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Scrutinizing Titan's Surface
| Description |
Scrutinizing Titan's Surface |
| Full Description |
The six close-up views of Titan's surface shown here are composed of images acquired by the Cassini spacecraft during flybys in October (see Titan Mosaic: October 2004) and December (see Titan Mosaic: December 2004) of 2004. These close-up views illustrate that a variety of processes have shaped the surface of Titan, just as diverse geologic processes are responsible for what we see on Earth's surface. Image (a) shows a prominent bright-dark boundary near the western edge of the Xanadu region which exhibits a sharp, angular edge between the materials. Three bright, discontinuous circles can be seen (two near the top of the image and another near the lower left). These may be large impact craters, the upper two are approximately 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) in diameter and the lower one is approximately 50 kilometers (20 miles) in diameter. Titan's thick atmosphere will screen out small projectiles, but if the surface were as old as Titan itself, it should have many more craters of these sizes. Therefore, Cassini scientists think that, like Earth's surface, Titan's surface has been modified more recently by other geologic processes. However, such processes on Titan may take much longer than on Earth, acting over hundreds of millions of years. Image (b) shows bright features that appear to be streamlined as if were they formed by winds in Titan's atmosphere moving from west to east. The landing site of the Huygens probe is in the upper left corner of this image (see Cassini's View of Titan Landing Site). Image (c) shows a bright feature surrounded by dark material. Several long, dark and narrow lines running through the bright area may be larger examples of the dark channels seen by the Huygens probe (see Mosaic of River Channel and Ridge Area on Titan). These lines are on the order of 2 kilometers (1 mile) wide, and tens of kilometers long. Image (d) shows dark material within the bright area to the west of Xanadu. The linear nature of these features suggests that they may have formed by faulting. They may be dark due to modification by other surface processes occurring on Titan, in the same way that on Earth, fault-lines can be enhanced by erosion and/or deposition of material by water and wind. Image (e) shows brightness variations in the region southeast of the Huygens landing site. The features indicated by arrows exhibit shapes that are similar to drainage patterns seen on Earth and Mars, where the source of the liquid is underground springs rather than rainfall. Image (f) shows a region near the northwestern edge of Xanadu where the boundary between the bright and dark materials is quite complicated. Here some of the bright patches appear as if they represent thin surface plates that have been broken apart and spread apart over underlying dark material. The white bars above each image are 200 kilometers (124 miles) long. Imaging Titan through its thick atmosphere is a challenge, and the narrow, straight lines within the images, are seams between individual images that have not been completely removed. North is to the top of each frame. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. |
| Date |
March 9, 2005 |
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min
…
| Title |
Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice |
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| Description |
Browse Image | Medium Image (129 kB) | Large (20.4 MB) Hi-Res (NASA's Planetary Photojournal) [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08813 ] |
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Seasonal Trend in Water Vapo
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PIA07102
Sol (our sun)
Thermal Emission Spectromete
…
| Title |
Seasonal Trend in Water Vapor Seen from Orbit |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The seasonal trend in the amount of water vapor in Mars' atmosphere, as observed by thermal emission spectrometer on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter, varies by latitude. This plot starts near the beginning of fall in the southern hemisphere for the year before the Mars Exploration Rover mission began and ends on August 30, 2004, slightly more than one martian year later. Purple represents no water while red represents about 50 precipitable micrometers, which is about 10,000 times less than on Earth. The units of time along the horizontal axis are given in longitude of the Sun (Ls) as measured in a Mars-centered coordinate system, a way to reflect the elliptical nature of Mars' orbit. On this scale, Mars is farthest from the Sun at about 74, which also corresponds to late fall in the southern hemisphere. During the period when Mars is farthest from the Sun, the migration of water vapor from the northern polar region combines with lowered atmospheric temperatures to produce conditions that allow formation of clouds such as seen in the image at PIA07105 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07105 ]. Opportunity is further north than Spirit is, so there is a distinct difference in the amount of water vapor available to form water-ice clouds over the two sites. To date, Spirit has not seen any discrete, cirrus-like clouds such as Opportunity has photographed. Although water vapor is expected to reach a maximum abundance for the Opportunity and Spirit sites near spring equinox (Ls 180 or about March 2005), the atmospheric temperatures will very likely have warmed sufficiently to prevent formation of the type of clouds that Opportunity has observed recently. |
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2 Years on Mars! Meridiani P
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PIA03691
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
2 Years on Mars! Meridiani Planum Features Investigated by the Rover, Opportunity |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
24 January 2006 Two years ago, the Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, landed on Meridiani Planum. The rover marked its first Mars-year (687 Earth Days) anniversary in December 2005. Two pictures are shown here: the one on the right is the same as that on the left, except that key features have been labeled. Both pictures include a colored portion -- a 3-d (stereo) anaglyph which can be viewed using "3-d" glasses with a red left eye and a blue right eye. Figures 2 and 3 are MOC narrow angle non-stereo images. During the landing in January 2004, rockets were fired to slow the final descent, just before the inflated airbags (containing the folded-up lander and rover) were released. The rockets disturbed the sandy surface at the location labeled "blast effects." Following release, the airbags bounced and rolled until coming to rest inside Eagle Crater. The lander, in fact, can be seen as a bright spot near the center of Eagle Crater. Meanwhile, the jettisoned parachute and backshell landed to the southwest of Eagle, and the heatshield fell just southwest of Endurance Crater. Opportunity initially examined sedimentary rock outcrops and sandy, windblown regolith within Eagle Crater. Then it was driven by the rover team out of Eagle and on into Endurance Crater. By the end of 2004, Opportunity had left Endurance and was investigating the site where the heatshield impacted the surface. After that, the rover spent much of the year 2005 driving from the heatshield location down to the shallow Erebus Crater. Long-term plans call for driving Opportunity from Erebus to Victoria Crater, where a substantially thicker sequence of layered rock is expected to be found, relative to previous outcrops examined in the craters Endurance and Eagle. "Location near": 2.0°S, 5.6°W "Image width": 300 m scale bar = 984 ft "Illumination from": left |
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2 Years on Mars! Meridiani P
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PIA03691
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
2 Years on Mars! Meridiani Planum Features Investigated by the Rover, Opportunity |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
24 January 2006 Two years ago, the Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, landed on Meridiani Planum. The rover marked its first Mars-year (687 Earth Days) anniversary in December 2005. Two pictures are shown here: the one on the right is the same as that on the left, except that key features have been labeled. Both pictures include a colored portion -- a 3-d (stereo) anaglyph which can be viewed using "3-d" glasses with a red left eye and a blue right eye. Figures 2 and 3 are MOC narrow angle non-stereo images. During the landing in January 2004, rockets were fired to slow the final descent, just before the inflated airbags (containing the folded-up lander and rover) were released. The rockets disturbed the sandy surface at the location labeled "blast effects." Following release, the airbags bounced and rolled until coming to rest inside Eagle Crater. The lander, in fact, can be seen as a bright spot near the center of Eagle Crater. Meanwhile, the jettisoned parachute and backshell landed to the southwest of Eagle, and the heatshield fell just southwest of Endurance Crater. Opportunity initially examined sedimentary rock outcrops and sandy, windblown regolith within Eagle Crater. Then it was driven by the rover team out of Eagle and on into Endurance Crater. By the end of 2004, Opportunity had left Endurance and was investigating the site where the heatshield impacted the surface. After that, the rover spent much of the year 2005 driving from the heatshield location down to the shallow Erebus Crater. Long-term plans call for driving Opportunity from Erebus to Victoria Crater, where a substantially thicker sequence of layered rock is expected to be found, relative to previous outcrops examined in the craters Endurance and Eagle. "Location near": 2.0°S, 5.6°W "Image width": 300 m scale bar = 984 ft "Illumination from": left |
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2 Years on Mars! Meridiani P
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PIA03691
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
2 Years on Mars! Meridiani Planum Features Investigated by the Rover, Opportunity |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
24 January 2006 Two years ago, the Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, landed on Meridiani Planum. The rover marked its first Mars-year (687 Earth Days) anniversary in December 2005. Two pictures are shown here: the one on the right is the same as that on the left, except that key features have been labeled. Both pictures include a colored portion -- a 3-d (stereo) anaglyph which can be viewed using "3-d" glasses with a red left eye and a blue right eye. Figures 2 and 3 are MOC narrow angle non-stereo images. During the landing in January 2004, rockets were fired to slow the final descent, just before the inflated airbags (containing the folded-up lander and rover) were released. The rockets disturbed the sandy surface at the location labeled "blast effects." Following release, the airbags bounced and rolled until coming to rest inside Eagle Crater. The lander, in fact, can be seen as a bright spot near the center of Eagle Crater. Meanwhile, the jettisoned parachute and backshell landed to the southwest of Eagle, and the heatshield fell just southwest of Endurance Crater. Opportunity initially examined sedimentary rock outcrops and sandy, windblown regolith within Eagle Crater. Then it was driven by the rover team out of Eagle and on into Endurance Crater. By the end of 2004, Opportunity had left Endurance and was investigating the site where the heatshield impacted the surface. After that, the rover spent much of the year 2005 driving from the heatshield location down to the shallow Erebus Crater. Long-term plans call for driving Opportunity from Erebus to Victoria Crater, where a substantially thicker sequence of layered rock is expected to be found, relative to previous outcrops examined in the craters Endurance and Eagle. "Location near": 2.0°S, 5.6°W "Image width": 300 m scale bar = 984 ft "Illumination from": left |
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2 Years on Mars! Meridiani P
…
PIA03691
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
2 Years on Mars! Meridiani Planum Features Investigated by the Rover, Opportunity |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
24 January 2006 Two years ago, the Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, landed on Meridiani Planum. The rover marked its first Mars-year (687 Earth Days) anniversary in December 2005. Two pictures are shown here: the one on the right is the same as that on the left, except that key features have been labeled. Both pictures include a colored portion -- a 3-d (stereo) anaglyph which can be viewed using "3-d" glasses with a red left eye and a blue right eye. Figures 2 and 3 are MOC narrow angle non-stereo images. During the landing in January 2004, rockets were fired to slow the final descent, just before the inflated airbags (containing the folded-up lander and rover) were released. The rockets disturbed the sandy surface at the location labeled "blast effects." Following release, the airbags bounced and rolled until coming to rest inside Eagle Crater. The lander, in fact, can be seen as a bright spot near the center of Eagle Crater. Meanwhile, the jettisoned parachute and backshell landed to the southwest of Eagle, and the heatshield fell just southwest of Endurance Crater. Opportunity initially examined sedimentary rock outcrops and sandy, windblown regolith within Eagle Crater. Then it was driven by the rover team out of Eagle and on into Endurance Crater. By the end of 2004, Opportunity had left Endurance and was investigating the site where the heatshield impacted the surface. After that, the rover spent much of the year 2005 driving from the heatshield location down to the shallow Erebus Crater. Long-term plans call for driving Opportunity from Erebus to Victoria Crater, where a substantially thicker sequence of layered rock is expected to be found, relative to previous outcrops examined in the craters Endurance and Eagle. "Location near": 2.0°S, 5.6°W "Image width": 300 m scale bar = 984 ft "Illumination from": left |
