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Old 27-September-2004, 06:58 PM
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Default MGS sees rover tracks!

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Guy Webster (818) 354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Donald Savage (202) 358-1547
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

IMAGE ADVISORY: 2004-238 September 27, 2004

Mars Orbiter Sees Rover Tracks Among Thousands of New Images

NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, starting its third mission extension this week after seven years of orbiting Mars, is using an innovative technique to capture pictures even sharper than most of the more than 170,000 it has already produced.

One dramatic example from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera shows wheel tracks of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit and the rover itself. Another tells scientists that no boulders bigger than about 1 to 2 meters (3 to 7 feet) are exposed in giant ripples created by a catastrophic flood.

Those examples are available online at http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/27/ and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs . In addition, about 24,000 newly catalogued images that Mars Global Surveyor took between October 2003 and March 2004 have been added to the Mars Orbiter Camera Image Gallery at http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ . These include additional pictures of the Mars Exploration Rover sites seen from orbit.

"Over the past year and a half, the camera and spacecraft teams for Mars Global Surveyor have worked together to develop a technique that allows us to roll the entire spacecraft so that the camera can be scanned in a way that sees details at three times higher resolution than we normally get," said Dr. Ken Edgett, staff scientist for Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., which built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. The technique adjusts the rotation rate of the spacecraft to match the ground speed under the camera.

"The image motion compensation is tricky and the spacecraft does not always hit its target. However, when it does, the results can be spectacular," Edgett said.

The Mars Orbiter Camera acquires the highest resolution images ever obtained from a Mars-orbiting spacecraft. During normal operating conditions, the smallest objects that can be resolved on the martian surface in these images are about 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet) across. With the adjusted-rotation technique, called "compensated pitch and roll targeted observation," objects as small as 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) can be seen in images from the same camera. Resolution capability of 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) per pixel is improved to one-half meter (1.6 feet) per pixel. Because the maneuvers are complex and the amount of data that can be acquired is limited, most images from the camera are still taken without using that technique.

Mars Global Surveyor began orbiting Mars on Sept. 12, 1997. After gradually adjusting the shape of its orbit, it began systematically mapping the planet in March 1999. The Mars Orbiter Camera's narrow-angle camera has now examined nearly 4.5 percent of Mars' surface, including extensive imaging of candidate and selected landing sites for surface missions. The Mars Orbiter Camera also includes a wide-angle camera that observes the entire planet daily.

"Mars Global Surveyor has been productive longer than any other spacecraft ever sent to Mars, since it surpassed Viking Lander 1's longevity earlier this year and has returned more images than all past Mars missions combined," said Tom Thorpe, project manager for Mars Global Surveyor at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The mission will complete its 25,000th mapping orbit on Oct. 11.

Principal goals for the orbiter's latest mission extension, beginning Oct. 1, include continued weather monitoring to form a continuous set of observations with NASA's next Mars mission, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scheduled to reach the red planet in 2006; imaging of possible landing sites for the Phoenix 2007 Mars Scout lander and 2009 Mars Science Laboratory rover; continued mapping and analysis of key sedimentary-rock outcrop sites; and continued monitoring of changes on the surface due to wind and ice. Because the narrow-angle camera has imaged only a small fraction of the surface, new discoveries about surface features are likely to come at any time. The extension runs two years, through September 2006, with a budget of $7.5 million per year.

Dr. James Garvin, NASA's chief scientist for Mars and the Moon, said, "Mars Global Surveyor continues to catalyze new science as it explores Mars at scales compatible with those that our Mars Exploration Rovers negotiate every day, and its extended mission will continue to set the stage for upcoming observations by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter."

Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is available online at: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ . In addition to semi-annual releases of large collections of archived pictures, the Mars Orbiter Camera team posts a new image daily and last year began soliciting public suggestions for camera targets on Mars. These materials can be viewed online at http://www.msss.com/ . For more information about NASA and other space science programs on the Internet, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ .

