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Titan Vs. Mars
| Description |
Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn. |
| Full Description |
This image compares streaked terrain on Titan and Mars. At left is an image from Cassini of the region where the Huygens probe is expected to land. At right is a picture from NASA's Viking 1 orbiter, showing streaks on Mars caused by winds blowing from right to left. The streaks at the Huygens landing site were formed by some kind of fluid, possibly wind, moving from the upper left to lower right (west to east). The Cassini image was taken on Oct. 26, 2004, by the spacecraft's imaging science subsystem using near-infrared filters. North is 45 degrees to the right of vertical. The scale of this image is 0.83 kilometers (.52 miles) per pixel. 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 Cassini-Huygens 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 the latest news about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://www.nasa.gov/cassini. For more information about the mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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Giant Landslide on Iapetus
| Description |
Giant Landslide on Iapetus |
| Full Description |
A spectacular landslide within the low-brightness region of Iapetus's surface known as Cassini Regio is visible in this image from Cassini. Iapetus is one of the moons of Saturn. The landslide material appears to have collapsed from a scarp 15 kilometers high (9 miles) that forms the rim of an ancient 600 kilometer (375 mile) impact basin. Unconsolidated rubble from the landslide extends halfway across a conspicuous, 120-kilometer diameter (75-mile) flat-floored impact crater that lies just inside the basin scarp. Landslides are common geological phenomena on many planetary bodies, including Earth and Mars. The appearance of this landslide on an icy satellite with low-brightness cratered terrain is reminiscent of landslide features that were observed during NASA's Galileo mission on the Jovian satellite Callisto. The fact that the Iapetus landslide traveled many kilometers from the basin scarp could indicate that the surface material is very fine-grained, and perhaps was fluffed by mechanical forces that allowed the landslide debris to flow extended distances. In this view, north is to the left of the picture and solar illumination is from the bottom of the frame. The image was obtained in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Dec. 31, 2004, at a distance of about 123,400 kilometers (76,677 miles) from Iapetus and at a Sun-Iapetus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 78 degrees. Resolution achieved in the original image was 740 meters (2,428 feet) per pixel. The image has been contrast-enhanced and magnified by a factor of two to aid visibility. 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 images visit the Cassini imaging team home page http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
January 7, 2005 |
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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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Eyes on Iapetus!
| Description |
This map of the surface of Iapetus, generated from images taken by NASA's Cassini and Voyager spacecraft, illustrates the imaging coverage planned for Cassini's very close flyby of the two-toned moon on Sept. 10, 2007. |
| Full Description |
This map of the surface of Iapetus, generated from images taken by NASA's Cassini and Voyager spacecraft, illustrates the imaging coverage planned for Cassini's very close flyby of the two-toned moon on Sept. 10, 2007. This flyby will be Cassini's only close approach to Iapetus (1,468 kilometers, or 912 miles across) during the entire planned mission. At closest approach, Cassini will be 1,640 kilometers (1,020 miles) above the surface of Iapetus. The spacecraft will pass the moon at a speed of about 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) per second--a relatively leisurely pace that will allow plenty of time for the scientific instruments on board to collect massive amounts of data. Cassini's previous encounter with Iapetus, on Dec. 31, 2004, focused on the mysterious territory in Cassini Regio, the region blanketed by dark material that covers most of the moon's leading hemisphere. The upcoming encounter will be primarily concerned with terrain farther west, in the important transition region between Cassini Regio and the bright trailing hemisphere. Scientists hope to learn a great deal more about the composition of the materials that compose the surface of Iapetus during this encounter. Another area of focus is the large equatorial ridge that overlies the moon's equator (see Encountering Iapetus). The ridge reaches 20 kilometers (12 miles) high in some places and extends over 1,300 kilometers (808 miles) in length. No other moon in the solar system has a geological feature like this striking ridge. The tallest mountains on the ridge rival Olympus Mons on Mars, which is approximately three times the height of Mt. Everest. Such giant mountains are a surprising feature for such a small body as Iapetus, which is nearly five times smaller than Mars and nearly nine times smaller than Earth. Colored lines on the map enclose regions that will be covered at different imaging scales as Cassini encounters Iapetus. The highest expected resolution of Cassini images from this flyby is about 20 meters (65 feet) per pixel--significantly higher than the 2004 encounter. 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 5, 2007 |
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Cosmic Conjunction
| title |
Cosmic Conjunction |
| description |
Five planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn - gather over the ancient Stonehenge monument in England. *Image Copyright*: Philip Perkins |
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Empty Nest
| title |
Empty Nest |
| date |
01.18.2004 |
| description |
This image mosaic taken by the panoramic camera onboard the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the rover's landing site, the Columbia Memorial Station, at Gusev Crater, Mars. This spectacular view may encapsulate Spirit's entire journey, from lander to its possible final destination toward the east hills. On its way, the rover will travel 250 meters (820 feet) northeast to a large crater approximately 200 meters (660 feet) across, the ridge of which can be seen to the left of this image. To the right are the east hills, about 3 kilometers (2 miles) away from the lander. The picture was taken on the 16th martian day, or sol, of the mission (Jan. 18/19, 2004). A portion of Spirit's solar panels appear in the foreground. Data from the panoramic camera's green, blue and infrared filters were combined to create this approximate true color image. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL/Cornell |