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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PIA07212
| Title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in High Bay |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Engineers and technicians at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, are building the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA. Assembly and testing of the spacecraft are underway in preparation for launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in August 2005 aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle. In late October 2004, the spacecraft was moved from the High Bay clean room (shown here) into the Reverberant Acoustic Lab, where system environmental testing will continue through March 2005. The testing includes modal survey (which involves measuring spacecraft modes and frequencies), electronic compatibility testing, acoustic testing (which simulates sound vibrations that the spacecraft will experience during launch), shock and deployment tests, and thermal vacuum testing. |
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Moving the Mars Reconnaissan
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PIA07213
| Title |
Moving the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
In late October 2004, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was moved from the High Bay 100,000-class clean room at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, to the facility's Reverberant Acoustic Lab, where system environmental testing will continue through March 2005. Shown here are technicians guiding the spacecraft as it is lowered onto its transporter interface ring prior to installation of the shipping-container lid. |
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Mars at Ls 145°: Tharsis
PIA07198
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 145°: Tharsis |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
4 January 2004 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 145° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 145° occurs in mid-January 2005. This picture shows the Tharsis face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°--the start of northern spring and southern summer. In January 2005, it is northern summer and southern winter. The seasons on Mars occur according to Ls, described in the following table: |
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Mars at Ls 145°: Acidalia/Ma
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PIA07273
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 145°: Acidalia/Mare Erythraeum |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
11 January 2004 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 145° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 145° occurs in mid-January 2005. This picture shows the Acidalia/Mare Erythraeum face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°--the start of northern spring and southern summer. In January 2005, it is northern summer and southern winter. The seasons on Mars occur according to Ls, described in thefollowing table: |
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Mars at Ls 145°: Syrtis Majo
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PIA07280
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 145°: Syrtis Major |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
18 January 2004 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 145° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 145° occurred in mid-January 2005. This picture shows the Syrtis Major face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°--the start of northern spring and southern summer. In January 2005, it is northern summer and southern winter. The seasons on Mars occur according to Ls, described in the following table: |
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'Columbia Hills' Color Eleva
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PIA07848
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
'Columbia Hills' Color Elevation Map |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Figure 1: Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450 This elevation map shows the region of the 'Columbia Hills' where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been working since mid-2004. Areas colored blue are lower in elevation and areas colored yellow are higher in elevation. The map imagery is from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450 More than 15 months after landing on Mars, NASA's Spirit rover is still going strong, having traveled a total of 4,276 meters (2.66 miles) as of martian day, or sol, 450 (April 8, 2005). This elevation map shows the traverse followed by Spirit since arriving at the "Columbia Hills" in June, 2004. The areas colored blue are low in elevation and areas colored yellow are high in elevation. The blue area at the foot of the "Columbia Hills" is approximately 20 meters (66 feet) higher in elevation than the site where Spirit landed in Gusev Crater. The highest peak is on the order of 80 meters (262 feet) higher still. In other words, the hills Spirit is exploring are more than 250 feet high. The map imagery is from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. |
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'Columbia Hills' Color Eleva
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PIA07848
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
'Columbia Hills' Color Elevation Map |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Figure 1: Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450 This elevation map shows the region of the 'Columbia Hills' where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been working since mid-2004. Areas colored blue are lower in elevation and areas colored yellow are higher in elevation. The map imagery is from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450 More than 15 months after landing on Mars, NASA's Spirit rover is still going strong, having traveled a total of 4,276 meters (2.66 miles) as of martian day, or sol, 450 (April 8, 2005). This elevation map shows the traverse followed by Spirit since arriving at the "Columbia Hills" in June, 2004. The areas colored blue are low in elevation and areas colored yellow are high in elevation. The blue area at the foot of the "Columbia Hills" is approximately 20 meters (66 feet) higher in elevation than the site where Spirit landed in Gusev Crater. The highest peak is on the order of 80 meters (262 feet) higher still. In other words, the hills Spirit is exploring are more than 250 feet high. The map imagery is from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. |
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Hills Explored by Spirit
PIA07850
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Hills Explored by Spirit |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Figure 1: Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450 This view from orbit shows the region in the "Columbia Hills" where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been working since mid-2004. The area in the image is about 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) across. North is to the top. The bright region near the center is the north flank of "Husband Hill." The imagery is from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450 (Detail) More than 15 months after landing on Mars, NASA's Spirit rover is still going strong, having traveled a total of 4,276 meters (2.66 miles) as of martian day, or sol, 450 (April 8, 2005). This orbital view shows the path of Spirit's trek through the "Columbia Hills," beginning on the "West Spur" on sol 156 (June 11, 2004) and continuing up the flanks of "Husband Hill." The dashed line indicates the perimeter of the Columbia Hills, which consist of older rocks of different composition than those of the surrounding plain. The path of Spirit's trek is overlain on imagery from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. The 500-meter scale bar is 1,640 feet long. |
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Hills Explored by Spirit
PIA07850
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Hills Explored by Spirit |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Figure 1: Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450 This view from orbit shows the region in the "Columbia Hills" where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been working since mid-2004. The area in the image is about 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) across. North is to the top. The bright region near the center is the north flank of "Husband Hill." The imagery is from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450 (Detail) More than 15 months after landing on Mars, NASA's Spirit rover is still going strong, having traveled a total of 4,276 meters (2.66 miles) as of martian day, or sol, 450 (April 8, 2005). This orbital view shows the path of Spirit's trek through the "Columbia Hills," beginning on the "West Spur" on sol 156 (June 11, 2004) and continuing up the flanks of "Husband Hill." The dashed line indicates the perimeter of the Columbia Hills, which consist of older rocks of different composition than those of the surrounding plain. The path of Spirit's trek is overlain on imagery from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. The 500-meter scale bar is 1,640 feet long. |
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Plains and Hills Explored by
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PIA07849
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Plains and Hills Explored by Spirit |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Figure 1: Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450 This view from orbit shows the region within Gusev Crater where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been working for the past 15 months. The view is a mosaic of images from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. In the left and central portion, previously released as PIA07192, tracks made by Spirit's wheels are visible from the landing site to the edge of the "Columbia Hills." Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450 (Full Traverse) More than 15 months after landing on Mars, NASA's Spirit rover is still going strong, having traveled a total of 4,276 meters (2.66 miles) as of martian day, or sol, 450 (April 8, 2005). This elevation map shows the traverse followed by Spirit since arriving at the "Columbia Hills" in June, 2004. The areas colored blue are low in elevation and areas colored yellow are high in elevation. The blue area at the foot of the "Columbia Hills" is approximately 20 meters (66 feet) higher in elevation than the site where Spirit landed in Gusev Crater. The highest peak is on the order of 80 meters (262 feet) higher still. In other words, the hills Spirit is exploring are more than 250 feet high. The map imagery is from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. |
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Plains and Hills Explored by
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PIA07849
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Plains and Hills Explored by Spirit |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Figure 1: Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450 This view from orbit shows the region within Gusev Crater where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been working for the past 15 months. The view is a mosaic of images from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. In the left and central portion, previously released as PIA07192, tracks made by Spirit's wheels are visible from the landing site to the edge of the "Columbia Hills." Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450 (Full Traverse) More than 15 months after landing on Mars, NASA's Spirit rover is still going strong, having traveled a total of 4,276 meters (2.66 miles) as of martian day, or sol, 450 (April 8, 2005). This elevation map shows the traverse followed by Spirit since arriving at the "Columbia Hills" in June, 2004. The areas colored blue are low in elevation and areas colored yellow are high in elevation. The blue area at the foot of the "Columbia Hills" is approximately 20 meters (66 feet) higher in elevation than the site where Spirit landed in Gusev Crater. The highest peak is on the order of 80 meters (262 feet) higher still. In other words, the hills Spirit is exploring are more than 250 feet high. The map imagery is from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. |
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Opportunity Traverse Map, 'E
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PIA08811
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Opportunity Traverse Map, 'Eagle' to 'Victoria' |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Annotated Image NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity reached the rim of "Victoria Crater" on Sept. 27, 2006, during the 951st Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work in the Meridian Planum region of Mars. Opportunity drove 9.28 kilometers (5.77 miles) in the explorations that took it from "Eagle Crater," where it landed in January 2004, eastward to "Endurance Crater," which it investigated for about half of 2004, then southward to Victoria. This map of Opportunity's trek so far is overlaid onto images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Victoria is about 800 meters (one-half mile) in diameter, or about five times wider than Endurance and 40 times wider than Eagle. The scale bar at lower right shows the length of 800 meters (0.50 mile). North is up. The Martian sol dates in the annotated image are as follows: sol 58 was March 24, 2004 sol 315 was December 12, 2004 sol 446 was April 26, 2005 sol 654 was November 25, 2005 sol 833 was May 28, 2006 sol 898 was August 3, 2006 sol 952 was September 28, 2006 |
