Sojourner's Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer, the wheels dug particularly deeply and exposed white material. Spectra of this white material show it is virtually identical to the rock Scooby Doo, and such white material may underlie much of the site. Deflated airbags are visible at the perimeter of all three lander petals. The IMP is a stereo imaging system with color capability provided by 24 selectable filters, twelve filters per "eye." Its red, green, and blue filters were used to take this image. The IMP, in its fully deployed configuration, stands 1.8 meters above the Martian surface, and has a resolution of two millimeters at a range of two meters. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
| Date |
07/18/1997 |
| NASA Center |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
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Martian terrain & airbags -
| Title |
Martian terrain & airbags - 3D |
| Description |
Portions of the lander's deflated airbags and a petal are at the lower area of this image, taken in stereo by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 3. 3D glasses are necessary to identify surface detail. This image is part of a 3D "monster" panorama of the area surrounding the landing site. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. *Click below to see the left and right views individually.*[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Left [figure removed for brevity, see original site] Right |
| Date |
07.11.1997 |
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Martian terrain - 3D
| Title |
Martian terrain - 3D |
| Description |
An area of rocky terrain near the landing site of the Sagan Memorial Station can be seen in this image, taken in stereo by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 3. 3D glasses are necessary to identify surface detail. This image is part of a 3D "monster" panorama of the area surrounding the landing site. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. *Click below to see the left and right views individually.*[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Left [figure removed for brevity, see original site] Right |
| Date |
07.11.1997 |
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ASI/MET - 3D
| Title |
ASI/MET - 3D |
| Description |
The Atmospheric Structure Instrument/Meteorology Package (ASI/MET) is the mast and windsocks at the center of this color image, taken in stereo by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 3. The instrument appears in two different sections due to image parallax. The ASI/MET is an engineering subsytem that acquired atmospheric data during Pathfinder's descent, and will continue to get more data through the entire landed mission. The windsocks are seen pointing almost completely up, representing little wind movement at the three locations of the windsocks. A rock at left holds a shadow of the ASI/MET, indicating the sun's position is at the rear right. Portions of a lander petal and deflated airbag are visible, in addition to several rocks of varying sizes in the distance. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. *Click below to see the left and right views individually.*[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Left [figure removed for brevity, see original site] Right |
| Date |
07.11.1997 |
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Petal, terrain & airbags - 3
| Title |
Petal, terrain & airbags - 3D |
| Description |
Portions of the lander's deflated airbags and a petal are at the lower area of this image, taken in stereo by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 3. 3D glasses are necessary to identify surface detail. The metallic object at lower right is part of the lander's low-gain antenna. This image is part of a 3D "monster *Click below to see the left and right views individually.*[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Left [figure removed for brevity, see original site] Right |
| Date |
07.11.1997 |
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Phobos
| Title |
Phobos |
| Description |
Mars' innermost natural satellite, Phobos, is seen from the planet's surface in this Pathfinder image taken at night on Sol 56. This picture was acquired by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) camera. Using IMP images of Phobos and its companion moon Deimos, the spectral characteristics of the satellites and properties of the Martian atmosphere are determined. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
| Date |
11.03.1997 |
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Deflated Airbags and Yogi
| Title |
Deflated Airbags and Yogi |
| Description |
The left portion of this image, taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 3, shows the large rock nicknamed "Yogi." Portions of a petal and deflated airbag are in the foreground. Yogi has been an object of study for rover Sojourner's Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument. The APXS will help Pathfinder scientists learn more about the chemical composition of that rock. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
| Date |
07.15.1997 |
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Deimos
| Title |
Deimos |
| Description |
Mars' outermost natural satellite, Deimos, is seen from the planet's surface in this Pathfinder image taken at night on Sol 4. This picture was acquired by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) camera. Using IMP images of Deimos and its companion moon Phobos, the spectral characteristics of the satellites and properties of the Martian atmosphere are determined. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
| Date |
11.03.1997 |
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| Description |
Browse Image | Medium Image (62 kB) | Large (326 kB) |
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Sojourner Rover Near The Dic
PIA01122
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Sojourner Rover Near The Dice |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Lander image of rover near The Dice (three small rocks behind the rover) and Yogi on sol 22. Color (red, green, and blue filters at 6:1 compression) image shows dark rocks, bright red dust, dark red soil exposed in rover tracks, and dark (black) soil. The APXS is in view at the rear of the vehicle, and the forward stereo cameras and laser light stripers are in shadow just below the front edge of the solar panel. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine |
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Pathfinder Rover Atop Mermai
PIA01132
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Pathfinder Rover Atop Mermaid Dune |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Mars Pathfinder Lander camera image of Sojourner Rover atop the Mermaid "dune" on Sol 30. Note the dark material excavated by the rover wheels. These, and other excavations brought materials to the surface for examination and allowed estimates of mechanical properties of the deposits. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). |
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Mars Pathfinder Landing Site
PIA01124
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Mars Pathfinder Landing Site |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Mosaic of Viking orbiter images illustrating the location of the lander (19.17 degrees N, 33.21 degrees W in the USGS reference frame) with respect to surface features. Five prominent features on the horizon include North Knob, Southeast Knob, Far Knob, Twin Peaks, and Big Crater. Two small craters visible in the orbiter and lander views--Little Crater and Rimshot Crater--lie on the northwest outer flank of the rim of Big Crater. Because the lander is on the southeast-facing flank of a low ridge, very distant features to the south and east are in view, whereas relatively nearby features to the north are partially or completely obscured. Only the tip of North Knob, which appears larger in the Viking orbiter images than the Twin Peaks, projects above the local horizon, and a 300-m crater, 1.2 km to the northeast, is completely obscured. Viking stereo images 004A27 and 004A87 and 004A44 and 004A70. North is up, scale bar, 5 km. (Insets) (Upper right) Lander location. (Upper left) North Knob from lander. (Lower left) Far Knob from lander. (Lower right) Southeast Knob from lander. The location of the lander in inertial space (19.30 degrees N, 33.52degrees W) from the two-way ranging and Doppler tracking of the lander is coincident with Rimshot Crater. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine |
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Mars Pathfinder Landing Elli
PIA01123
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Mars Pathfinder Landing Ellipses |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Mosaic of Ares Vallis showing different landing ellipses, with color inset of the Chryse Planitia region of Mars showing the outflow channels. The large blue ellipse (100 km by 200 km) to the northwest is an ellipse in the USGS cartographic reference frame designed to avoid streamlined hills to the south and east, craters to the north, and etched terrain to the west (this ellipse is shown in the color inset). The large yellow ellipse (100 km by 200 km) displaced toward the southeast (by 20 km in longitude and 8 km in latitude) is the navigation target ellipse in the revised local cartographic reference frame (which are the latitude and longitude shown in this figure). The elongate light blue ellipse (98 km by 19 km) is the navigation prediction as of late 3 July and early 4 July, it includes part of the streamlined island in the southwest. The gold ellipse (15 km by 8 km) is the prediction with tracking through atmospheric entry. The pink ellipse (41 km by 15 km), which encloses the smallest ellipse (and the location of the lander), is the navigation result with dispersions added for atmospheric entry and descent. The blue X is the location of the lander with respect to surface features identified in Viking orbiter images (located at 19.33 degrees N, 33.55 degrees W in the local reference frame). The location of the lander in inertial space (19.30 degrees N, 33.52 degrees W) from the two-way ranging and Doppler tracking of the lander is at the very northwest edge of the crater, just 2.2 km to the south-southeast of the X. If the location of the lander in inertial space is forced to coincide with its location with respect to surface features, then the resulting cartographic frame is actually 2 km to the south and 0.8 km to the east of the local network. Color mosaic is part of the Oxia Palus Quadrangle (MC 11) of Mars, black and white mosaic from Viking orbiter images of 38 m/pixel resolution, north is at the top. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine |
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Rock and Soil Types at Pathf
PIA01154
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Rock and Soil Types at Pathfinder Landing Site |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Type areas of rocks and soils. (A) Dark rock type and bright soil type: Shown is the dark rock Barnacle Bill. Reflectance spectra typical of fresh basalt and APXS spectra indicating more silica-rich basaltic andesite compositions characterize this type. These rocks are typically the small boulders and intermediate-sized cobbles at the Pathfinder site. The bright soil type is very common and in this case comprises Barnacle Bill's wind tail and much of the surround soil area. This soil has a high reflectance and a strongly reddened spectrum indicative of oxidized ferric minerals. (B) Bright rock type: Shown is the bright rock Wedge. Reflectance spectra typical of weathered basalt and APXS spectra indicating basaltic compositions characterize this type. These rocks are typically larger than 1 meter in diameter and many display morphologies indicating flood deposition. (C) Pink rock type: Shown is the pink rock Scooby Doo. APXS and reflectance spectra indicate a composition and optical characteristics similar to the drift soil. However, the morphology of the pink rock type indicates a cemented or rocklike structure. This material may be a chemically cemented hardpan that underlies much of the Pathfinder site. (D) Dark soil type: The dark soil type is typically found on the windward sides of rocks or in rock-free areas like Photometry Flats (shown here) where the bright soil has been striped away by aeolian action or in open areas. Other locations include the Mermaid Dune. (E) Disturbed soil type: The darkening of disturbed soil relative to its parent material, bright soil, as a result of changes in soil texture and compaction caused by movement of the rover and retraction of the lander airbag. (F) Lamb-like soil type: This soil type shows reflectance and spectral characteristics intermediate between the bright and dark soils. Its distinguishing feature is a weak spectral absorption near 900 nanometers not seen in either the bright or dark soils. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). |
