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Opportunity Within Sight Of Victoria
Pasadena CA (SPX) May 08, 2006 NASA engineers have been unsure whether Opportunity would make it as far as Victoria Crater, but mission scientists nevertheless have been hoping for the chance to study such a large Martian feature. Victoria is 800 meters (nearly half a mile) in diameter, about six times wider than Endurance Crater, where the rover spent several months in 2004 examining rock layers affected by ancient water. When scientists at Jet Propulsion Laboratory used orbital data from Mars Global Surveyor, they calculated that Opportunity should have been able to detect Victoria's rim. So, they scrutinized frames taken in the direction of the crater by the panoramic camera. To characterize the subtle horizon profile of the crater and some of the features leading up to it, the team created the vertically-stretched (top) image from a mosaic of regular frames from the panoramic camera (bottom), taken on April 29, Opportunity's 804th Martian day, or sol, of its mission. The streched image makes mild nearby dunes look like more threatening peaks, but that is only a result of the exaggerated vertical dimension. Scientists first used the vertical stretch technique with the Viking Lander 2 panoramas to help locate the lander with respect to orbiter images. Vertically stretching images likewise has allowed features to be more readily identified by the Mars Exploration Rover science team. The bright white dot near the horizon to the right of center, named Outcrop Promontory, is thought to be a light-toned outcrop on the far wall of the crater, suggesting the rover can see over the low rim of Victoria. The northeast and southeast rims are labeled in bright green. The light purple lines and arrow highlight a small crater. Opportunity also recently executed a three-sol examination of the Brookville outcrop with tools on its robotic arm. The work included microscopic imaging, a brushing, 16 total hours of integrated data gathering with the M�ssbauer spectrometer, and an overnight integration with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer. Then, Opportunity stowed its arm and drove 107 meters (351 feet) in three sols, reaching a point estimated to be 1,279 meters (less than eight-tenths of a mile) from Victoria Crater. Sol-by-sol summaries: Sol 804 (April 28): This was the first sol of robotic arm work on Brookville. The rover took microscopic images, then brushed the target and followed with an afternoon data collection by the M�ssbauer spectrometer. The rover observed a target called Great Bend with the miniature thermal emission spectrometer during the afternoon communication-relay session with NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. Sol 805: Opportunity did morning atmospheric science and positioned the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer. The rover used that spectrometer on Brookville until taking morning images of Gila Bend using 13 filters of the panoramic camera. Sol 806: On the final sol of arm work on Brookville, Opportunity changed tools to the M�ssbauer spectrometer and completed an afternoon integration. At 7:00 p.m. local solar time, the team stopped the integration and Opportunity did a mini-deep sleep. Sol 807: The panoramic camera took 13-filter images of the arm's brushing target. Then Opportunity drove for 30 minutes. After driving, the rover observed the surroundings from its new position with the navigation camera and looked in the drive direction with the panoramic camera. Sol 808: Opportunity drove for an hour and 10 minutes in the compass direction of 150 degrees (south southeast), then took images from its new location. During the afternoon, the rover made observations with the thermal emission spectrometer and used the panoramic camera to check atmospheric clarity. It used the deep-sleep mode overnight. Sol 809: Opportunity took another one-hour-and-10-minute drive followed by imaging and atmospheric science during the Odyssey pass. Sol 810 (May 5): The rover was directed to take rear-looking images with the navigation camera during the morning of sol 810 as part of plan uplinked on sol 809. The plan for uplink on sol 810 includes a 15-meter (50-foot) approach to a target for using the robotic arm's tools to inspect ripple banding during the weekend, plus post-drive imaging with the navigation camera and panoramic camera. As of sol 809 (May 4) Opportunity has driven 7,575.51 meters, or 4.71 miles. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Mars Rovers at JPL Mars Rovers at Cornell Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
Mars Drilling Tests Will Seek Knowledge And Resources
Houston TX (SPX) May 08, 2006Geologists, biologists and archaeologists for years have used core samples to look back in time, tunneling through layers of soil and stone to study history. NASA engineers are taking this veteran technique into the future with a design that can bore into other planets using just a light bulb's worth of power. |
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