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Opportunity Traverse Map, 'E
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PIA08811
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Opportunity Traverse Map, 'Eagle' to 'Victoria' |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Annotated Image NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity reached the rim of "Victoria Crater" on Sept. 27, 2006, during the 951st Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work in the Meridian Planum region of Mars. Opportunity drove 9.28 kilometers (5.77 miles) in the explorations that took it from "Eagle Crater," where it landed in January 2004, eastward to "Endurance Crater," which it investigated for about half of 2004, then southward to Victoria. This map of Opportunity's trek so far is overlaid onto images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Victoria is about 800 meters (one-half mile) in diameter, or about five times wider than Endurance and 40 times wider than Eagle. The scale bar at lower right shows the length of 800 meters (0.50 mile). North is up. The Martian sol dates in the annotated image are as follows: sol 58 was March 24, 2004 sol 315 was December 12, 2004 sol 446 was April 26, 2005 sol 654 was November 25, 2005 sol 833 was May 28, 2006 sol 898 was August 3, 2006 sol 952 was September 28, 2006 |
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Mars Polar Lander NOT Found
PIA03044
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars Polar Lander NOT Found |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
. Hitting a specific target with the cPROTO technique is challenging, and often it takes 3-4 attempts before we hit. For the candidate Mars Polar Lander location, we made 6 attempts. The first was in April 2005, when the surface was still covered with frost -- that image was saturated white because of the frost. The next attempts were made after the frost had sublimed away -- these were made in July, August, and September 2005. We finally hit the candidate lander location on 27 September 2005. The figure above compares the features extracted from the earlier, January 2000, image with the same location seen in the new, September 2005, image. The two pictures were taken under nearly identical illumination and atmospheric conditions, almost exactly 3 Mars years apart. The feature identified as a candidate for Mars Polar Lander's parachute is found be the illuminated slope of a small hill. The hill is part of a group of similar hills in the area. The dark feature that was identified as possible rocket blast zone has faded (which would be expected owing to dust deposited by dust storms), but, more importantly, the spot interpreted to be the lander has disappeared. In reality, this spot is a pixel whose value differed from its neighbors in the first image owing to a bigger than average contribution of noise. Close inspection of the January 2000 image (bottom left) shows many small bright and dark blurry spots that do not show up in the September 2005 image (bottom right). There are even smaller, blurry spots in the second image, they are also noise. The fact that these pixels do not coincide is excellent evidence that they are not real features on the surface of Mars. We conclude that our interpretation of these features was in error. This is NOT the location of the Mars Polar Lander. Because the landing uncertainty ellipse is so much larger than our images, and we do not have another candidate to which to target additional cPROTOs, we cannot continue to hunt for the lander. Finding it now falls to the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE [ http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/HiRISE/ ]) presently en route to Mars on-board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft. "Location near": 76.7°S, 195.3°W "The 125 meter scale bar" = ~ 410 feet" "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer (M11-03986 Ls=291.5°, S10-01322 Ls=295.7°), 17 October 2005 Following the loss of Mars Polar Lander in December 1999, the MOC team began a 2-month intensive effort to acquire 1.5 meters per pixel (~5 feet per pixel) images of the landing ellipse, in hopes of spotting the lander and, perhaps, to provide additional insight as to its fate. Those search efforts were described in two previous Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) releases: * PIA02353 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02353 ]: Mars Polar Lander: The Search Continues "24 January 2000" * PIA02349 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02349 ]: Mars Polar Lander: The Search Begins "21 December 1999". In addition, a later year 2000 release included the full MOC image mosaic of the site obtained during the search: * PIA02815 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02815 ]: South Polar Terrain in "3-D""16 October 2000". Based upon the configuration of Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit (PIA05248 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05248 ]) and Opportunity (PIA05229 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05229 ], PIA05230, [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05230 ] PIA05231 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05231 ]), lander hardware observed from orbit by MOC in early 2004, we revisited the December 1999/January 2000 images of the Mars Polar Lander site. Earlier this year, we identified a location in images acquired in January 2000 that included features reminiscent of those that might be expected to exist at the location where the Mars Polar Lander reached the surface. Specifically, we identified a bright feature that resembled a parachute, and a dark area with a small, light-toned central spot that could be the location of the lander amid a dust-deflated area cleared by the lander's descent engines. This finding, alongwith a definitive image of the Viking 2 lander, was detailed in: * MGS Finds Viking Lander 2 and Mars Polar Lander (Maybe) "5 May 2005" [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/05/05/index.html ]. At the time of this identification in early 2005, the Mars Polar Lander landing ellipse was covered by seasonal carbon dioxide frost. As the frost began to sublime away and spring gave way to summer, we attempted to acquire an image of the candidate Mars Polar Lander site at a spatial resolution that is higher than we were able to achieve during the initial search in December 1999/January 2000. To obtain an image with an effective spatial resolution better than 1 meter per pixel, we used the cPROTO (compensated Pitch and ROll Targeted Observation) technique described and illustrated last year in: * PIA06880 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06880 ]: cPROTO Views of Spirit's Rover Tracks and Athabasca Vallis Flood Features "27 September 2004" |
|
Second of Two Fresh Impact C
…
PIA09024
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Second of Two Fresh Impact Crater Sites With "Before" and "After" Narrow Angle Mars Orbiter Camera Images |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Pictured here is the second of 2 of the 20 new impact craters identified by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) science operations team to have formed between May 1999 and March 2006 that occur at a location that the MOC narrow angle camera imaged previously. This is surprising, given that the narrow angle camera, with its 3 kilometer- (1.9 miles)-wide field of view, has only covered about 5.2% of the martian surface. The other such case is described in an accompanying release, "One of Two Fresh Impact Crater Sites With Before and After Narrow Angle Mars Orbiter Camera Images" (see PIA09023 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09023 ] or MOC2-1614 [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/12/06/craters/site11/index.html ]). Figure A: This picture shows the impact site. It is located in Arabia Terra near 25.8°N, 308.0°W. The figure is a composite of sub-frames of MOC images S15-02322, obtained on 22 February 2006, and S17-01393, from 17 April 2006. The largest crater at the center of the impact zone has a diameter of about 16.0 ± 1.7 meters (about 52 feet). Several other smaller craters were formed by this impact event. Figure B: This figure shows how the impact site appeared in a previous MOC narrow angle camera image, R13-00039, on 1 January 2004, before the impact occurred. This is compared with MOC image S15-02322, obtained after the impact. Figure C: This figure shows the impact site as it appeared to the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) [ http://themis.asu.edu/ ] visible camera on 21 December 2005. Most importantly, the crater did not exist on 21 December 2005, but the dark spot the impact produced was seen 42 days later in MOC red wide angle image S14-03311 on 31 January 2006. In other words, the impact occurred between 21 December 2005 and 31 January 2006. It is possible that the crater formed in January 2006, after we began our survey for fresh martian impact craters! The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]. |
|
Second of Two Fresh Impact C
…
PIA09024
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Second of Two Fresh Impact Crater Sites With "Before" and "After" Narrow Angle Mars Orbiter Camera Images |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Pictured here is the second of 2 of the 20 new impact craters identified by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) science operations team to have formed between May 1999 and March 2006 that occur at a location that the MOC narrow angle camera imaged previously. This is surprising, given that the narrow angle camera, with its 3 kilometer- (1.9 miles)-wide field of view, has only covered about 5.2% of the martian surface. The other such case is described in an accompanying release, "One of Two Fresh Impact Crater Sites With Before and After Narrow Angle Mars Orbiter Camera Images" (see PIA09023 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09023 ] or MOC2-1614 [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/12/06/craters/site11/index.html ]). Figure A: This picture shows the impact site. It is located in Arabia Terra near 25.8°N, 308.0°W. The figure is a composite of sub-frames of MOC images S15-02322, obtained on 22 February 2006, and S17-01393, from 17 April 2006. The largest crater at the center of the impact zone has a diameter of about 16.0 ± 1.7 meters (about 52 feet). Several other smaller craters were formed by this impact event. Figure B: This figure shows how the impact site appeared in a previous MOC narrow angle camera image, R13-00039, on 1 January 2004, before the impact occurred. This is compared with MOC image S15-02322, obtained after the impact. Figure C: This figure shows the impact site as it appeared to the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) [ http://themis.asu.edu/ ] visible camera on 21 December 2005. Most importantly, the crater did not exist on 21 December 2005, but the dark spot the impact produced was seen 42 days later in MOC red wide angle image S14-03311 on 31 January 2006. In other words, the impact occurred between 21 December 2005 and 31 January 2006. It is possible that the crater formed in January 2006, after we began our survey for fresh martian impact craters! The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]. |
|
Second of Two Fresh Impact C
…
PIA09024
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Second of Two Fresh Impact Crater Sites With "Before" and "After" Narrow Angle Mars Orbiter Camera Images |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Pictured here is the second of 2 of the 20 new impact craters identified by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) science operations team to have formed between May 1999 and March 2006 that occur at a location that the MOC narrow angle camera imaged previously. This is surprising, given that the narrow angle camera, with its 3 kilometer- (1.9 miles)-wide field of view, has only covered about 5.2% of the martian surface. The other such case is described in an accompanying release, "One of Two Fresh Impact Crater Sites With Before and After Narrow Angle Mars Orbiter Camera Images" (see PIA09023 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09023 ] or MOC2-1614 [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/12/06/craters/site11/index.html ]). Figure A: This picture shows the impact site. It is located in Arabia Terra near 25.8°N, 308.0°W. The figure is a composite of sub-frames of MOC images S15-02322, obtained on 22 February 2006, and S17-01393, from 17 April 2006. The largest crater at the center of the impact zone has a diameter of about 16.0 ± 1.7 meters (about 52 feet). Several other smaller craters were formed by this impact event. Figure B: This figure shows how the impact site appeared in a previous MOC narrow angle camera image, R13-00039, on 1 January 2004, before the impact occurred. This is compared with MOC image S15-02322, obtained after the impact. Figure C: This figure shows the impact site as it appeared to the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) [ http://themis.asu.edu/ ] visible camera on 21 December 2005. Most importantly, the crater did not exist on 21 December 2005, but the dark spot the impact produced was seen 42 days later in MOC red wide angle image S14-03311 on 31 January 2006. In other words, the impact occurred between 21 December 2005 and 31 January 2006. It is possible that the crater formed in January 2006, after we began our survey for fresh martian impact craters! The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]. |
