|
|
Search Results: All Fields similar to 'Viking' and When equal to '1997'
|
Printer Friendly |
Hubble Finds Cloudy, Cold We
…
| Title |
Hubble Finds Cloudy, Cold Weather Conditions for Mars-Bound Spacecraft |
|
Schiaparelli Crater Rim and
…
PIA01157
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Schiaparelli Crater Rim and Interior Deposits |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
A portion of the rim and interior of the large impact crater Schiaparelli is seen at different resolutions in images acquired October 18, 1997 by the Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter Camera (MOC) and by the Viking Orbiter 1 twenty years earlier. The left image is a MOC wide angle camera "context" image showing much of the eastern portion of the crater at roughly 1 km (0.6 mi) per picture element. The image is about 390 by 730 km (240 X 450 miles). Shown within the wide angle image is the outline of a portion of the best Viking image (center, 371S53), acquired at a resolution of about 240 m/pixel (790 feet). The area covered is 144 X 144 km (89 X 89 miles). The right image is the high resolution narrow angle camera view. The area covered is very small--3.9 X 10.2 km (2.4 X 6.33 mi)--but is seen at 63 times higher resolution than the Viking image. The subdued relief and bright surface are attributed to blanketing by dust, many small craters have been completely filled in, and only the most recent (and very small) craters appear sharp and bowl-shaped. Some of the small craters are only 10-12 m (30-35 feet) across. Occasional dark streaks on steeper slopes are small debris slides that have probably occurred in the past few decades. The two prominent, narrow ridges in the center of the image may be related to the adjustment of the crater floor to age or the weight of the material filling the basin. Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
Mars Pathfinder Landing Site
PIA01124
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Mars Pathfinder Landing Site |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Mosaic of Viking orbiter images illustrating the location of the lander (19.17 degrees N, 33.21 degrees W in the USGS reference frame) with respect to surface features. Five prominent features on the horizon include North Knob, Southeast Knob, Far Knob, Twin Peaks, and Big Crater. Two small craters visible in the orbiter and lander views--Little Crater and Rimshot Crater--lie on the northwest outer flank of the rim of Big Crater. Because the lander is on the southeast-facing flank of a low ridge, very distant features to the south and east are in view, whereas relatively nearby features to the north are partially or completely obscured. Only the tip of North Knob, which appears larger in the Viking orbiter images than the Twin Peaks, projects above the local horizon, and a 300-m crater, 1.2 km to the northeast, is completely obscured. Viking stereo images 004A27 and 004A87 and 004A44 and 004A70. North is up, scale bar, 5 km. (Insets) (Upper right) Lander location. (Upper left) North Knob from lander. (Lower left) Far Knob from lander. (Lower right) Southeast Knob from lander. The location of the lander in inertial space (19.30 degrees N, 33.52degrees W) from the two-way ranging and Doppler tracking of the lander is coincident with Rimshot Crater. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine |
|
Flow Ejecta and Slope Landsl
…
PIA01155
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Flow Ejecta and Slope Landslides in Small Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This high resolution picture of a moderately small impact crater on Mars was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter Camera (MOC) on October 17, 1997 at 4:11:07 PM PST, during MGS orbit 22. The image covers an area 2.9 by 48.4 kilometers (1.8 by 30 miles) at 9.6 m (31.5 feet) per picture element, and is centered at 21.3 degrees N, 179.8 degrees W, near Orcus Patera. The MOC image is a factor of 15X better than pervious Viking views of this particular crater (left, Viking image 545A49). The unnamed crater is one of three closely adjacent impact features that display the ejecta pattern characteristic of one type of "flow-ejecta" crater. Such patterns are considered evidence of fluidized movement of the materials ejected during the cratering event, and are believed to indicate the presence of subsurface ice or liquid water. Long, linear features of different brightness values can be seen on the on the steep slopes inside and outside the crater rim. This type of feature, first identified in Viking Orbiter images acquired over 20 years ago, are more clearly seen in this new view (about 3 times better than the best previous observations). Their most likely explanation is that small land or dirt slides, initiated by seismic or wind action, have flowed down the steep slopes. Initially dark because of the nature of the surface disturbance, these features get lighter with time as the ubiquitous fine, bright dust settles onto them from the martian atmosphere. Based on estimates of the dust fall-out rate, many of these features are probably only a few tens to hundreds of years old. Thus, they are evidence of a process that is active on Mars today. Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
Once Pitted, Twice Spied: A
…
PIA02007
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Once Pitted, Twice Spied: A New High Resolution View Inside Escalante Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
During the year spent waiting to achieve the planned circular, polar Mapping Orbit, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) took about 1170pictures that had resolutions in the 2 to 20 meters (7-66 feet) per pixel range. These pictures were obtained between September 1997 and September 1998, and are now archived with NASA and available to the public at NASAPDS--http://ida.wr.usgs.gov/ [ http://ida.wr.usgs.gov/ ] . Although these pictures were generally a vast improvement in spatial resolution compared to the previous images from Viking and Mariner, the latest pictures from MOC--taken this month (April 1999) from the proper Mapping Orbit--demonstrate the power of the MOC when in focus and operating at the correct altitude (~380 km or 235 miles). The Viking Orbiter picture on the left, above, shows the 83 kilometers-(52 miles)-wide crater, Escalante. Located on the martian equator at 245°W longitude, a portion of this crater's floor was seen by MOC before the mapping mission began, at a resolution of 9.4 meters (31 feet) per pixel as shown in the middle image. The new picture--on the right--peers down into one of the pits seen in the earlier MOC image--only now it is viewed at 1.8 meters (6 feet) per pixel. The new high resolution image (right) covers an area only 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles)wide and shows that the crater floor--which appears relatively smooth in the context view on the left--is actually quite rough at the scale that a human being would notice if trying to hike around in this landscape. The latest picture also shows small, bright windblown dunes that were not visible in the earlier MOC image. MOC2-120a is a mosaic of Viking Orbiter images 381s62 and 379s47, and MOC2-120b is a subframe of MGS MOC image SPO-2-382/04. The large white box shows the location of MOC2-120b, and the small white box shows the location of MOC2-120c. In MOC2-120a and MOC2-120b, illumination is from the right/upper right, in MOC2-120c it is from the left. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
Once Pitted, Twice Spied: A
…
PIA02007
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Once Pitted, Twice Spied: A New High Resolution View Inside Escalante Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
During the year spent waiting to achieve the planned circular, polar Mapping Orbit, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) took about 1170pictures that had resolutions in the 2 to 20 meters (7-66 feet) per pixel range. These pictures were obtained between September 1997 and September 1998, and are now archived with NASA and available to the public at NASAPDS--http://ida.wr.usgs.gov/ [ http://ida.wr.usgs.gov/ ] . Although these pictures were generally a vast improvement in spatial resolution compared to the previous images from Viking and Mariner, the latest pictures from MOC--taken this month (April 1999) from the proper Mapping Orbit--demonstrate the power of the MOC when in focus and operating at the correct altitude (~380 km or 235 miles). The Viking Orbiter picture on the left, above, shows the 83 kilometers-(52 miles)-wide crater, Escalante. Located on the martian equator at 245°W longitude, a portion of this crater's floor was seen by MOC before the mapping mission began, at a resolution of 9.4 meters (31 feet) per pixel as shown in the middle image. The new picture--on the right--peers down into one of the pits seen in the earlier MOC image--only now it is viewed at 1.8 meters (6 feet) per pixel. The new high resolution image (right) covers an area only 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles)wide and shows that the crater floor--which appears relatively smooth in the context view on the left--is actually quite rough at the scale that a human being would notice if trying to hike around in this landscape. The latest picture also shows small, bright windblown dunes that were not visible in the earlier MOC image. MOC2-120a is a mosaic of Viking Orbiter images 381s62 and 379s47, and MOC2-120b is a subframe of MGS MOC image SPO-2-382/04. The large white box shows the location of MOC2-120b, and the small white box shows the location of MOC2-120c. In MOC2-120a and MOC2-120b, illumination is from the right/upper right, in MOC2-120c it is from the left. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
Once Pitted, Twice Spied: A
…
PIA02007
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Once Pitted, Twice Spied: A New High Resolution View Inside Escalante Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
During the year spent waiting to achieve the planned circular, polar Mapping Orbit, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) took about 1170pictures that had resolutions in the 2 to 20 meters (7-66 feet) per pixel range. These pictures were obtained between September 1997 and September 1998, and are now archived with NASA and available to the public at NASAPDS--http://ida.wr.usgs.gov/ [ http://ida.wr.usgs.gov/ ] . Although these pictures were generally a vast improvement in spatial resolution compared to the previous images from Viking and Mariner, the latest pictures from MOC--taken this month (April 1999) from the proper Mapping Orbit--demonstrate the power of the MOC when in focus and operating at the correct altitude (~380 km or 235 miles). The Viking Orbiter picture on the left, above, shows the 83 kilometers-(52 miles)-wide crater, Escalante. Located on the martian equator at 245°W longitude, a portion of this crater's floor was seen by MOC before the mapping mission began, at a resolution of 9.4 meters (31 feet) per pixel as shown in the middle image. The new picture--on the right--peers down into one of the pits seen in the earlier MOC image--only now it is viewed at 1.8 meters (6 feet) per pixel. The new high resolution image (right) covers an area only 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles)wide and shows that the crater floor--which appears relatively smooth in the context view on the left--is actually quite rough at the scale that a human being would notice if trying to hike around in this landscape. The latest picture also shows small, bright windblown dunes that were not visible in the earlier MOC image. MOC2-120a is a mosaic of Viking Orbiter images 381s62 and 379s47, and MOC2-120b is a subframe of MGS MOC image SPO-2-382/04. The large white box shows the location of MOC2-120b, and the small white box shows the location of MOC2-120c. In MOC2-120a and MOC2-120b, illumination is from the right/upper right, in MOC2-120c it is from the left. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
Once Pitted, Twice Spied: A
…
PIA02007
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Once Pitted, Twice Spied: A New High Resolution View Inside Escalante Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
During the year spent waiting to achieve the planned circular, polar Mapping Orbit, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) took about 1170pictures that had resolutions in the 2 to 20 meters (7-66 feet) per pixel range. These pictures were obtained between September 1997 and September 1998, and are now archived with NASA and available to the public at NASAPDS--http://ida.wr.usgs.gov/ [ http://ida.wr.usgs.gov/ ] . Although these pictures were generally a vast improvement in spatial resolution compared to the previous images from Viking and Mariner, the latest pictures from MOC--taken this month (April 1999) from the proper Mapping Orbit--demonstrate the power of the MOC when in focus and operating at the correct altitude (~380 km or 235 miles). The Viking Orbiter picture on the left, above, shows the 83 kilometers-(52 miles)-wide crater, Escalante. Located on the martian equator at 245°W longitude, a portion of this crater's floor was seen by MOC before the mapping mission began, at a resolution of 9.4 meters (31 feet) per pixel as shown in the middle image. The new picture--on the right--peers down into one of the pits seen in the earlier MOC image--only now it is viewed at 1.8 meters (6 feet) per pixel. The new high resolution image (right) covers an area only 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles)wide and shows that the crater floor--which appears relatively smooth in the context view on the left--is actually quite rough at the scale that a human being would notice if trying to hike around in this landscape. The latest picture also shows small, bright windblown dunes that were not visible in the earlier MOC image. MOC2-120a is a mosaic of Viking Orbiter images 381s62 and 379s47, and MOC2-120b is a subframe of MGS MOC image SPO-2-382/04. The large white box shows the location of MOC2-120b, and the small white box shows the location of MOC2-120c. In MOC2-120a and MOC2-120b, illumination is from the right/upper right, in MOC2-120c it is from the left. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