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Photo Op
| title |
Photo Op |
| date |
01.25.2004 |
| description |
This image is one of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's first breathtaking views of the martian landscape after its successful landing at Meridiani Planum on Mars. On the left, the rover's mast can be seen in a stowed position. Opportunity landed Saturday, Jan. 24, 2004 at about 9:05 PST. The image was taken by the rover's navigation camera. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL |
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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. |
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Mariner 8
| title |
Mariner 8 |
| date |
05.09.1971 |
| description |
Mariner-71H (also called Mariner-H) was the first of a pair of American spacecraft intended to explore the physical and dynamic characteristics of Mars from Martian orbit. The overall goals of the series were to search for an environment that could support life, to collect data on the origin and evolution of the planet, to gather information on planetary physics, geology, planetology, and cosmology, and to provide data that could aid future spacecraft such as the Viking Landers. Launch of Mariner-71H was nominal until just after separation of the Centaur upper stage, when a malfunction occurred in the stage's flightcontrol system, leading to loss of pitch control at an altitude of 148 kilometers at T+4.7 minutes. As a result, the stack began to tumble and the Centaur engines shut down. The stage and its payload reentered Earth's atmosphere approximately 1,500 kilometers downrange from the launch site. |
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Spirit's Tracks
| title |
Spirit's Tracks |
| description |
As Spirit descended onto Mars' surface on Jan. 3, 2004 it performed a series of entry, descent and landing actions, leaving visible marks on the surface of Mars. This "path" of Spirit's descent can be seen labeled in this image. This image is a composite of images taken by the camera on Mars Global Surveyor and Spirit's descent image motion estimation system camera. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Hole in One
| title |
Hole in One |
| description |
The interior of a crater surrounding the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity at Meridiani Planum on Mars can be seen in this color image from the rover's panoramic camera. This is the darkest landing site ever visited by a spacecraft on Mars. The rim of the crater is approximately 10 meters (32 feet) from the rover. The crater is estimated to be 20 meters (65 feet) in diameter. Scientists are intrigued by the abundance of rock outcrops dispersed throughout the crater, as well as the crater's soil, which appears to be a mixture of coarse gray grains and fine reddish grains. Data taken from the camera's near-infrared, green and blue filters were combined to create this approximate true color picture, taken on the first day of Opportunity's journey. The view is to the west-southwest of the rover. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL/Cornell |
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Heat Shield Wreckage
| title |
Heat Shield Wreckage |
| description |
This image from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows a portion of the heat shield that the spacecraft jettisoned shortly before landing. *Image Credit*: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
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Mars 6
| title |
Mars 6 |
| date |
08.05.1973 |
| description |
Mars 6 was one of two landers launched by the Soviet Union during the 1973 launch window. The landers were very similar in design to the Mars 2 and Mars 3 landers dispatched by the Soviets in 1971, except that the spacecraft was now composed of a flyby vehicle (instead of an orbiter) and a lander. Mars 6 completed its first midcourse correction en route to Mars on 13 August 1973. A few days later, there was a major failure in the telemetry system that transmitted scientific and operations data from the spacecraft. Only two channels remained operational, neither of which provided the ground with any data on the status of the flyby vehicle's systems. Amazingly, the flyby spacecraft automatically performed all its functions, and on 12 March 1974, the lander successfully separated from its mother ship at a distance of 48,000 kilometers from Mars. Three hours later, it entered the Martian atmosphere. The parachute system deployed correctly at an altitude of 20 kilometers, and scientific instruments began to record data as the probe descended. Data seemed to indicate that the lander was rocking back and forth under its parachute far more vigorously than expected. Moments before expected landing, the ground lost contact with the probe. The last confirmed data was information on ignition of the softlanding engines at 08:58:20 UT. The probe landed at 09:11 UT at 23°54' south latitude and 19°25' west longitude. Later investigation never conclusively identified a single cause of loss of contact. Probable reasons included failure of the radio system or landing in a geographically rough area. All data from the Mars 6 lander was transmitted via the Mars 6 flyby bus, which also collected scientific information during its short flyby. |
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Rover Landing Sites
| title |
Rover Landing Sites |
| description |
This Mars 2001 Odyssey composite image from orbit shows Opportunity's landing site at Meridiani Planum, Spirit's landing site at Gusev Crater and other locations on Mars. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Mars 2
| title |
Mars 2 |
| date |
05.19.1971 |
| description |
Mars 2 was the first of two orbiterlander combination spacecraft sent to Mars by the Soviets during the 1971 launch window. The orbiters were roughly cylindrical structures fixed to a large propellant tank base. The landers were egg-shaped modules with petals that would open on the Martian surface. The 1,000-kilogram landers (of which 350 kilograms was the actual capsule) were fastened to the top of the bus and protected by a braking shell for entry into the Martian atmosphere. After jettisoning the shell, the landers would deploy parachutes to descend to the Martian surface. On the Mars 2 trip to the Red Planet, controllers performed two successful midcourse corrections on 17 June and 20 November 1971, respectively. On 27 November 1971, Mars 2 implemented its final midcourse correction, after which the lander probe separated to initiate atmospheric entry. At this point, the onboard computer was designed to implement final corrections to the trajectory, spin the lander around its longitudinal axis, and fire a solidpropellant engine to initiate reentry in a specific direction. During the flight, after the final midcourse correction, the trajectory of the spacecraft was so accurate that there was no need for further corrective measures. Because of pre-programmed algorithms that assumed a deviated trajectory, the lander was put into an incorrect attitude after separation to compensate for the "error." When the reentry engine fired, the angle of entry proved to be far too steep. The parachute system never deployed, and the lander eventually crashed onto the Martian surface at 4° north latitude and 47° west longitude. It was the first humanmade object to make contact with Mars. |
