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Posted by baalke on October 6, 2006, 7:06 pm
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HiRISE CAMERA ON NASA ORBITER GETS SPECTACULAR VIEW OF ROVER AT
VICTORIA CRATER
(From Lori Stiles, University Communications, 520-626-4402)
- Friday, October 06, 2006
------------------------------------------------------
Contact Information
Alfred S. McEwen 520-621-4573 mcewen@lpl.arizona.edu
Images online at
http://hiroc.lpl.arizona.edu/images/TRA/TRA_000873_1780/
http://www.nasa.gov/mro
--------------------------------------------------------
With stunningly powerful vision, the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars
Reconnaissance
Orbiter has taken a remarkable picture that shows the exploration rover
Opportunity poised on the rim of Victoria crater on Mars.
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera detailed
the
entire 800-meter (roughly half-mile) Victoria crater and the rover --
down to
its rover tracks and shadows -- in a single high-resolution image taken
Wednesday (Oct. 3).
Alfred S. McEwen of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary
Laboratory
released portions of the image that show views of the rover and crater
at a
NASA press conference in Washington, D.C., today. McEwen is principal
investigator for HiRISE, which is operated from UA's Lunar and
Planetary
Laboratory in Tucson.
"We're poised to have a fantastic mission, and we're not even at prime
science
mission yet," McEwen said at the NASA press briefing this morning.
"This was
our very first attempt to image 'off-nadir' (at an angle as opposed to
straight
down), and it worked fabulously well," McEwen added. "It's been an
exciting
week."
The HiRISE images for Victoria crater are available online at
http://hiroc.lpl.arizona.edu/images/TRA/TRA_000873_1780/
Opportunity drove nine kilometers (more than five miles) to Victoria
crater, an
impact crater at Meridiani Planum, near Mars' equator. The HiRISE
camera took
its picture five days later, at 3:30 p.m. local Mars time, as the sun
was about
30 degrees above the horizon, illuminating the scene from the west. The
NASA
orbiter was flying 297 kilometers (185.6 miles) above the planet's
surface. The
HiRise camera is able to resolve objects that are 89 centimeters (35
inches)
across at that altitude.
The high resolution of the HiRISE image enabled Opportunity's mission
planners
on Wednesday (Oct.4) to identify specific rover-scale targets of
interest as
they planned that day's drive. It is a first in the exploration of
Mars.
Opportunity has since driven north to the tip of the Cape Verde
promontory,
where the rover will take images of the crater interior.
HiRISE's stunning overview of Victoria crater shows a distinctive
scalloped
shape to its rim. This is formed by eroding crater wall material moving
downhill. Layered sedimentary rocks are exposed along the inner wall of
the
crater, and boulders that have fallen from the crater wall are visible
on the
crater floor. A striking field of sand dunes covers much of the crater
floor.
"The ground-truth we get from the rover images and measurements enables
us to
better interpret features we see elsewhere on Mars, including very
rugged and
dramatic terrains that we can't currently study on the ground," McEwen
said.
"But stay tuned," McEwen said at the press conference. "If you think
this HiRISE
image is spectacular, just wait."
Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and
additional
information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online
at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mro and http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute
of
Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for
NASA's
Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems
is the
prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE
camera
was built by Ball Aerospace Corporation and is operated by The
University of
Arizona.
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