|
Click for larger view
|
|
This is the first color image of
Mars taken by the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit,
released Jan. 6, 2004. NASA unveiled a breathtaking color photo of the
surface of Mars, the sharpest photograph ever taken on the surface of
Mars. NASA scientists called the picture a "postcard" sent across 105
million miles of space to Earth. (Xinhua Photo/NASA)
(Click for LARGER view) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Martian surface at an
angle
Click for LARGER view
The upper image is the latest pre-color
corrected "postcard from Mars" image, the lower image is the same image after
color correction. This image was taken by the panoramic camera on the Mars
Exploration Rover Spirit and looks to the north. (www.nasa.gov)
Hazy Martian
Skies
This image mosaic taken by the Mars Exploration Rover
Spirit's panoramic camera shows the hills southeast of Spirit's landing site.
Like a smoggy day in Los Angeles, dusty martian skies limit how much detail can
be seen. This lack in visibility is demonstrated by comparing hills on the left
to those on the right, located nearly two times farther away. The left panel of
this image was captured in the late morning martian hours, looking toward the
Sun. The right image was taken in the early afternoon, when the Sun was higher
and the skies appeared darker. (NASA)
Martian Landscape in
3-D
This 3-D stereo image taken by the Mars Exploration Rover
Spirit's navigation camera shows the rover's lander and, in the background, the
surrounding martian terrain. (NASA)
Spirit Stretches
Out
This animation flips back and forth between images taken before and after deployment of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's bogie, a part of the rover's suspension system that extends the wheel base. These images were taken by Spirit's rear hazard avoidance camera. (NASA)
JPL engineers played Bob Marley's "Get Up,
Stand Up" in the control room as they watched new images confirming that the
Mars Exploration Rover Spirit successfully stood up on its lander late Thursday
night Pacific time, a major step in preparing for egress. (NASA)
Photos show the martian terrain in 3-D.(Xinhua/Reuters)
 
Three of a dozen black-and-white images sent back by a NASA rover which landed safely on Mars Saturday night. (Xinhua Photo/AFP)
 |
| An image from NASA television shows control
room worker pointing to the screen as a panoramic polar projection image
of the Mars Exploration Rover spacecraft taken from the surface of Mars
after it landed successfully January 3, 2004. [Reuters]/China
Daily | PASADENA, the United States, Jan. 3
(Xinhuanet) -- A NASA rover landed safely on Mars Saturday night and sent back
more than a dozen black-and-white images, marking a successful start to
searchfor signs of life on the Red Planet.
The spacecraft carrying the Spirit rover made its
touchdown on the Red Planet known by sending back a series of tones to
scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
Within hours it began sending back photos of the Red
Planet. Among the first photos was a tiny black and white image showing a
sundial on the rover. Another showed the Martian horizon and portions of the
lander.
"I'm very, very proud of this team and we're on Mars.
It's an absolutely incredible accomplishment," NASA administrator Sean O' Keefe
said at a celebratory news conference.
The rover relied on a heat shield, parachute and
rockets to slow its descent to Mars. Eight seconds before landing, a giant set
of airbags inflated to cushion its bouncy landing.
"Since the spacecraft plunged into the Martian
atmosphere, it has been fully controlled by itself," JPL Telecommunications and
Mission System Manager Peter Poon told Xinhua.
As Mars is over 487 million kilometers away from the
Earth, transmitting a signal between the two planets takes around nine minutes.
After landing, the Spirit rover will spend more than
a week testing instruments before it starts to move. NASA hopes to have pictures
from Spirit by Sunday.
If all goes as planned, the golf cart-sized robot
aboard Spirit,which is crammed with cameras and scientific instruments designed
to study the geologic record of Mars, will roam the planet for evidence of
water, a necessary ingredient for life.
The 820-million-dollar NASA project also includes a
twin rover,Opportunity which is set to arrive on Mars on Jan. 24.
The pair are expected to take tens of thousands of
pictures andanalyze soil samples for three months before they run out of
power.The images, from the microscopic to the panoramic, should reveal the
planet with unprecedented clarity.
The clearest and most detailed pictures of Mars
should come from the color panoramic camera atop a mast rising from each
rover.Its resolution will be three times greater than that of any other camera
ever sent to the surface of Mars. Scientists plan to use those sweeping images
to pinpoint which rocks would be investigated.
In 1997, the NASA's Pathfinder spacecraft transmitted
to Earth more than 16,000 pictures. Spirit and Opportunity could take threetimes
as many pictures as Pathfinder.
Since 1971, there have been 13 landing attempts, but
only threeprobes -- Viking 1 and Viking 2 in 1976 and Pathfinder in 1997-- have
successfully landed on Mars. The latest apparent failure was the British Beagle
2 lander, which has not been heard from since it was to have set down on Mars on
Christmas Day.
NASA's last attempt at landing on Mars, in 1999,
failed when a software glitch sent the Polar Lander crashing to the ground.
Since then, the space agency has increased oversight of its missions.
The Spirit landing follows another important American
space mission. On Friday, a NASA spacecraft flew through the bright haloof a
distant comet to scoop up less than a thimbleful of dust thatcould shed light on
how the solar system was formed. Enditem
| 
Breaking
News 