MOC's 200,000th Image
PIA07995
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
MOC's 200,000th Image |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
3 June 2005 On 17 May 2005, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) acquired its 200,000th image since the spacecraft began orbiting Mars on 12 September 1997. This image shows details on the floor and in the ejecta blanket of a northern middle-latitude martian crater, was received on Earth the following day. Its red wide angle context frame was also acquired at the same time (see PIA07996 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07996 ]). This image marks a milestone for the Mars Global Surveyor mission, which has returned nearly four times the number of images of both the Viking 1 and Viking 2 orbiters, combined, in the late 1970s. An additional point of comparison, the two Viking camera systems returned about 70 Gbytes of data, MOC thus far has returned 365 Gbytes (after decompression). The MOC is really a system consisting of three cameras: (1) a narrow angle camera, essentially a telescope, that obtains extremely high resolution views ranging from about 0.5 to about 14 meters per pixel, (2) a red wide angle camera that is used to take context images, daily global maps, and other selected images, and (3) a blue wide angle camera that also acquires daily global maps, views of the martian limb, and other selected targets. Both wide angle cameras can obtain images with resolutions in the range of 0.24 to 7.5 kilometers per pixel. The first images acquired by MOC were taken during the third orbit of MGS on 15 September 1997. MGS conducted a pre-mission series of observations between mid-September 1997 and February 1999. Then, MGS conducted its 1 Mars year Primary Mission from March 1999 through January 2001. The Extended Mission phase for MGS began in February 2001 and continues to this day. "Location near": 32.7°N, 185.1°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Autumn |
|
MOC's 200,001st Image
PIA07996
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
MOC's 200,001st Image |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
3 June 2005 On 17 May 2005, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) acquired its 200,000th image since the spacecraft began orbiting Mars on 12 September 1997. This red wide angle context frame was acquired at the same time as the narrow angle image (see PIA07995 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07995 ] showing details on the floor and in the ejecta blanket of a northern middle-latitude martian crater, which was received on Earth the previous day). This image marks a milestone for the Mars Global Surveyor mission, which has returned nearly four times the number of images of both the Viking 1 and Viking 2 orbiters, combined, in the late 1970s. An additional point of comparison, the two Viking camera systems returned about 70 Gbytes of data, MOC thus far has returned 365 Gbytes (after decompression). The MOC is really a system consisting of three cameras: (1) a narrow angle camera, essentially a telescope, that obtains extremely high resolution views ranging from about 0.5 to about 14 meters per pixel, (2) a red wide angle camera that is used to take context images, daily global maps, and other selected images, and (3) a blue wide angle camera that also acquires daily global maps, views of the martian limb, and other selected targets. Both wide angle cameras can obtain images with resolutions in the range of 0.24 to 7.5 kilometers per pixel. The first images acquired by MOC were taken during the third orbit of MGS on 15 September 1997. MGS conducted a pre-mission series of observations between mid-September 1997 and February 1999. Then, MGS conducted its 1 Mars year Primary Mission from March 1999 through January 2001. The Extended Mission phase for MGS began in February 2001 and continues to this day. "Location near": 32.7°N, 185.1°W "Image width": ~115 km (~71 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Autumn |
|
Sojourner Rover View of Shar
…
PIA01134
Sol (our sun)
Rover Cameras
| Title |
Sojourner Rover View of Shark and Half Dome |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The rounded knobs (arrows) up to 3 or 4 cm wide on Shark (left, approximately 70 cm wide)) and Half Dome (upper right) and in the foreground could be pebbles in a cemented matrix of clays, silts, and sands, such rocks are called conglomerates. Well-rounded objects like these were not seen at the Viking sites. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). |
|
Sojourner Rover View of Sock
…
PIA01135
Sol (our sun)
Rover Cameras
| Title |
Sojourner Rover View of Sockets and Pebbles |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Well-rounded objects, like the ones in this image, were not seen at the Viking sites. These are thought to be pebbles liberated from sedimentary rocks composed of cemented silts, sands and rounded fragments, such rocks are called conglomerates. The "sockets" could be the former sites of such pebbles. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). |
|
360 Degree Panorama Mars Pat
…
| Title |
360 Degree Panorama Mars Pathfinder Landing Site |
| Full Description |
This is the first contiguous, uniform 360-degree color panorama taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) over the course of sols 8, 9, and 10 (Martian days). Different regions were imaged at different times over the three Martian days to acquire consistent lighting and shadow conditions for all areas of the panorama. At left is a lander petal and a metallic mast which is a portion of the low-gain antenna. On the horizon the double "Twin Peaks" are visible, about 1-2 kilometers away. The rock "Couch" is the dark, curved rock at right of Twin Peaks. Another lander petal is at left-center, showing the fully deployed forward ramp at far left, and rear ramp at right, which rover Sojourner used to descend to the surface of Mars on July 5. Immediately to the left of the rear ramp is the rock Barnacle Bill, which scientists found to be andesitic, possibly indicating that it is a volcanic rock (a true andesite) or a physical mixture of particles. Just beyond Barnacle Bill, rover tracks lead to Sojourner, shown using its Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument to study the large rock Yogi. Yogi, low in quartz content, appears to be more primitive than Barnacle Bill, and appeared more like the common basalts found on Earth. The tracks and circular pattern in the soil leading up to Yogi were part of Sojourner's soil mechanics experiments, in which varying amounts of pressure were applied to the wheels in order to determine physical properties of the soil. During its traverse to Yogi the rover stirred the soil and exposed material from several centimeters in depth. During one of the turns to deploy Sojourner's Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer, the wheels dug particularly deeply and exposed white material. Spectra of this white material show it is virtually identical to the rock Scooby Doo, and such white material may underlie much of the site. Deflated airbags are visible at the perimeter of all three lander petals. The IMP is a stereo imaging system with color capability provided by 24 selectable filters, twelve filters per "eye." Its red, green, and blue filters were used to take this image. The IMP, in its fully deployed configuration, stands 1.8 meters above the Martian surface, and has a resolution of two millimeters at a range of two meters. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
| Date |
07/18/1997 |
| NASA Center |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
|
MGS Approach Image - Chryse
…
PIA00911
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
MGS Approach Image - Chryse Planitia |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) took this image on August 20, 1997, when the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was 5.67 million kilometers (3.52 million miles) and 22 days from entering orbit. At this distance, the MOC's resolution is about 21.2 km per picture element, and the 6800 km (4200 mile) diameter planet is about 327 pixels across. North is at the top of the image. The MGS spacecraft pointed the camera at the center of the planet (near the dark, morning sunrise line, or terminator) at 23.6° N, 82.1° W. At this distance from Mars, only bright and dark markings resulting from variations in the amount and thickness of dust and sand are visible. The large dark marking stretching from the right center northward is Acidalia Planitia, a region of rock and sand with less dust on it than the area immediately to the south, Chryse Planitia. Both Viking Lander 1 and Pathfinder landed in the latter, bright area. In this low resolution image, some of the dark features resemble the "canals" seen prominently in maps created by astronomers of the 19th and early 20th century. Mariner 9 and Viking images show that most of these dark lines are associated with sand deposits that are trapped in rough areas. Mars Global Surveyor was launched on November 7, 1996 and will enter Mars orbit on Thursday, September 11 around 6:30 PM PDT. The spacecraft will use atmospheric drag to reduce the size of its orbit. Mapping operations will begin in March 1998. The MOC on MGS is a spare camera originally developed for the ill-fated Mars Observer mission. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology were responsible for development of both cameras. MSSS operates the MOC from its facilities in San Diego, CA, under contract to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. |
|
MGS Approach Image - 82.1° W
…
PIA00932
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
MGS Approach Image - 82.1° W longitude |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) took this image on August 20, 1997, when the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was 5.67 million kilometers (3.52 million miles) and 22 days from entering orbit. At this distance, the MOC's resolution is about 21.2 km per picture element, and the 6800 km (4200 mile) diameter planet is about 327 pixels across. North is at the top of the image. The MGS spacecraft pointed the camera at the center of the planet (near the dark, morning sunrise line, or terminator) at 23.6° N, 82.1° W. At this distance from Mars, only bright and dark markings resulting from variations in the amount and thickness of dust and sand are visible. The large dark marking stretching from the right center northward is Acidalia Planitia, a region of rock and sand with less dust on it than the area immediately to the south, Chryse Planitia. Both Viking Lander 1 and Pathfinder landed in the latter, bright area. In this low resolution image, some of the dark features resemble the "canals" seen prominently in maps created by astronomers of the 19th and early 20th century. Mariner 9 and Viking images show that most of these dark lines are associated with sand deposits that are trapped in rough areas. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
Evidence for Recent Liquid W
…
PIA01036
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Evidence for Recent Liquid Water on Mars: Seepage Sites in "Aerobraking Crater" Revisited |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The first clue that there might be places on Mars where liquid groundwater seeps out onto the surface came from a picture taken by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) during the pre-mapping Orbit Insertion Phase of the mission. The picture, shown in (A)above, was taken at the end of December 1997 while the spacecraft was still in the midst of aerobraking maneuvers to put it into the circular orbit needed for the Mapping Phase of the project. The Aerobraking 1 image, AB1-07707, showed dark, v-shaped scars on the western wall of a 50 kilometer-(31 mile)-diameter impact crater in southern Noachis Terra at 65°S, 15°W (see B, above, for context). The v-shaped features taper downslope to form narrow, somewhat curved channels. The relationship seen here was interpreted by MOC scientists to be similar to seepage landforms on Earth that form where springs emerge on a slope and water runs downhill. Once MGS achieved its Mapping Orbit in March 1999, the MOC was in a better position to take pictures of 10 times higher resolution than the Aerobraking AB1-07707 image. The opportunity to take a new picture of the proposed "seepage" sites on the wall of the crater in southern Noachis finally arose in January 2000. The result is MOC image M11-00530, shown above in (top) and (C). This new close-up shows that the darkly-shaped scars host many small channels of only a few meters (yards) across. These small channels run downslope and coalesce at the apex (or point) of each "v". Amid the small channels are many large boulders, some of them the size of houses, that have eroded out of the crater wall. A 3-D view created using the AB1 and M11 images is shown in (D). The stereo picture (red-blue "3D" glasses required) emphasizes the presence of small channels and valleys, and shows that these valleys start almost at the very top of the v-shaped dark areas. The context picture in (B) is a mosaic of Viking 2 orbiter images 497B47 and 497B48 acquired December 28, 1977. The Aerobraking MGS MOC image, AB1-07707, is shown overlain on the Viking context image, it was taken 20 years later on December 29, 1997. The smaller white box in the context picture shows the location of MOC Mapping Phase image M11-00530, roughly 2 years later on January 4, 2000. North is "up" in pictures (A) and (B), and to the lower right in (top), (C), and (D). Sunlight illuminates (A) from the upper left, (B) from the upper right, and (top) and (C) from the upper right. The top image in (top) is the aerobraking image, AB1-07707, with a white box indicating the location of the lower image, M11-00530, and the stereo pair in (D). The white box on the left in (C) shows the location of the close-up on the right in (C). |