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Europe's Eye on Mars
| title |
Europe's Eye on Mars |
| date |
01.14.2004 |
| description |
This image shows a portion of a 1,700 km long and 65 km wide swath which was taken in south-north direction across the Grand Canyon of Mars (Valles Marineris) from two perspectives. It is the first image of this size that shows the surface of Mars in high resolution (12 metres per pixel), in color and in 3D. *Image Credit*: European Space AgencyDLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum) |
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Luna 19
| title |
Luna 19 |
| date |
09.28.1971 |
| description |
Luna 19 was the first of "advanced" lunar orbiters whose design was based upon the same Ye-8-class bus used for the lunar rovers and the sample collectors. For these orbiters, designated Ye-8LS, the basic "lander stage" was topped off by a wheelless Lunokhod-like frame that housed all scientific instrumentation in a pressurized container. Luna 19 entered orbit around the Moon on 2 October 1972 after two midcourse corrections on 29 September and 1 October. Initial orbital parameters were 140 x 140 kilometers at 40.58° inclination. Soon after, the spacecraft began its main imaging mission -- to provide panoramic images of the mountainous region of the Moon between 30° and 60° south latitude and between 20° and 80° east longitude. Other scientific experiments included extensive studies on the shape and strength of the lunar gravitation field and the locations of mascons. Occultation experiments in May and June 1972 allowed scientists to determine the concentration of charged particles at an altitude of 10 kilometers. Additional studies of the solar wind were evidently coordinated with those performed by the Mars 2 and 3 orbiters and Veneras 7 and 8. Communications with Luna 19 were terminated sometime between 3 and 20 October 1972 after a year of operations, during more than 4,000 revolutions of the Moon. |
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Viking Checkup
| title |
Viking Checkup |
| date |
05.20.1971 |
| description |
A technician checks the soil sampler on an earlier generation of Mars lander - Viking - in this 1971 photo. Viking 1 became the first spacecraft to land safely on Mars on July 20, 1976. The robotic arm scooped samples of the Martian soil, emptied it into a hopper on the lander, which analyzed it with three scientific instruments. NASA's Viking Lander was designed, fabricated, and tested by the Martin Marietta Corp. of Denver, Colorado, under the direction of the Viking Progect Office at Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. The lander drew heavily on the experience gained from the Ranger, Surveyor and the Apollo Programs in the areas of radar, altimeters, facsimile, cameras, soil samplers and landing gear. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Cosmic Crash Scene
| title |
Cosmic Crash Scene |
| description |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took this image of its own heat shield during the rover's 325th martian day (Dec. 22, 2004). The main structure from the successfully used shield is to the far left. Additional fragments of the heat shield lie in the upper center of the image. The heat shield's impact mark is visible just above and to the right of the foreground shadow of Opportunity's camera mast. This view is a mosaic of three images taken with the rover's navigation camera. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL |
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Magnified Mars
| title |
Magnified Mars |
| description |
This magnified look at the martian soil near the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site, Meridiani Planum, shows coarse grains sprinkled over a fine layer of sand. The image was captured by the rover's microscopic imager on the 10th day, or sol, of its mission and roughly approximates the color a human eye would see. Scientists are intrigued by the spherical rocks, which can be formed by a variety of geologic processes, including cooling of molten lava droplets and accretion of concentric layers of material around a particle or "seed". The examined patch of soil is 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) across. The circular grain in the lower left corner is approximately 3 millimeters (.12 inches) across, or about the size of a sunflower seed. This color composite was obtained by merging images acquired with the orange-tinted dust cover in both its open and closed positions. The blue tint at the lower right corner is a tag used by scientists to indicate that the dust cover is closed. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL/US Geological Survey |
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Phobos: Cold and Colder
| title |
Phobos: Cold and Colder |
| date |
08.19.1998 |
| description |
Thermal data shows the wide range of temperatures around the massive Stickney crater on Mars' moon Phobos. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Hubble Snaps Mars
| title |
Hubble Snaps Mars |
| date |
08.27.2003 |
| description |
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took this close-up of the red planet Mars when it was just 55,760,220 km (34,648,840 miles) away. The picture was taken only 11 hours before Mars made its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years. The next closest approach is in 2287. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Venera 2
| title |
Venera 2 |
| date |
11.12.1965 |
| description |