|
Second of Two Fresh Impact C
…
PIA09024
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Second of Two Fresh Impact Crater Sites With "Before" and "After" Narrow Angle Mars Orbiter Camera Images |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Pictured here is the second of 2 of the 20 new impact craters identified by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) science operations team to have formed between May 1999 and March 2006 that occur at a location that the MOC narrow angle camera imaged previously. This is surprising, given that the narrow angle camera, with its 3 kilometer- (1.9 miles)-wide field of view, has only covered about 5.2% of the martian surface. The other such case is described in an accompanying release, "One of Two Fresh Impact Crater Sites With Before and After Narrow Angle Mars Orbiter Camera Images" (see PIA09023 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09023 ] or MOC2-1614 [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/12/06/craters/site11/index.html ]). Figure A: This picture shows the impact site. It is located in Arabia Terra near 25.8°N, 308.0°W. The figure is a composite of sub-frames of MOC images S15-02322, obtained on 22 February 2006, and S17-01393, from 17 April 2006. The largest crater at the center of the impact zone has a diameter of about 16.0 ± 1.7 meters (about 52 feet). Several other smaller craters were formed by this impact event. Figure B: This figure shows how the impact site appeared in a previous MOC narrow angle camera image, R13-00039, on 1 January 2004, before the impact occurred. This is compared with MOC image S15-02322, obtained after the impact. Figure C: This figure shows the impact site as it appeared to the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) [ http://themis.asu.edu/ ] visible camera on 21 December 2005. Most importantly, the crater did not exist on 21 December 2005, but the dark spot the impact produced was seen 42 days later in MOC red wide angle image S14-03311 on 31 January 2006. In other words, the impact occurred between 21 December 2005 and 31 January 2006. It is possible that the crater formed in January 2006, after we began our survey for fresh martian impact craters! The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]. |
|
Second of Two Fresh Impact C
…
PIA09024
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Second of Two Fresh Impact Crater Sites With "Before" and "After" Narrow Angle Mars Orbiter Camera Images |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Pictured here is the second of 2 of the 20 new impact craters identified by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) science operations team to have formed between May 1999 and March 2006 that occur at a location that the MOC narrow angle camera imaged previously. This is surprising, given that the narrow angle camera, with its 3 kilometer- (1.9 miles)-wide field of view, has only covered about 5.2% of the martian surface. The other such case is described in an accompanying release, "One of Two Fresh Impact Crater Sites With Before and After Narrow Angle Mars Orbiter Camera Images" (see PIA09023 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09023 ] or MOC2-1614 [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/12/06/craters/site11/index.html ]). Figure A: This picture shows the impact site. It is located in Arabia Terra near 25.8°N, 308.0°W. The figure is a composite of sub-frames of MOC images S15-02322, obtained on 22 February 2006, and S17-01393, from 17 April 2006. The largest crater at the center of the impact zone has a diameter of about 16.0 ± 1.7 meters (about 52 feet). Several other smaller craters were formed by this impact event. Figure B: This figure shows how the impact site appeared in a previous MOC narrow angle camera image, R13-00039, on 1 January 2004, before the impact occurred. This is compared with MOC image S15-02322, obtained after the impact. Figure C: This figure shows the impact site as it appeared to the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) [ http://themis.asu.edu/ ] visible camera on 21 December 2005. Most importantly, the crater did not exist on 21 December 2005, but the dark spot the impact produced was seen 42 days later in MOC red wide angle image S14-03311 on 31 January 2006. In other words, the impact occurred between 21 December 2005 and 31 January 2006. It is possible that the crater formed in January 2006, after we began our survey for fresh martian impact craters! The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]. |
|
Second of Two Fresh Impact C
…
PIA09024
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Second of Two Fresh Impact Crater Sites With "Before" and "After" Narrow Angle Mars Orbiter Camera Images |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Pictured here is the second of 2 of the 20 new impact craters identified by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) science operations team to have formed between May 1999 and March 2006 that occur at a location that the MOC narrow angle camera imaged previously. This is surprising, given that the narrow angle camera, with its 3 kilometer- (1.9 miles)-wide field of view, has only covered about 5.2% of the martian surface. The other such case is described in an accompanying release, "One of Two Fresh Impact Crater Sites With Before and After Narrow Angle Mars Orbiter Camera Images" (see PIA09023 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09023 ] or MOC2-1614 [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/12/06/craters/site11/index.html ]). Figure A: This picture shows the impact site. It is located in Arabia Terra near 25.8°N, 308.0°W. The figure is a composite of sub-frames of MOC images S15-02322, obtained on 22 February 2006, and S17-01393, from 17 April 2006. The largest crater at the center of the impact zone has a diameter of about 16.0 ± 1.7 meters (about 52 feet). Several other smaller craters were formed by this impact event. Figure B: This figure shows how the impact site appeared in a previous MOC narrow angle camera image, R13-00039, on 1 January 2004, before the impact occurred. This is compared with MOC image S15-02322, obtained after the impact. Figure C: This figure shows the impact site as it appeared to the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) [ http://themis.asu.edu/ ] visible camera on 21 December 2005. Most importantly, the crater did not exist on 21 December 2005, but the dark spot the impact produced was seen 42 days later in MOC red wide angle image S14-03311 on 31 January 2006. In other words, the impact occurred between 21 December 2005 and 31 January 2006. It is possible that the crater formed in January 2006, after we began our survey for fresh martian impact craters! The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]. |
|
New Gully Deposit in a Crate
…
PIA09028
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
New Gully Deposit in a Crater in the Centauri Montes Region |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
). The second case, in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, east of the Hellas Basin, is described here. Gullies were first described by Mars Orbiter Camera scientists in June 2000, and many examples were presented in our June 2000 web releases and in a paper published in the journal Science. Additional examples of these middle and high-latitude landforms can be seen among the other more than 1,600 web releases. The new gully deposit in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region is located near 38.7 degrees south latitude, 263.3 degrees west longitude. Like the new gully deposit in Terra Sirenum, this one has a light tone relative to its surroundings. It is on an equator-facing slope on which numerous narrow gully channels occur. As this slope is always in sunlight during the afternoons when Mars Global Surveyor passes overhead, the gullies always appear somewhat "washed out," just as craters on a full Moon do when viewed from Earth with a telescope. The new, light-toned flow was first noticed by the Mars Orbiter Camera science operations team in an image acquired on Sept. 10, 2005. Re-examination of other images of this crater showed that the new deposit had actually been present on Feb. 21, 2004, when the distal (down-slope) end of the deposit was captured in other images. In February 2004, the deposit had gone unnoticed because only a small portion of it was imaged. This location was first imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera on Aug. 30, 1999. The deposit was not present at that time. Thus, it formed between Aug. 30, 1999 and Feb. 21, 2004. Roughly 20 percent brighter than the surface as it appeared before the flow occurred, the new deposit exhibits characteristics consistent with transport and deposition of a fluid that behaved like liquid water and likely transported some fine-grained sediment along with it. The distal end of the flow broke into several branches, or digits, and the material diverted and flowed around low obstacles. As with the example in Terra Sirenum, the depth of the flow is too thin to be measured in 1.5-meter-per-pixel (1.7-yard-per-pixel) images, so a very small volume of liquid and sediment was involved. While the material flowed and easily budded into several branches, it also must have moved slow enough to not topple over some of the low obstacles in its path. This picture is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit, draped over a topographic image derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment. Figure A: This figure shows the southeast wall of the unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, as it appeared in August 1999, and later in September 2005. No light-toned deposit was present in August 1999, but appeared by February 2004. The 300-meter scale bar represents 328 yards. Figure B: The second figure is a, Two Martian southern mid-latitude craters have new light-toned deposits that formed in gully settings during the course of the Mars Global Surveyor mission. Images from the Mars Orbiter Camera documented one case in an unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum, described in an accompanying release (see PIA09027 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09027 ] or MOC2-1618 [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/12/06/gullies/sirenum_crater/index.html ], mosaic of several Mars Global Surveyor images, colorized using a table derived from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera color data and overlain on a sub-frame of a Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System image. The 1-kilometer scale bar represents about 0.62 miles. Figure C: The third figure is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit as viewed from an oblique perspective, draped over topography derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera. The new light-toned flow, by itself, does not prove that liquid water was involved in its genesis. However, this observation and the similar light-toned flow in Terra Sirenum together show that some gully sites are indeed changing today, providing tantalizing evidence there might be sources of liquid water beneath the surface of Mars right now. In both cases, these new flows may be indicating the locations of aquifers (subsurface rocks saturated with water) that could be detected by orbiting, ground-penetrating radar systems such as the Mars Express Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding or the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mars Shallow Subsurface Radar. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]. |
|
New Gully Deposit in a Crate
…
PIA09028
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
New Gully Deposit in a Crater in the Centauri Montes Region |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