|
Evidence for Recent Liquid W
…
PIA01036
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Evidence for Recent Liquid Water on Mars: Seepage Sites in "Aerobraking Crater" Revisited |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The first clue that there might be places on Mars where liquid groundwater seeps out onto the surface came from a picture taken by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) during the pre-mapping Orbit Insertion Phase of the mission. The picture, shown in (A)above, was taken at the end of December 1997 while the spacecraft was still in the midst of aerobraking maneuvers to put it into the circular orbit needed for the Mapping Phase of the project. The Aerobraking 1 image, AB1-07707, showed dark, v-shaped scars on the western wall of a 50 kilometer-(31 mile)-diameter impact crater in southern Noachis Terra at 65°S, 15°W (see B, above, for context). The v-shaped features taper downslope to form narrow, somewhat curved channels. The relationship seen here was interpreted by MOC scientists to be similar to seepage landforms on Earth that form where springs emerge on a slope and water runs downhill. Once MGS achieved its Mapping Orbit in March 1999, the MOC was in a better position to take pictures of 10 times higher resolution than the Aerobraking AB1-07707 image. The opportunity to take a new picture of the proposed "seepage" sites on the wall of the crater in southern Noachis finally arose in January 2000. The result is MOC image M11-00530, shown above in (top) and (C). This new close-up shows that the darkly-shaped scars host many small channels of only a few meters (yards) across. These small channels run downslope and coalesce at the apex (or point) of each "v". Amid the small channels are many large boulders, some of them the size of houses, that have eroded out of the crater wall. A 3-D view created using the AB1 and M11 images is shown in (D). The stereo picture (red-blue "3D" glasses required) emphasizes the presence of small channels and valleys, and shows that these valleys start almost at the very top of the v-shaped dark areas. The context picture in (B) is a mosaic of Viking 2 orbiter images 497B47 and 497B48 acquired December 28, 1977. The Aerobraking MGS MOC image, AB1-07707, is shown overlain on the Viking context image, it was taken 20 years later on December 29, 1997. The smaller white box in the context picture shows the location of MOC Mapping Phase image M11-00530, roughly 2 years later on January 4, 2000. North is "up" in pictures (A) and (B), and to the lower right in (top), (C), and (D). Sunlight illuminates (A) from the upper left, (B) from the upper right, and (top) and (C) from the upper right. The top image in (top) is the aerobraking image, AB1-07707, with a white box indicating the location of the lower image, M11-00530, and the stereo pair in (D). The white box on the left in (C) shows the location of the close-up on the right in (C). |
|
Evidence for Recent Liquid W
…
PIA01036
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Evidence for Recent Liquid Water on Mars: Seepage Sites in "Aerobraking Crater" Revisited |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The first clue that there might be places on Mars where liquid groundwater seeps out onto the surface came from a picture taken by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) during the pre-mapping Orbit Insertion Phase of the mission. The picture, shown in (A)above, was taken at the end of December 1997 while the spacecraft was still in the midst of aerobraking maneuvers to put it into the circular orbit needed for the Mapping Phase of the project. The Aerobraking 1 image, AB1-07707, showed dark, v-shaped scars on the western wall of a 50 kilometer-(31 mile)-diameter impact crater in southern Noachis Terra at 65°S, 15°W (see B, above, for context). The v-shaped features taper downslope to form narrow, somewhat curved channels. The relationship seen here was interpreted by MOC scientists to be similar to seepage landforms on Earth that form where springs emerge on a slope and water runs downhill. Once MGS achieved its Mapping Orbit in March 1999, the MOC was in a better position to take pictures of 10 times higher resolution than the Aerobraking AB1-07707 image. The opportunity to take a new picture of the proposed "seepage" sites on the wall of the crater in southern Noachis finally arose in January 2000. The result is MOC image M11-00530, shown above in (top) and (C). This new close-up shows that the darkly-shaped scars host many small channels of only a few meters (yards) across. These small channels run downslope and coalesce at the apex (or point) of each "v". Amid the small channels are many large boulders, some of them the size of houses, that have eroded out of the crater wall. A 3-D view created using the AB1 and M11 images is shown in (D). The stereo picture (red-blue "3D" glasses required) emphasizes the presence of small channels and valleys, and shows that these valleys start almost at the very top of the v-shaped dark areas. The context picture in (B) is a mosaic of Viking 2 orbiter images 497B47 and 497B48 acquired December 28, 1977. The Aerobraking MGS MOC image, AB1-07707, is shown overlain on the Viking context image, it was taken 20 years later on December 29, 1997. The smaller white box in the context picture shows the location of MOC Mapping Phase image M11-00530, roughly 2 years later on January 4, 2000. North is "up" in pictures (A) and (B), and to the lower right in (top), (C), and (D). Sunlight illuminates (A) from the upper left, (B) from the upper right, and (top) and (C) from the upper right. The top image in (top) is the aerobraking image, AB1-07707, with a white box indicating the location of the lower image, M11-00530, and the stereo pair in (D). The white box on the left in (C) shows the location of the close-up on the right in (C). |
|
Dark Dry Ice on Southern Cap
…
PIA02332
Sol (our sun)
Thermal Emission Spectromete
…
| Title |
Dark Dry Ice on Southern Cap - Lambert Albedo Image |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The early part of the Mars Global Surveyor mission provided good TES coverage of the Mars south polar region. These data allow mapping of the polar cap recession, surface and atmospheric temperatures, and albedo features found within the seasonal cap itself (Kieffer et al, 1998, Titus et al, 1998). During the period observed, the seasonal south polar cap retreated continuously and asymmetrically around the geographic pole, much the way Viking observed in 1976-1977 (Kieffer et al., 1977). One of the most dominant albedo features on the seasonal cap is a region that appears almost as dark as bare ground, but yet remains cold. We refer to this region, generally located between latitudes 85°S and 75°S and longitudes 150°W and 310°W, as the Cryptic region. A re-examination of the IRTM data revealed that the Cryptic region was not unique to the TES era, but also was quite apparent during the Viking era. Interesting enough, Antoniadi (Blunck, 1977) observed dark regions forming on the season cap that loosely correlates to the Cryptic region: Depressio Magna (1909) and Depressio Parva (1929). These depressios were located at 270° W, 78°S and 166° W, 76°S, respectively. Analysis of both the TES and IRTM data indicate that the Cryptic region is unique in its thermophysical properties relative to the rest of the cap. The region is a repeatable event that occupies the same general area from year to year. It is darker and slightly warmer than the rest of the south polar cap. Even though the Cryptic region is slightly warmer, it must still be CO2 buffered since it remains "cold" for several days. Spectral analysis of the TES longward of the 15 micron atmospheric band shows that the Cryptic region shows less spectral than the rest of the polar cap. This suggests that the region may be composed of "ice", as opposed to snow or frost (Hansen, 1998). Further spectral analysis on going. This image is a map of TES data, showing Lambert albedo of the south polar cap. The image is a composite from the first rolls of orbit 43 (Ls =219.2°, Nov 17,1997) and orbit 45 (Ls=220.8°, Nov 20, 1997). The Cryptic region is the blue area curving along the 80°S latitude line. The region shows up in the thermal image(PIA02333 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02333 ])as only slightly warmer than the rest of the polar cap, but still too cold to be bare ground. |
|
Dark Dry Ice on Southern Cap
…
PIA02333
Sol (our sun)
Thermal Emission Spectromete
…
| Title |
Dark Dry Ice on Southern Cap - Thermal Image |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The early part of the Mars Global Surveyor mission provided good TES coverage of the Mars south polar region. These data allow mapping of the polar cap recession, surface and atmospheric temperatures, and albedo features found within the seasonal cap itself (Kieffer et al, 1998, Titus et al, 1998). During the period observed, the seasonal south polar cap retreated continuously and asymmetrically around the geographic pole, much the way Viking observed in 1976-1977 (Kieffer et al., 1977). One of the most dominant albedo features on the seasonal cap is a region that appears almost as dark as bare ground, but yet remains cold. We refer to this region, generally located between latitudes 85°S and 75°S and longitudes 150°W and 310°W, as the Cryptic region. A re-examination of the IRTM data revealed that the Cryptic region was not unique to the TES era, but also was quite apparent during the Viking era. Interesting enough, Antoniadi (Blunck, 1977) observed dark regions forming on the season cap that loosely correlates to the Cryptic region: Depressio Magna (1909) and Depressio Parva (1929). These depressios were located at 270° W, 78°S and 166° W, 76°S, respectively. Analysis of both the TES and IRTM data indicate that the Cryptic region is unique in its thermophysical properties relative to the rest of the cap. The region is a repeatable event that occupies the same general area from year to year. It is darker and slightly warmer than the rest of the south polar cap. Even though the Cryptic region is slightly warmer, it must still be CO2 buffered since it remains "cold" for several days. Spectral analysis of the TES longward of the 15 micron atmospheric band shows that the Cryptic region shows less spectral than the rest of the polar cap. This suggests that the region may be composed of "ice", as opposed to snow or frost (Hansen, 1998). Further spectral analysis on going. This image is a map of TES data, showing TES "T20" of the south polar cap. (The TES "T20" is a synthetic band created by convolving the response function of the IRTM 20µm filter with the TES spectra.)The image is a composite from the first rolls of orbit 43 (Ls =219.2°, Nov 17, 1997) and orbit 45 (Ls=220.8°, Nov 20, 1997). The Cryptic region is the blue area curving along the 80°S latitude line. The region shows up in this image as only slightly warmer than the rest of the polar cap, but still too cold to be bare ground. See also the Lambert Albedo Image PIA02332 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02332 ]. |
|
Hubble's Look At Mars Shows
…
| Title |
Hubble's Look At Mars Shows Canyon Dust Storm, Cloudy Conditions For Pathfinder Landing |
|
Mars Global Surveyor Celebra
…
| title |
Mars Global Surveyor Celebrates Discovery of Deimos |
| Description |
, University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada) for his input on the geography of Deimos and the locations of Swift and Voltaire. Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems, One might say that today is Deimos' birthday. To celebrate, we present here the first and only Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image of this tiny moon. Deimos was discovered 129 years ago on 11 August 1877 (U.S. time, it was 12 August UTC), by U.S. astronomer Asaph Hall. It was the first of two major discoveries that he made that month, less than a week later, he found the other, inner martian satellite, Phobos. About a month before the 129th anniversary of its discovery, on 10 July 2006, Mars Global Surveyor was pointed away from the martian surface, out toward distant Deimos. Imaging the smaller of the two martian moons was the result of a combined effort between MGS engineers at Lockheed Martin Astronautics and MOC operations engineers at Malin Space Science Systems. When the picture was acquired, Deimos was about 22,985 kilometers (14,285 miles) from MGS. This results in an image of approximately 95 meters (about 312 feet) per pixel. Higher resolution images were obtained by the Viking orbiters in the 1970s - some of those pictures were so good that boulders could be resolved on the moon's surface. While the MOC image is at a lower resolution than the Viking data, acquiring an image of Deimos helps refine the understanding of the tiny moon's orbit and geography. The two craters, Voltaire and Swift, are presently the only craters with names on all of Deimos. Author Jonathan Swift, in his 1726 "Gulliver's Travels," had coincidentally surmised that Mars has two moons. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper right. MGS previously imaged the inner, larger moon, Phobos, on several occasions in 1998 and 2003. In 1998, MGS was in an elliptical orbit that permitted the spacecraft to actually fly past the moon, this was not done for Deimos because MGS hasn't been out past the orbit of Deimos since it arrived at the red planet in 1997. To review the MOC images of Phobos, visit: * Moons of Mars [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/themes/MOONS.html ] * 1998 First Phobos Encounter [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ab1_m04/images/SP247603.html ] * 1998 Second Phobos Encounter [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ab1_m04/images/SP250103.html ] * 1998 Third Phobos Encounter, first view [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ab1_m04/images/SP252603.html ] * 1998 Third Phobos Encounter, second view [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ab1_m04/images/SP252604.html ] * 1998 Fourth Phobos Encounter [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ab1_m04/images/SP255103.html ] * 2003 view of Phobos [ http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/r03_r09/images/R06/R0600044.html ] The MGS MOC team thanks Philip J. Stooke [ http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/geography/spacemap/index.htm ] |