Although the 3MV-3 and 3MV-4 type spacecraft were originally intended for Mars exploration, the Soviets re-equipped three of the series, left over from the 1964 Mars launch windows, for Venus exploration in 1965. This particular vehicle was scheduled to fly past the sunlit side of Venus at no more than a 40,000-kilometer range and take photographs. During the outbound flight, communications with the spacecraft were poor. Immediately before closest approach in late February 1966, ground control commanded to switch on all the onboard scientific instrumentation. o The closest approach to the planet was at 02:52 UT on 27 February 1966 at about a 24,000-kilometer range. After its flyby, when the spacecraft was supposed to relay back the collected information, ground control was unable to regain contact. Controllers finally gave up all attempts at communication on 4 March. Venera 2 eventually entered heliocentric orbit. Later investigation indicated that improper functioning of 40 thermal radiator elements caused a sharp increase in gas temperatures in the spacecraft. As a result, elements of the receiving and decoding units failed, the solar panels overheated, and contact was lost. Ironically, the scientific instruments may have collected valuable data, but none of it was ever transmitted back to Earth."Editor's Note: This mission profile was originally published in *Deep Space Chronicle: A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes 1958-2000*, by Asif A. Siddiqi, NASA Monographs in Aerospace History No. 24" |
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Cool Summer
| title |
Cool Summer |
| description |
Mars Global Surveyor captured this wide-angle view of the Martian North Pole in summer. It is one of more than 134,000 images in the Mars Orbiter Camera image gallery. A batch of 10,232 new images were added this week. |
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Rocketing to Mars
| title |
Rocketing to Mars |
| date |
07.07.2003 |
| description |
This video sequence shows NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity separating from a lower booster and rocketing towards Mars. Opportunity landed on Mars on Jan. 25, 2004 and went on to discover convincing evidence that Mars once had liquid water on its surface. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Mars Over Moon
| title |
Mars Over Moon |
| date |
07.18.2003 |
| description |
Ron Wayman of Tampa, Fla., captured this crisp picture of Mars emerging from behind the Moon with an 8-inch telescope and a digital camera. Mars was briefly occulted - hidden from view - by Earth's Moon early on July 17, 2003. *Image Credit/Copyright*: Ron Wayman, Tampa, Fla. |
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Adios Earth
| title |
Adios Earth |
| description |
Well on its way to the Red Planet, Europe's Mars Express snapped this shot of Earth from a distance of about 8 million km (5 million miles). |
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Red Space Program
| title |
Red Space Program |
| description |
4th Grade |
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Mars Landing
| title |
Mars Landing |
| description |
4th Grade |
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Rover Spirit Gets a Cleaning
| title |
Rover Spirit Gets a Cleaning |
| date |
03.23.2005 |
| description |
These two images from 10 days apart show that dust was removed from the panoramic camera's calibration target on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. Spirit's panoramic camera took the picture on the left on the rover's 416th martian day, or sol, (March 5, 2005) and took the picture on the right on sol 426 (March 15, 2005). During the time in-between, other evidence of dust-lifting winds were a jump in power output by Spirit's solar arrays on sol 420 from removal of some accumulated dust, and sighting of two dust devils in sol 421 images from Spirit. The size of the base plate on the calibration target shown in both of these images is 8 centimeters (3.15 inches) on each side. These are the panoramic camera team's best current attempt at generating "true color" views of what these scenes would look like if viewed by a human on Mars. They were generated from mathematical combinations of six calibrated, left-eye Pancam images for each sequence, using filters ranging from 430-nanometer to 750-nanometer wavelengths. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell |
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Mars Landing
| title |
Mars Landing |
| description |
4th Grade |
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Martian Meteorite
| title |
Martian Meteorite |
| description |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found an iron meteorite, the first meteorite of any type ever identified on another planet. The pitted, basketball-size object is mostly made of iron and nickel according to readings from spectrometers on the rover. Only a small fraction of the meteorites fallen on Earth are similarly metal-rich. Others are rockier. As an example, the meteorite that blasted the famous Meteor Crater in Arizona is similar in composition. "This is a huge surprise, though maybe it shouldn't have been," said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin, Spirit. The meteorite, dubbed "Heat Shield Rock," sits near debris of Opportunity's heat shield on the surface of Meridiani Planum, a cratered flatland that has been Opportunity's home since the robot landed on Mars nearly one year ago. "I never thought we would get to use our instruments on a rock from someplace other than Mars," Squyres said. "Think about where an iron meteorite comes from: a destroyed planet or planetesimal that was big enough to differentiate into a metallic core and a rocky mantle." Rover-team scientists are wondering whether some rocks that Opportunity has seen atop the ground surface are rocky meteorites. "Mars should be hit by a lot more rocky meteorites than iron meteorites," Squyres said. "We've been seeing lots of cobbles out on the plains, and this raises the possibility that some of them may in fact be meteorites. We may be investigating some of those in coming weeks. The key is not what we'll learn about meteorites -- we have lots of meteorites on Earth -- but what the meteorites can tell us about Meridiani Planum." The numbers of exposed meteorites could be an indication of whether the plain is gradually eroding away or being built up. NASA Chief Scientist Dr. Jim Garvin said, "Exploring meteorites is a vital part of NASA's scientific agenda, and discovering whether there are storehouses of them on Mars opens new research possibilities, including further incentives for robotic and then human-based sample-return missions. Mars continues to provide unexpected science 'gold,' and our rovers have proven the value of mobile exploration with this latest finding." Initial observation of Heat Shield Rock from a distance with Opportunity's miniature thermal emission spectrometer suggested a metallic composition and raised speculation last week that it was a meteorite. The rover drove close enough to use its Moessbauer and alpha particle X-ray spectrometers, confirming the meteorite identification over the weekend. Opportunity and Spirit successfully completed their primary three-month missions on Mars in April 2004. NASA has extended their missions twice because the rovers have remained in good condition to continue exploring Mars longer than anticipated. They have found geological evidence of past wet environmental conditions that might have, been hospitable to life. Opportunity has driven a total of 2.10 kilometers (1.30 miles). Minor mottling from dust has appeared in images from the rover's rear hazard-identification camera since Opportunity entered the area of its heat-shield debris, said Jim Erickson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., rover project manager. The rover team plans to begin driving Opportunity south toward a circular feature called "Vostok" within about a week. Spirit has driven a total of 4.05 kilometers (2.52 miles). It has been making slow progress uphill toward a ridge on "Husband Hill" inside Gusev Crater. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Spirit's Shadow