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft.
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Old 27-September-2004, 07:04 PM
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Backup image here if you have problems getting to the MSSS website.
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Old 27-September-2004, 07:31 PM
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Hehee. Those image machine guys just get cleverer and cleverer. Will MOGS pass over Beagle 2's landing site soon? I realise the resolution wouldn't be able to give much detail but it would be nice to see if we can spot where the dog buried the bone.
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Old 27-September-2004, 07:53 PM
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Wow, now that's just great! You made my day ToSeek, I never knew I could have such fascination for a little line in the dirt...
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Old 27-September-2004, 07:55 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frogesque
Hehee. Those image machine guys just get cleverer and cleverer. Will MOGS pass over Beagle 2's landing site soon? I realise the resolution wouldn't be able to give much detail but it would be nice to see if we can spot where the dog buried the bone.
IIRC, they had this a few days ago on their page, using the same technique to find Beagle 2. They spotted a dark, er, spot at the possible landing/impact site, but too small o really give clues.

Harald
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Old 28-September-2004, 03:13 PM
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Like anything else out there, sometimes you just gotta admire the things they can do.
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Old 28-September-2004, 08:29 PM
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I've been looking at this picture all day now.
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Old 29-September-2004, 12:49 AM
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What a treat! 8)
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Lighten up! This is a stellar board! Author: duh.

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Old 29-September-2004, 01:33 AM
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Originally Posted by rigel
I've been looking at this picture all day now.
So have I, and also trying to capture in words how I feel whenever I see that shot.

I guess "awe" would sum it up pretty nicely. One human artifact on another planet, leaving traces visible from space.

When I was but a lad we were forced to watch this NFB (National Film Board) short that I can only now claim was a spiritual movie. It started with a shot of a man taken from the Peace Tower of Canada's parliament buildings. It zoomed out from there into Earth's atmosphere, the inner and then outer solar system, our neck of the woods, the arm we're in, then the Milky Way, then our local cluster, then even the Milky Way was gone... lost in a sea of galaxies... then nothing.

Zoom back in to earth and then to the man standing on the street, to his arm and a mosquito... down to the microscopic, the molecular, the atomic, the sub atomic... then nothing.

It gave me a sense of proportion but also at how vast the universe is in either direction, how much we had to learn and know.

And now we see our tracks on another planet. One lonely vehicle on this barren world. All the hopes and dreams and energies of countless people that went into both the MGS and the MER programs, all the hopes and dreams of people here... who like me get a shiver at the immensity and the majesty of this universe.

Well done folks, well done.

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Non est ad astra mollis e terris via
s no easy way from the earth to the stars.
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Old 29-September-2004, 02:53 AM
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Originally Posted by Grizzly
When I was but a lad we were forced to watch this NFB (National Film Board) short that I can only now claim was a spiritual movie. It started with a shot of a man taken from the Peace Tower of Canada's parliament buildings. It zoomed out from there into Earth's atmosphere, the inner and then outer solar system, our neck of the woods, the arm we're in, then the Milky Way, then our local cluster, then even the Milky Way was gone... lost in a sea of galaxies... then nothing.

Zoom back in to earth and then to the man standing on the street, to his arm and a mosquito... down to the microscopic, the molecular, the atomic, the sub atomic... then nothing.

It gave me a sense of proportion but also at how vast the universe is in either direction, how much we had to learn and know.
Sounds like Powers of Ten, though I get the impression there are several versions of the same idea now.
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Old 29-September-2004, 01:23 PM
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I just have to say it.


WOW!
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Old 29-September-2004, 01:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kucharek
Quote:
Originally Posted by frogesque
Hehee. Those image machine guys just get cleverer and cleverer. Will MOGS pass over Beagle 2's landing site soon? I realise the resolution wouldn't be able to give much detail but it would be nice to see if we can spot where the dog buried the bone.
IIRC, they had this a few days ago on their page, using the same technique to find Beagle 2. They spotted a dark, er, spot at the possible landing/impact site, but too small o really give clues.