|
MOC's 100,000th Image
| title |
MOC's 100,000th Image |
| Description |
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was launched from Earth just over five years ago on November 7, 1996. It began to orbit Mars on September 12, 1997. After slightly more than four years in orbit, we have now received our 100,000th image from the MGS Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC). For comparison, the Viking 1 and Viking 2 orbiters together returned ~55,000 images during the time they were operational from 1976 to 1980. The Vikings returned about 70 Gbytes of data, MOC has returned 163 Gbytes (after decompression). MOC's 100,000th image was received on November 5, 2001. Its context frame (below) was received at the same time. The 100,000th image is located near 24.2°N, 127.4°W, in Cyane Sulci, a grouping of ridges northeast of the giant volcano, Olympus Mons. This image shows a valley running diagonally from near the upper right to the lower left, the floor of which is covered by windblown dunes. The slopes on either side of the valley show dark streaks of debris that have slid down from the surrounding ridges. The image has fairly low contrast and a streaked appearance because the atmosphere of Mars was still somewhat hazy following a series of large dust storms that nearly obscured the planet between July and October 2001. Both images are illuminated from the lower left, the high resolution view (above) covers an area 1.5 km (0.9 mi) across, the context view (with white box to indicate location of high resolution view) covers an area 63 km (39 mi) across. To date, more than two-thirds of all MOC images, covering the first year and a half of pre-mapping operations and the first full Mars year of mapping, have been carefully examined, validated, cataloged, and archived with the NASA Planetary Data System (PDS). To view these first 78,000+ MOC images, visit the MOC Gallery. Work is on-going to similarly process data being collected during the "extended mission" presently underway, which will be archived in future deliveries to the PDS. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems |
|
A Closer Encounter with Mars
| Title |
A Closer Encounter with Mars |
|
Mars Pathfinder Landing Elli
…
PIA01123
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Mars Pathfinder Landing Ellipses |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Mosaic of Ares Vallis showing different landing ellipses, with color inset of the Chryse Planitia region of Mars showing the outflow channels. The large blue ellipse (100 km by 200 km) to the northwest is an ellipse in the USGS cartographic reference frame designed to avoid streamlined hills to the south and east, craters to the north, and etched terrain to the west (this ellipse is shown in the color inset). The large yellow ellipse (100 km by 200 km) displaced toward the southeast (by 20 km in longitude and 8 km in latitude) is the navigation target ellipse in the revised local cartographic reference frame (which are the latitude and longitude shown in this figure). The elongate light blue ellipse (98 km by 19 km) is the navigation prediction as of late 3 July and early 4 July, it includes part of the streamlined island in the southwest. The gold ellipse (15 km by 8 km) is the prediction with tracking through atmospheric entry. The pink ellipse (41 km by 15 km), which encloses the smallest ellipse (and the location of the lander), is the navigation result with dispersions added for atmospheric entry and descent. The blue X is the location of the lander with respect to surface features identified in Viking orbiter images (located at 19.33 degrees N, 33.55 degrees W in the local reference frame). The location of the lander in inertial space (19.30 degrees N, 33.52 degrees W) from the two-way ranging and Doppler tracking of the lander is at the very northwest edge of the crater, just 2.2 km to the south-southeast of the X. If the location of the lander in inertial space is forced to coincide with its location with respect to surface features, then the resulting cartographic frame is actually 2 km to the south and 0.8 km to the east of the local network. Color mosaic is part of the Oxia Palus Quadrangle (MC 11) of Mars, black and white mosaic from Viking orbiter images of 38 m/pixel resolution, north is at the top. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine |
|
Flow Ejecta and Slope Landsl
…
PIA01156
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Flow Ejecta and Slope Landslides in Small Crater - High Resolution Image |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This high resolution picture of a moderately small impact crater on Mars was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter Camera (MOC) on October 17, 1997 at 4:11:07 PM PST, during MGS orbit 22. The image covers an area 2.9 by 48.4 kilometers (1.8 by 30 miles) at 9.6 m (31.5 feet) per picture element, and is centered at 21.3 degrees N, 179.8 degrees W, near Orcus Patera. The MOC image is a factor of 15X better than pervious Viking views of this particular crater. The unnamed crater is one of three closely adjacent impact features that display the ejecta pattern characteristic of one type of "flow-ejecta" crater. Such patterns are considered evidence of fluidized movement of the materials ejected during the cratering event, and are believed to indicate the presence of subsurface ice or liquid water. Long, linear features of different brightness values can be seen on the on the steep slopes inside and outside the crater rim. This type of feature, first identified in Viking Orbiter images acquired over 20 years ago, are more clearly seen in this new view (about 3 times better than the best previous observations). Their most likely explanation is that small land or dirt slides, initiated by seismic or wind action, have flowed down the steep slopes. Initially dark because of the nature of the surface disturbance, these features get lighter with time as the ubiquitous fine, bright dust settles onto them from the martian atmosphere. Based on estimates of the dust fall-out rate, many of these features are probably only a few tens to hundreds of years old. Thus, they are evidence of a process that is active on Mars today. Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
Flow-ejecta Crater in Icaria
…
PIA01162
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Flow-ejecta Crater in Icaria Planum - High Resolution Image |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter Camera (MOC) acquired this high resolution image of a flow ejecta crater on November 19, 1997, at 8:26 PM PST, about 18 minutes after the start the 45th orbit of Mars. The area shown is roughly 6.5 by 40.2 kilometers (4 by 25 miles), and is located near 40 degrees South latitude, 120 degrees West longitude. Features as small as 15-18 m (50-60 feet) across are visible in the picture. Flow ejecta craters are so named because the material blasted out of the crater during the impact process appears to have flowed across the surface of Mars. First seen in Mariner 9 images in 1973, and described in detail using Viking Orbiter images acquired in 1976-78, flow-ejecta craters are considered by many scientists to be evidence that liquid water could be found in the near-subsurface at the time the craters formed. This image, a factor of two better than any previous view of such features (and a factor of 33 better than the best Viking frame of the specific crater, 056A61), shows two smaller, pre-existing craters and the interaction of the flowing ejecta with these craters. The uppermost small crater has been over-topped and partly buried by the flow, while the flow has been diverted around the lower crater. Ridges formed where the flow "stacked up" behind obstacles, or came to rest. Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
Flow-ejecta Crater in Icaria
…
PIA01161
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Flow-ejecta Crater in Icaria Planum |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter Camera (MOC) acquired this high resolution image of a flow ejecta crater on November 19, 1997, at 8:26 PM PST, about 18 minutes after the start the 45th orbit of Mars. The area shown is roughly 6.5 by 40.2 kilometers (4 by 25 miles), and is located near 40 degrees South latitude, 120 degrees West longitude. Features as small as 15-18 m (50-60 feet) across are visible in the picture. Flow ejecta craters are so named because the material blasted out of the crater during the impact process appears to have flowed across the surface of Mars. First seen in Mariner 9 images in 1973, and described in detail using Viking Orbiter images acquired in 1976-78, flow-ejecta craters are considered by many scientists to be evidence that liquid water could be found in the near-subsurface at the time the craters formed. This image (right), a factor of two better than any previous view of such features (and a factor of 33 better than the best Viking frame of the specific crater, 056A61, left), shows two smaller, pre-existing craters and the interaction of the flowing ejecta with these craters. The uppermost small crater has been over-topped and partly buried by the flow, while the flow has been diverted around the lower crater. Ridges formed where the flow "stacked up" behind obstacles, or came to rest. Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
MOC's 100,000th Image
PIA03178
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
MOC's 100,000th Image |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was launched from Earth just over five years ago on November 7, 1996. It began to orbit Mars on September 12, 1997. After slightly more than four years in orbit, we have now received our 100,000th image from the MGS Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC). For comparison, the Viking 1 and Viking 2 orbiters together returned ~55,000 images during the time they were operational from 1976 to 1980. The Vikings returned about 70 Gbytes of data, MOC has returned 163 Gbytes (after decompression). MOC's 100,000th image was received on November 5, 2001. Its context frame (below) was received at the same time. The 100,000th image is located near 24.2°N, 127.4°W, in Cyane Sulci, a grouping of ridges northeast of the giant volcano, Olympus Mons. This image shows a valley running diagonally from near the upper right to the lower left, the floor of which is covered by windblown dunes. The slopes on either side of the valley show dark streaks of debris that have slid down from the surrounding ridges. The image has fairly low contrast and a streaked appearance because the atmosphere of Mars was still somewhat hazy following a series of large dust storms that nearly obscured the planet between July and October 2001. Both images are illuminated from the lower left, the high resolution view (above) covers an area 1.5 km (0.9 mi)across, the context view (with white box to indicate location of high resolution view) covers an area 63 km (39 mi) across. To date, more than two-thirds of all MOC images, covering the first year and a half of pre-mapping operations and the first full Mars year of mapping, have been carefully examined, validated, cataloged, and archived with the NASA Planetary Data System (PDS). To view these first 78,000+ MOC images, visit the MOC Gallery. Work is on-going to similarly process data being collected during the "extended mission" presently underway, which will be archived in future deliveries to the PDS. |
|
MOC's 100,000th Image
PIA03178
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