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Topographic Map of Pathfinde
PIA01152
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Topographic Map of Pathfinder Landing Site |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Topographic map of the landing site, to a distance of 60 meters from the lander in the LSC coordinate system. The lander is shown schematically in the center, 2.5 meter radius circle (black) centered on the camera was not mapped. Gentle relief [root mean square (rms) elevation variation 0.5 m, rms a directional slope 4O] and organization of topography into northwest and northeast-trending ridges about 20 meters apart are apparent. Roughly 30% of the illustrated area is hidden from the camera behind these ridges. Contours (0.2 m interval) and color coding of elevations were generated from a digital terrain model, which was interpolated by kriging from approximately 700 measured points. Angular and parallax point coordinates were measured manually on a large (5 m length) anaglyphic uncontrolled mosaic and used to calculate Cartesian (LSC) coordinates. Errors in azimuth on the order of 10 are therefore likely, elevation errors were minimized by referencing elevations to the local horizon. The uncertainty in range measurements increases quadratically with range. Given a measurement error of 1/2 pixel, the expected precision in range is ~ 0.3 meter at 10 meter range, and ~ 10 meters at 60 meter range. Repeated measurements were made, compared, and edited for consistency to improve the range precision. Systematic errors undoubtedly remain and will be corrected in future maps compiled digitally from geometrically controlled images. Cartographic processing by U.S. Geological Survey. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). |
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Overhead View of Pathfinder
PIA01150
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Overhead View of Pathfinder Landing Site |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Planimetric (overhead view) map of the landing site, to a distance of 20 meters from the spacecraft. North is at the top in this and Plates 3-5. To produce this map, images were geometrically projected onto an assumed mean surface representing the ground. Features above the ground plane (primarily rocks) therefore appear displaced radially outward, the amount of distortion increases systematically with distance. The upper surfaces of the lander and rover also appear enlarged and displaced because of their height. Primary grid (white) is based on the Landing Site Cartographic (LSC) coordinate system, defined with X eastward, Y north, and Z up, and origin located at the mean ground surface immediately beneath the deployed position of the IMP camera gimbal center. Secondary ticks (cyan) are based on the Mars local level (LL) frame, which has X north, Y east, Z down, with origin in the center of the lander baseplate. Rover positions (including APXS measurements) are commonly reported in the LL frame. Yellow grid shows polar coordinates based on the LSC system. Cartographic image processing by U.S. Geological Survey. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). |
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Coordinate Map of Rocks at P
PIA01153
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Coordinate Map of Rocks at Pathfinder Landing Site |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Mars-local-level (LL frame) coordinate map of rocks counted at the Mars Pathfinder landing site. Positions, apparent diameters (D), and heights (H) were measured to the nearest centimeter in the Mars map virtual reality environment constructed from the "Monster Pan |
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Overhead View of Area Surrou
PIA01151
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Overhead View of Area Surrounding Pathfinder |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Overhead view of the area surrounding the Pathfinder lander illustrating the Sojourner traverse. Red rectangles are rover positions at the end of sols 1-30. Locations of soil mechanics experiments, wheel abrasion experiments, and APXS measurements are shown. The A numbers refer to APXS measurements as discussed in the paper by Rieder et al. (p. 1770, Science Magazine, see image note). Coordinates are given in the LL frame. The photorealistic, interactive, three-dimensional virtual reality (VR) terrain models were created from IMP images using a software package developed for Pathfinder by C. Stoker et al. as a participating science project. By matching features in the left and right camera, an automated machine vision algorithm produced dense range maps of the nearfield, which were projected into a three-dimensional model as a connected polygonal mesh. Distance and angle measurements can be made on features viewed in the model using a mouse-driven three-dimensional cursor and a point-and-click interface. The VR model also incorporates graphical representations of the lander and rover and the sequence and spatial locations at which rover data were taken. As the rover moved, graphical models of the rover were added for each position that could be uniquely determined using stereo images of the rover taken by the IMP. Images taken by the rover were projected into the model as two-dimensional "billboards" to show the proper perspective of these images. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). |
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Panoramic Views of the Landi
PIA01149
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Panoramic Views of the Landing site from Sagan Memorial Station |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Each of these panoramic views is a controlled mosaic of approximately 300 IMP images covering 360 degrees of azimuth and elevations from approximately 4 degrees above the horizon to 45 degrees below it. Simultaneous adjustment of orientations of all images has been performed to minimize discontinuities between images. Mosaics have been highpass-filtered and contrast-enhanced to improve discrimination of details without distorting relative colors overall. TOP IMAGE: Enhanced true-color image created from the "Gallery Pan" sequence, acquired on sols 8-10 so that local solar time increases nearly continuously from about 10:00 at the right edge to about 12:00 at the left. Mosaics of images obtained by the right camera through 670 nm, 530 nm, and 440 nm filters were used as red, green and blue channels. Grid ticks indicate azimuth clockwise from north in 30 degree increments and elevation in 15 degree increments. BOTTOM IMAGE: Anaglyphic stereoimage created from the "monster pan" sequence, acquired in four sections between about 8:30 and 15:00 local solar time on sol 3. Mosaics of images obtained through the 670 nm filter (left camera) and 530 and 440 nm filters (right camera) were used where available. At the top and bottom, left- and right-camera 670 nm images were used. Part of the northern horizon was not imaged because of the tilt of the lander. This image may be viewed stereoscopically through glasses with a red filter for the left eye and a cyan filter for the right eye. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). |
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Sunset on Mars from Pathfind
PIA07453
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Sunset on Mars from Pathfinder Images |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This illustration is a composite that creatively combines two previously released images from Mars Pathfinder for a sunset scene in Ares Valles in July 1997. The combined images are PIA01547 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01547 ] for the sky, and a portion of PIA01466 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01466 ] for the terrain. The sky image is a radiometrically correct, true-color sunset, with the sky near the Sun a pale blue color. The terrain image has been artistically adjusted to match the approximate time of day of the sky image (4:10 p.m. local solar time at the landing site) and to provide a seamless horizon. The two source images are composites of several frames from the Imager for Mars Pathfinder camera. Additional information is available in the captions for the original images. |
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360 degree panorama of Marti
PIA00622
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
360 degree panorama of Martian surface |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This photomosaic was taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) camera on July 4, 1997 between 4:00-4:30 p.m. PDT. The foreground is dominated by the lander, newly renamed the Sagan Memorial Station after the late Dr. Carl Sagan. All three petals have been fully deployed. Upon one of the petals is the Sojourner microrover in its stowed position. The metallic cylinders at either end of Sojourner are the rover deployment ramps. Visible at the rear end (right) of the rover is the Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument. Located to the right of the center petal is a dark, circular object and a bright, metallic object. Both are components of the high gain antenna. The black post, bull's-eye rings, and small shaded blocks in the far right portion of the image are components of the calibration targets. Terrain of the Ares Vallis region of Mars is in the background. The sections of soil and the large rocks surrounding the lander will provide the rover with numerous opportunities to employ the APXS. The prominent hills in the background will aid scientists in determining the exact site of the spacecraft. The dark blocks at the lower and upper left of the panorama represent gaps in the data transmission to Earth. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
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The Twin Peaks in 3-D, as Vi
PIA00995
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
The Twin Peaks in 3-D, as Viewed by the Mars Pathfinder IMP Camera |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Twin Peaks are modest-size hills to the southwest of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. They were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The peaks are approximately 30-35 meters (-100 feet) tall. North Twin is approximately 860 meters (2800 feet) from the lander, and South Twin is about a kilometer away (3300 feet). The scene includes bouldery ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of the South Twin Peak. The large rock at the right edge of the scene is nicknamed "Hippo". This rock is about a meter (3 feet) across and 25 meters (80 feet) distant. This view of the Twin Peaks was produced by combining 4 individual "Superpan" scenes from the left and right eyes of the IMP camera to cover both peaks. Each frame consists of 8 individual frames (left eye) and 7 frames (right eye) taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution pancromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. The anaglyph view of the Twin Peaks was produced by combining the left and right eye mosaics (above) by assigning the left eye view to the red color plane and the right eye view to the green and blue color planes (cyan), to produce a stereo anaglyph mosaic. This mosaic can be viewed in 3-D on your computer monitor or in color print form by wearing red-blue 3-D glasses. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. Click below to see the left and right views individually. |
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The Twin Peaks in 3-D, as Vi
PIA00995
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
The Twin Peaks in 3-D, as Viewed by the Mars Pathfinder IMP Camera |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Twin Peaks are modest-size hills to the southwest of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. They were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The peaks are approximately 30-35 meters (-100 feet) tall. North Twin is approximately 860 meters (2800 feet) from the lander, and South Twin is about a kilometer away (3300 feet). The scene includes bouldery ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of the South Twin Peak. The large rock at the right edge of the scene is nicknamed "Hippo". This rock is about a meter (3 feet) across and 25 meters (80 feet) distant. This view of the Twin Peaks was produced by combining 4 individual "Superpan" scenes from the left and right eyes of the IMP camera to cover both peaks. Each frame consists of 8 individual frames (left eye) and 7 frames (right eye) taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution pancromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. The anaglyph view of the Twin Peaks was produced by combining the left and right eye mosaics (above) by assigning the left eye view to the red color plane and the right eye view to the green and blue color planes (cyan), to produce a stereo anaglyph mosaic. This mosaic can be viewed in 3-D on your computer monitor or in color print form by wearing red-blue 3-D glasses. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. Click below to see the left and right views individually. |