| title |
Spirit's Shadow |
| date |
02.22.2004 |
| description |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit casts a shadow over the trench that the rover is examining with tools on its robotic arm. Spirit took this image with its front hazard-avoidance camera on Feb. 21, 2004, during the rover's 48th martian day, or sol. It dug the trench with its left front wheel the preceding sol. Plans call for Spirit to finish examining the trench on sol 50. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL |
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Ranger 4 Preparations
| title |
Ranger 4 Preparations |
| date |
03.06.1962 |
| description |
Technicians prepare the Ranger 4 spacecraft for launch. An impact absorbing sphere made of balsa wood sits atop the spacecraft, painted with a saw-tooth pattern to maintain thermal balance during its mission to the Moon. The sphere contained a lunar seismometer, which was to rough land just south of the equator on the rim of the Ocean of Storms and measure "lunarquakes." The master clock in Ranger 4's computer failed during flight and the spacecraft did not respond to commands. It crashed into the far side of the Moon on April 26, 1962. Despite the failure to return information, the use of balsa wood was an important precursor in the design of other rough landings on extraterrestrial bodies, particularly Mars. Aerobraking, gliding, impact absorption, parachuting, and retro rockets have all been considered. *Image Credit*: Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
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Mariner Images of Mars
| title |
Mariner Images of Mars |
| description |
These wide-angle images of Mars were laid in place on a globe already containing an indistinct, Earth-based view of Mars. The Mariner 6 pictures make two horizontal rows above, the Mariner 7 pictures extend from center to bottom right and across the south polar cap. The Visual Imaging Investigation (TV experiment) for Mariner 6 and 7 used two cameras on each spacecraft, in order to obtain both broad coverage and high resolution. Camera A, with a wide-angle lens, showed large areas of the planet, 1000 x 1000 kilometers and details as small as 3,000 meters during near encounter. Camera B, with a telephoto lens, showed 100 x 100 kilometer areas and details as small as 300 meters. The cameras operated alternately, with each one taking a picture every 84 seconds. *Image Credit*: Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
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Two Moons Passing in the Nig
…
| title |
Two Moons Passing in the Night |
| date |
08.26.2005 |
| description |
Taking advantage of extra solar energy collected during the day, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit settled in for an evening of stargazing, photographing the two moons of Mars as they crossed the night sky. "It is incredibly cool to be running an observatory on another planet," said planetary scientist Jim Bell of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., lead scientist for the panoramic cameras on Spirit and Opportunity. In this animation, both martian moons, Deimos on the left and Phobos on the right, travel across the night sky in front of the constellation Sagittarius. Part of Sagittarius resembles an upside-down teapot. Phobos is the brighter object on the right, Deimos is on the left. Spirit acquired these enhanced-brightness images with the panoramic camera on the night of sol 585 (Aug. 26, 2005). Scientists will use images of the two moons to better map their orbital positions, learn more about their composition, and monitor the presence of nighttime clouds or haze. Spirit took the six images that make up this animation using the camera's broadband filter, which was designed specifically for acquiring images under low-light conditions. *Image credit:* NASA/JPL/Cornell/ Texas A&M |
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New Mars Meteorite
| title |
New Mars Meteorite |
| description |
Scientists believe this small rock - NWA 1669 - was blasted from Mars to the Earth several million or even billions of years ago. Discovered in North Africa, it is one of only 27 known Mars meteorites. *Image Copyright*: Bruno Fectau and Carine Bidaut) |
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Pathfinder Panorama
| title |
Pathfinder Panorama |
| description |
This is a more recent 'geometrically improved, color enhanced' version of the 360-degree 'Gallery Pan', the first contiguous, uniform panorama taken by the Imager for Mars (IMP) over the course of Sols 8, 9, and 10. Different regions were imaged at different times over the three Martian days to acquire consistent lighting and shadow conditions for all areas of the panorama. In this version of the panorama, much of the discontinuity that was due to parallax has been corrected, particularly along thelower tiers of the mosaic containing the Lander features. Distortiondue to a 2.5 degree tilt in the IMP camera mast has been removed. The IMP is a stereo imaging system that, in its fully deployed configuration, stands 1.8 meters above the Martian surface, and has a resolution of two millimeters at a range of two meters. The IMP has color capability provided by 24 selectable filters -- twelve filters per 'eye'. Its red, green, and blue filters were used to take this panorama. The three color images were first digitally balanced according to the transmittance capabilities of a specific high-definition TV device at JPL, and then enhanced via changes to saturation and intensity while retaining the hue. A threshold was applied to avoid changes to the sky. An MTF filter was applied to sharpen feature edges. At left is a Lander petal and a metallic mast which is a portion of the low-gain antenna. On the horizon the double 'Twin Peaks' are visible, about 