). The second case, in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, east of the Hellas Basin, is described here. Gullies were first described by Mars Orbiter Camera scientists in June 2000, and many examples were presented in our June 2000 web releases and in a paper published in the journal Science. Additional examples of these middle and high-latitude landforms can be seen among the other more than 1,600 web releases. The new gully deposit in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region is located near 38.7 degrees south latitude, 263.3 degrees west longitude. Like the new gully deposit in Terra Sirenum, this one has a light tone relative to its surroundings. It is on an equator-facing slope on which numerous narrow gully channels occur. As this slope is always in sunlight during the afternoons when Mars Global Surveyor passes overhead, the gullies always appear somewhat "washed out," just as craters on a full Moon do when viewed from Earth with a telescope. The new, light-toned flow was first noticed by the Mars Orbiter Camera science operations team in an image acquired on Sept. 10, 2005. Re-examination of other images of this crater showed that the new deposit had actually been present on Feb. 21, 2004, when the distal (down-slope) end of the deposit was captured in other images. In February 2004, the deposit had gone unnoticed because only a small portion of it was imaged. This location was first imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera on Aug. 30, 1999. The deposit was not present at that time. Thus, it formed between Aug. 30, 1999 and Feb. 21, 2004. Roughly 20 percent brighter than the surface as it appeared before the flow occurred, the new deposit exhibits characteristics consistent with transport and deposition of a fluid that behaved like liquid water and likely transported some fine-grained sediment along with it. The distal end of the flow broke into several branches, or digits, and the material diverted and flowed around low obstacles. As with the example in Terra Sirenum, the depth of the flow is too thin to be measured in 1.5-meter-per-pixel (1.7-yard-per-pixel) images, so a very small volume of liquid and sediment was involved. While the material flowed and easily budded into several branches, it also must have moved slow enough to not topple over some of the low obstacles in its path. This picture is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit, draped over a topographic image derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment. Figure A: This figure shows the southeast wall of the unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, as it appeared in August 1999, and later in September 2005. No light-toned deposit was present in August 1999, but appeared by February 2004. The 300-meter scale bar represents 328 yards. Figure B: The second figure is a, Two Martian southern mid-latitude craters have new light-toned deposits that formed in gully settings during the course of the Mars Global Surveyor mission. Images from the Mars Orbiter Camera documented one case in an unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum, described in an accompanying release (see PIA09027 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09027 ] or MOC2-1618 [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/12/06/gullies/sirenum_crater/index.html ], mosaic of several Mars Global Surveyor images, colorized using a table derived from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera color data and overlain on a sub-frame of a Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System image. The 1-kilometer scale bar represents about 0.62 miles. Figure C: The third figure is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit as viewed from an oblique perspective, draped over topography derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera. The new light-toned flow, by itself, does not prove that liquid water was involved in its genesis. However, this observation and the similar light-toned flow in Terra Sirenum together show that some gully sites are indeed changing today, providing tantalizing evidence there might be sources of liquid water beneath the surface of Mars right now. In both cases, these new flows may be indicating the locations of aquifers (subsurface rocks saturated with water) that could be detected by orbiting, ground-penetrating radar systems such as the Mars Express Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding or the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mars Shallow Subsurface Radar. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]. |
|
New Gully Deposit in a Crate
…
PIA09028
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
New Gully Deposit in a Crater in the Centauri Montes Region |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
). The second case, in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, east of the Hellas Basin, is described here. Gullies were first described by Mars Orbiter Camera scientists in June 2000, and many examples were presented in our June 2000 web releases and in a paper published in the journal Science. Additional examples of these middle and high-latitude landforms can be seen among the other more than 1,600 web releases. The new gully deposit in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region is located near 38.7 degrees south latitude, 263.3 degrees west longitude. Like the new gully deposit in Terra Sirenum, this one has a light tone relative to its surroundings. It is on an equator-facing slope on which numerous narrow gully channels occur. As this slope is always in sunlight during the afternoons when Mars Global Surveyor passes overhead, the gullies always appear somewhat "washed out," just as craters on a full Moon do when viewed from Earth with a telescope. The new, light-toned flow was first noticed by the Mars Orbiter Camera science operations team in an image acquired on Sept. 10, 2005. Re-examination of other images of this crater showed that the new deposit had actually been present on Feb. 21, 2004, when the distal (down-slope) end of the deposit was captured in other images. In February 2004, the deposit had gone unnoticed because only a small portion of it was imaged. This location was first imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera on Aug. 30, 1999. The deposit was not present at that time. Thus, it formed between Aug. 30, 1999 and Feb. 21, 2004. Roughly 20 percent brighter than the surface as it appeared before the flow occurred, the new deposit exhibits characteristics consistent with transport and deposition of a fluid that behaved like liquid water and likely transported some fine-grained sediment along with it. The distal end of the flow broke into several branches, or digits, and the material diverted and flowed around low obstacles. As with the example in Terra Sirenum, the depth of the flow is too thin to be measured in 1.5-meter-per-pixel (1.7-yard-per-pixel) images, so a very small volume of liquid and sediment was involved. While the material flowed and easily budded into several branches, it also must have moved slow enough to not topple over some of the low obstacles in its path. This picture is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit, draped over a topographic image derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment. Figure A: This figure shows the southeast wall of the unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, as it appeared in August 1999, and later in September 2005. No light-toned deposit was present in August 1999, but appeared by February 2004. The 300-meter scale bar represents 328 yards. Figure B: The second figure is a, Two Martian southern mid-latitude craters have new light-toned deposits that formed in gully settings during the course of the Mars Global Surveyor mission. Images from the Mars Orbiter Camera documented one case in an unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum, described in an accompanying release (see PIA09027 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09027 ] or MOC2-1618 [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/12/06/gullies/sirenum_crater/index.html ], mosaic of several Mars Global Surveyor images, colorized using a table derived from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera color data and overlain on a sub-frame of a Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System image. The 1-kilometer scale bar represents about 0.62 miles. Figure C: The third figure is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit as viewed from an oblique perspective, draped over topography derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera. The new light-toned flow, by itself, does not prove that liquid water was involved in its genesis. However, this observation and the similar light-toned flow in Terra Sirenum together show that some gully sites are indeed changing today, providing tantalizing evidence there might be sources of liquid water beneath the surface of Mars right now. In both cases, these new flows may be indicating the locations of aquifers (subsurface rocks saturated with water) that could be detected by orbiting, ground-penetrating radar systems such as the Mars Express Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding or the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mars Shallow Subsurface Radar. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]. |
|
New Gully Deposit in a Crate
…
PIA09028
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
New Gully Deposit in a Crater in the Centauri Montes Region |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
). The second case, in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, east of the Hellas Basin, is described here. Gullies were first described by Mars Orbiter Camera scientists in June 2000, and many examples were presented in our June 2000 web releases and in a paper published in the journal Science. Additional examples of these middle and high-latitude landforms can be seen among the other more than 1,600 web releases. The new gully deposit in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region is located near 38.7 degrees south latitude, 263.3 degrees west longitude. Like the new gully deposit in Terra Sirenum, this one has a light tone relative to its surroundings. It is on an equator-facing slope on which numerous narrow gully channels occur. As this slope is always in sunlight during the afternoons when Mars Global Surveyor passes overhead, the gullies always appear somewhat "washed out," just as craters on a full Moon do when viewed from Earth with a telescope. The new, light-toned flow was first noticed by the Mars Orbiter Camera science operations team in an image acquired on Sept. 10, 2005. Re-examination of other images of this crater showed that the new deposit had actually been present on Feb. 21, 2004, when the distal (down-slope) end of the deposit was captured in other images. In February 2004, the deposit had gone unnoticed because only a small portion of it was imaged. This location was first imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera on Aug. 30, 1999. The deposit was not present at that time. Thus, it formed between Aug. 30, 1999 and Feb. 21, 2004. Roughly 20 percent brighter than the surface as it appeared before the flow occurred, the new deposit exhibits characteristics consistent with transport and deposition of a fluid that behaved like liquid water and likely transported some fine-grained sediment along with it. The distal end of the flow broke into several branches, or digits, and the material diverted and flowed around low obstacles. As with the example in Terra Sirenum, the depth of the flow is too thin to be measured in 1.5-meter-per-pixel (1.7-yard-per-pixel) images, so a very small volume of liquid and sediment was involved. While the material flowed and easily budded into several branches, it also must have moved slow enough to not topple over some of the low obstacles in its path. This picture is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit, draped over a topographic image derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment. Figure A: This figure shows the southeast wall of the unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, as it appeared in August 1999, and later in September 2005. No light-toned deposit was present in August 1999, but appeared by February 2004. The 300-meter scale bar represents 328 yards. Figure B: The second figure is a, Two Martian southern mid-latitude craters have new light-toned deposits that formed in gully settings during the course of the Mars Global Surveyor mission. Images from the Mars Orbiter Camera documented one case in an unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum, described in an accompanying release (see PIA09027 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09027 ] or MOC2-1618 [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/12/06/gullies/sirenum_crater/index.html ], mosaic of several Mars Global Surveyor images, colorized using a table derived from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera color data and overlain on a sub-frame of a Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System image. The 1-kilometer scale bar represents about 0.62 miles. Figure C: The third figure is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit as viewed from an oblique perspective, draped over topography derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera. The new light-toned flow, by itself, does not prove that liquid water was involved in its genesis. However, this observation and the similar light-toned flow in Terra Sirenum together show that some gully sites are indeed changing today, providing tantalizing evidence there might be sources of liquid water beneath the surface of Mars right now. In both cases, these new flows may be indicating the locations of aquifers (subsurface rocks saturated with water) that could be detected by orbiting, ground-penetrating radar systems such as the Mars Express Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding or the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mars Shallow Subsurface Radar. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]. |
|
New Gully Deposit in a Crate
…
PIA09028
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
New Gully Deposit in a Crater in the Centauri Montes Region |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
