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Leaving Earth
title Leaving Earth
date 06.10.2003
description This spectacular shot of solid rocket motors separating from a Delta II rocket over Florida was captured during the June 10 liftoff of the Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit. The rover and its twin, Opportunity, will arrive at Mars in January 2004.
Eyeing Eagle Crater
title Eyeing Eagle Crater
description This image mosaic, compiled from navigation and panoramic camera images during the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's 33rd, 35th, and 36th sols on Mars, shows a panoramic view of the crater where the rover had been exploring since its dramatic arrival in late January 2004. The crater, now informally referred to as "Eagle Crater," is approximately 22 meters (72 feet) in diameter. Opportunity's lander is visible in the center of the image. Track marks reveal the rover's progress. The rover cameras recorded this view as Opportunity climbed close to the crater rim as part of a soil survey campaign. *Image credit*: NASA/JPL/Cornell
Victoria Crater' at Meridian …
title Victoria Crater' at Meridiani Planum
date 10.06.2006
description This image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows "Victoria crater," an impact crater at Meridiani Planum, near the equator of Mars. The crater is approximately 800 meters (half a mile) in diameter. It has a distinctive scalloped shape to its rim, caused by erosion and downhill movement of crater wall material. Layered sedimentary rocks are exposed along the inner wall of the crater, and boulders that have fallen from the crater wall are visible on the crater floor. The floor of the crater is occupied by a striking field of sand dunes. Since January 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been operating at Meridiani Planum. Five days before this image was taken, Opportunity arrived at the rim of Victoria crater, after a drive of more than 9 kilometers (over 5 miles). The rover can be seen in this image, at roughly the "ten o'clock" position along the rim of the crater. This view is a portion of an image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on Oct. 3, 2006. The complete image is centered at minus7.8 degrees latitude, 279.5 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 297 kilometers (185.6 miles). At this distance the image scale is 29.7 centimeters (12 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects about 89 centimeters (35 inches) across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel and north is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:30 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 59.7 degrees, thus the sun was about 30.3 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 113.6 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer. This is an enhanced-color view generated from images acquired by the HiRISE camera using its red filter and blue-green filter. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mroor http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/UA
Spirit Launch
title Spirit Launch
date 06.10.2003
description A trail of smoke is all that identifies the Delta II rocket with the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit aboard as it hurtles into space. Liftoff occurred on time at 1:58 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Spirit was the first of two rovers launched to Mars in the summer of 2003. Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, landed on opposite sides of the planet in January 2004. The rovers see sharper images, can explore farther and examine rocks better than anything that has ever landed on Mars. Spirit's destination was Gusev Crater, which appears to have been a crater lake. *Image Credit*: NASA
Mars Exploration Rover
title Mars Exploration Rover
date 12.15.2003
description An artist's concept portrays a NASA Mars Exploration Rover on the surface of Mars. Two rovers, Spirit and Opportunitylanded on Mars in January 2004. Each has the mobility and toolkit to function as a robotic geologist. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL/Cornell University/Maas Digital
Chandra X-ray Images of Satu …
Name Chandra X-ray Images of Saturn
Chandra X-ray Images of Satu …
Name Chandra X-ray Images of Saturn, January 2004
KPNO Optical Image of McNeil …
Name KPNO Optical Image of McNeil's Nebula, Left image is 11.7 by 7.8 arcmin, Right image is 135 by 90 arcsec
Mars: Closest Encounter
Title Mars: Closest Encounter
NASA Space Observatories Gli …
Title NASA Space Observatories Glimpse Faint Afterglow of Nearby Stellar Explosion
General Information What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ]
Hubble Images of Asteroids H …
Title Hubble Images of Asteroids Help Astronomers Prepare for Spacecraft Visit
Institute Educator Will Lead …
Title Institute Educator Will Lead Workshop for British Queen
General Information What is a News Nugget? News Nuggets are bulletins from the world of astronomy. Queen Elizabeth II will learn about NASA education tomorrow, May 8, when she visits NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Bonnie Eisenhamer, the Hubble Space Telescope Formal Education Manager at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., will lead an education workshop for local middle school students during the Queen's Goddard visit. This tapestry of galaxies represents a small piece of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF). Imaged September 2003 through January 2004, the HUDF is the deepest visible-light view of the cosmos. This snapshot includes galaxies of various ages, sizes, shapes, and colors. During the workshop, students will use the image to classify the galaxies in the HUDF by shape and color. By analyzing the HUDF image, the students will learn how light is used to explore the universe. Read more: * The Full Story [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/21/full/ ]