MOC's 100,000th Image |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was launched from Earth just over five years ago on November 7, 1996. It began to orbit Mars on September 12, 1997. After slightly more than four years in orbit, we have now received our 100,000th image from the MGS Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC). For comparison, the Viking 1 and Viking 2 orbiters together returned ~55,000 images during the time they were operational from 1976 to 1980. The Vikings returned about 70 Gbytes of data, MOC has returned 163 Gbytes (after decompression). MOC's 100,000th image was received on November 5, 2001. Its context frame (below) was received at the same time. The 100,000th image is located near 24.2°N, 127.4°W, in Cyane Sulci, a grouping of ridges northeast of the giant volcano, Olympus Mons. This image shows a valley running diagonally from near the upper right to the lower left, the floor of which is covered by windblown dunes. The slopes on either side of the valley show dark streaks of debris that have slid down from the surrounding ridges. The image has fairly low contrast and a streaked appearance because the atmosphere of Mars was still somewhat hazy following a series of large dust storms that nearly obscured the planet between July and October 2001. Both images are illuminated from the lower left, the high resolution view (above) covers an area 1.5 km (0.9 mi)across, the context view (with white box to indicate location of high resolution view) covers an area 63 km (39 mi) across. To date, more than two-thirds of all MOC images, covering the first year and a half of pre-mapping operations and the first full Mars year of mapping, have been carefully examined, validated, cataloged, and archived with the NASA Planetary Data System (PDS). To view these first 78,000+ MOC images, visit the MOC Gallery. Work is on-going to similarly process data being collected during the "extended mission" presently underway, which will be archived in future deliveries to the PDS. |
|
MOC's 100,000th Image
PIA03178
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
MOC's 100,000th Image |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was launched from Earth just over five years ago on November 7, 1996. It began to orbit Mars on September 12, 1997. After slightly more than four years in orbit, we have now received our 100,000th image from the MGS Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC). For comparison, the Viking 1 and Viking 2 orbiters together returned ~55,000 images during the time they were operational from 1976 to 1980. The Vikings returned about 70 Gbytes of data, MOC has returned 163 Gbytes (after decompression). MOC's 100,000th image was received on November 5, 2001. Its context frame (below) was received at the same time. The 100,000th image is located near 24.2°N, 127.4°W, in Cyane Sulci, a grouping of ridges northeast of the giant volcano, Olympus Mons. This image shows a valley running diagonally from near the upper right to the lower left, the floor of which is covered by windblown dunes. The slopes on either side of the valley show dark streaks of debris that have slid down from the surrounding ridges. The image has fairly low contrast and a streaked appearance because the atmosphere of Mars was still somewhat hazy following a series of large dust storms that nearly obscured the planet between July and October 2001. Both images are illuminated from the lower left, the high resolution view (above) covers an area 1.5 km (0.9 mi)across, the context view (with white box to indicate location of high resolution view) covers an area 63 km (39 mi) across. To date, more than two-thirds of all MOC images, covering the first year and a half of pre-mapping operations and the first full Mars year of mapping, have been carefully examined, validated, cataloged, and archived with the NASA Planetary Data System (PDS). To view these first 78,000+ MOC images, visit the MOC Gallery. Work is on-going to similarly process data being collected during the "extended mission" presently underway, which will be archived in future deliveries to the PDS. |
|
White Rock' of Pollack Crate
…
PIA02848
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
White Rock' of Pollack Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
"White Rock" is a ridged mound that was first seen and informally named "White Rock" in pictures from the Mariner 9 orbiter in 1972. In black-and-white photos, the feature appears much brighter than its surrounding terrain, giving the impression that the material is white. Later analyses of Mariner 9, Viking, and Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) data showed that the feature isn't actually white, it is somewhat red and reflects only about 20-25% of the sunlight that falls upon it (a white surface would reflect 100%). Located in Pollack Crater, a 95 km (59 mile) wide impact basin at 7.9°S, 334.7°W, White Rock is the light-red/orange feature with the rectangular white box drawn on it in the context view above. The white box indicates the location of a sub-frame of a MGS Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image acquired in September 2000, shown in the release image. The light-toned material that gives White Rock its name forms steep cliffs with valleys between them covered by dark, windblown, rippled sand. PIA02849 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02849 ] shows a close-up of a portion of this release, illustrating that the bright material is layered (arrow, "layers") and that there is an old impact crater (arrow, "crater") that has been partly uncovered from beneath the White Rock material. The layering in White Rock suggests that the material is sediment deposited at some time in the distant past within Pollack Crater. The fact that the material erodes to form steep cliffs suggests that it is hard like rock. Thus, White Rock is interpreted to be an outcrop of sedimentary rock. It is probably a small remnant of a larger body of rock that may have once covered the entire floor of Pollack Crater, this view is supported by the observation that more extensive layered rocks are seen in other craters across the surface of the red planet (e.g., the crater at 8°N, 7°W). Both pictures shown here are illuminated by sunlight from the upper left, north is up. Pollack Crater was named in 1997 for James B. Pollack (1938-1994), a NASA Ames Research Center scientist known in the Mars research community for his atmospheric research with Mariner 9 and Viking data and the development of key computer models used to investigate the red planet's winds, storms, and climate. |
|
White Rock' of Pollack Crate
…
PIA02849
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
White Rock' of Pollack Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
"White Rock" is a ridged mound that was first seen and informally named "White Rock" in pictures from the Mariner 9 orbiter in 1972. In black-and-white photos, the feature appears much brighter than its surrounding terrain, giving the impression that the material is white. Later analyses of Mariner 9, Viking, and Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) data showed that the feature isn't actually white, it is somewhat red and reflects only about 20-25% of the sunlight that falls upon it (a white surface would reflect 100%). Located in Pollack Crater, a 95 km (59 mile) wide impact basin at 7.9°S, 334.7°W, White Rock is the light-red/orange feature with the rectangular white box drawn on it in the context view above. The white box indicates the location of a sub-frame of a MGS Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image acquired in September 2000, shown in PIA02848 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02848 ]. The light-toned material that gives White Rock its name forms steep cliffs with valleys between them covered by dark, windblown, rippled sand. This release image shows a close-up of a portion of PIA02848 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02848 ], illustrating that the bright material is layered (arrow, "layers") and that there is an old impact crater (arrow, "crater") that has been partly uncovered from beneath the White Rock material. The layering in White Rock suggests that the material is sediment deposited at some time in the distant past within Pollack Crater. The fact that the material erodes to form steep cliffs suggests that it is hard like rock. Thus, White Rock is interpreted to be an outcrop of sedimentary rock. It is probably a small remnant of a larger body of rock that may have once covered the entire floor of Pollack Crater, this view is supported by the observation that more extensive layered rocks are seen in other craters across the surface of the red planet (e.g., the crater at 8°N, 7°W). Both pictures shown here are illuminated by sunlight from the upper left, north is up. Pollack Crater was named in 1997 for James B. Pollack (1938-1994), a NASA Ames Research Center scientist known in the Mars research community for his atmospheric research with Mariner 9 and Viking data and the development of key computer models used to investigate the red planet's winds, storms, and climate. |
|
White Rock' of Pollack Crate
…
PIA02849
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
White Rock' of Pollack Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
"White Rock" is a ridged mound that was first seen and informally named "White Rock" in pictures from the Mariner 9 orbiter in 1972. In black-and-white photos, the feature appears much brighter than its surrounding terrain, giving the impression that the material is white. Later analyses of Mariner 9, Viking, and Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) data showed that the feature isn't actually white, it is somewhat red and reflects only about 20-25% of the sunlight that falls upon it (a white surface would reflect 100%). Located in Pollack Crater, a 95 km (59 mile) wide impact basin at 7.9°S, 334.7°W, White Rock is the light-red/orange feature with the rectangular white box drawn on it in the context view above. The white box indicates the location of a sub-frame of a MGS Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image acquired in September 2000, shown in PIA02848 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02848 ]. The light-toned material that gives White Rock its name forms steep cliffs with valleys between them covered by dark, windblown, rippled sand. This release image shows a close-up of a portion of PIA02848 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02848 ], illustrating that the bright material is layered (arrow, "layers") and that there is an old impact crater (arrow, "crater") that has been partly uncovered from beneath the White Rock material. The layering in White Rock suggests that the material is sediment deposited at some time in the distant past within Pollack Crater. The fact that the material erodes to form steep cliffs suggests that it is hard like rock. Thus, White Rock is interpreted to be an outcrop of sedimentary rock. It is probably a small remnant of a larger body of rock that may have once covered the entire floor of Pollack Crater, this view is supported by the observation that more extensive layered rocks are seen in other craters across the surface of the red planet (e.g., the crater at 8°N, 7°W). Both pictures shown here are illuminated by sunlight from the upper left, north is up. Pollack Crater was named in 1997 for James B. Pollack (1938-1994), a NASA Ames Research Center scientist known in the Mars research community for his atmospheric research with Mariner 9 and Viking data and the development of key computer models used to investigate the red planet's winds, storms, and climate. |
|
White Rock' of Pollack Crate
…
PIA02849
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
White Rock' of Pollack Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
"White Rock" is a ridged mound that was first seen and informally named "White Rock" in pictures from the Mariner 9 orbiter in 1972. In black-and-white photos, the feature appears much brighter than its surrounding terrain, giving the impression that the material is white. Later analyses of Mariner 9, Viking, and Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) data showed that the feature isn't actually white, it is somewhat red and reflects only about 20-25% of the sunlight that falls upon it (a white surface would reflect 100%). Located in Pollack Crater, a 95 km (59 mile) wide impact basin at 7.9°S, 334.7°W, White Rock is the light-red/orange feature with the rectangular white box drawn on it in the context view above. The white box indicates the location of a sub-frame of a MGS Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image acquired in September 2000, shown in PIA02848 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02848 ]. The light-toned material that gives White Rock its name forms steep cliffs with valleys between them covered by dark, windblown, rippled sand. This release image shows a close-up of a portion of PIA02848 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02848 ], illustrating that the bright material is layered (arrow, "layers") and that there is an old impact crater (arrow, "crater") that has been partly uncovered from beneath the White Rock material. The layering in White Rock suggests that the material is sediment deposited at some time in the distant past within Pollack Crater. The fact that the material erodes to form steep cliffs suggests that it is hard like rock. Thus, White Rock is interpreted to be an outcrop of sedimentary rock. It is probably a small remnant of a larger body of rock that may have once covered the entire floor of Pollack Crater, this view is supported by the observation that more extensive layered rocks are seen in other craters across the surface of the red planet (e.g., the crater at 8°N, 7°W). Both pictures shown here are illuminated by sunlight from the upper left, north is up. Pollack Crater was named in 1997 for James B. Pollack (1938-1994), a NASA Ames Research Center scientist known in the Mars research community for his atmospheric research with Mariner 9 and Viking data and the development of key computer models used to investigate the red planet's winds, storms, and climate. |
|
Sojourner Rover View of Well
…
PIA01133
Sol (our sun)
Rover Cameras
| Title |