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The Twin Peaks in 3-D, as Vi
PIA00995
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
The Twin Peaks in 3-D, as Viewed by the Mars Pathfinder IMP Camera |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Twin Peaks are modest-size hills to the southwest of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. They were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The peaks are approximately 30-35 meters (-100 feet) tall. North Twin is approximately 860 meters (2800 feet) from the lander, and South Twin is about a kilometer away (3300 feet). The scene includes bouldery ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of the South Twin Peak. The large rock at the right edge of the scene is nicknamed "Hippo". This rock is about a meter (3 feet) across and 25 meters (80 feet) distant. This view of the Twin Peaks was produced by combining 4 individual "Superpan" scenes from the left and right eyes of the IMP camera to cover both peaks. Each frame consists of 8 individual frames (left eye) and 7 frames (right eye) taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution pancromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. The anaglyph view of the Twin Peaks was produced by combining the left and right eye mosaics (above) by assigning the left eye view to the red color plane and the right eye view to the green and blue color planes (cyan), to produce a stereo anaglyph mosaic. This mosaic can be viewed in 3-D on your computer monitor or in color print form by wearing red-blue 3-D glasses. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. Click below to see the left and right views individually. |
|
The Twin Peaks in 3-D, as Vi
PIA00995
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
The Twin Peaks in 3-D, as Viewed by the Mars Pathfinder IMP Camera |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Twin Peaks are modest-size hills to the southwest of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. They were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The peaks are approximately 30-35 meters (-100 feet) tall. North Twin is approximately 860 meters (2800 feet) from the lander, and South Twin is about a kilometer away (3300 feet). The scene includes bouldery ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of the South Twin Peak. The large rock at the right edge of the scene is nicknamed "Hippo". This rock is about a meter (3 feet) across and 25 meters (80 feet) distant. This view of the Twin Peaks was produced by combining 4 individual "Superpan" scenes from the left and right eyes of the IMP camera to cover both peaks. Each frame consists of 8 individual frames (left eye) and 7 frames (right eye) taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution pancromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. The anaglyph view of the Twin Peaks was produced by combining the left and right eye mosaics (above) by assigning the left eye view to the red color plane and the right eye view to the green and blue color planes (cyan), to produce a stereo anaglyph mosaic. This mosaic can be viewed in 3-D on your computer monitor or in color print form by wearing red-blue 3-D glasses. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. Click below to see the left and right views individually. |
|
The Twin Peaks in 3-D, as Vi
PIA00995
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
The Twin Peaks in 3-D, as Viewed by the Mars Pathfinder IMP Camera |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Twin Peaks are modest-size hills to the southwest of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. They were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The peaks are approximately 30-35 meters (-100 feet) tall. North Twin is approximately 860 meters (2800 feet) from the lander, and South Twin is about a kilometer away (3300 feet). The scene includes bouldery ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of the South Twin Peak. The large rock at the right edge of the scene is nicknamed "Hippo". This rock is about a meter (3 feet) across and 25 meters (80 feet) distant. This view of the Twin Peaks was produced by combining 4 individual "Superpan" scenes from the left and right eyes of the IMP camera to cover both peaks. Each frame consists of 8 individual frames (left eye) and 7 frames (right eye) taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution pancromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. The anaglyph view of the Twin Peaks was produced by combining the left and right eye mosaics (above) by assigning the left eye view to the red color plane and the right eye view to the green and blue color planes (cyan), to produce a stereo anaglyph mosaic. This mosaic can be viewed in 3-D on your computer monitor or in color print form by wearing red-blue 3-D glasses. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. Click below to see the left and right views individually. |
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Mars Pathfinder Landing Site
PIA09105
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
| Title |
Mars Pathfinder Landing Site and Surroundings |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
NASA's Mars Pathfinder landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, and continued operating until Sept. 27 of that year. The landing site is on an ancient flood plain of the Ares and Tiu outflow channels. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took an image on Dec. 21, 2006, that provides unprecedented detail of the geology of the region and hardware on the surface. "HiRISE Image" This is the entire image. The crater at center bottom was unofficially named "Big Crater" by the Pathfinder team. Its wall was visible from Pathfinder, located 3 kilometers (2 miles) to the north. The two bright features to the upper left of Big Crater are the "Twin Peaks," also observed by Pathfinder. The bright mound to the upper right of the Twin Peaks is "North Knob," seen in Pathfinder images as peaking over the horizon. At this scale there is no obvious geologic evidence of an ancient flood. Rather, impact craters dominate the scene, attesting to an old surface. The age is probably on the order of 1.8 billion to 3.5 billion years, when the Ares and Tiu floods are estimated to have occurred. Wind-formed linear ripples and dunes are seen throughout and are concentrated within craters. Sets of polygonal ridges of enigmatic origin are seen east of the Pathfinder lander. Rocks are visible over the entire image, with heavy concentrations near fresh-looking craters. Most of them are probably blocks tossed outward by crater-forming impacts. The complete image is centered at 19.1 degrees north latitude, 326.8 degrees east longitude. The range to the target site was 284.7 kilometers (177.9 miles). At this distance the image scale is 28.5 centimeters (11 inches) per pixel, so objects about 85 centimeters (33 inches) across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel. North is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:35 p.m., and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 52 degrees, thus the sun was about 38 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 154.0 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer. "Landing Site Region" This is a close-up of the area in the vicinity of the Pathfinder landing site. Major features are named. The white box outlines the area of the image, discussed next, where hardware is seen. "Hardware on the Surface", This image shows the Pathfinder lander on the surface. Zooming in, one can discern the ramps, science deck, and portions of the airbags on the Pathfinder lander. (See next image for closer view.) The back shell and parachute are to the south, and four features that may be portions of the heat shield are identified. Two of these were visible from Pathfinder. At the time of that mission, the nearest object was provisionally identified as the back shell. However, analysis of the HiRISE image and reinterpretation of Pathfinder images, plus an improved understanding of how hardware looks on the Martian surface based on ground-level and orbital images of the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites, indicate that the glint is bright enough that it may be insulating material from inside the heat shield. The back shell and parachute were out of sight behind a ridge from Pathfinder's ground view. One of the three bright features, identified as heat shield debris, was also identified during the Pathfinder mission. "Topographic Map of Landing Site Region" Portions of the HiRISE image are overlaid onto color-coded topographic maps constructed by the U.S. Geological Survey from stereo images acquired by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder on the lander. The white feature at the center is Pathfinder lander. The scales on the x and y axes are in meters, with the lander as the zero point. The color code for elevation relative to the lander is different in the left and right images, and shown in meters underneath each image. The correspondence between the overhead view revealed by HiRISE and the positions of topographic features inferred almost a decade ago from Pathfinder's horizontal view of the landscape is striking. The close-up on the right complements panoramas taken by the lander's camera, including the accompanying composite version showing the Sojourner rover at various locations it reached during the mission. "Mars Pathfinder Gallery Panorama" This version of the Gallery Panorama taken with the lander's Imager for Mars Pathfinder camera shows many of the locations where the mission's Sojourner rover ended a Martian day during the 12-week mission. (There was only one Sojourner. The image is a composite.) One annotation indicates the last known position of Sojourner, near the rock "Chimp," at the time of the final data transmission from the lander. The location labeled "Sojourner?" has been tentatively identified as the current position of the rover based on comparison of the ground-level view with the Dec. 21, 2006, image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. At the proposed current location of the rover, a feature can be discerned in the 2006 orbital image that is about the right size for Sojourner and wasn't present when the Gallery Panorama was taken. Some rocks and other features that can be identified in the orbiter's high-resolution view are labeled in this ground-level view. ", Topographic Perspective of Landing Site Region") This is a perspective view based on the topographic map and artificial color derived from Pathfinder and other data. The vertical scale is exaggerated by a factor of three, compared with horizontal dimensions. The white feature at center is the Pathfinder lander. It appears flat because the topographic map derived from the Imager for Mars Pathfinder data did not include the spacecraft itself. |
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Mars Pathfinder Landing Site
PIA09105
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
| Title |
Mars Pathfinder Landing Site and Surroundings |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