Hubble Images of Asteroids H …
Title Hubble Images of Asteroids Help Astronomers Prepare for Spacecraft Visit
Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min …
Title Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice
Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min …
Title Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice
Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min …
Title Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice
Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min …
Title Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice
Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min …
Title Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice
Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min …
Title Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice
Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min …
Title Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice
Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min …
Title Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice
Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min …
Title Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice
Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min …
Title Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice
Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min …
Title Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice
Hubble Images of Asteroids H …
Title Hubble Images of Asteroids Help Astronomers Prepare for Spacecraft Visit
Hubble Images of Asteroids H …
Title Hubble Images of Asteroids Help Astronomers Prepare for Spacecraft Visit
Seasonal Landcover Change ov …
Title Seasonal Landcover Change over Western Asia in 2004
Abstract The Blue Marble Next Generation dataset provides a monthly global cloud-free true-color picture of the Earth's landcover at a 500-meter spatial resolution. This visualization of the dataset shows seasonal variations such as snowfall, spring greening and droughts in a seamless fashion, thereby heightening awareness of changes in the Earth's climate. Here we focus on the seasonal landcover changes over the Westerm Asia. This dataset is derived from imagery taken in 2004 by the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite.
Completed 2005-10-07
Seasonal Landcover Change ov …
Title Seasonal Landcover Change over the Nile Delta in 2004
Abstract The Blue Marble Next Generation dataset provides a monthly global cloud-free true-color picture of the Earth's landcover at a 500-meter spatial resolution. This visualization of the dataset shows seasonal variations such as snowfall, spring greening and droughts in a seamless fashion, thereby heightening awareness of changes in the Earth's climate. Here we focus on the seasonal landcover changes over the Nile Delta. This dataset is derived from imagery taken in 2004 by the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite.
Completed 2005-10-12
Seasonal Landcover Change ov …
Title Seasonal Landcover Change over the Eastern United States
Abstract The Blue Marble Next Generation dataset provides a monthly global cloud-free true-color picture of the Earth's landcover at a 500-meter spatial resolution. This visualization of the dataset shows seasonal variations such as snowfall, spring greening and droughts in a seamless fashion, thereby heightening awareness of changes in the Earth's climate. Here we focus on the seasonal landcover changes over the Eastern United States. This dataset is derived from imagery taken in 2004 by the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite.
Completed 2005-10-07
Seasonal Landcover Change ov …
Title Seasonal Landcover Change over the Alps
Abstract The Blue Marble Next Generation dataset provides a monthly global cloud-free true-color picture of the Earth's landcover at a 500-meter spatial resolution. This visualization of the dataset shows seasonal variations such as snowfall, spring greening and droughts in a seamless fashion, thereby heightening awareness of changes in the Earth's climate. Here we focus on the seasonal landcover changes over the European Alps. This dataset is derived from imagery taken in 2004 by the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite.
Completed 2005-10-07
Photo Description Engineers and technicians in the control room at the Dryden Flight Research Center must constantly monitor critical operations and checks during research projects like NASA's hypersonic X-43A. Visible in the photo, taken two days before the X-43's captive carry flight in January 2004, are [foreground to background], Tony Kawano (Range Safety Officer), Brad Neal (Mission Controller), and Griffin Corpening (Test Conductor).
Project Description X-43A will ride on the first stage of an Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Virginia, booster rocket, which will be launched by Dryden's B-52 at about 40,000 feet. For each flight, the booster will accelerate the X-43A research vehicle to the test conditions (Mach 7 or 10) at approximately 100,000 feet, where it will separate from the booster and fly under its own power. Orbital Science's Launch Vehicles Division in Chandler, Arizona. will construct the Hyper-X launch vehicles.