Harald
It's here. At this point they don't think they've found the landing site, but they're still taking images of parts of the landing ellipse as opportunity permits.

They've also imaged the Viking 1 and Pathfinder landing sites.
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Old 29-September-2004, 02:05 PM
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ToSeek's first link reveals the headaches they must go through to get these enhanced images.

Quote:
...the spacecraft operations team changes this rotation rate by looking forward a bit and speeding up the spacecraft to stare at that location while MGS flies over it, before returning to the downward stare. In this way, the apparent forward speed of the spacecraft is reduced, allowing either a longer dwell time per MOC image line (which improves signal to noise and thus image quality)
This is complicated by things such as communication scheduling and solar panel to sun alignments.

Way to go JPL. =D>
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Old 30-September-2004, 05:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ToSeek
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grizzly
When I was but a lad we were forced to watch this NFB (National Film Board) short that I can only now claim was a spiritual movie. It started with a shot of a man taken from the Peace Tower of Canada's parliament buildings. It zoomed out from there into Earth's atmosphere, the inner and then outer solar system, our neck of the woods, the arm we're in, then the Milky Way, then our local cluster, then even the Milky Way was gone... lost in a sea of galaxies... then nothing.

Zoom back in to earth and then to the man standing on the street, to his arm and a mosquito... down to the microscopic, the molecular, the atomic, the sub atomic... then nothing.

It gave me a sense of proportion but also at how vast the universe is in either direction, how much we had to learn and know.
Sounds like Powers of Ten, though I get the impression there are several versions of the same idea now.
I remember it as being a boy on a rowing boat, with the insect on his arm, and the film was called Cosmic Zoom, but I'm sure it's the same film you're describing.

Like everyone here, I'm knocked out by the images of the rover tracks. It feels like we're hovering just a few hundred feet above the surface. Tracks on Mars. Charlie Duke should see this.
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Old 30-September-2004, 06:11 PM
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Originally Posted by ToSeek

They've also imaged the Viking 1 and Pathfinder landing sites.
Too bad that there is no definitive dot that represents Sojourner.

I've always wondered how far Sojourner went after the lander shut down, IIRC the rover was programmed to move around the lander if it lost communication.

Anybody know where the last lander panorama is? Maybe we can look at the spot where Sojourner was last known to be.
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Old 30-September-2004, 09:37 PM
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Wow, now that's just great! You made my day ToSeek, I never knew I could have such fascination for a little line in the dirt...
Ditto!
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Old 01-October-2004, 10:27 AM
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Very impressive.

Quote:
I've always wondered how far Sojourner went after the lander shut down, IIRC the rover was programmed to move around the lander if it lost communication.
The rover probobly shut down after it's battery died.
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Old 01-October-2004, 02:32 PM
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Originally Posted by aurora
Anybody know where the last lander panorama is? Maybe we can look at the spot where Sojourner was last known to be.
Here's what seems to be the last shot of the rover. Putting it in context in a panorama, it appears to be just to the left of the rock garden, a little ways from the lander. (The panorama shows a very small rover in the vicinity, behind three closer images of the rover, a little to the left of the "Twin Peaks" and almost directly behind the left off-ramp.)
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Old 01-October-2004, 03:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ToSeek
Quote:
Originally Posted by aurora
Anybody know where the last lander panorama is? Maybe we can look at the spot where Sojourner was last known to be.
Here's what seems to be the last shot of the rover. Putting it in context in a panorama, it appears to be just to the left of the rock garden, a little ways from the lander. (The panorama shows a very small rover in the vicinity, behind three closer images of the rover, a little to the left of the "Twin Peaks" and almost directly behind the left off-ramp.)
There's a number of candidate "rocks" and even a white pixel in the MGS image... Should be possible to identify th