Sojourner Rover View of Well-Rounded Pebbles in Cabbage Patch |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Sojourner Rover image of rounded 4-cm-wide pebble (lower center) and excavation of cloddy deposit of Cabbage Patch at lower left. Note the bright wind tails of drift material extending from small rocks and the wheel track from upper right to lower left. Well-rounded objects, like the one in this image, were not seen at the Viking sites. These are thought to be pebbles liberated from sedimentary rocks composed of cemented silts, sands and rounded fragments, such rocks are called conglomerates. NOTE: original caption as published in Science Magazine Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). |
|
Twin Peaks (B/W)
PIA01001
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Twin Peaks (B/W) |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Twin Peaks are modest-size hills to the southwest of the Mars Pathfinder landing site. They were discovered on the first panoramas taken by the IMP camera on the 4th of July, 1997, and subsequently identified in Viking Orbiter images taken over 20 years ago. The peaks are approximately 30-35 meters (-100 feet) tall. North Twin is approximately 860 meters (2800 feet) from the lander, and South Twin is about a kilometer away (3300 feet). The scene includes bouldery ridges and swales or "hummocks" of flood debris that range from a few tens of meters away from the lander to the distance of the South Twin Peak. The large rock at the right edge of the scene is nicknamed "Hippo". This rock is about a meter (3 feet) across and 25 meters (80 feet) distant. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
|
Evidence for Recent Liquid W
…
PIA01036
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Evidence for Recent Liquid Water on Mars: Seepage Sites in "Aerobraking Crater" Revisited |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The first clue that there might be places on Mars where liquid groundwater seeps out onto the surface came from a picture taken by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) during the pre-mapping Orbit Insertion Phase of the mission. The picture, shown in (A)above, was taken at the end of December 1997 while the spacecraft was still in the midst of aerobraking maneuvers to put it into the circular orbit needed for the Mapping Phase of the project. The Aerobraking 1 image, AB1-07707, showed dark, v-shaped scars on the western wall of a 50 kilometer-(31 mile)-diameter impact crater in southern Noachis Terra at 65°S, 15°W (see B, above, for context). The v-shaped features taper downslope to form narrow, somewhat curved channels. The relationship seen here was interpreted by MOC scientists to be similar to seepage landforms on Earth that form where springs emerge on a slope and water runs downhill. Once MGS achieved its Mapping Orbit in March 1999, the MOC was in a better position to take pictures of 10 times higher resolution than the Aerobraking AB1-07707 image. The opportunity to take a new picture of the proposed "seepage" sites on the wall of the crater in southern Noachis finally arose in January 2000. The result is MOC image M11-00530, shown above in (top) and (C). This new close-up shows that the darkly-shaped scars host many small channels of only a few meters (yards) across. These small channels run downslope and coalesce at the apex (or point) of each "v". Amid the small channels are many large boulders, some of them the size of houses, that have eroded out of the crater wall. A 3-D view created using the AB1 and M11 images is shown in (D). The stereo picture (red-blue "3D" glasses required) emphasizes the presence of small channels and valleys, and shows that these valleys start almost at the very top of the v-shaped dark areas. The context picture in (B) is a mosaic of Viking 2 orbiter images 497B47 and 497B48 acquired December 28, 1977. The Aerobraking MGS MOC image, AB1-07707, is shown overlain on the Viking context image, it was taken 20 years later on December 29, 1997. The smaller white box in the context picture shows the location of MOC Mapping Phase image M11-00530, roughly 2 years later on January 4, 2000. North is "up" in pictures (A) and (B), and to the lower right in (top), (C), and (D). Sunlight illuminates (A) from the upper left, (B) from the upper right, and (top) and (C) from the upper right. The top image in (top) is the aerobraking image, AB1-07707, with a white box indicating the location of the lower image, M11-00530, and the stereo pair in (D). The white box on the left in (C) shows the location of the close-up on the right in (C). |
|
Evidence for Recent Liquid W
…
PIA01036
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Evidence for Recent Liquid Water on Mars: Seepage Sites in "Aerobraking Crater" Revisited |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The first clue that there might be places on Mars where liquid groundwater seeps out onto the surface came from a picture taken by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) during the pre-mapping Orbit Insertion Phase of the mission. The picture, shown in (A)above, was taken at the end of December 1997 while the spacecraft was still in the midst of aerobraking maneuvers to put it into the circular orbit needed for the Mapping Phase of the project. The Aerobraking 1 image, AB1-07707, showed dark, v-shaped scars on the western wall of a 50 kilometer-(31 mile)-diameter impact crater in southern Noachis Terra at 65°S, 15°W (see B, above, for context). The v-shaped features taper downslope to form narrow, somewhat curved channels. The relationship seen here was interpreted by MOC scientists to be similar to seepage landforms on Earth that form where springs emerge on a slope and water runs downhill. Once MGS achieved its Mapping Orbit in March 1999, the MOC was in a better position to take pictures of 10 times higher resolution than the Aerobraking AB1-07707 image. The opportunity to take a new picture of the proposed "seepage" sites on the wall of the crater in southern Noachis finally arose in January 2000. The result is MOC image M11-00530, shown above in (top) and (C). This new close-up shows that the darkly-shaped scars host many small channels of only a few meters (yards) across. These small channels run downslope and coalesce at the apex (or point) of each "v". Amid the small channels are many large boulders, some of them the size of houses, that have eroded out of the crater wall. A 3-D view created using the AB1 and M11 images is shown in (D). The stereo picture (red-blue "3D" glasses required) emphasizes the presence of small channels and valleys, and shows that these valleys start almost at the very top of the v-shaped dark areas. The context picture in (B) is a mosaic of Viking 2 orbiter images 497B47 and 497B48 acquired December 28, 1977. The Aerobraking MGS MOC image, AB1-07707, is shown overlain on the Viking context image, it was taken 20 years later on December 29, 1997. The smaller white box in the context picture shows the location of MOC Mapping Phase image M11-00530, roughly 2 years later on January 4, 2000. North is "up" in pictures (A) and (B), and to the lower right in (top), (C), and (D). Sunlight illuminates (A) from the upper left, (B) from the upper right, and (top) and (C) from the upper right. The top image in (top) is the aerobraking image, AB1-07707, with a white box indicating the location of the lower image, M11-00530, and the stereo pair in (D). The white box on the left in (C) shows the location of the close-up on the right in (C). |
|
Evidence for Recent Liquid W
…
PIA01036
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Evidence for Recent Liquid Water on Mars: Seepage Sites in "Aerobraking Crater" Revisited |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The first clue that there might be places on Mars where liquid groundwater seeps out onto the surface came from a picture taken by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) during the pre-mapping Orbit Insertion Phase of the mission. The picture, shown in (A)above, was taken at the end of December 1997 while the spacecraft was still in the midst of aerobraking maneuvers to put it into the circular orbit needed for the Mapping Phase of the project. The Aerobraking 1 image, AB1-07707, showed dark, v-shaped scars on the western wall of a 50 kilometer-(31 mile)-diameter impact crater in southern Noachis Terra at 65°S, 15°W (see B, above, for context). The v-shaped features taper downslope to form narrow, somewhat curved channels. The relationship seen here was interpreted by MOC scientists to be similar to seepage landforms on Earth that form where springs emerge on a slope and water runs downhill. Once MGS achieved its Mapping Orbit in March 1999, the MOC was in a better position to take pictures of 10 times higher resolution than the Aerobraking AB1-07707 image. The opportunity to take a new picture of the proposed "seepage" sites on the wall of the crater in southern Noachis finally arose in January 2000. The result is MOC image M11-00530, shown above in (top) and (C). This new close-up shows that the darkly-shaped scars host many small channels of only a few meters (yards) across. These small channels run downslope and coalesce at the apex (or point) of each "v". Amid the small channels are many large boulders, some of them the size of houses, that have eroded out of the crater wall. A 3-D view created using the AB1 and M11 images is shown in (D). The stereo picture (red-blue "3D" glasses required) emphasizes the presence of small channels and valleys, and shows that these valleys start almost at the very top of the v-shaped dark areas. The context picture in (B) is a mosaic of Viking 2 orbiter images 497B47 and 497B48 acquired December 28, 1977. The Aerobraking MGS MOC image, AB1-07707, is shown overlain on the Viking context image, it was taken 20 years later on December 29, 1997. The smaller white box in the context picture shows the location of MOC Mapping Phase image M11-00530, roughly 2 years later on January 4, 2000. North is "up" in pictures (A) and (B), and to the lower right in (top), (C), and (D). Sunlight illuminates (A) from the upper left, (B) from the upper right, and (top) and (C) from the upper right. The top image in (top) is the aerobraking image, AB1-07707, with a white box indicating the location of the lower image, M11-00530, and the stereo pair in (D). The white box on the left in (C) shows the location of the close-up on the right in (C). |
|
Evidence for Recent Liquid W
…
PIA01036
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Evidence for Recent Liquid Water on Mars: Seepage Sites in "Aerobraking Crater" Revisited |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The first clue that there might be places on Mars where liquid groundwater seeps out onto the surface came from a picture taken by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) during the pre-mapping Orbit Insertion Phase of the mission. The picture, shown in (A)above, was taken at the end of December 1997 while the spacecraft was still in the midst of aerobraking maneuvers to put it into the circular orbit needed for the Mapping Phase of the project. The Aerobraking 1 image, AB1-07707, showed dark, v-shaped scars on the western wall of a 50 kilometer-(31 mile)-diameter impact crater in southern Noachis Terra at 65°S, 15°W (see B, above, for context). The v-shaped features taper downslope to form narrow, somewhat curved channels. The relationship seen here was interpreted by MOC scientists to be similar to seepage landforms on Earth that form where springs emerge on a slope and water runs downhill. Once MGS achieved its Mapping Orbit in March 1999, the MOC was in a better position to take pictures of 10 times higher resolution than the Aerobraking AB1-07707 image. The opportunity to take a new picture of the proposed "seepage" sites on the wall of the crater in southern Noachis finally arose in January 2000. The result is MOC image M11-00530, shown above in (top) and (C). This new close-up shows that the darkly-shaped scars host many small channels of only a few meters (yards) across. These small channels run downslope and coalesce at the apex (or point) of each "v". Amid the small channels are many large boulders, some of them the size of houses, that have eroded out of the crater wall. A 3-D view created using the AB1 and M11 images is shown in (D). The stereo picture (red-blue "3D" glasses required) emphasizes the presence of small channels and valleys, and shows that these valleys start almost at the very top of the v-shaped dark areas. The context picture in (B) is a mosaic of Viking 2 orbiter images 497B47 and 497B48 acquired December 28, 1977. The Aerobraking MGS MOC image, AB1-07707, is shown overlain on the Viking context image, it was taken 20 years later on December 29, 1997. The smaller white box in the context picture shows the location of MOC Mapping Phase image M11-00530, roughly 2 years later on January 4, 2000. North is "up" in pictures (A) and (B), and to the lower right in (top), (C), and (D). Sunlight illuminates (A) from the upper left, (B) from the upper right, and (top) and (C) from the upper right. The top image in (top) is the aerobraking image, AB1-07707, with a white box indicating the location of the lower image, M11-00530, and the stereo pair in (D). The white box on the left in (C) shows the location of the close-up on the right in (C). |
|
Evidence for Recent Liquid W
…
PIA01036