Photo Date January 24, 2004
Crater of Bezymianny Volcano
Title Crater of Bezymianny Volcano
Description Bezymianny Volcano smokes quietly on September 22, 2000, in this view from the Landsat 7 satellite. Bezymianny began erupting in February 2000, and has been moderately active since. On January 13, 2004, a relatively large eruption sent an ash plume 6 kilometers into the air. This activity continues a trend that began in 1955, when the eastern flank of the volcano collapsed in a catastrophic eruption similar to that of Mount Saint Helens in 1980. The resulting crater has been partially filled by a lava dome (easily seen in the above image) that continues to grow. Just to the north stands Klyuchevskaya Sopka, the tallest volcano in Eurasia (4,750 meters). The volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula are some of the most active on Earth. Located on the western edge of the North Pacific, Kamchatka lies along the "Ring of Fire," a zone of volcanoes and frequent earthquakes on the edges of the Pacific Ocean. In mid-January 2004 at least four volcanoes in the region were erupting: Bezymianny and Klyuchevskaya Sopka as well as Shiveluch and Karymsky. Image by Robert Simmon, based on data provided by the Global Land Cover Facility, [ http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/index.shtml ] University of Maryland
Tropical Cyclone Elita (09S)
Title Tropical Cyclone Elita (09S)
Description Having formed just off the west coast of the island of Madagascar on the 26th of January 2004, Tropical cyclone Elita (9S) then came ashore on the 29th near the coastal town of Mahajanga on the northwest coast. Elita then moved southwest parallel to the coast line before drifting back out over the Mozambique Channel on the 1st of February. Elita strengthened into a minimal category 1 cyclone with winds estimated at 75 mph by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center on the 2nd. The system then came ashore again on the western coastline of Madagascar near the town of Morondava before moving southeast across the island on the 3rd and exiting on the east coast. Four more people were reported killed as a result of Elita coming ashore for the second time and many thousands were reported to be left homeless. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured this image of Elita just after it had made landfall for the second time. The image was taken at 1:33 UTC on 3 February 2004. Rain rates are shown in the center swath from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), the first radar of its kind in space, while rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain rates are overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS). TRMM reveals that the rainfall pattern around Elita is very asymmetrical. Almost all of the rain close to the center is on the right-hand side. Only a very localized area of intense rain is observed near the center (small red spot) with most of the rain being moderate (green) to light (blue) in intensity. There is still good banding evident in the rain field associated with the storm's circulation. Heavy rain rates (darker reds) are present in an outer rainband to the north. The second image is a vertical slice as seen from the west through the storm showing the location of the heavier rain rates (darker reds) near the center and in the outer rainbands. The fact that Elita hovered for many days near the same area resulted in copious amounts of rainfall. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi- satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center monitors rainfall over the global tropics. The last image shows MPA rainfall totals for the period 27 January to 3 February, 2004. It shows areas of rainfall exceeding 20 inches (darker reds) for the period all along the western coastline of Madagascar that also extend across the Mozambique Channel to the east coast of Mozambique. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
Tungurahua Volcano Erupts in …
Title Tungurahua Volcano Erupts in Ecuador
Description Rising to an altitude of 16,475 feet (5,023 meters), the Tungurahua Volcano towers over the surrounding terrain in central Ecuador. From this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from the Terra satellite, it?s easy to see why this volcano (center) is also called the ?Black Giant??its flanks are coated with dark lava flows. In this scene, captured on January 14, 2004, a plume of ash is rising from the volcano and is stretching northeastward across the Andes and the lower elevations to the east. According to reports from the Smithsonian?s Global Volcanism Program, Tungurahua began erupting with plumes of ash, steam, and smoke at the end of December 2003 and has continued into the third week of January 2004. The high-resolution image captured a wider area. Some of the haze visible amid the clouds to the south of Tungurahua may be the remains of smoke and ash plumes from Ecuador?s larger Sangay Volcano, which was also reported to be erupting with small ash plumes during this period. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
Asteroid Annefrank
Title Asteroid Annefrank
Explanation NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/ ]'s interplanetary probe STARDUST [ http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/ ], on its way to Comet Wild 2 [ http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast04feb99_1.htm ] in January 2004, passed asteroid 5535 Annefrank earlier this month. Annefrank [ http://www.bdl.fr/Granpub/Promenade/pages5/537.html ], named for a holocaust [ http://www.ushmm.org/topics/article.utp?Id=10005143 ] victim [ http://www-th.phys.rug.nl/~ma/annefrank.html ] who kept a famous diary [ http://www.annefrank.com/site/af_life/2_life_exrpt/2_life_diary.htm ], is a member of the main asteroid belt [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020724.html ] between Mars [ http://www.nineplanets.org/mars.html ] and Jupiter [ http://www.nineplanets.org/jupiter.html ]. Just prior to closest approach at about 3300 km distant, the robot spacecraft [ http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/spacecraft.html ] took the above picture [ http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news94.html ]. Although images obtained were not detailed enough to resolve much of the asteroid's surface, the size, reflectivity, and general shape of the asteroid were recorded [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2002/release_2002_204.cfm ]. At 6 kilometers across, asteroid Annefrank turned out to be larger -- and darker -- than expected.