1-2 kilometers away. The rock 'Couch' is the dark, curved rock at right of Twin Peaks. Another Lander petal is at left-center, showing the fully deployed forward ramp at far left, and rear ramp at right, which rover Sojourner used to descend to the surface of Mars on July 5. Immediately to the left of the rear ramp is the rock 'Barnacle Bill', which scientistsfound be andesitic, possibly indicating that it is a volcanic rock (a true andesite) or a physical mixture of particles. Just beyond Barnacle Bill, rover tracks lead to Sojourner, shown using its Alpha ProtonX-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument to study the large rock 'Yogi'. Yogi, low in quartz content, appears to be more primitive than Barnacle Bill, and appears more like the common basalts found on Earth. The tracks and circular pattern in the soil leading up to Yogi werepart of Sojourner's soil mechanics experiments, in which varying amounts of pressure were applied to the wheels in order to determine physical properties of the soil. During its traverse to Yogi the roverstirred the soil and exposed material from several centimeters indepth. During one of the turns to deploy Sojourner's Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer, the wheels dug particularly deeply and exposed white material. Spectra of this white material show it is virtually identical to the rock 'Scooby Doo', and such white material may underlie much of the site. Deflated airbags are visible at the perimeter of all three Lander petals. Mars Pathfinder was the second in NASA's Discovery, program of low-costspacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet PropulsionLaboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfindermission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is anoperating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and PlanetaryLaboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Mars Rover Panorama Shows Vi
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| title |
Mars Rover Panorama Shows Vista From 'Lookout' Point |
| date |
04.29.2005 |
| description |
From a ridgeline vantage point overlooking slopes, valleys and plains, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has returned its latest color panorama of the martian landscape. The approximately true color image shows a full 360-degree view from a site informally named "Larry's Lookout," about halfway up "Husband Hill." Dr. Jim Bell of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., lead scientist for the panoramic cameras on both the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, said, "Spirit and the rover team worked hard over many weeks to get to this vantage point along the flanks of Husband Hill. The rugged ridge and valley terrain seen here is similar in some respects to the view seen months earlier at the 'West Spur,' but the chemistry and mineralogy here are significantly different. Specifically, some of the areas seen here amid the outcrop rocks and in places where the subsurface was exposed by the rover wheels contain the highest sulfur abundances ever measured by Spirit." The view includes the summit of Husband Hill about 200 meters (about 660 feet) southward and about 45 meters (about 150 feet) higher. As Spirit continues uphill, scientists are looking for evidence about whether the intensity of water- related alteration increases with elevation or whether there are pockets of more heavily altered rocks and soils scattered throughout the hills. Spirit's panoramic camera took more than 300 individual frames between Feb. 27 and March 2 that are combined into the big picture. Downloading the frames to Earth took several weeks, and processing took additional time. Imaging specialists at Cornell and at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., calibrated the color and assembled the image. Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, successfully completed three-month primary missions a year ago. In extended missions since then, they have been exploring at increasing distances from their landing sites. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages NASA's Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Spirit's "Lookout" panorama is also available online at http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/mer_main.html [ http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/mer_main.html ]and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] . |
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Sedna's Orbit
| title |
Sedna's Orbit |
| description |
These four panels show the location of the newly discovered planet-like object, dubbed "Sedna," which lies in the farthest reaches of our Solar System. Each panel, moving counterclockwise from the upper left, successively zooms out to place Sedna in context. The first panel shows the orbits of the inner planets, including Earth, and the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. In the second panel, Sedna is shown well outside the orbits of the outer planets and the more distant Kuiper Belt objects. Sedna's full orbit is illustrated in the third panel along with the object's current location. Sedna is nearing its closest approach to the Sun, its 10,000-year orbit typically takes it to far greater distances. The final panel zooms out much farther, showing that even this large elliptical orbit falls inside what was previously thought to be the inner edge of the Oort cloud. The Oort cloud is a spherical distribution of cold, icy bodies lying at the limits of the Sun's gravitational pull. Sedna's presence suggests that this Oort cloud is much closer than scientists believed. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC-Caltech) |
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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 |
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The Plane of the Ecliptic
| title |
The Plane of the Ecliptic |
| description |
The Plane of the Ecliptic is illustrated in this Clementine star tracker camera image which reveals (from right to left) the Moon lit by Earthshine, the Sun's corona rising over the Moon's dark limb, and the planets Saturn, Mars, and Mercury. The ecliptic plane is defined as the imaginary plane containing the Earth's orbit around the Sun. In the course of a year, the Sun's apparent path through the sky lies in this plane. The planetary bodies of our solar system all tend to lie near this plane, since they were formed from the Sun's spinning, flattened, proto-planetary disk. The snapshot above nicely captures a momentary line-up looking out along this fundamental plane of our solar system. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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Earth From Mars
| title |
Earth From Mars |