NASA's Mars Pathfinder landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, and continued operating until Sept. 27 of that year. The landing site is on an ancient flood plain of the Ares and Tiu outflow channels. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took an image on Dec. 21, 2006, that provides unprecedented detail of the geology of the region and hardware on the surface. "HiRISE Image" This is the entire image. The crater at center bottom was unofficially named "Big Crater" by the Pathfinder team. Its wall was visible from Pathfinder, located 3 kilometers (2 miles) to the north. The two bright features to the upper left of Big Crater are the "Twin Peaks," also observed by Pathfinder. The bright mound to the upper right of the Twin Peaks is "North Knob," seen in Pathfinder images as peaking over the horizon. At this scale there is no obvious geologic evidence of an ancient flood. Rather, impact craters dominate the scene, attesting to an old surface. The age is probably on the order of 1.8 billion to 3.5 billion years, when the Ares and Tiu floods are estimated to have occurred. Wind-formed linear ripples and dunes are seen throughout and are concentrated within craters. Sets of polygonal ridges of enigmatic origin are seen east of the Pathfinder lander. Rocks are visible over the entire image, with heavy concentrations near fresh-looking craters. Most of them are probably blocks tossed outward by crater-forming impacts. The complete image is centered at 19.1 degrees north latitude, 326.8 degrees east longitude. The range to the target site was 284.7 kilometers (177.9 miles). At this distance the image scale is 28.5 centimeters (11 inches) per pixel, so objects about 85 centimeters (33 inches) across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel. North is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:35 p.m., and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 52 degrees, thus the sun was about 38 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 154.0 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer. "Landing Site Region" This is a close-up of the area in the vicinity of the Pathfinder landing site. Major features are named. The white box outlines the area of the image, discussed next, where hardware is seen. "Hardware on the Surface", This image shows the Pathfinder lander on the surface. Zooming in, one can discern the ramps, science deck, and portions of the airbags on the Pathfinder lander. (See next image for closer view.) The back shell and parachute are to the south, and four features that may be portions of the heat shield are identified. Two of these were visible from Pathfinder. At the time of that mission, the nearest object was provisionally identified as the back shell. However, analysis of the HiRISE image and reinterpretation of Pathfinder images, plus an improved understanding of how hardware looks on the Martian surface based on ground-level and orbital images of the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites, indicate that the glint is bright enough that it may be insulating material from inside the heat shield. The back shell and parachute were out of sight behind a ridge from Pathfinder's ground view. One of the three bright features, identified as heat shield debris, was also identified during the Pathfinder mission. "Topographic Map of Landing Site Region" Portions of the HiRISE image are overlaid onto color-coded topographic maps constructed by the U.S. Geological Survey from stereo images acquired by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder on the lander. The white feature at the center is Pathfinder lander. The scales on the x and y axes are in meters, with the lander as the zero point. The color code for elevation relative to the lander is different in the left and right images, and shown in meters underneath each image. The correspondence between the overhead view revealed by HiRISE and the positions of topographic features inferred almost a decade ago from Pathfinder's horizontal view of the landscape is striking. The close-up on the right complements panoramas taken by the lander's camera, including the accompanying composite version showing the Sojourner rover at various locations it reached during the mission. "Mars Pathfinder Gallery Panorama" This version of the Gallery Panorama taken with the lander's Imager for Mars Pathfinder camera shows many of the locations where the mission's Sojourner rover ended a Martian day during the 12-week mission. (There was only one Sojourner. The image is a composite.) One annotation indicates the last known position of Sojourner, near the rock "Chimp," at the time of the final data transmission from the lander. The location labeled "Sojourner?" has been tentatively identified as the current position of the rover based on comparison of the ground-level view with the Dec. 21, 2006, image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. At the proposed current location of the rover, a feature can be discerned in the 2006 orbital image that is about the right size for Sojourner and wasn't present when the Gallery Panorama was taken. Some rocks and other features that can be identified in the orbiter's high-resolution view are labeled in this ground-level view. ", Topographic Perspective of Landing Site Region") This is a perspective view based on the topographic map and artificial color derived from Pathfinder and other data. The vertical scale is exaggerated by a factor of three, compared with horizontal dimensions. The white feature at center is the Pathfinder lander. It appears flat because the topographic map derived from the Imager for Mars Pathfinder data did not include the spacecraft itself. |
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Mars Pathfinder Landing Site
PIA09105
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
| Title |
Mars Pathfinder Landing Site and Surroundings |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
NASA's Mars Pathfinder landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, and continued operating until Sept. 27 of that year. The landing site is on an ancient flood plain of the Ares and Tiu outflow channels. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took an image on Dec. 21, 2006, that provides unprecedented detail of the geology of the region and hardware on the surface. "HiRISE Image" This is the entire image. The crater at center bottom was unofficially named "Big Crater" by the Pathfinder team. Its wall was visible from Pathfinder, located 3 kilometers (2 miles) to the north. The two bright features to the upper left of Big Crater are the "Twin Peaks," also observed by Pathfinder. The bright mound to the upper right of the Twin Peaks is "North Knob," seen in Pathfinder images as peaking over the horizon. At this scale there is no obvious geologic evidence of an ancient flood. Rather, impact craters dominate the scene, attesting to an old surface. The age is probably on the order of 1.8 billion to 3.5 billion years, when the Ares and Tiu floods are estimated to have occurred. Wind-formed linear ripples and dunes are seen throughout and are concentrated within craters. Sets of polygonal ridges of enigmatic origin are seen east of the Pathfinder lander. Rocks are visible over the entire image, with heavy concentrations near fresh-looking craters. Most of them are probably blocks tossed outward by crater-forming impacts. The complete image is centered at 19.1 degrees north latitude, 326.8 degrees east longitude. The range to the target site was 284.7 kilometers (177.9 miles). At this distance the image scale is 28.5 centimeters (11 inches) per pixel, so objects about 85 centimeters (33 inches) across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel. North is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:35 p.m., and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 52 degrees, thus the sun was about 38 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 154.0 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer. "Landing Site Region" This is a close-up of the area in the vicinity of the Pathfinder landing site. Major features are named. The white box outlines the area of the image, discussed next, where hardware is seen. "Hardware on the Surface", This image shows the Pathfinder lander on the surface. Zooming in, one can discern the ramps, science deck, and portions of the airbags on the Pathfinder lander. (See next image for closer view.) The back shell and parachute are to the south, and four features that may be portions of the heat shield are identified. Two of these were visible from Pathfinder. At the time of that mission, the nearest object was provisionally identified as the back shell. However, analysis of the HiRISE image and reinterpretation of Pathfinder images, plus an improved understanding of how hardware looks on the Martian surface based on ground-level and orbital images of the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites, indicate that the glint is bright enough that it may be insulating material from inside the heat shield. The back shell and parachute were out of sight behind a ridge from Pathfinder's ground view. One of the three bright features, identified as heat shield debris, was also identified during the Pathfinder mission. "Topographic Map of Landing Site Region" Portions of the HiRISE image are overlaid onto color-coded topographic maps constructed by the U.S. Geological Survey from stereo images acquired by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder on the lander. The white feature at the center is Pathfinder lander. The scales on the x and y axes are in meters, with the lander as the zero point. The color code for elevation relative to the lander is different in the left and right images, and shown in meters underneath each image. The correspondence between the overhead view revealed by HiRISE and the positions of topographic features inferred almost a decade ago from Pathfinder's horizontal view of the landscape is striking. The close-up on the right complements panoramas taken by the lander's camera, including the accompanying composite version showing the Sojourner rover at various locations it reached during the mission. "Mars Pathfinder Gallery Panorama" This version of the Gallery Panorama taken with the lander's Imager for Mars Pathfinder camera shows many of the locations where the mission's Sojourner rover ended a Martian day during the 12-week mission. (There was only one Sojourner. The image is a composite.) One annotation indicates the last known position of Sojourner, near the rock "Chimp," at the time of the final data transmission from the lander. The location labeled "Sojourner?" has been tentatively identified as the current position of the rover based on comparison of the ground-level view with the Dec. 21, 2006, image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. At the proposed current location of the rover, a feature can be discerned in the 2006 orbital image that is about the right size for Sojourner and wasn't present when the Gallery Panorama was taken. Some rocks and other features that can be identified in the orbiter's high-resolution view are labeled in this ground-level view. ", Topographic Perspective of Landing Site Region") This is a perspective view based on the topographic map and artificial color derived from Pathfinder and other data. The vertical scale is exaggerated by a factor of three, compared with horizontal dimensions. The white feature at center is the Pathfinder lander. It appears flat because the topographic map derived from the Imager for Mars Pathfinder data did not include the spacecraft itself. |
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Mars Pathfinder Landing Site
PIA09105
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
| Title |
Mars Pathfinder Landing Site and Surroundings |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
NASA's Mars Pathfinder landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, and continued operating until Sept. 27 of that year. The landing site is on an ancient flood plain of the Ares and Tiu outflow channels. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took an image on Dec. 21, 2006, that provides unprecedented detail of the geology of the region and hardware on the surface. "HiRISE Image" This is the entire image. The crater at center bottom was unofficially named "Big Crater" by the Pathfinder team. Its wall was visible from Pathfinder, located 3 kilometers (2 miles) to the north. The two bright features to the upper left of Big Crater are the "Twin Peaks," also observed by Pathfinder. The bright mound to the upper right of the Twin Peaks is "North Knob," seen in Pathfinder images as peaking over the horizon. At this scale there is no obvious geologic evidence of an ancient flood. Rather, impact craters dominate the scene, attesting to an old surface. The age is probably on the order of 1.8 billion to 3.5 billion years, when the Ares and Tiu floods are estimated to have occurred. Wind-formed linear ripples and dunes are seen throughout and are concentrated within craters. Sets of polygonal ridges of enigmatic origin are seen east of the Pathfinder lander. Rocks are visible over the entire image, with heavy concentrations near fresh-looking craters. Most of them are probably blocks tossed outward by crater-forming impacts. The complete image is centered at 19.1 degrees north latitude, 326.8 degrees east longitude. The range to the target site was 284.7 kilometers (177.9 miles). At this distance the image scale is 28.5 centimeters (11 inches) per pixel, so objects about 85 centimeters (33 inches) across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel. North is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:35 p.m., and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 52 degrees, thus the sun was about 38 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 154.0 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer. "Landing Site Region" This is a close-up of the area in the vicinity of the Pathfinder landing site. Major features are named. The white box outlines the area of the image, discussed next, where hardware is seen. "Hardware on the Surface", This image shows the Pathfinder lander on the surface. Zooming in, one can discern the ramps, science deck, and portions of the airbags on the Pathfinder lander. (See next image for closer view.) The back shell and parachute are to the south, and four features that may be portions of the heat shield are identified. Two of these were visible from Pathfinder. At the time of that mission, the nearest object was provisionally identified as the back shell. However, analysis of the HiRISE image and reinterpretation of Pathfinder images, plus an improved understanding of how hardware looks on the Martian surface based on ground-level and orbital images of the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites, indicate that the glint is bright enough that it may be insulating material from inside the heat shield. The back shell and parachute were out of sight behind a ridge from Pathfinder's ground view. One of the three bright features, identified as heat shield debris, was also identified during the Pathfinder mission. "Topographic Map of Landing Site Region" Portions of the HiRISE image are overlaid onto color-coded topographic maps constructed by the U.S. Geological Survey from stereo images acquired by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder on the lander. The white feature at the center is Pathfinder lander. The scales on the x and y axes are in meters, with the lander as the zero point. The color code for elevation relative to the lander is different in the left and right images, and shown in meters underneath each image. The correspondence between the overhead view revealed by HiRISE and the positions of topographic features inferred almost a decade ago from Pathfinder's horizontal view of the landscape is striking. The close-up on the right complements panoramas taken by the lander's camera, including the accompanying composite version showing the Sojourner rover at various locations it reached during the mission. "Mars Pathfinder Gallery Panorama" This version of the Gallery Panorama taken with the lander's Imager for Mars Pathfinder camera shows many of the locations where the mission's Sojourner rover ended a Martian day during the 12-week mission. (There was only one Sojourner. The image is a composite.) One annotation indicates the last known position of Sojourner, near the rock "Chimp," at the time of the final data transmission from the lander. The location labeled "Sojourner?" has been tentatively identified as the current position of the rover based on comparison of the ground-level view with the Dec. 21, 2006, image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. At the proposed current location of the rover, a feature can be discerned in the 2006 orbital image that is about the right size for Sojourner and wasn't present when the Gallery Panorama was taken. Some rocks and other features that can be identified in the orbiter's high-resolution view are labeled in this ground-level view. ", Topographic Perspective of Landing Site Region") This is a perspective view based on the topographic map and artificial color derived from Pathfinder and other data. The vertical scale is exaggerated by a factor of three, compared with horizontal dimensions. The white feature at center is the Pathfinder lander. It appears flat because the topographic map derived from the Imager for Mars Pathfinder data did not include the spacecraft itself. |
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Mars Pathfinder Landing Site
PIA09105
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
| Title |
Mars Pathfinder Landing Site and Surroundings |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
NASA's Mars Pathfinder landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, and continued operating until Sept. 27 of that year. The landing site is on an ancient flood plain of the Ares and Tiu outflow channels. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took an image on Dec. 21, 2006, that provides unprecedented detail of the geology of the region and hardware on the surface. "HiRISE Image" This is the entire image. The crater at center bottom was unofficially named "Big Crater" by the Pathfinder team. Its wall was visible from Pathfinder, located 3 kilometers (2 miles) to the north. The two bright features to the upper left of Big Crater are the "Twin Peaks," also observed by Pathfinder. The bright mound to the upper right of the Twin Peaks is "North Knob," seen in Pathfinder images as peaking over the horizon. At this scale there is no obvious geologic evidence of an ancient flood. Rather, impact craters dominate the scene, attesting to an old surface. The age is probably on the order of 1.8 billion to 3.5 billion years, when the Ares and Tiu floods are estimated to have occurred. Wind-formed linear ripples and dunes are seen throughout and are concentrated within craters. Sets of polygonal ridges of enigmatic origin are seen east of the Pathfinder lander. Rocks are visible over the entire image, with heavy concentrations near fresh-looking craters. Most of them are probably blocks tossed outward by crater-forming impacts. The complete image is centered at 19.1 degrees north latitude, 326.8 degrees east longitude. The range to the target site was 284.7 kilometers (177.9 miles). At this distance the image scale is 28.5 centimeters (11 inches) per pixel, so objects about 85 centimeters (33 inches) across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel. North is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:35 p.m., and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 52 degrees, thus the sun was about 38 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 154.0 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer. "Landing Site Region" This is a close-up of the area in the vicinity of the Pathfinder landing site. Major features are named. The white box outlines the area of the image, discussed next, where hardware is seen. "Hardware on the Surface", This image shows the Pathfinder lander on the surface. Zooming in, one can discern the ramps, science deck, and portions of the airbags on the Pathfinder lander. (See next image for closer view.) The back shell and parachute are to the south, and four features that may be portions of the heat shield are identified. Two of these were visible from Pathfinder. At the time of that mission, the nearest object was provisionally identified as the back shell. However, analysis of the HiRISE image and reinterpretation of Pathfinder images, plus an improved understanding of how hardware looks on the Martian surface based on ground-level and orbital images of the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites, indicate that the glint is bright enough that it may be insulating material from inside the heat shield. The back shell and parachute were out of sight behind a ridge from Pathfinder's ground view. One of the three bright features, identified as heat shield debris, was also identified during the Pathfinder mission. "Topographic Map of Landing Site Region" Portions of the HiRISE image are overlaid onto color-coded topographic maps constructed by the U.S. Geological Survey from stereo images acquired by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder on the lander. The white feature at the center is Pathfinder lander. The scales on the x and y axes are in meters, with the lander as the zero point. The color code for elevation relative to the lander is different in the left and right images, and shown in meters underneath each image. The correspondence between the overhead view revealed by HiRISE and the positions of topographic features inferred almost a decade ago from Pathfinder's horizontal view of the landscape is striking. The close-up on the right complements panoramas taken by the lander's camera, including the accompanying composite version showing the Sojourner rover at various locations it reached during the mission. "Mars Pathfinder Gallery Panorama" This version of the Gallery Panorama taken with the lander's Imager for Mars Pathfinder camera shows many of the locations where the mission's Sojourner rover ended a Martian day during the 12-week mission. (There was only one Sojourner. The image is a composite.) One annotation indicates the last known position of Sojourner, near the rock "Chimp," at the time of the final data transmission from the lander. The location labeled "Sojourner?" has been tentatively identified as the current position of the rover based on comparison of the ground-level view with the Dec. 21, 2006, image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. At the proposed current location of the rover, a feature can be discerned in the 2006 orbital image that is about the right size for Sojourner and wasn't present when the Gallery Panorama was taken. Some rocks and other features that can be identified in the orbiter's high-resolution view are labeled in this ground-level view. ", Topographic Perspective of Landing Site Region") This is a perspective view based on the topographic map and artificial color derived from Pathfinder and other data. The vertical scale is exaggerated by a factor of three, compared with horizontal dimensions. The white feature at center is the Pathfinder lander. It appears flat because the topographic map derived from the Imager for Mars Pathfinder data did not include the spacecraft itself. |
|
Mars Pathfinder Landing Site
PIA09105
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
| Title |
Mars Pathfinder Landing Site and Surroundings |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
NASA's Mars Pathfinder landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, and continued operating until Sept. 27 of that year. The landing site is on an ancient flood plain of the Ares and Tiu outflow channels. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took an image on Dec. 21, 2006, that provides unprecedented detail of the geology of the region and hardware on the surface. "HiRISE Image" This is the entire image. The crater at center bottom was unofficially named "Big Crater" by the Pathfinder team. Its wall was visible from Pathfinder, located 3 kilometers (2 miles) to the north. The two bright features to the upper left of Big Crater are the "Twin Peaks," also observed by Pathfinder. The bright mound to the upper right of the Twin Peaks is "North Knob," seen in Pathfinder images as peaking over the horizon. At this scale there is no obvious geologic evidence of an ancient flood. Rather, impact craters dominate the scene, attesting to an old surface. The age is probably on the order of 1.8 billion to 3.5 billion years, when the Ares and Tiu floods are estimated to have occurred. Wind-formed linear ripples and dunes are seen throughout and are concentrated within craters. Sets of polygonal ridges of enigmatic origin are seen east of the Pathfinder lander. Rocks are visible over the entire image, with heavy concentrations near fresh-looking craters. Most of them are probably blocks tossed outward by crater-forming impacts. The complete image is centered at 19.1 degrees north latitude, 326.8 degrees east longitude. The range to the target site was 284.7 kilometers (177.9 miles). At this distance the image scale is 28.5 centimeters (11 inches) per pixel, so objects about 85 centimeters (33 inches) across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel. North is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:35 p.m., and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 52 degrees, thus the sun was about 38 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 154.0 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer. "Landing Site Region" This is a close-up of the area in the vicinity of the Pathfinder landing site. Major features are named. The white box outlines the area of the image, discussed next, where hardware is seen. "Hardware on the Surface", This image shows the Pathfinder lander on the surface. Zooming in, one can discern the ramps, science deck, and portions of the airbags on the Pathfinder lander. (See next image for closer view.) The back shell and parachute are to the south, and four features that may be portions of the heat shield are identified. Two of these were visible from Pathfinder. At the time of that mission, the nearest object was provisionally identified as the back shell. However, analysis of the HiRISE image and reinterpretation of Pathfinder images, plus an improved understanding of how hardware looks on the Martian surface based on ground-level and orbital images of the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites, indicate that