Name This Martian Robot
Title Name This Martian Robot
Explanation NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/ ] will launch two robots to Mars [ http://www.nineplanets.org/mars.html ] next year and you can help name them. The Mars Exploration Rovers [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/overview/index.html ] are scheduled for launch [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/tl_launch.html ] on or near this coming June, when Mars and Earth are relatively close [ http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncgi/Solar/action?sys=-Si ] in their orbits. The landing craft [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/spacecraft_edl_lander.html ] are expected to touch down on Mars [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] in January 2004 and deploy the robot rovers [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/spotlight/marsrover01.html ] shortly thereafter. Rovers [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/spacecraft_surface_rover.html ] have the capability to crawl [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/mission/tl_surface_nav.html ] about 100 meters each day of their planned [ http://athena.cornell.edu/home/index.html ] 90-day mission. The mission's scientific purpose [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/science/ ] is to seek out and inspect interesting rocks [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap991030.html ] and terrain [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000514.html ] that could give clues to the past of Mars [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msp98/why.html ]. Suggestions for names should be sent here [ http://www.lego.com/rovers/ ], accompanied by a short essay, by 2003 January 31. ("Eds. Note: "The contest is only open to school children in grades K-12.)
Five to Mars
Title Five to Mars
Explanation Come December 2003 - January 2004, an armada of five new invaders [ http://www.planetary.org/rrgtm/missions5.html ] from Earth should arrive on the shores of the Red Planet -- the Japanese ( ISAS [ http://www.isas.ac.jp/ ]) Nozomi [ http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/enterp/missions/nozomi/ index.html ] orbiter, the European Space Agency's Mars Express [ http://sci.esa.int/home/marsexpress/ ] orbiter carrying the Beagle 2 [ http://www.beagle2.com/index.htm ] lander, and NASA's own two Mars Exploration [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/ ] Rovers. While Nozomi began [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980904.html ] its interplanetary voyage in 1998, the other spacecraft are scheduled for launch windows beginning this June. Clearly, earthdwellers remain intensely curious about Mars and the tantalizing [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030221.html ] possibility of past or present martian life [ http://cmex-www.arc.nasa.gov/SiteCat/sitecat2/ stratex.htm ], with these robotic missions focussing on investigating the planet's atmosphere and the search for water [ http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Sept98/GusevMars.html ]. This mosaic [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/caption/ marsglobe2.txt ] of over 100 Viking 1 orbiter images of Mars [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/ photogallery-mars.html ] was recorded in 1980 and is projected to show the perspective seen from an approaching spacecraft at a distance of 2,000 kilometers. Exceptional [ http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/ article_929_1.asp ] views of Mars will be possible from earthbound telescopes in August and September.
Dust Storm Over Northern Mar …
Title Dust Storm Over Northern Mars
Explanation Almost on cue [ http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_998_1.asp ], as Mars nears its closest approach to planet Earth in recorded history, ominous seasonal [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/06/28/ index.html ] dust storms are beginning to kick up. Observers [ http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/online.bks/mars/ chap15.htm ] worry that the activity may presage the development of a planet wide dust storm [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011017.html ], frustrating attempts to view Mars in the coming months, a situation similar to the Red Planet's uncooperative behavior [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010727.html ] in 2001. In this example [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/05/28/ index.html ], recorded in mid-May by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft camera, a dust storm the size of a continent sweeps north and east (toward the upper right) across Mars' northern Acidalia Planitia. Meanwhile [ http://humbabe.arc.nasa.gov/mgcm/fun/mars_chro.html ], interplanetary robotic explorers Mars Express [ http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/ index.cfm?fareaid=9 ]/ Beagle 2 [ http://www.beagle2.com/index.htm ], Nozomi [ http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/enterp/missions/nozomi/ index.html ], and the twin Mars Exploration Rovers [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/ ] Opportunity and Spirit, are all bound for Mars and should arrive by early January 2004.