). The second case, in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, east of the Hellas Basin, is described here. Gullies were first described by Mars Orbiter Camera scientists in June 2000, and many examples were presented in our June 2000 web releases and in a paper published in the journal Science. Additional examples of these middle and high-latitude landforms can be seen among the other more than 1,600 web releases. The new gully deposit in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region is located near 38.7 degrees south latitude, 263.3 degrees west longitude. Like the new gully deposit in Terra Sirenum, this one has a light tone relative to its surroundings. It is on an equator-facing slope on which numerous narrow gully channels occur. As this slope is always in sunlight during the afternoons when Mars Global Surveyor passes overhead, the gullies always appear somewhat "washed out," just as craters on a full Moon do when viewed from Earth with a telescope. The new, light-toned flow was first noticed by the Mars Orbiter Camera science operations team in an image acquired on Sept. 10, 2005. Re-examination of other images of this crater showed that the new deposit had actually been present on Feb. 21, 2004, when the distal (down-slope) end of the deposit was captured in other images. In February 2004, the deposit had gone unnoticed because only a small portion of it was imaged. This location was first imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera on Aug. 30, 1999. The deposit was not present at that time. Thus, it formed between Aug. 30, 1999 and Feb. 21, 2004. Roughly 20 percent brighter than the surface as it appeared before the flow occurred, the new deposit exhibits characteristics consistent with transport and deposition of a fluid that behaved like liquid water and likely transported some fine-grained sediment along with it. The distal end of the flow broke into several branches, or digits, and the material diverted and flowed around low obstacles. As with the example in Terra Sirenum, the depth of the flow is too thin to be measured in 1.5-meter-per-pixel (1.7-yard-per-pixel) images, so a very small volume of liquid and sediment was involved. While the material flowed and easily budded into several branches, it also must have moved slow enough to not topple over some of the low obstacles in its path. This picture is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit, draped over a topographic image derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment. Figure A: This figure shows the southeast wall of the unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, as it appeared in August 1999, and later in September 2005. No light-toned deposit was present in August 1999, but appeared by February 2004. The 300-meter scale bar represents 328 yards. Figure B: The second figure is a, Two Martian southern mid-latitude craters have new light-toned deposits that formed in gully settings during the course of the Mars Global Surveyor mission. Images from the Mars Orbiter Camera documented one case in an unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum, described in an accompanying release (see PIA09027 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09027 ] or MOC2-1618 [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/12/06/gullies/sirenum_crater/index.html ], mosaic of several Mars Global Surveyor images, colorized using a table derived from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera color data and overlain on a sub-frame of a Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System image. The 1-kilometer scale bar represents about 0.62 miles. Figure C: The third figure is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit as viewed from an oblique perspective, draped over topography derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera. The new light-toned flow, by itself, does not prove that liquid water was involved in its genesis. However, this observation and the similar light-toned flow in Terra Sirenum together show that some gully sites are indeed changing today, providing tantalizing evidence there might be sources of liquid water beneath the surface of Mars right now. In both cases, these new flows may be indicating the locations of aquifers (subsurface rocks saturated with water) that could be detected by orbiting, ground-penetrating radar systems such as the Mars Express Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding or the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mars Shallow Subsurface Radar. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]. |
|
New Gully Deposit in a Crate
…
PIA09028
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
New Gully Deposit in a Crater in the Centauri Montes Region |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
). The second case, in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, east of the Hellas Basin, is described here. Gullies were first described by Mars Orbiter Camera scientists in June 2000, and many examples were presented in our June 2000 web releases and in a paper published in the journal Science. Additional examples of these middle and high-latitude landforms can be seen among the other more than 1,600 web releases. The new gully deposit in an unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region is located near 38.7 degrees south latitude, 263.3 degrees west longitude. Like the new gully deposit in Terra Sirenum, this one has a light tone relative to its surroundings. It is on an equator-facing slope on which numerous narrow gully channels occur. As this slope is always in sunlight during the afternoons when Mars Global Surveyor passes overhead, the gullies always appear somewhat "washed out," just as craters on a full Moon do when viewed from Earth with a telescope. The new, light-toned flow was first noticed by the Mars Orbiter Camera science operations team in an image acquired on Sept. 10, 2005. Re-examination of other images of this crater showed that the new deposit had actually been present on Feb. 21, 2004, when the distal (down-slope) end of the deposit was captured in other images. In February 2004, the deposit had gone unnoticed because only a small portion of it was imaged. This location was first imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera on Aug. 30, 1999. The deposit was not present at that time. Thus, it formed between Aug. 30, 1999 and Feb. 21, 2004. Roughly 20 percent brighter than the surface as it appeared before the flow occurred, the new deposit exhibits characteristics consistent with transport and deposition of a fluid that behaved like liquid water and likely transported some fine-grained sediment along with it. The distal end of the flow broke into several branches, or digits, and the material diverted and flowed around low obstacles. As with the example in Terra Sirenum, the depth of the flow is too thin to be measured in 1.5-meter-per-pixel (1.7-yard-per-pixel) images, so a very small volume of liquid and sediment was involved. While the material flowed and easily budded into several branches, it also must have moved slow enough to not topple over some of the low obstacles in its path. This picture is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit, draped over a topographic image derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment. Figure A: This figure shows the southeast wall of the unnamed crater in the Centauri Montes region, as it appeared in August 1999, and later in September 2005. No light-toned deposit was present in August 1999, but appeared by February 2004. The 300-meter scale bar represents 328 yards. Figure B: The second figure is a, Two Martian southern mid-latitude craters have new light-toned deposits that formed in gully settings during the course of the Mars Global Surveyor mission. Images from the Mars Orbiter Camera documented one case in an unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum, described in an accompanying release (see PIA09027 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09027 ] or MOC2-1618 [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/12/06/gullies/sirenum_crater/index.html ], mosaic of several Mars Global Surveyor images, colorized using a table derived from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera color data and overlain on a sub-frame of a Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System image. The 1-kilometer scale bar represents about 0.62 miles. Figure C: The third figure is a colorized view of the light-toned gully deposit as viewed from an oblique perspective, draped over topography derived from Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The color comes from a table derived from the colors of Mars as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera. The new light-toned flow, by itself, does not prove that liquid water was involved in its genesis. However, this observation and the similar light-toned flow in Terra Sirenum together show that some gully sites are indeed changing today, providing tantalizing evidence there might be sources of liquid water beneath the surface of Mars right now. In both cases, these new flows may be indicating the locations of aquifers (subsurface rocks saturated with water) that could be detected by orbiting, ground-penetrating radar systems such as the Mars Express Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding or the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mars Shallow Subsurface Radar. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]. |
|
Meteor Search by Spirit, Sol
…
PIA03613
Sol (our sun)
Panoramic Camera
| Title |
Meteor Search by Spirit, Sol 643 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
, and Selsis et al. (2005) Nature, vol 435, p. 581). On Earth, some meteors come in "storms" or "showers" at predictable times of the year, like the famous Perseid meteor shower in August or the Leonid meteor shower in November. These "storms" happen when Earth passes through the same parts of space where comets sometimes pass. The meteors we see at these times are from leftover debris that was shed off of these comets. The same kind of thing is predicted for Mars, as well. Inspired by calculations about Martian meteor storms by meteor scientists from the University of Western Ontario in Canada and the Centre de Recherche en Astrophysique de Lyon in France, and also aided by other meteor research colleagues from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, scientists on the rover team planned some observations to try to detect predicted meteor storms in October and November, 2005. The views shown here are a composite of nine 60-second exposures taken with the panoramic camera on Spirit during night hours of sol 643 (Oct. 25, 2005), during a week when Mars was predicted to pass through a meteor stream associated with comet P/2001R1 LONEOS. Many stars can be seen in the images, appearing as curved "dash-dot" streaks. The star trails are curved because Mars is rotating while the camera takes the images. The dash-dot pattern is an artifact of taking an image for 60 seconds, then pausing about 10 seconds while the image is processed and stored by the rover's computer, then taking another image for 60 seconds, etc., for a total of about 10 minutes worth of "staring" at the night sky. Many stars from the southern constellations Octans and Pavonis can be seen in the images. The brightest ones in this view would be easily visible to the naked eye, but the faintest ones are slightly dimmer than the human eye can detect. In addition to the star trails, there are several smaller linear streaks, dots and splotches that are the trails left by cosmic rays hitting the camera detectors. Cosmic rays are high-energy particles that are created in the Sun and in other stars throughout our galaxy and travel through space in all directions. Some of them strike Earth or other planets, and ones that strike a digital camera detector can leave little tracks or splotches like those seen in these images. Because they come from all directions, some strike the detector face-on, and others strike at glancing angles. Some even skip across the detector like flat rocks skipped across a pond. These are very common phenomena to astronomers used to working with sensitive digital cameras like those in the Mars rovers, the Hubble Space Telescope, or other space probes, and while they can be a nuisance when taking pictures, they generally do not cause any lasting damage to the cameras. One streak in the image, crossing at an angle very different from the direction of the stars'"motion," might be a meteor trail or could be the mark of another cosmic ray. While hunting for meteors on Mars, Annotated Meteor Search by Spirit, Sol 643 The panoramic cameras on NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers are about as sensitive as the human eye at night. The cameras can see the same bright stars that we can see from Earth, and the same patterns of constellations dot the night sky. Scientists on the rover team have been taking images of some of these bright stars as part of several different projects. One project is designed to try to capture "shooting stars," or meteors, in the Martian night sky. "Meteoroids" are small pieces of comets and asteroids that travel through space and eventually run into a planet. On Earth, we can sometimes see meteoroids become brilliant, long "meteors" streaking across the night sky as they burn up from the friction in our atmosphere. Some of these meteors survive their fiery flight and land on the surface (or in the ocean) where, if found, they are called "meteorites." The same thing happens in the Martian atmosphere, and Spirit even accidentally discovered a meteor while attempting to obtain images of Earth in the pre-dawn sky back in March, 2004 (see http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20040311a.html [ http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20040311a.html ], is fun, ultimately the team wants to use the images and results for scientific purposes. These include helping to validate the models and predictions for interplanetary meteor storms, providing information on the rate of impacts of small meteoroids with Mars for comparison with rates for the Earth and Moon, assessing the rate and intensity of cosmic ray impact events in the Martian environment, and looking at whether some bright stars are being dimmed occasionally by water ice or dust clouds occurring at night during different Martian seasons. |
|
Meteor Search by Spirit, Sol
…
PIA03613
Sol (our sun)
Panoramic Camera
| Title |
Meteor Search by Spirit, Sol 643 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