| date |
03.08.2004 |
| description |
This is the first image ever taken of Earth from the surface of a planet beyond the Moon. It was taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit one hour before sunrise on the 63rd Martian day, or sol, of its mission. The image is a mosaic of images taken by the rover's navigation camera showing a broad view of the sky, and an image taken by the rover's panoramic camera of Earth. The contrast in the panoramic camera image was increased two times to make Earth easier to see.The inset shows a combination of four panoramic camera images zoomed in on Earth. The arrow points to Earth. Earth was too faint to be detected in images taken with the panoramic camera's color filters. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Texas A&M |
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Scientific Sunset
| title |
Scientific Sunset |
| description |
Sunset on Mars catches NASA's proposed Mars Science Laboratory in the foreground in this artist's concept. The mission is under development for launch in 2009 and a precision landing on Mars in 2010. Once on the ground, the Mars Science Laboratory would analyze dozens of samples scooped up from the soil and cored from rocks as it explores with greater range than any previous Mars rover. It would investigate the past or present ability of Mars to support life. NASA is considering nuclear energy for powering the rover to give it a long operating lifespan. *Image Credit*: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
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First Data from Mars Climate
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| title |
First Data from Mars Climate Sounder |
| date |
03.24.2006 |
| description |
The Mars Climate Sounder, an instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter designed to monitor daily changes in the global atmosphere of Mars, made its first observations of Mars on March 24, 2006. These tests were conducted to demonstrate that the instrument could, if needed, support the mission's aerobraking maneuvers (dips into the atmosphere to change the shape of the orbit) by providing hemisphere-scale coverage of atmospheric activity. The instrument scanned nine arrays of detectors four times across the entire disc of the planet, including the north pole, from an altitude of about 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles). This is about 150 times farther away than the spacecraft will be during its main science phase. At this great range, the planet appears only 40 pixels wide, as suggested by the pixilation of the images. However, this is sufficient to identify regional dust storms in the lower atmosphere. Regional dust storms could perturb atmospheric densities at the higher altitudes (about 100 kilometers or 60 miles) where the orbiter will conduct more than 500 aerobraking passes during the next six months. Such storms are rare in the current season on Mars, early northern spring, and no large storms are present as the orbiter prepares for the start of aerobraking. Each of the Mars Climate Sounder's arrays looks in a different wavelength band, and three of the resulting images are shown here. The view on the left is from data collected in a broad spectral band (wavelengths of 0.3 microns to 3 microns) for reflected sunlight. The view in the center is from data collected in the 12-micron thermal-infrared band. This band was chosen to sense infrared radiation from the surface when the atmosphere is clear and from dust clouds when it is not. The view on the right is from data collected at 15 microns, a longer-wavelength band still in the thermal-infrared part of the spectrum. At this wavelength, carbon dioxide, the main ingredient in Mars' atmosphere, hides the surface emission, and the thermal-infrared radiation comes only from the atmosphere. The visible-and-near-infrared image (left) is bright where surface ice and atmospheric hazes reflect sunlight back to space. The view is of the northern half of Mars, with the north polar cap visible as the bright semicircle at upper left. The night half of the planet (lower left) is dark. The "terminator" boundary between the day side and night side of the planet cuts from lower left to upper right, through the polar area. During the science phase of the mission, after the spacecraft has shrunk its orbit to a nearly circular loop approximately 300 kilometers (186 miles) above the surface, these visible-and-near-infrared readings by the Mars Climate Sounder will track how the amount of solar energy reflected from Mars varies from place-to-place and season-to-season, particularly in the polar regions where absorbed sunlight vaporizes the seasonal carbon-dioxide ice. The 12-micron image (center), indicates that heat is being emitted from both the day side and the night side of the planet. The polar cap is dark in this image because it is cold (minus 190 degrees Fahrenheit) and emits less heat than surrounding areas. During the science phase of the mission, the thermal-infrared readings at this wavelength by Mars Climate Sounder will be used to track dust and clouds in the atmosphere. In the current season on Mars, the atmosphere is relatively clear except for an equatorial belt of thin water-ice clouds present in the visible-and-near-infrared image, and so the 12-micron image is dominated by the infrared radiation from the surface on the relatively hot dayside (upper right). The 15-micron image (right) indicates the temperatures of the atmosphere at an altitude of about 25 kilometers (15 miles), where there is not much temperature difference even be |
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Color View of Eros' Saddle
| title |
Color View of Eros' Saddle |
| description |
Color imaging of Eros from the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft has shown the asteroid's color variations are very subdued when compared to those of other planetary bodies, such as Mars. However, both the imager and the near-infrared spectrometer have detected discernible color differences between parts of the asteroid. One location on Eros with distinctive color is the eastern side of the 'saddle.' This color composite image of that region was taken April 2, 2000, from an orbital altitude of 201 kilometers (125 miles). In this false color representation, the red and green image planes were taken in different wavelengths of infrared light, and the blue image plane was taken in blue light. NEAR scientists interpret the bright and greenish-gray appearing regions near the rim of the saddle to represent relatively fresh exposures of subsurface soil. In contrast, the pinkish looking soil covering other areas is thought to have been modified by exposure to small impacts and the solar wind. Built and managed by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, NEAR was the firstspacecraft launched in NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, small-scale planetary missions. See the NEAR web page at http://near.jhuapl.edu [ http://near.jhuapl.edu ] for more details. |