Persistent Saturnian Auroras
Title Persistent Saturnian Auroras
Explanation Are Saturn's auroras like Earth's? To help answer this question, the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010806.html ] and the Cassini spacecraft [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/mission.cfm ] monitored Saturn's South Pole simultaneously as Cassini closed in [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040301.html ] on the gas giant in January 2004. Hubble snapped images in ultraviolet light [ http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/ems/uv.html ], while Cassini recorded radio emissions [ http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/radio.htm ] and monitored the solar wind [ http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/sun/wind.html ]. Like on Earth, Saturn's auroras [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050219.html ] make total or partial rings [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970402.html ] around magnetic pole [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040919.html ]s. Unlike on Earth, however, Saturn's auroras [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2005/06/text/ ] persist for days, as opposed to only minutes on Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020101.html ]. Although surely created by charged particles [ http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/Ielect.html ] entering the atmosphere, Saturn's auroras [ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2004AGUFM.P53B..01C ] also appear to be more closely modulated by the solar wind [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000318.html ] than either Earth's or Jupiter's auroras [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001219.html ]. The above sequence [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2005/06/image/ ] shows three Hubble images of Saturn [ http://www.nineplanets.org/saturn.html ] each taken two days apart.
Annefrank Near Closest Appro …
Title Annefrank Near Closest Approach
Description False colors emphasize the variations in surface brightness on asteroid Annefrank, as seen in an image taken by NASA's Stardust spacecraft during a Nov. 2 flyby of the asteroid. Stardust flew within about 3,300 kilometers (2,050 miles) of the asteroid as a rehearsal for the spacecraft's encounter with its primary target, comet Wild 2, in January 2004. The variations in surface brightness result from different angles of solar illumination, as well as from intrinsic variations in the surface. The straight edge at the right side of the asteroid's image may be an artifact of processing. Stardust will bring samples of comet dust back to Earth in 2006 to help answer fundamental questions about the origins of the solar system. Additional information about the mission is available online at http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, Colo., built and operates the Stardust spacecraft. Stardust is a part of NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, highly focused science missions. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science,Washington, D.C.
Date 11.05.2002
Artist's Concept of Rover on …
Title Artist's Concept of Rover on Mars
Description An artist's concept portrays a NASA Mars Exploration Rover on the surface of Mars. Two rovers have been built for 2003 launches and January 2004 arrival at two sites on Mars. Each rover has the mobility and toolkit to function as a robotic geologist.
Date 02.19.2003
NASA Selects Mars Exploratio …
Title NASA Selects Mars Exploration Program Rover for 2003 Mission
Description In 2003, NASA plans to launch a relative of the now-famous 1997 Mars Pathfinder rover. Using drop, bounce and roll technology, this larger cousin is expected to reach the surface of the red planet in January 2004 and begin the longest journey of scientific exploration ever undertaken across the surface of that alien world. The rover will weigh about nearly 150 kilograms (about 300 pounds) and has a range of up to about 100 meters (110 yards) per sol, or Martian day. Surface operations will last for at least 90 sols, extending to late April 2004, but could continue longer, depending on the health of the rover. One aspect of the Mars rover's mission is to determine history of climate and water at a site or sites on Mars where conditions may once have been warmer and wetter and thus potentially favorable to life as we know it here on Earth. The exact landing site has not yet been chosen, but is likely to be a location such as a former lakebed or channel deposit -- a place where scientists believe there was once water. A site will be selected on the basis of intensive study of orbital data collected by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, as well as the Mars 2001 orbiter and other missions.