, and Selsis et al. (2005) Nature, vol 435, p. 581). On Earth, some meteors come in "storms" or "showers" at predictable times of the year, like the famous Perseid meteor shower in August or the Leonid meteor shower in November. These "storms" happen when Earth passes through the same parts of space where comets sometimes pass. The meteors we see at these times are from leftover debris that was shed off of these comets. The same kind of thing is predicted for Mars, as well. Inspired by calculations about Martian meteor storms by meteor scientists from the University of Western Ontario in Canada and the Centre de Recherche en Astrophysique de Lyon in France, and also aided by other meteor research colleagues from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, scientists on the rover team planned some observations to try to detect predicted meteor storms in October and November, 2005. The views shown here are a composite of nine 60-second exposures taken with the panoramic camera on Spirit during night hours of sol 643 (Oct. 25, 2005), during a week when Mars was predicted to pass through a meteor stream associated with comet P/2001R1 LONEOS. Many stars can be seen in the images, appearing as curved "dash-dot" streaks. The star trails are curved because Mars is rotating while the camera takes the images. The dash-dot pattern is an artifact of taking an image for 60 seconds, then pausing about 10 seconds while the image is processed and stored by the rover's computer, then taking another image for 60 seconds, etc., for a total of about 10 minutes worth of "staring" at the night sky. Many stars from the southern constellations Octans and Pavonis can be seen in the images. The brightest ones in this view would be easily visible to the naked eye, but the faintest ones are slightly dimmer than the human eye can detect. In addition to the star trails, there are several smaller linear streaks, dots and splotches that are the trails left by cosmic rays hitting the camera detectors. Cosmic rays are high-energy particles that are created in the Sun and in other stars throughout our galaxy and travel through space in all directions. Some of them strike Earth or other planets, and ones that strike a digital camera detector can leave little tracks or splotches like those seen in these images. Because they come from all directions, some strike the detector face-on, and others strike at glancing angles. Some even skip across the detector like flat rocks skipped across a pond. These are very common phenomena to astronomers used to working with sensitive digital cameras like those in the Mars rovers, the Hubble Space Telescope, or other space probes, and while they can be a nuisance when taking pictures, they generally do not cause any lasting damage to the cameras. One streak in the image, crossing at an angle very different from the direction of the stars'"motion," might be a meteor trail or could be the mark of another cosmic ray. While hunting for meteors on Mars, Annotated Meteor Search by Spirit, Sol 643 The panoramic cameras on NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers are about as sensitive as the human eye at night. The cameras can see the same bright stars that we can see from Earth, and the same patterns of constellations dot the night sky. Scientists on the rover team have been taking images of some of these bright stars as part of several different projects. One project is designed to try to capture "shooting stars," or meteors, in the Martian night sky. "Meteoroids" are small pieces of comets and asteroids that travel through space and eventually run into a planet. On Earth, we can sometimes see meteoroids become brilliant, long "meteors" streaking across the night sky as they burn up from the friction in our atmosphere. Some of these meteors survive their fiery flight and land on the surface (or in the ocean) where, if found, they are called "meteorites." The same thing happens in the Martian atmosphere, and Spirit even accidentally discovered a meteor while attempting to obtain images of Earth in the pre-dawn sky back in March, 2004 (see http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20040311a.html [ http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20040311a.html ], is fun, ultimately the team wants to use the images and results for scientific purposes. These include helping to validate the models and predictions for interplanetary meteor storms, providing information on the rate of impacts of small meteoroids with Mars for comparison with rates for the Earth and Moon, assessing the rate and intensity of cosmic ray impact events in the Martian environment, and looking at whether some bright stars are being dimmed occasionally by water ice or dust clouds occurring at night during different Martian seasons. |
|
Meteor Search by Spirit, Sol
…
PIA03615
Sol (our sun)
Panoramic Camera
| Title |
Meteor Search by Spirit, Sol 668 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Annotated Meteor Search by Spirit, Sol 668 The panoramic cameras on NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers are about as sensitive as the human eye at night. The cameras can see the same bright stars that we can see from Earth, and the same patterns of constellations dot the night sky. Scientists on the rover team have been taking images of some of these bright stars as part of several different projects. One project is designed to try to capture "shooting stars," or meteors, in the martian night sky. "Meteoroids" are small pieces of comets and asteroids that travel through space and eventually run into a planet. On Earth, we can sometimes see meteoroids become brilliant, long "meteors" streaking across the night sky as they burn up from the friction in our atmosphere. Some of these meteors survive their fiery flight and land on the surface (or in the ocean) where, if found, they are called "meteorites." The same thing happens in the martian atmosphere, and Spirit even accidentally discovered a meteor while attempting to obtain images of Earth in the pre-dawn sky back in March, 2004 (see http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20040311a.html, and Selsis et al. (2005) Nature, vol 435, p. 581). On Earth, some meteors come in "storms" or "showers" at predictable times of the year, like the famous Perseid meteor shower in August or the Leonid meteor shower in November. These "storms" happen when Earth passes through the same parts of space where comets sometimes pass. The meteors we see at these times are from leftover debris that was shed off of these comets. The same kind of thing is predicted for Mars, as well. Inspired by calculations about Martian meteor storms by meteor scientists from the University of Western Ontario in Canada and the Centre de Recherche en Astrophysique de Lyon in France, and also aided by other meteor research colleagues from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, scientists on the rover team planned some observations to try to detect predicted meteor storms in October and November, 2005. The views shown here are a composite of nine 60-second exposures taken with the panoramic camera on Spirit during night hours of sol 668 (Nov. 18, 2005), during a week when Mars was predicted to pass through a meteor stream associated with Halley's comet. The south celestial pole is at the center of the frame. Many stars can be seen in the images, appearing as short, curved streaks forming arcs around the center point. The star trails are curved because Mars is rotating while the camera takes the images. The brightest stars in this view would be easily visible to the naked eye, but the faintest ones are slightly dimmer than the human eye can detect. In addition to the star trails, there are several smaller linear streaks, dots and splotches that are the trails left by cosmic rays hitting the camera detectors. Cosmic rays are high-energy particles that are created in the Sun and in other stars throughout our galaxy and travel, through space in all directions. Some of them strike Earth or other planets, and ones that strike a digital camera detector can leave little tracks or splotches like those seen in these images. Because they come from all directions, some strike the detector face-on, and others strike at glancing angles. Some even skip across the detector like flat rocks skipped across a pond. These are very common phenomena to astronomers used to working with sensitive digital cameras like those in the Mars rovers, the Hubble Space Telescope, or other space probes, and while they can be a nuisance when taking pictures, they generally do not cause any lasting damage to the cameras. Three of the streaks in the image, including one spanning most of the distance from the left edge of the frame to the center, might be meteor trails or could be the marks of other cosmic rays. While hunting for meteors on Mars is fun, ultimately the team wants to use the images and results for scientific purposes. These include helping to validate the models and predictions for interplanetary meteor storms, providing information on the rate of impacts of small meteoroids with Mars for comparison with rates for the Earth and Moon, assessing the rate and intensity of cosmic ray impact events in the Martian environment, and looking at whether some bright stars are being dimmed occasionally by water ice or dust clouds occurring at night during different Martian seasons. |
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Meteor Search by Spirit, Sol
…
PIA03615
Sol (our sun)
Panoramic Camera
| Title |
Meteor Search by Spirit, Sol 668 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Annotated Meteor Search by Spirit, Sol 668 The panoramic cameras on NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers are about as sensitive as the human eye at night. The cameras can see the same bright stars that we can see from Earth, and the same patterns of constellations dot the night sky. Scientists on the rover team have been taking images of some of these bright stars as part of several different projects. One project is designed to try to capture "shooting stars," or meteors, in the martian night sky. "Meteoroids" are small pieces of comets and asteroids that travel through space and eventually run into a planet. On Earth, we can sometimes see meteoroids become brilliant, long "meteors" streaking across the night sky as they burn up from the friction in our atmosphere. Some of these meteors survive their fiery flight and land on the surface (or in the ocean) where, if found, they are called "meteorites." The same thing happens in the martian atmosphere, and Spirit even accidentally discovered a meteor while attempting to obtain images of Earth in the pre-dawn sky back in March, 2004 (see http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20040311a.html, and Selsis et al. (2005) Nature, vol 435, p. 581). On Earth, some meteors come in "storms" or "showers" at predictable times of the year, like the famous Perseid meteor shower in August or the Leonid meteor shower in November. These "storms" happen when Earth passes through the same parts of space where comets sometimes pass. The meteors we see at these times are from leftover debris that was shed off of these comets. The same kind of thing is predicted for Mars, as well. Inspired by calculations about Martian meteor storms by meteor scientists from the University of Western Ontario in Canada and the Centre de Recherche en Astrophysique de Lyon in France, and also aided by other meteor research colleagues from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, scientists on the rover team planned some observations to try to detect predicted meteor storms in October and November, 2005. The views shown here are a composite of nine 60-second exposures taken with the panoramic camera on Spirit during night hours of sol 668 (Nov. 18, 2005), during a week when Mars was predicted to pass through a meteor stream associated with Halley's comet. The south celestial pole is at the center of the frame. Many stars can be seen in the images, appearing as short, curved streaks forming arcs around the center point. The star trails are curved because Mars is rotating while the camera takes the images. The brightest stars in this view would be easily visible to the naked eye, but the faintest ones are slightly dimmer than the human eye can detect. In addition to the star trails, there are several smaller linear streaks, dots and splotches that are the trails left by cosmic rays hitting the camera detectors. Cosmic rays are high-energy particles that are created in the Sun and in other stars throughout our galaxy and travel, through space in all directions. Some of them strike Earth or other planets, and ones that strike a digital camera detector can leave little tracks or splotches like those seen in these images. Because they come from all directions, some strike the detector face-on, and others strike at glancing angles. Some even skip across the detector like flat rocks skipped across a pond. These are very common phenomena to astronomers used to working with sensitive digital cameras like those in the Mars rovers, the Hubble Space Telescope, or other space probes, and while they can be a nuisance when taking pictures, they generally do not cause any lasting damage to the cameras. Three of the streaks in the image, including one spanning most of the distance from the left edge of the frame to the center, might be meteor trails or could be the marks of other cosmic rays. While hunting for meteors on Mars is fun, ultimately the team wants to use the images and results for scientific purposes. These include helping to validate the models and predictions for interplanetary meteor storms, providing information on the rate of impacts of small meteoroids with Mars for comparison with rates for the Earth and Moon, assessing the rate and intensity of cosmic ray impact events in the Martian environment, and looking at whether some bright stars are being dimmed occasionally by water ice or dust clouds occurring at night during different Martian seasons. |
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Viking 2's 30th!
