[meteorite-list] Mars Orbiter Shows Angled View of Martian Crater (MRO)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:19:17 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200908121919.n7CJJHuE013674_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2009-122

Mars Orbiter Shows Angled View of Martian Crater
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
August 12, 2009

[Image]
image of Victoria Crater in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars was
taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera
on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter This image of Victoria Crater in
the Meridiani Planum region of Mars was taken by the High Resolution
Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter at more of a sideways angle than earlier orbital images of this
crater. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Full image and caption
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/mro20091012a.html>

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The high-resolution camera on NASA's Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned a dramatic oblique view of the
Martian crater that a rover explored for two years.

The new view of Victoria Crater shows layers on steep crater walls,
difficult to see from straight overhead, plus wheel tracks left by
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity between September 2006 and
August 2008. The orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment
camera shot it at an angle comparable to looking at landscape from an
airplane window. Some of the camera's earlier, less angled images of
Victoria Crater aided the rover team in choosing safe routes for
Opportunity and contributed to joint scientific studies.

The new Victoria Crater image is available online at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/mro20091012a.html and
as a sub-image of the full-frame image at:
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_013954_1780 .

Another new image from the same camera catches an active dust devil
leaving a trail and casting a shadow. These whirlwinds have been a
subject of investigation by Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit.

The new dust devil image is available online at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/mro20091012b.html and
as a sub-image of the full-frame image at:
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_013545_1110 .

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been studying Mars with an advanced
set of instruments since 2006. It has returned more data about the
planet than all other past and current missions to Mars combined. For
more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro .

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is managed by the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology,
also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime
contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution
Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona,
Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies
Corp., Boulder, Colo.

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

Lori Stiles 520-626-4402
University of Arizona, Tucson
lstiles at u.arizona.edu

2009-122
Received on Wed 12 Aug 2009 03:19:17 PM PDT