the glint is bright enough that it may be insulating material from inside the heat shield. The back shell and parachute were out of sight behind a ridge from Pathfinder's ground view. One of the three bright features, identified as heat shield debris, was also identified during the Pathfinder mission. "Topographic Map of Landing Site Region" Portions of the HiRISE image are overlaid onto color-coded topographic maps constructed by the U.S. Geological Survey from stereo images acquired by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder on the lander. The white feature at the center is Pathfinder lander. The scales on the x and y axes are in meters, with the lander as the zero point. The color code for elevation relative to the lander is different in the left and right images, and shown in meters underneath each image. The correspondence between the overhead view revealed by HiRISE and the positions of topographic features inferred almost a decade ago from Pathfinder's horizontal view of the landscape is striking. The close-up on the right complements panoramas taken by the lander's camera, including the accompanying composite version showing the Sojourner rover at various locations it reached during the mission. "Mars Pathfinder Gallery Panorama" This version of the Gallery Panorama taken with the lander's Imager for Mars Pathfinder camera shows many of the locations where the mission's Sojourner rover ended a Martian day during the 12-week mission. (There was only one Sojourner. The image is a composite.) One annotation indicates the last known position of Sojourner, near the rock "Chimp," at the time of the final data transmission from the lander. The location labeled "Sojourner?" has been tentatively identified as the current position of the rover based on comparison of the ground-level view with the Dec. 21, 2006, image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. At the proposed current location of the rover, a feature can be discerned in the 2006 orbital image that is about the right size for Sojourner and wasn't present when the Gallery Panorama was taken. Some rocks and other features that can be identified in the orbiter's high-resolution view are labeled in this ground-level view. ", Topographic Perspective of Landing Site Region") This is a perspective view based on the topographic map and artificial color derived from Pathfinder and other data. The vertical scale is exaggerated by a factor of three, compared with horizontal dimensions. The white feature at center is the Pathfinder lander. It appears flat because the topographic map derived from the Imager for Mars Pathfinder data did not include the spacecraft itself. |
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Mars Pathfinder Landing Site
PIA09105
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
| Title |
Mars Pathfinder Landing Site and Surroundings |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
NASA's Mars Pathfinder landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, and continued operating until Sept. 27 of that year. The landing site is on an ancient flood plain of the Ares and Tiu outflow channels. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took an image on Dec. 21, 2006, that provides unprecedented detail of the geology of the region and hardware on the surface. "HiRISE Image" This is the entire image. The crater at center bottom was unofficially named "Big Crater" by the Pathfinder team. Its wall was visible from Pathfinder, located 3 kilometers (2 miles) to the north. The two bright features to the upper left of Big Crater are the "Twin Peaks," also observed by Pathfinder. The bright mound to the upper right of the Twin Peaks is "North Knob," seen in Pathfinder images as peaking over the horizon. At this scale there is no obvious geologic evidence of an ancient flood. Rather, impact craters dominate the scene, attesting to an old surface. The age is probably on the order of 1.8 billion to 3.5 billion years, when the Ares and Tiu floods are estimated to have occurred. Wind-formed linear ripples and dunes are seen throughout and are concentrated within craters. Sets of polygonal ridges of enigmatic origin are seen east of the Pathfinder lander. Rocks are visible over the entire image, with heavy concentrations near fresh-looking craters. Most of them are probably blocks tossed outward by crater-forming impacts. The complete image is centered at 19.1 degrees north latitude, 326.8 degrees east longitude. The range to the target site was 284.7 kilometers (177.9 miles). At this distance the image scale is 28.5 centimeters (11 inches) per pixel, so objects about 85 centimeters (33 inches) across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel. North is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:35 p.m., and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 52 degrees, thus the sun was about 38 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 154.0 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer. "Landing Site Region" This is a close-up of the area in the vicinity of the Pathfinder landing site. Major features are named. The white box outlines the area of the image, discussed next, where hardware is seen. "Hardware on the Surface", This image shows the Pathfinder lander on the surface. Zooming in, one can discern the ramps, science deck, and portions of the airbags on the Pathfinder lander. (See next image for closer view.) The back shell and parachute are to the south, and four features that may be portions of the heat shield are identified. Two of these were visible from Pathfinder. At the time of that mission, the nearest object was provisionally identified as the back shell. However, analysis of the HiRISE image and reinterpretation of Pathfinder images, plus an improved understanding of how hardware looks on the Martian surface based on ground-level and orbital images of the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites, indicate that the glint is bright enough that it may be insulating material from inside the heat shield. The back shell and parachute were out of sight behind a ridge from Pathfinder's ground view. One of the three bright features, identified as heat shield debris, was also identified during the Pathfinder mission. "Topographic Map of Landing Site Region" Portions of the HiRISE image are overlaid onto color-coded topographic maps constructed by the U.S. Geological Survey from stereo images acquired by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder on the lander. The white feature at the center is Pathfinder lander. The scales on the x and y axes are in meters, with the lander as the zero point. The color code for elevation relative to the lander is different in the left and right images, and shown in meters underneath each image. The correspondence between the overhead view revealed by HiRISE and the positions of topographic features inferred almost a decade ago from Pathfinder's horizontal view of the landscape is striking. The close-up on the right complements panoramas taken by the lander's camera, including the accompanying composite version showing the Sojourner rover at various locations it reached during the mission. "Mars Pathfinder Gallery Panorama" This version of the Gallery Panorama taken with the lander's Imager for Mars Pathfinder camera shows many of the locations where the mission's Sojourner rover ended a Martian day during the 12-week mission. (There was only one Sojourner. The image is a composite.) One annotation indicates the last known position of Sojourner, near the rock "Chimp," at the time of the final data transmission from the lander. The location labeled "Sojourner?" has been tentatively identified as the current position of the rover based on comparison of the ground-level view with the Dec. 21, 2006, image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. At the proposed current location of the rover, a feature can be discerned in the 2006 orbital image that is about the right size for Sojourner and wasn't present when the Gallery Panorama was taken. Some rocks and other features that can be identified in the orbiter's high-resolution view are labeled in this ground-level view. ", Topographic Perspective of Landing Site Region") This is a perspective view based on the topographic map and artificial color derived from Pathfinder and other data. The vertical scale is exaggerated by a factor of three, compared with horizontal dimensions. The white feature at center is the Pathfinder lander. It appears flat because the topographic map derived from the Imager for Mars Pathfinder data did not include the spacecraft itself. |
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Mars Pathfinder Landing Site
PIA09105
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
| Title |
Mars Pathfinder Landing Site and Surroundings |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
NASA's Mars Pathfinder landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, and continued operating until Sept. 27 of that year. The landing site is on an ancient flood plain of the Ares and Tiu outflow channels. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took an image on Dec. 21, 2006, that provides unprecedented detail of the geology of the region and hardware on the surface. "HiRISE Image" This is the entire image. The crater at center bottom was unofficially named "Big Crater" by the Pathfinder team. Its wall was visible from Pathfinder, located 3 kilometers (2 miles) to the north. The two bright features to the upper left of Big Crater are the "Twin Peaks," also observed by Pathfinder. The bright mound to the upper right of the Twin Peaks is "North Knob," seen in Pathfinder images as peaking over the horizon. At this scale there is no obvious geologic evidence of an ancient flood. Rather, impact craters dominate the scene, attesting to an old surface. The age is probably on the order of 1.8 billion to 3.5 billion years, when the Ares and Tiu floods are estimated to have occurred. Wind-formed linear ripples and dunes are seen throughout and are concentrated within craters. Sets of polygonal ridges of enigmatic origin are seen east of the Pathfinder lander. Rocks are visible over the entire image, with heavy concentrations near fresh-looking craters. Most of them are probably blocks tossed outward by crater-forming impacts. The complete image is centered at 19.1 degrees north latitude, 326.8 degrees east longitude. The range to the target site was 284.7 kilometers (177.9 miles). At this distance the image scale is 28.5 centimeters (11 inches) per pixel, so objects about 85 centimeters (33 inches) across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel. North is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:35 p.m., and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 52 degrees, thus the sun was about 38 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 154.0 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer. "Landing Site Region" This is a close-up of the area in the vicinity of the Pathfinder landing site. Major features are named. The white box outlines the area of the image, discussed next, where hardware is seen. "Hardware on the Surface", This image shows the Pathfinder lander on the surface. Zooming in, one can discern the ramps, science deck, and portions of the airbags on the Pathfinder lander. (See next image for closer view.) The back shell and parachute are to the south, and four features that may be portions of the heat shield are identified. Two of these were visible from Pathfinder. At the time of that mission, the nearest object was provisionally identified as the back shell. However, analysis of the HiRISE image and reinterpretation of Pathfinder images, plus an improved understanding of how hardware looks on the Martian surface based on ground-level and orbital images of the Mars Exploration Rover landing sites, indicate that the glint is bright enough that it may be insulating material from inside the heat shield. The back shell and parachute were out of sight behind a ridge from Pathfinder's ground view. One of the three bright features, identified as heat shield debris, was also identified during the Pathfinder mission. "Topographic Map of Landing Site Region" Portions of the HiRISE image are overlaid onto color-coded topographic maps constructed by the U.S. Geological Survey from stereo images acquired by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder on the lander. The white feature at the center is Pathfinder lander. The scales on the x and y axes are in meters, with the lander as the zero point. The color code for elevation relative to the lander is different in the left and right images, and shown in meters underneath each image. The correspondence between the overhead view revealed by HiRISE and the positions of topographic features inferred almost a decade ago from Pathfinder's horizontal view of the landscape is striking. The close-up on the right complements panoramas taken by the lander's camera, including the accompanying composite version showing the Sojourner rover at various locations it reached during the mission. "Mars Pathfinder Gallery Panorama" This version of the Gallery Panorama taken with the lander's Imager for Mars Pathfinder camera shows many of the locations where the mission's Sojourner rover ended a Martian day during the 12-week mission. (There was only one Sojourner. The image is a composite.) One annotation indicates the last known position of Sojourner, near the rock "Chimp," at the time of the final data transmission from the lander. The location labeled "Sojourner?" has been tentatively identified as the current position of the rover based on comparison of the ground-level view with the Dec. 21, 2006, image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. At the proposed current location of the rover, a feature can be discerned in the 2006 orbital image that is about the right size for Sojourner and wasn't present when the Gallery Panorama was taken. Some rocks and other features that can be identified in the orbiter's high-resolution view are labeled in this ground-level view. ", Topographic Perspective of Landing Site Region") This is a perspective view based on the topographic map and artificial color derived from Pathfinder and other data. The vertical scale is exaggerated by a factor of three, compared with horizontal dimensions. The white feature at center is the Pathfinder lander. It appears flat because the topographic map derived from the Imager for Mars Pathfinder data did not include the spacecraft itself. |