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Evidence for Recent Liquid Water on Mars: Seepage Sites in "Aerobraking Crater" Revisited |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The first clue that there might be places on Mars where liquid groundwater seeps out onto the surface came from a picture taken by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) during the pre-mapping Orbit Insertion Phase of the mission. The picture, shown in (A)above, was taken at the end of December 1997 while the spacecraft was still in the midst of aerobraking maneuvers to put it into the circular orbit needed for the Mapping Phase of the project. The Aerobraking 1 image, AB1-07707, showed dark, v-shaped scars on the western wall of a 50 kilometer-(31 mile)-diameter impact crater in southern Noachis Terra at 65°S, 15°W (see B, above, for context). The v-shaped features taper downslope to form narrow, somewhat curved channels. The relationship seen here was interpreted by MOC scientists to be similar to seepage landforms on Earth that form where springs emerge on a slope and water runs downhill. Once MGS achieved its Mapping Orbit in March 1999, the MOC was in a better position to take pictures of 10 times higher resolution than the Aerobraking AB1-07707 image. The opportunity to take a new picture of the proposed "seepage" sites on the wall of the crater in southern Noachis finally arose in January 2000. The result is MOC image M11-00530, shown above in (top) and (C). This new close-up shows that the darkly-shaped scars host many small channels of only a few meters (yards) across. These small channels run downslope and coalesce at the apex (or point) of each "v". Amid the small channels are many large boulders, some of them the size of houses, that have eroded out of the crater wall. A 3-D view created using the AB1 and M11 images is shown in (D). The stereo picture (red-blue "3D" glasses required) emphasizes the presence of small channels and valleys, and shows that these valleys start almost at the very top of the v-shaped dark areas. The context picture in (B) is a mosaic of Viking 2 orbiter images 497B47 and 497B48 acquired December 28, 1977. The Aerobraking MGS MOC image, AB1-07707, is shown overlain on the Viking context image, it was taken 20 years later on December 29, 1997. The smaller white box in the context picture shows the location of MOC Mapping Phase image M11-00530, roughly 2 years later on January 4, 2000. North is "up" in pictures (A) and (B), and to the lower right in (top), (C), and (D). Sunlight illuminates (A) from the upper left, (B) from the upper right, and (top) and (C) from the upper right. The top image in (top) is the aerobraking image, AB1-07707, with a white box indicating the location of the lower image, M11-00530, and the stereo pair in (D). The white box on the left in (C) shows the location of the close-up on the right in (C). |
|
Exhumed Crater in Kasei Vall
…
PIA01475
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Exhumed Crater in Kasei Valles |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Mars Global Surveyor's high resolution Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) is providing scientists with a whole new way of looking at Mars. Able to see objects down to the size of automobiles and houses, results from the first year of MOC operations are suggesting that the red planet has had a complicated history that was very different from that of the only two places that geologists have visited in person: the Earth and the Moon. An example of the complexity of martian geologic history is shown by a crater in Kasei Vallis that was imaged during the 345th orbit of Mars Global Surveyor at 5:44 p.m. PDT on June 4, 1998. MOC image 34504 (above) shows a 6 kilometer (4 mile) diameter crater that was once buried by about 3 kilometers (2 miles) of martian "bedrock." Kasei Vallis, seen in this Viking 1 Orbiter mosaic, is actually a system of giant channels thought to have been carved by catastrophic floods that occurred more than a billion years ago . A similar scenario was proposed to explain the Ares Vallis channel, where Mars Pathfinder landed in July 1997. The Kasei Valles floods carved a deep and wide system of channels into the northern portion of Lunae Planum--a vast, relatively flat plain made up of layered rock that formed some time before the floods. The crater shown above (and in local context, in this Viking 1 Orbiter image 226a08) was partly excavated by the Kasei Valles floods. The crater is poking out from beneath an "island" in the Kasei Valles. The mesa was created in part by the flood, and by subsequent retreat--by small landslides--of the scarp that encircles it. A "mote" or trench partly encircles the crater to the west and south. This moat formed were the turbulence of the floodwaters interacting with the obstacle represented by the crater rim eroded material in front of, and along the side, of the crater. The rim was too high for the flood to overtop, and the flood lasted too short a time for the erosion to breach the crater rim and destroy it. The crater seen here was most likely formed early in Mars history, perhaps as long as 3.5 billion years ago. Sometime after it formed by meteor impact, it was buried by the material that comprises Lunae Planum (the large plains unit of which the island appears to be part). The material composing the island is, at least in places, hard rock, since the brink of the cliff is sharp and the erosional ridges that extend down from the brink stand out in sharp relief. However, the processes that emplaced the rock were sufficiently gentle that the crater was not destroyed by that emplacement, nor by the burial. In that respect, the crater is like a giant fossil. Likewise, the process or processes that exposed the crater--the Kasei floods and retreat of the mesa scarp-- were also sufficiently "gentle" so that much of the crater's original appearance has been preserved. This exhumed crater is one of many seen by MOC during its first year of operations. This particular crater was first suspected to have been exhumed when it was seen in images from Mariner 9 in 1972. The close-up view provided by MOC confirms that the crater has emerged from beneath the mesa, and that it suffered little damage from the Kasei floods. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
Exhumed Crater in Kasei Vall
…
PIA01475
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Exhumed Crater in Kasei Valles |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Mars Global Surveyor's high resolution Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) is providing scientists with a whole new way of looking at Mars. Able to see objects down to the size of automobiles and houses, results from the first year of MOC operations are suggesting that the red planet has had a complicated history that was very different from that of the only two places that geologists have visited in person: the Earth and the Moon. An example of the complexity of martian geologic history is shown by a crater in Kasei Vallis that was imaged during the 345th orbit of Mars Global Surveyor at 5:44 p.m. PDT on June 4, 1998. MOC image 34504 (above) shows a 6 kilometer (4 mile) diameter crater that was once buried by about 3 kilometers (2 miles) of martian "bedrock." Kasei Vallis, seen in this Viking 1 Orbiter mosaic, is actually a system of giant channels thought to have been carved by catastrophic floods that occurred more than a billion years ago . A similar scenario was proposed to explain the Ares Vallis channel, where Mars Pathfinder landed in July 1997. The Kasei Valles floods carved a deep and wide system of channels into the northern portion of Lunae Planum--a vast, relatively flat plain made up of layered rock that formed some time before the floods. The crater shown above (and in local context, in this Viking 1 Orbiter image 226a08) was partly excavated by the Kasei Valles floods. The crater is poking out from beneath an "island" in the Kasei Valles. The mesa was created in part by the flood, and by subsequent retreat--by small landslides--of the scarp that encircles it. A "mote" or trench partly encircles the crater to the west and south. This moat formed were the turbulence of the floodwaters interacting with the obstacle represented by the crater rim eroded material in front of, and along the side, of the crater. The rim was too high for the flood to overtop, and the flood lasted too short a time for the erosion to breach the crater rim and destroy it. The crater seen here was most likely formed early in Mars history, perhaps as long as 3.5 billion years ago. Sometime after it formed by meteor impact, it was buried by the material that comprises Lunae Planum (the large plains unit of which the island appears to be part). The material composing the island is, at least in places, hard rock, since the brink of the cliff is sharp and the erosional ridges that extend down from the brink stand out in sharp relief. However, the processes that emplaced the rock were sufficiently gentle that the crater was not destroyed by that emplacement, nor by the burial. In that respect, the crater is like a giant fossil. Likewise, the process or processes that exposed the crater--the Kasei floods and retreat of the mesa scarp-- were also sufficiently "gentle" so that much of the crater's original appearance has been preserved. This exhumed crater is one of many seen by MOC during its first year of operations. This particular crater was first suspected to have been exhumed when it was seen in images from Mariner 9 in 1972. The close-up view provided by MOC confirms that the crater has emerged from beneath the mesa, and that it suffered little damage from the Kasei floods. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
Exhumed Crater in Kasei Vall
…
PIA01475
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Exhumed Crater in Kasei Valles |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Mars Global Surveyor's high resolution Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) is providing scientists with a whole new way of looking at Mars. Able to see objects down to the size of automobiles and houses, results from the first year of MOC operations are suggesting that the red planet has had a complicated history that was very different from that of the only two places that geologists have visited in person: the Earth and the Moon. An example of the complexity of martian geologic history is shown by a crater in Kasei Vallis that was imaged during the 345th orbit of Mars Global Surveyor at 5:44 p.m. PDT on June 4, 1998. MOC image 34504 (above) shows a 6 kilometer (4 mile) diameter crater that was once buried by about 3 kilometers (2 miles) of martian "bedrock." Kasei Vallis, seen in this Viking 1 Orbiter mosaic, is actually a system of giant channels thought to have been carved by catastrophic floods that occurred more than a billion years ago . A similar scenario was proposed to explain the Ares Vallis channel, where Mars Pathfinder landed in July 1997. The Kasei Valles floods carved a deep and wide system of channels into the northern portion of Lunae Planum--a vast, relatively flat plain made up of layered rock that formed some time before the floods. The crater shown above (and in local context, in this Viking 1 Orbiter image 226a08) was partly excavated by the Kasei Valles floods. The crater is poking out from beneath an "island" in the Kasei Valles. The mesa was created in part by the flood, and by subsequent retreat--by small landslides--of the scarp that encircles it. A "mote" or trench partly encircles the crater to the west and south. This moat formed were the turbulence of the floodwaters interacting with the obstacle represented by the crater rim eroded material in front of, and along the side, of the crater. The rim was too high for the flood to overtop, and the flood lasted too short a time for the erosion to breach the crater rim and destroy it. The crater seen here was most likely formed early in Mars history, perhaps as long as 3.5 billion years ago. Sometime after it formed by meteor impact, it was buried by the material that comprises Lunae Planum (the large plains unit of which the island appears to be part). The material composing the island is, at least in places, hard rock, since the brink of the cliff is sharp and the erosional ridges that extend down from the brink stand out in sharp relief. However, the processes that emplaced the rock were sufficiently gentle that the crater was not destroyed by that emplacement, nor by the burial. In that respect, the crater is like a giant fossil. Likewise, the process or processes that exposed the crater--the Kasei floods and retreat of the mesa scarp-- were also sufficiently "gentle" so that much of the crater's original appearance has been preserved. This exhumed crater is one of many seen by MOC during its first year of operations. This particular crater was first suspected to have been exhumed when it was seen in images from Mariner 9 in 1972. The close-up view provided by MOC confirms that the crater has emerged from beneath the mesa, and that it suffered little damage from the Kasei floods. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
Martian Colors Provide Clues
…
PIA01543
Sol (our sun)
Wide Field Planetary Camera
…
| Title |