PIA08723
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Viking 2's 30th! |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
3 September 2006 Viking 2 landed 30 years ago today, on 3 September 1976. It was the second of the two Viking landings on Mars. Viking 1 touched down on 20 July 1976. Since the Viking missions of the 1970s, only 3 additional spacecraft have successfully landed and conducted their scientific investigations: Mars Pathfinder (1997), Mars Exploration Rover Spirit (2004-present), and Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity (2004-present). Two new U.S. Mars landed missions are currently in the works: Phoenix, launching in August 2007, and MSL (Mars Science Laboratory), launching in 2009. As with the 30th anniversary of the Viking 1 landing in July (see PIA08616 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08616 ]), for the Viking 2 30th anniversary, we show here the best Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) view of the landing site. On that day 30 years ago, Viking 2 landed in Utopia Planitia, west of Mie Crater, near 48.0°N, 225.7°W. At the time, it was considered that this might be a good place to look for evidence of life in the martian regolith. This middle north latitude site is often obscured by clouds in the winter and dust hazes in the spring. The surface was observed by the lander to be dusted by thin coatings of frost during the winter months. The exact location of the Viking 2 lander was uncertain until MOC obtained the high resolution view, shown above, in 2004. These images were previously released by the MOC team on 5 May 2005, along with what was then considered to be the best candidate for the Mars Polar Lander site (see "MGS Finds Viking 2 Lander and Mars Polar Lander (Maybe)" [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/05/05/ ]). The candidate Polar Lander site was further imaged in 2005 and found not to be the lander (see PIA03044 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03044 ]). Figure 1 shows (A) a mosaic of Viking Orbiter images obtained in the 1970s at a resolution of 75 m/pixel, (B) a typical MGS MOC narrow angle camera view at about 3 meters/pixel (25x higher resolution than the Viking images), and (C, D) sections of a MOC image obtained at ~0.5 m/pixel. Figure 2 shows an extreme enlargement of the feature identified as Viking Lander 2, compared to a schematic drawing of the lander in the orientation determined during the Viking mission. |
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Viking 2's 30th!
PIA08723
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Viking 2's 30th! |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
3 September 2006 Viking 2 landed 30 years ago today, on 3 September 1976. It was the second of the two Viking landings on Mars. Viking 1 touched down on 20 July 1976. Since the Viking missions of the 1970s, only 3 additional spacecraft have successfully landed and conducted their scientific investigations: Mars Pathfinder (1997), Mars Exploration Rover Spirit (2004-present), and Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity (2004-present). Two new U.S. Mars landed missions are currently in the works: Phoenix, launching in August 2007, and MSL (Mars Science Laboratory), launching in 2009. As with the 30th anniversary of the Viking 1 landing in July (see PIA08616 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08616 ]), for the Viking 2 30th anniversary, we show here the best Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) view of the landing site. On that day 30 years ago, Viking 2 landed in Utopia Planitia, west of Mie Crater, near 48.0°N, 225.7°W. At the time, it was considered that this might be a good place to look for evidence of life in the martian regolith. This middle north latitude site is often obscured by clouds in the winter and dust hazes in the spring. The surface was observed by the lander to be dusted by thin coatings of frost during the winter months. The exact location of the Viking 2 lander was uncertain until MOC obtained the high resolution view, shown above, in 2004. These images were previously released by the MOC team on 5 May 2005, along with what was then considered to be the best candidate for the Mars Polar Lander site (see "MGS Finds Viking 2 Lander and Mars Polar Lander (Maybe)" [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/05/05/ ]). The candidate Polar Lander site was further imaged in 2005 and found not to be the lander (see PIA03044 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03044 ]). Figure 1 shows (A) a mosaic of Viking Orbiter images obtained in the 1970s at a resolution of 75 m/pixel, (B) a typical MGS MOC narrow angle camera view at about 3 meters/pixel (25x higher resolution than the Viking images), and (C, D) sections of a MOC image obtained at ~0.5 m/pixel. Figure 2 shows an extreme enlargement of the feature identified as Viking Lander 2, compared to a schematic drawing of the lander in the orientation determined during the Viking mission. |
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Viking 2's 30th!
PIA08723
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Viking 2's 30th! |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
3 September 2006 Viking 2 landed 30 years ago today, on 3 September 1976. It was the second of the two Viking landings on Mars. Viking 1 touched down on 20 July 1976. Since the Viking missions of the 1970s, only 3 additional spacecraft have successfully landed and conducted their scientific investigations: Mars Pathfinder (1997), Mars Exploration Rover Spirit (2004-present), and Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity (2004-present). Two new U.S. Mars landed missions are currently in the works: Phoenix, launching in August 2007, and MSL (Mars Science Laboratory), launching in 2009. As with the 30th anniversary of the Viking 1 landing in July (see PIA08616 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08616 ]), for the Viking 2 30th anniversary, we show here the best Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) view of the landing site. On that day 30 years ago, Viking 2 landed in Utopia Planitia, west of Mie Crater, near 48.0°N, 225.7°W. At the time, it was considered that this might be a good place to look for evidence of life in the martian regolith. This middle north latitude site is often obscured by clouds in the winter and dust hazes in the spring. The surface was observed by the lander to be dusted by thin coatings of frost during the winter months. The exact location of the Viking 2 lander was uncertain until MOC obtained the high resolution view, shown above, in 2004. These images were previously released by the MOC team on 5 May 2005, along with what was then considered to be the best candidate for the Mars Polar Lander site (see "MGS Finds Viking 2 Lander and Mars Polar Lander (Maybe)" [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/05/05/ ]). The candidate Polar Lander site was further imaged in 2005 and found not to be the lander (see PIA03044 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03044 ]). Figure 1 shows (A) a mosaic of Viking Orbiter images obtained in the 1970s at a resolution of 75 m/pixel, (B) a typical MGS MOC narrow angle camera view at about 3 meters/pixel (25x higher resolution than the Viking images), and (C, D) sections of a MOC image obtained at ~0.5 m/pixel. Figure 2 shows an extreme enlargement of the feature identified as Viking Lander 2, compared to a schematic drawing of the lander in the orientation determined during the Viking mission. |
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Animated Elevation Model of
…
PIA08749
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Animated Elevation Model of 'Victoria Crater' |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
"" Click on the image for movie of Animated Elevation Model of 'Victoria Crater' After driving more than 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) from the site where it landed in January 2004, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity approached "Victoria Crater" in September 2006. The crater is about 750 meters (half a mile) across. That is about six times wider than "Endurance Crater," which Opportunity spent six months examining in 2004, and about 35 times wider than "Eagle Crater," where Opportunity first landed. The walls of Victoria hold the scientific allure of much taller stacks of geological layers -- providing the record of a longer span of the area's environmental history -- than Opportunity has been able to inspect on the Meridiani plains or at smaller craters. This animation created by the U.S. Geological Survey uses a digital elevation model generated from computer analysis of three images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. The vertical dimension is not exaggerated relative to the horizontal dimensions. The crater is about 70 meters (230 feet) deep. The images used for providing the stereo information to calculate relative elevation were taken on Feb. 1, 2004 (http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/r10_r15/images/R14/R1401689.html [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/r10_r15/images/R14/R1401689.html ]) and April 16, 2005 (http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/s05_s10/images/S05/S0500863.html [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/s05_s10/images/S05/S0500863.html ]). The animation begins and ends with the view looking from the northwest toward the southeast. Opportunity is approaching Victoria from the northwest. |
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Animated Elevation Model of
…
PIA08749
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Animated Elevation Model of 'Victoria Crater' |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
"" Click on the image for movie of Animated Elevation Model of 'Victoria Crater' After driving more than 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) from the site where it landed in January 2004, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity approached "Victoria Crater" in September 2006. The crater is about 750 meters (half a mile) across. That is about six times wider than "Endurance Crater," which Opportunity spent six months examining in 2004, and about 35 times wider than "Eagle Crater," where Opportunity first landed. The walls of Victoria hold the scientific allure of much taller stacks of geological layers -- providing the record of a longer span of the area's environmental history -- than Opportunity has been able to inspect on the Meridiani plains or at smaller craters. This animation created by the U.S. Geological Survey uses a digital elevation model generated from computer analysis of three images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. The vertical dimension is not exaggerated relative to the horizontal dimensions. The crater is about 70 meters (230 feet) deep. The images used for providing the stereo information to calculate relative elevation were taken on Feb. 1, 2004 (http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/r10_r15/images/R14/R1401689.html [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/r10_r15/images/R14/R1401689.html ]) and April 16, 2005 (http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/s05_s10/images/S05/S0500863.html [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/s05_s10/images/S05/S0500863.html ]). The animation begins and ends with the view looking from the northwest toward the southeast. Opportunity is approaching Victoria from the northwest. |
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