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Terrestrial Planet Interiors
| title |
Terrestrial Planet Interiors |
| description |
*Mercury* Mercury has an average density of 5430 kilograms per cubic meter, which is second only to Earth among all the planets. It is estimated that the planet Mercury, like Earth, has a ferrous core with a size equivalent to two-thirds to three-fourths that of the planet's overall radius. The core is believed to be composed of an iron-nickel alloy covered by a mantle and surface crust. *Venus* It is believed that the composition of the planet Venus is similar to that of Earth. The planet crust extends to around 10-30 kilometers below the surface, under which the mantle reaches to a depth of some 3000 kilometers. The planet core comprises a liquid iron-nickel alloy. Average planet density is 5240 kilograms per cubic meter. *Earth* The Earth comprises three separate layers: a crust, a mantle, and a core (in descending order from the surface). The crust thickness averages 30 kilometers for land masses and 5 kilometers for seabeds. The mantle extends from just below the crust to some 2900 kilometers deep. The core below the mantle begins at a depth of around 5100 kilometers, and comprises an outer core (liquid iron-nickel alloy) and inner core (solid iron-nickel alloy). The crust is composed mainly of granite in the case of land masses and basalt in the case of seabeds. The mantle is composed primarily of peridotite and high-pressure minerals. Average planet density is 5520 kilograms per cubic meter. *Mars* Mars is roughly one-half the diameter of Earth. Due to its small size, it is believed that the martian center has cooled. Geological structure is mainly rock and metal. The mantle below the crust comprises iron-oxide-rich silicate. The core is made up of an iron-nickel alloy and iron sulfide. Average planet density is 3930 kilograms per cubic meter. *Pluto* The structure of Pluto is not very well understood at present. Nevertheless, spectroscopic observation from Earth in the 1970s has revealed that the planet surface is covered with methane ice. Surface temperature is -230?C (-382?F), and the frozen methane exhibits a bright coloration. However, with the exception of the polar caps, the frozen methane surface is seen to change to a dark red when eclipsed by its moon Charon. Average planet density is 2060 kilograms per cubic meter. The low average density requires that the planet must be a mix of ice and rock. *Image Credit*: Lunar and Planetary Institute |
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Looking Back
| title |
Looking Back |
| date |
03.26.2004 |
| description |
NASA's Opportunity rover looks back at the crater where it landed and spent the first two months of its mission exploring exposed bedrock. This area may have been the shore of a shallow sea. The image is the first 360-degree view from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's new position outside "Eagle Crater," the small crater where the rover landed about two months ago. Scientists are busy analyzing Opportunity's new view of the plains of Meridiani Planum. The plentiful ripples are a clear indication that wind is the primary geologic process currently in effect on the plains. The rover's tracks can be seen leading away from Eagle Crater. At the far left are two depressions - each about a meter (about 3.3 feet) across - that feature bright spots in their centers. One possibility is that the bright material is similar in composition to the rocks in Eagle Crater's outcrop and the surrounding darker material is what's referred to as "lag deposit," or erosional remnants, which are much harder and more difficult to wear away. These twin dimples might be revealing pieces of a larger outcrop that lies beneath. The depression closest to Opportunity is whimsically referred to as "Homeplate" and the one behind it as "First Base." The backshell and parachute that helped protect the rover and deliver it safely to the surface of Mars are also visible near the horizon, at the left of the image. This image was taken by the rover's navigation camera. *Image Credi*: NASA/JPL |
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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| title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Takes Its First Look |
| date |
03.24.2006 |
| description |
This view shows a full-resolution portion of the first image of Mars taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The spacecraft, launched Aug. 12, 2005, began orbiting Mars on March 10, 2006. The image is of an area in Mars' mid-latitude southern highlands. HiRISE took this first test image from orbit on March 24, 2006, from an altitude of 2,489 kilometers (1,547 miles), achieving a resolution of 2.49 meters (98 inches) per pixel, or picture element. The smallest objects of discernable shape are about three pixels across. An image acquired at this latitude during the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's main science phase, beginning in fall 2006, would be taken from an altitude of about 280 kilometers (174 miles) and have a resolution of 28 centimeters (11 inches) per pixel. This view covers an area about 4.5 by 2.1 kilometers (1.6 by 1.3 miles), a subset of the broader image. The quality of this test image is spectacular, with no hint to the eye of any smear or blurring. A high signal-to-noise ratio reveals fine details even in the shadows. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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A Bird's-Eye View of Erebus
| title |
A Bird's-Eye View of Erebus |
| date |
11.23.2005 |
| description |
This false-color view combines frames taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on the rover's 652 through 663 Martian days, or sols (Nov. 23 to Dec. 5, 2005), at the edge of Erebus Crater. The mosaic is presented as a vertical projection. This type of projection provides a true-to-scale overhead view of the rover deck and nearby surrounding terrain. The view here shows outcrop rocks, sand dunes, and other features out to a distance of about 25 meters (82 feet) from the rover. Opportunity examined targets on the outcrop called "Rimrock" in front of the rover, testing the mobility and operation of Opportunity's robotic arm. The view shows examples of the dunes and ripples that Opportunity has been crossing as the rover drives on the Meridiani plains. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell |
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