Martian Colors Provide Clues About Martian Water |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of Mars taken in visible and infrared light detail a rich geologic history and provide further evidence for water-bearing minerals on the planet's surface. LEFT This "true-color" image of Mars shows the planet as it would look to human eyes. It is clearly more Earth-toned than usually depicted in other astronomical images, including earlier Hubble pictures. The slightly bluer shade along the edges of the disk is due to atmospheric hazes and wispy water ice clouds (like cirrus clouds) in the early morning and late evening Martian sky. The yellowish-pink color of the northern polar cap indicates the presence of small iron-bearing dust particles. These particles are covering or are suspended in the air above the blue-white water ice and carbon dioxide ice, which make up the polar cap. Accurate colors are needed to determine the composition and mineralogy of Mars. This can tell how water has influenced the formation of rocks and minerals found on Mars today, as well as the distribution and abundance of ice and subsurface liquid water. Confirmation of the presence of certain oxidized (rusted) minerals (processed by heat or water action) would imply the possibility of different, perhaps much more Earth-like, past Martian climate periods. Because the smallest features visible in this image are only about 14 miles (22 km) across, Hubble can track small-scale variations in the distribution of minerals that do not follow global trends. The image was generated from three separate Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 images acquired at wavelengths of 410, 502, and 673 nanometers, in March 1997. RIGHT A false-color picture taken in infrared light reveals features that cannot be seen in visible light. Hubble's unique infrared view pinpoints variations in the abundance and distribution of unknown water-bearing minerals on the planet. While it has been known for decades that small amounts of water-bearing minerals exist on the planet's surface, the reddish regions in this image indicate areas of enhanced concentrations of these as-yet-unidentified deposits. They are perhaps related to the water-rich history of this part of Mars. In particular, the large reddish region known as Mare Acidalium was the site of massive flooding early in Martian history. (NASA's Pathfinder spacecraft landed at the southern edge of this region in 1997.) This composite image was taken in July 1997 with Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer. Red corresponds to the strength of an absorption band detected near 1450 nanometers, green to the brightness of the surface in the near-infrared, and blue to topographic elevation, determined from Viking Orbiter data. |
|
3000 Mile Laser Altimeter Pr
…
PIA00958
Sol (our sun)
MOLA
| Title |
3000 Mile Laser Altimeter Profile Across Northern Hemisphere of Mars |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Topographic profile across the northern hemisphere of Mars from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). The profile was obtained during the Mars Global Surveyor Capture Orbit Calibration Pass on September 15, 1997 and represents 20 minutes of data collection. The profile has a length of approximately 3000 miles (5000 kilometers). The large bulge is the western part of the Elysium rise, the second largest volcanic province on Mars, and shows over 3 miles (5 kilometers) of vertical relief. This area contains deep chasms that reflect tectonic, volcanic and erosional processes. In contrast is the almost 1featureless1 northern plains region of Mars, which shows only hundreds of meters of relief at scales the size of the United States. Plotted for comparison is the elevation of the Viking Lander 2 site, which is located 275 miles (445 kilometers) west of the profile. At the southernmost extent of the trace is the transition from the northern plains to the ancient southern highlands. Characterizing the fine-scale nature of topography in this chaotic region is crucial to testing theories for how the dichotomy between the geologically distinctive northern lowlands and southern uplands formed and subsequently evolved. The spatial resolution of the profile is approximately 1000 feet (330 meters) and the vertical resolution is approximately 3 feet (1 meter). When the Mars Global Surveyor mapping mission commences in March, 1998, the MOLA instrument will collect 72 times as much data every day for a period of two years. |
|
Hubble's Look at Mars Shows
…
PIA01245
Sol (our sun)
Wide Field Planetary Camera
…
| Title |
Hubble's Look at Mars Shows Canyon Dust Storm, Cloudy Conditions for Pathfinder Landing |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Hubble Space Telescope images of Mars, taken on June 27, 1997, reveal a significant dust storm which fills much of the Valles Marineris canyon system and extends into Xanthe Terra, about 600 miles (1000 kilometers) south of the landing site. It is difficult to predict the evolution of this storm and whether it will affect the Pathfinder observations. The pictures were taken in order to monitor the site in Ares Vallis where the Pathfinder spacecraft will land on July 4. The two images of Mars at the top of the figure are Hubble observations from June 27 (right) and May 17 (left). Visual comparison of these two images clearly shows the dust storm between 5 and 7 o'clock and about 2/3 of the way from the center of the planet's disk to the southern edge of the June image. The digital data were projected to form the map of the equatorial portion of the planet which is shown in the bottom portion of the figure. The green cross marks the location of the Pathfinder landing site, and the yellowish ribbon of dust which runs horizontally across the bottom of the map traces the location of Valles Marineris, a system of canyons which would stretch from Los Angeles to New York if placed on Earth. Most of the dust is confined within the canyons, which are up to 5-8 kilometers deep. The thickness of the dust cloud near the eastern end of the storm is similar to that observed by Viking lander 1 during the first of the two 1977 global dust storms which it studied. Other interesting features appear in this image. The northwestern portions of the planet are enveloped in unusually thick water ice clouds, similar to cirrus clouds on Earth, some clouds extend as far as Lunae Planum, the slightly darker region about halfway from the center to the left side of the map. The dark spot near the terminator (boundary between day and night) at about 9:00 in the June 27 planet image is Ascraeus Mons, a 27 kilometer high volcano, protruding through the clouds. The remnant north polar cap, composed of water ice, is at the top of the May and June images, and a bluish south polar hood, composed of water ice clouds, is seen along the southern edge. Because the planet's axis is tipped towards us during this season, we cannot see the south polar cap, which is in winter darkness. This image and other images and data received from the Hubble Space Telescope are posted on the World Wide Web on the Space Telescope Science Institute home page at URL http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/ |
|
SUV Tracks On Mars? The "Dev
…
PIA01463
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
SUV Tracks On Mars? The "Devil" is in the Details |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) on Mars? Imagine the MOC imaging team's surprise on the morning of April 27, 1998, as the latest images came in from the "Red Planet." A picture taken by the camera on Mars Global Surveyor just one day earlier showed several thin, dark lines that--at first glance--looked like pathways blazed by off-road sport utility vehicles. Who's been driving around on Mars? The MOC image in question (#26403), seen here at full resolution of 13.8 meters (45 feet) per pixel, was obtained around 10:22 a.m. PDT on April 26, 1998, during Mars Global Surveyor's 264th orbit. North is approximately up, illumination is from the lower right. Located in eastern Arabia Terra near 16.5° N latitude, 311.4° W longitude, the image showed a number of natural features--small craters formed by meteor impact, several buttes and mesas left by erosion of the surrounding terrain, small dunes and drifts, and a mantle of dust that varies in thickness from place to place. But the new picture also showed two dark lines--each varying in width up to about 15 meters (49 feet)--that extended several kilometers/miles across the image. Lines like these have been seen before on Mars. They are most likely the result of dust devils--columnar vortices of wind that move across the landscape, pick up dust, and look somewhat like miniature tornadoes. Dust devils are a common occurrence in dry and desert landscapes on Earth as well as Mars. They form when the ground heats up during the day, warming the air immediately above the surface. As pockets of warm air rise and interfere with one another, they create horizontal pressure variations that, combined with other meteorological winds, cause the upward moving air to spin (the direction of the spin is controlled by the same Coriolis forces that cause terrestrial hurricanes to spin in specific directions). As the spinning column of air moves across the surface, it occasionally encounters dust on the surface, which it can suck upward. This dust rises into the spinning air, giving the appearance of a tornado-like column that moves across the landscape. As the column of air moves, its ability to pick up dust varies--sometimes they hold a lot of dust and are nearly opaque, sometimes you cannot even see them. Dust-devils rarely last long, since their very motion changes the conditions that allowed them to form in the first place. Mars Pathfinder detected the passage of several dust devils during its 83 days of operation on Mars in 1997. Mariner 9 and the Viking landers and orbiters of the 1970s also found evidence that dust devils occur on Mars, indeed, some Viking Orbiter images actually show dust devil clouds. MOC image 26403 is the latest entry in the body of evidence for the work of wind in the modern martian environment. The MOC Science Team is continuing to study these and other streaks caused by wind interacting with the martian surface. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built, the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
Mars Pathfinder First Annive
…
PIA01447
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars Pathfinder First Anniversary Special -- Refined Landing Site Location |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
It has been one year since NASA's Return to the Red Planet began with the spectacular landing of Mars Pathfinder and its microrover, Sojourner. The spacecraft bounced onto a flood-washed landscape on July 4, 1997. Mars Pathfinder was soon joined by the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor on September 11, 1997 (PDT). Mars Global Surveyor's high resolution camera, MOC, took a picture of the Mars Pathfinder landing site region during its 256th orbit on April 22, 1998. This picture--at about 5 meters (11 feet) per pixel--is the best available for the site. The previous best images were from the Viking 1 Orbiter in 1976, and had resolutions of about 38 meters (125 feet) per pixel. The MOC image has allowed scientists to determine the exact location of the Mars Pathfinder lander. Unfortunately, the image resolution is not good enough to actually see the lander--nor can any of the familiar boulders (e.g., "Yogi") be seen at this resolution. Using the MOC image, the landing site location has been refined by Dr. Michael Malin, Principal Investigator for the Mars Global Surveyor MOC Team and a Participating Scientist on the Mars Pathfinder mission. The images above illustrate how the landing site was located by using the "sight lines" published by T. Parker (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA) and topographic map provided by R. Kirk (U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ). Left image: MOC image 25603 subframe, shown at 15 meters (about 50 feet) per pixel resolution. Small, colored box is a topographic map of the Mars Pathfinder landing site produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (Flagstaff, AZ) from Mars Pathfinder stereographic images . Dark, heavy lines are "sight lines" to various landmarks seen along the horizon in Mars Pathfinder camera images, measured by T. Parker and matched to features seen in Viking Orbiter images. These lines were published in Science, v. 278, p. 1746, December 5, 1997. The lighter, thinner sightlines are the same lines, adjusted to match the same features as seen in the higher resolution MOC image 25603. These lines indicate the location of the landing site to within a few hundred meters/yards. The colored box--the topographic map--has been placed at the location of the actual landing site. The lander and rover would be located at the center of the colored box. The white box shows the context of the image to the right. North is up, illumination is from the lower right. Top right image: Location of Mars Pathfinder lander and Sojourner Rover, relative to Mars Global Surveyor MOC image obtained April 1998. The famous "Twin Peaks"-- first seen by the lander on July 4, 1997--are shown at the lower left. The scale bar indicates distance in feet and in meters. The colored box is the topographic map of the Mars Pathfinder landing site, derived from Pathfinder camera stereoscopic images by R. Kirk and colleagues. The lander and rover were located in the center of the colored box. Bottom right image: Location of Mars Pathfinder, landing site in MOC image 25603. The lander is located in the center of the white box. The original resolution of the MOC image was about 3.3 meters (11 feet) per pixel, however, because the region was hazy at the time the picture was taken, the effective resolution is only about 5 meters (16.4 feet) per pixel. Thus, the lander and rover are too small to actually be seen in the image. The colored box, 120 m (just under 400 ft) on a side, is the topographic map of the landing site. The topographic map was made using the stereographic images taken by Mars Pathfinder in 1997. Low areas-- depressions--are blue and purple, high areas--hill--are shown as red. The range of heights is actually fairly small--a total of 4 m (about 13 ft) from dark purple to bright red. The lander is represented within the black dot at the center of the map. A preliminary version of the topographic map that is generally similar to this more refined version was published in Science, v. 278, p. 1736, December 5, 1997. Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
|
|