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Twin Peaks (B/W)
PIA01001
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Twin Peaks (B/W) |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Twin Peaks are modest-size hills to the southwest of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. They were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The peaks are approximately 30-35 meters (-100 feet) tall. North Twin is approximately 860 meters (2800 feet) from the lander, and South Twin is about a kilometer away (3300 feet). The scene includes bouldery ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of the South Twin Peak. The large rock at the right edge of the scene is nicknamed "Hippo". This rock is about a meter (3 feet) across and 25 meters (80 feet) distant. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
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Big Crater as Viewed by Path
PIA01007
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Big Crater as Viewed by Pathfinder Lander - Anaglyph |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The "Big Crater" is actually a relatively small Martian crater to the southeast of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. It is 1500 meters (4900 feet) in diameter, or about the same size as Meteor Crater in Arizona. Superimposed on the rim of Big Crater (the central part of the rim as seen here) is a smaller crater nicknamed "Rimshot Crater." The distance to this smaller crater, and the nearest portion of the rim of Big Crater, is 2200 meters (7200 feet). To the right of Big Crater, south from the spacecraft, almost lost in the atmospheric dust "haze," is the large streamlined mountain nicknamed "Far Knob." This mountain is over 450 meters (1480 feet) tall, and is over 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the spacecraft. Another, smaller and closer knob, nicknamed "Southeast Knob" can be seen as a triangular peak to the left of the flanks of the Big Crater rim. This knob is 21 kilometers (13 miles) southeast from the spacecraft. The larger features visible in this scene - Big Crater, Far Knob, and Southeast Knob - were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The scene includes rocky ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of South Twin Peak. The largest rock in the nearfield, just left of center in the foreground, nicknamed "Otter", is about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) long and 10 meters (33 feet) from the spacecraft. This view of Big Crater was produced by combining 6 individual "Superpan" scenes from the left and right eyes of the IMP camera. Each frame consists of 8 individual frames (left eye) and 7 frames (right eye) taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution panchromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. The anaglyph view of Big Crater was produced by combining the left and right eye mosaics (above) by assigning the left eye view to the red color plane and the right eye view to the green and blue color planes (cyan), to produce a stereo anaglyph mosaic. This mosaic can be viewed in 3-D on your computer monitor or in color print form by wearing red-blue 3-D glasses. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. Click below to see the left and right views individually. |
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Big Crater as Viewed by Path
PIA01007
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Big Crater as Viewed by Pathfinder Lander - Anaglyph |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The "Big Crater" is actually a relatively small Martian crater to the southeast of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. It is 1500 meters (4900 feet) in diameter, or about the same size as Meteor Crater in Arizona. Superimposed on the rim of Big Crater (the central part of the rim as seen here) is a smaller crater nicknamed "Rimshot Crater." The distance to this smaller crater, and the nearest portion of the rim of Big Crater, is 2200 meters (7200 feet). To the right of Big Crater, south from the spacecraft, almost lost in the atmospheric dust "haze," is the large streamlined mountain nicknamed "Far Knob." This mountain is over 450 meters (1480 feet) tall, and is over 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the spacecraft. Another, smaller and closer knob, nicknamed "Southeast Knob" can be seen as a triangular peak to the left of the flanks of the Big Crater rim. This knob is 21 kilometers (13 miles) southeast from the spacecraft. The larger features visible in this scene - Big Crater, Far Knob, and Southeast Knob - were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The scene includes rocky ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of South Twin Peak. The largest rock in the nearfield, just left of center in the foreground, nicknamed "Otter", is about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) long and 10 meters (33 feet) from the spacecraft. This view of Big Crater was produced by combining 6 individual "Superpan" scenes from the left and right eyes of the IMP camera. Each frame consists of 8 individual frames (left eye) and 7 frames (right eye) taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution panchromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. The anaglyph view of Big Crater was produced by combining the left and right eye mosaics (above) by assigning the left eye view to the red color plane and the right eye view to the green and blue color planes (cyan), to produce a stereo anaglyph mosaic. This mosaic can be viewed in 3-D on your computer monitor or in color print form by wearing red-blue 3-D glasses. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. Click below to see the left and right views individually. |
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Big Crater as Viewed by Path
PIA01007
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Big Crater as Viewed by Pathfinder Lander - Anaglyph |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The "Big Crater" is actually a relatively small Martian crater to the southeast of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. It is 1500 meters (4900 feet) in diameter, or about the same size as Meteor Crater in Arizona. Superimposed on the rim of Big Crater (the central part of the rim as seen here) is a smaller crater nicknamed "Rimshot Crater." The distance to this smaller crater, and the nearest portion of the rim of Big Crater, is 2200 meters (7200 feet). To the right of Big Crater, south from the spacecraft, almost lost in the atmospheric dust "haze," is the large streamlined mountain nicknamed "Far Knob." This mountain is over 450 meters (1480 feet) tall, and is over 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the spacecraft. Another, smaller and closer knob, nicknamed "Southeast Knob" can be seen as a triangular peak to the left of the flanks of the Big Crater rim. This knob is 21 kilometers (13 miles) southeast from the spacecraft. The larger features visible in this scene - Big Crater, Far Knob, and Southeast Knob - were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The scene includes rocky ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of South Twin Peak. The largest rock in the nearfield, just left of center in the foreground, nicknamed "Otter", is about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) long and 10 meters (33 feet) from the spacecraft. This view of Big Crater was produced by combining 6 individual "Superpan" scenes from the left and right eyes of the IMP camera. Each frame consists of 8 individual frames (left eye) and 7 frames (right eye) taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution panchromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. The anaglyph view of Big Crater was produced by combining the left and right eye mosaics (above) by assigning the left eye view to the red color plane and the right eye view to the green and blue color planes (cyan), to produce a stereo anaglyph mosaic. This mosaic can be viewed in 3-D on your computer monitor or in color print form by wearing red-blue 3-D glasses. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. Click below to see the left and right views individually. |
|
Big Crater as Viewed by Path
PIA01007
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Big Crater as Viewed by Pathfinder Lander - Anaglyph |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The "Big Crater" is actually a relatively small Martian crater to the southeast of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. It is 1500 meters (4900 feet) in diameter, or about the same size as Meteor Crater in Arizona. Superimposed on the rim of Big Crater (the central part of the rim as seen here) is a smaller crater nicknamed "Rimshot Crater." The distance to this smaller crater, and the nearest portion of the rim of Big Crater, is 2200 meters (7200 feet). To the right of Big Crater, south from the spacecraft, almost lost in the atmospheric dust "haze," is the large streamlined mountain nicknamed "Far Knob." This mountain is over 450 meters (1480 feet) tall, and is over 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the spacecraft. Another, smaller and closer knob, nicknamed "Southeast Knob" can be seen as a triangular peak to the left of the flanks of the Big Crater rim. This knob is 21 kilometers (13 miles) southeast from the spacecraft. The larger features visible in this scene - Big Crater, Far Knob, and Southeast Knob - were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The scene includes rocky ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of South Twin Peak. The largest rock in the nearfield, just left of center in the foreground, nicknamed "Otter", is about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) long and 10 meters (33 feet) from the spacecraft. This view of Big Crater was produced by combining 6 individual "Superpan" scenes from the left and right eyes of the IMP camera. Each frame consists of 8 individual frames (left eye) and 7 frames (right eye) taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution panchromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. The anaglyph view of Big Crater was produced by combining the left and right eye mosaics (above) by assigning the left eye view to the red color plane and the right eye view to the green and blue color planes (cyan), to produce a stereo anaglyph mosaic. This mosaic can be viewed in 3-D on your computer monitor or in color print form by wearing red-blue 3-D glasses. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. Click below to see the left and right views individually. |
|
Big Crater as Viewed by Path
PIA01007
