New Images From Mars: A Rover’s Journey Begins

The two marks seen near the site where the rover landed formed when reddish surface dust was blown away by the rover’s descent stage, revealing darker basaltic sands underneath. Similarly, the tracks appear darker where the rover’s wheels disturbed the top layer of dust. 
Observing the tracks over time will provide information on how the surface changes as dust is deposited and eroded. 

The full image for these observations can be seen athttp://uahirise.org/releases/msl-tracks.php. 

HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter’s HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft.

Relics of Rover’s Landing

This color view of the parachute and back shell that helped deliver NASA’s Curiosity rover to the surface of the Red Planet was taken by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The area where the back shell impacted the surface is darker because lighter-colored material on the surface was kicked up and displaced. 

The full image for these observations can be seen at http://uahirise.org/releases/msl-tracks.php. 

HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter’s HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Curiosity Traverse Map Through Sol 29

This map shows the route driven by NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity through the 29th Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission on Mars (Sept. 4, 2012). 

The route starts where the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft placed the rover, a site subsequently named Bradbury Landing. The line extending toward the right (eastward) from Bradbury Landing is the rover’s path. Numbering of the dots along the line indicate the sol numbers of each drive. North is up. The scale bar is 200 meters (656 feet). 
By Sol 29, Curiosity had driven at total of 358 feet (109 meters). At the location reached by the Sol 29 drive, the rover began several sols of arm characterization activities. The Glenelg area farther east is the mission’s first major science destination, selected as likely to offer a good target for Curiosity’s first analysis of powder collected by drilling into a rock. 

The image used for the map is from an observation of the landing site by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Curiosity’s Location During Arm Checkouts

This scene shows the surroundings of the location where NASA Mars rover Curiosity arrived on the 29th Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission on Mars (Sept. 4, 2012). It is a mosaic of images taken by Curiosity’s Navigation Camera (Navcam) following the Sol 29 drive of 100 feet (30.5 meters). Tracks from the drive are visible in the image. For scale, Curiosity leaves parallel tracks about 9 feet (2.7 meters) apart. 

At this location on Sol 30, Curiosity began a series of activities to test and characterize the rover’s robotic arm and the tools on the arm. 

The panorama is centered to the north-northeast, with south-southwest at both ends. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Comments

Click here to cancel reply.

Your Comments