Date 07.27.2000
Stardust Image of Asteroid A …
Title Stardust Image of Asteroid Annefrank
Description Asteroid Annefrank is seen as irregularly shaped, cratered body in an image taken by NASA's Stardust spacecraft during a Nov. 2 flyby of the asteroid. Stardust flew within about 3,300 kilometers (2,050 miles) of the asteroid as a rehearsal for the spacecraft's encounter with its primary target, comet Wild 2, in January 2004. The camera's resolution was sufficient to show that Annefrank is about 8 kilometers (5 miles) in length, twice the predicted size from Earth-based observations. The surface reflects about 0.1 to 0.2 percent of sunlight, slightly less than anticipated. A few craters that are hundreds of meters across can be seen. The straight edge in the right side of the image may be an artifact of processing. Stardust will bring samples of comet dust back to Earth in 2006 to help answer fundamental questions about the origins of the solar system. Additional information about the mission is available online at http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, Colo., built and operates the Stardust spacecraft. Stardust is a part of NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, highly focused science missions. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science,Washington, D.C.
Date 11.05.2002
2003 Rover
title 2003 Rover
Description This artist's rendering shows a view of NASA's Mars 2003 Rover as it sets off roam the surface of the red planet. The rover is scheduled for launch in June 2003 and will arrive in January 2004, shielded in its landing by an airbag shell. The airbag/lander structure, which has no scientific instruments of its own, is shown to the right in this image, behind the rover. The rover will carry five scientific instruments and rock abrading device. The Panoramic Camera and the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer are located on the large mast shown on the front of the rover. The camera will be supplied by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and the spectrometer will be supplied by Arizona State University in Tempe. The payload also includes magnetic targets, provided by the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, that will collect magnetic dust for further study by the science instruments. The Rock Abrasion Tool is located on a robotic arm that can be deployed to study rocks and soil.(In this view, the robotic arm is tucked under the front of the rover.) The tool, provided by Honeybee Robotics Ltd., New York, N.Y., will grind away the outer surfaces of rocks, which may be dusty and weathered, allowing the science instruments to determine the nature of rock interiors. The three instruments that will study the abraded rocks are a Mossbauer Spectrometer, provided by the Johannes Gutenberg- University Mainz, Germany, an Alpha-Proton X-ray Spectrometer provided by Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, also in Mainz, Germany, and a Microscopic Imager, supplied by JPL. The payload also includes magnetic targets, provided by the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, that will collect magnetic dust for further study by the science instruments. In a landing similar to that of the 1997 Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, a parachute will deploy to slow the spacecraft down and airbags will inflate to cushion the landing. Petals of the landing structure will unfold to release the rover, which will drive off to begin its exploration. JPL manages the Mars 2003 Rover for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY is the lead institution for the science payload.
Description Browse Image | Medium Image (129 kB) | Large (20.4 MB) Hi-Res (NASA's Planetary Photojournal) [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08813 ]
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
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
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
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
A Dynamic Spirit Site
PIA05122
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title A Dynamic Spirit Site
Original Caption Released with Image 5 January 2004 Two Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images acquired before the spectacular January 2004 landing of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER-A), Spirit, show the area where the lander is currently believed to have touched down. The identification of the area shown in the two pictures above is based on the pictures acquired by Spirit's descent imaging system just before landing. The lower picture was obtained by MGS MOC on 22 July 2003, the upper picture was acquired less than a month ago on 10 December 2003. What is exciting about these two pictures is the differences in the patterns of dark, squiggly streaks. These streaks are believed to have been caused by the removal of bright dust by large, passing dust devils. Comparison of the picture from July 2003 with that of December 2003 show that a different dark streak pattern developed over a period of less than 5 months. These two MOC images suggest that the landing site is a dynamic, changing place on the time scale of several months. MGS MOC has never seen a dust devil occur in Gusev Crater [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA0PIA05119 ], the location of the Spirit landing site [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA0PIA05120 ]. MGS always flies over Gusev around 2 p.m. local time, so this means that dust devils are not believed to be common around 2 p.m. However, the changes in the dark streaks suggest that dust devils definitely have occurred in Gusev Crater over the past 5 to 6 months, and they most likely occur earlier than 2 p.m. (perhaps closer to local 1 p.m. or noon). These two MOC images are simple cylindrical map projections (rotated somewhat, note the north arrow, N) at a scale of about 3 meters per pixel (~10 ft/pixel), the 300 meter scale bar is about two-tenths of a mile long. The images are located near 14.7°S, 184.6°W, and are illuminated from the left.
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