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Big Crater as Viewed by Pathfinder Lander - Anaglyph |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The "Big Crater" is actually a relatively small Martian crater to the southeast of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. It is 1500 meters (4900 feet) in diameter, or about the same size as Meteor Crater in Arizona. Superimposed on the rim of Big Crater (the central part of the rim as seen here) is a smaller crater nicknamed "Rimshot Crater." The distance to this smaller crater, and the nearest portion of the rim of Big Crater, is 2200 meters (7200 feet). To the right of Big Crater, south from the spacecraft, almost lost in the atmospheric dust "haze," is the large streamlined mountain nicknamed "Far Knob." This mountain is over 450 meters (1480 feet) tall, and is over 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the spacecraft. Another, smaller and closer knob, nicknamed "Southeast Knob" can be seen as a triangular peak to the left of the flanks of the Big Crater rim. This knob is 21 kilometers (13 miles) southeast from the spacecraft. The larger features visible in this scene - Big Crater, Far Knob, and Southeast Knob - were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The scene includes rocky ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of South Twin Peak. The largest rock in the nearfield, just left of center in the foreground, nicknamed "Otter", is about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) long and 10 meters (33 feet) from the spacecraft. This view of Big Crater was produced by combining 6 individual "Superpan" scenes from the left and right eyes of the IMP camera. Each frame consists of 8 individual frames (left eye) and 7 frames (right eye) taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution panchromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. The anaglyph view of Big Crater was produced by combining the left and right eye mosaics (above) by assigning the left eye view to the red color plane and the right eye view to the green and blue color planes (cyan), to produce a stereo anaglyph mosaic. This mosaic can be viewed in 3-D on your computer monitor or in color print form by wearing red-blue 3-D glasses. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. Click below to see the left and right views individually. |
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Big Crater as Viewed by Path
PIA01008
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Big Crater as Viewed by Pathfinder Lander |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The "Big Crater" is actually a relatively small Martian crater to the southeast of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. It is 1500 meters (4900 feet) in diameter, or about the same size as Meteor Crater in Arizona. Superimposed on the rim of Big Crater (the central part of the rim as seen here) is a smaller crater nicknamed "Rimshot Crater." The distance to this smaller crater, and the nearest portion of the rim of Big Crater, is 2200 meters (7200 feet). To the right of Big Crater, south from the spacecraft, almost lost in the atmospheric dust "haze," is the large streamlined mountain nicknamed "Far Knob." This mountain is over 450 meters (1480 feet) tall, and is over 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the spacecraft. Another, smaller and closer knob, nicknamed "Southeast Knob" can be seen as a triangular peak to the left of the flanks of the Big Crater rim. This knob is 21 kilometers (13 miles) southeast from the spacecraft. The larger features visible in this scene - Big Crater, Far Knob, and Southeast Knob - were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The scene includes rocky ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of South Twin Peak. The largest rock in the nearfield, just left of center in the foreground, nicknamed "Otter", is about 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) long and 10 meters (33 feet) from the spacecraft. This view of Big Crater was produced by combining 6 individual "Superpan" scenes from the left and right eyes of the IMP camera. Each frame consists of 8 individual frames (left eye) and 7 frames (right eye) taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution panchromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
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Twin Peaks in Super Resoluti
PIA02406
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Twin Peaks in Super Resolution - Right Eye |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Twin Peaks are modest-size hills to the southwest of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. They were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The peaks are approximately 30-35 meters (-100 feet) tall. North Twin is approximately 860 meters (2800 feet) from the lander, and South Twin is about a kilometer away (3300 feet). The scene includes bouldery ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of the South Twin Peak. The composite color frames that make up this "right-eye" image consist of 7 frames, taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution panchromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. This panchromatic frame was then colorized with the red, green, and blue filtered images from the same sequence. The color balance was adjusted to approximate the true color of Mars. This image and PIA02405 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02405 ](left eye) make up a stereo pair. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
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Twin Peaks in Super Resoluti
PIA02405
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Twin Peaks in Super Resolution - Left Eye |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Twin Peaks are modest-size hills to the southwest of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. They were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The peaks are approximately 30-35 meters (-100 feet) tall. North Twin is approximately 860 meters (2800 feet) from the lander, and South Twin is about a kilometer away (3300 feet). The scene includes bouldery ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of the South Twin Peak. The composite color frames that make up this "left-eye" image consist of 8 frames, taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution panchromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. This panchromatic frame was then colorized with the red, green, and blue filtered images from the same sequence. The color balance was adjusted to approximate the true color of Mars. This image and PIA02406 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02406 ](right eye) make up a stereo pair. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
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Large boulders at landing si
PIA00609
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Large boulders at landing site |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Large boulders are visible in this enlargement of pictures taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) lander camera on July 4, 1997. The landing site is in the dry flood channel named Ares Valles. The boulders probably represent deposits from one of the catastrophic floods that carved the ancient channel. Between the rocks is brownish windblown soil. The gray-tan sky results from dust particles in the atmosphere. Pathfinder, a low-cost Discovery mission, is the first of a new fleet of spacecraft that are planned to explore Mars over the next ten years. Mars Global Surveyor, already en route, arrives at Mars on September 11 to begin a two year orbital reconnaissance of the planet's composition, topography, and climate. Additional orbiters and landers will follow every 26 months. Mars Pathfinder was developed and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
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Rover, airbags & Martian ter
PIA00608
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Rover, airbags & Martian terrain |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This picture from Mars Pathfinder was taken at 9:30 AM in the martian morning (2:30 PM Pacific Daylight Time), after the spacecraft landed earlier today (July 4, 1997). The Sojourner rover is perched on one of three solar panels. The rover is 65 cm (26 inches) long by 18 cm (7 inches) tall, each of its wheels is about 13 cm (5 inches) high. The white material to the left of the front of the rover is part of the airbag system used to cushion the landing. Many rocks of different of different sizes can be seen, set in a background of reddish soil. The landing site is in the mouth of an ancient channel carved by water. The rocks may be primarily flood debris. The horizon is seen towards the top of the picture. The light brown hue of the sky results from suspended dust. Pathfinder, a low-cost Discovery mission, is the first of a new fleet of spacecraft that are planned to explore Mars over the next ten years. Mars Global Surveyor, already en route, arrives at Mars on September 11 to begin a two year orbital reconnaissance of the planet's composition, topography, and climate. Additional orbiters and landers will follow every 26 months. Mars Pathfinder was developed and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
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Martian terrain near Pathfin
PIA00610
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Martian terrain near Pathfinder |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Large boulders are visible in this enlargement of pictures taken by the Mars Pathfinder lander camera on July 4, 1997. The landing site is in the dry flood channel named Ares Valles. The boulders probably represent deposits from one of the catastrophic floods that carved the ancient channel. Between the rocks is brownish windblown soil. The gray-tan sky results from dust particles in the atmosphere. Pathfinder, a low-cost Discovery mission, is the first of a new fleet of spacecraft that are planned to explore Mars over the next ten years. Mars Global Surveyor, already en route, arrives at Mars on September 11 to begin a two year orbital reconnaissance of the planet's composition, topography, and climate. Additional orbiters and landers will follow every 26 months. Mars Pathfinder was developed and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
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Pathfinder's rover, airbags,
PIA00611
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Pathfinder's rover, airbags, & Martian terrain |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This is one of the first pictures taken by the camera on the Mars Pathfinder lander shortly after its touchdown at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time on July 4, 1997. The small rover, named Sojourner, is seen in the foreground in its position on a solar panel of the lander. The white material on either side of the rover is part of the deflated airbag system used to absorb the shock of the landing. Between the rover and the horizon is the rock-strewn martian surface. Two hills are seen in the right distance, profiled against the light brown sky. Pathfinder, a low-cost Discovery mission, is the first of a new fleet of spacecraft that are planned to explore Mars over the next ten years. Mars Global Surveyor, already en route, arrives at Mars on September 11 to begin a two year orbital reconnaissance of the planet's composition, topography, and climate. Additional orbiters and landers will follow every 26 months. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
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Color mosaic of rover & terr
PIA00621
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Color mosaic of rover & terrain |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Sojourner rover and undeployed ramps onboard the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft can be seen in this image, by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on July 4 (Sol 1). This image has been corrected for the curvature created by parallax. The microrover Sojourner is latched to the petal, and has not yet been deployed. The ramps are a pair of deployable metal reels which will provide a track for the rover as it slowly rolls off the lander, over the spacecraft's deflated airbags, and onto the surface of Mars. Pathfinder scientists will use this image to determine whether it is safe to deploy the ramps. One or both of the ramps will be unfurled, and then scientists will decide whether the rover will use either the forward or backward ramp for its descent. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
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Pathfinder Landers - In Test
PIA01550
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Pathfinder Landers - In Test and On Mars |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This set of images shows the Mars Pathfinder lander in a cleanroom at JPL in 1996 on the left, and on Mars in 1997 (see PIA01238 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01238 ]). Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal investigator. |
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