NASA's Mars Rover and Orbiter Team Examines Victoria Crater
- From: Sam Wormley <swormley1@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 06 Oct 2006 17:37:48 GMT
News Release: 2006-121 Oct. 6, 2006
NASA's Mars Rover and Orbiter Team Examines Victoria Crater
NASA's long-lived robotic rover Opportunity is beginning to explore
layered rocks in cliffs ringing the massive Victoria crater on Mars.
While Opportunity spent its first week at the crater, NASA's newest eye
in the Martian sky photographed the rover and its surroundings from
above. The level of detail in the photo from the high-resolution camera
on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will help guide the rover's
exploration of Victoria.
"This is a tremendous example of how our Mars missions in orbit and on
the surface are designed to reinforce each other and expand our ability
to explore and discover," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars
Exploration Program in Washington. "You can only achieve this
compelling level of exploration capability with the sustained
exploration approach we are conducting at Mars through integrated
orbiters and landers."
"The combination of the ground-level and aerial view is much more
powerful than either alone," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University,
Ithaca, N.Y. Squyres is principal investigator for Opportunity and its
twin, Spirit. "If you were a geologist driving up to the edge of a
crater in your jeep, the first thing you would do would be to pick up
the aerial photo you brought with you and use it to understand what
you're seeing from ground level. That's exactly what we're doing here."
Images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, orbiting the red planet since
1997, prompted the rover team to choose Victoria two years ago as the
long-term destination for Opportunity. The images show the
one-half-mile-wide crater has scalloped edges of alternating cliff-like
high, jutting ledges and gentler alcoves. The new image by the Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter adds significantly more detail.
Exposed geological layers in the cliff-like portions of Victoria's
inner wall appear to record a longer span of Mars' environmental
history than the rover has studied in smaller craters. Victoria is five
times larger than any crater Opportunity has visited during its Martian
trek.
High-resolution color images taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera
since Sept. 28 reveal previously unseen patterns in the layers. "There
are distinct variations in the sedimentary layering as you look farther
down in the stack," Squyres said. "That tells us environmental
conditions were not constant."
Within two months after landing on Mars in early 2004, Opportunity
found geological evidence for a long-ago environment that was wet.
Scientists hope the layers in Victoria will provide new clues about
whether that wet environment was persistent, fleeting or cyclical.
The rovers have worked on Mars for more than 10 times their originally
planned three-month missions. "Opportunity shows a few signs of aging
but is in good shape for undertaking exploration of Victoria crater,"
said John Callas, project manager for the rovers at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
"What we see so far just adds to the excitement. The team has worked
heroically for nearly 21 months driving the rover here, and now we're
all rewarded with views of a spectacular landscape of nearly
50-foot-thick exposures of layered rock," said Jim Bell of Cornell.
Bell is lead scientist for the rovers' panoramic cameras. NASA plans to
drive Opportunity from crater ridge to ridge, studying nearby cliffs
across the intervening alcoves and looking for safe ways to drive the
rover down. "It's like going to the Grand Canyon and seeing what you
can from several different overlooks before you walk down," Bell said.
The orbiter images will help the team choose which way to send
Opportunity around the rim, and where to stop for the best views.
Conversely, the rover's ground-level observations of some of the same
features will provide useful information for interpreting orbital
images.
"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," said Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, Tucson. He is
principal investigator for the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging
Science Experiment camera.
JPL manages the rovers and orbiter for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate. JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena.
For images and information about the rovers, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/rovers
For images and information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,
visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mro
.
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