Fri, Feb 10, 2012
HiRISE Camera Captures Image Of Spirit And Phoenix Rovers On
Martian Surface
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera
on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded a scene on January
29, 2012, that includes the first color image from orbit showing
the three-petal lander of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit
mission. Spirit drove off that lander platform in January 2004 and
spent most of its six-year working life in a range of hills about
two miles to the east.
HiRISE Image Of Spirit
Another recent image from HiRISE, taken on January 26th, shows
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander and its surroundings on far-northern
Mars after that spacecraft's second Martian arctic winter. Phoenix
exceeded its planned mission life in 2008, ending its work as solar
energy waned during approach of its first Mars winter.
Previous color images from HiRISE have shown the Spirit rover
itself, but all previous HiRISE views of the lander that delivered
Spirit were in black and white.
Although neither Phoenix nor Spirit still send data to Earth,
scientific findings from both missions continue as researchers
analyze the wealth of data from the two. A recent report based on
inspection of Martian soil particles with microscopes on Phoenix
concluded that the soil has experienced very little interaction
with liquid water over the past 600 million years or more.
HiRISE Image Of Phoenix
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been examining Mars with six
science instruments since 2006. Now in an extended mission, the
orbiter continues to provide insights into the planet's ancient
environments and how processes such as wind, meteorite impacts and
seasonal frosts are continuing to affect the Martian surface today.
This mission has returned more data about Mars than all other
orbital and surface missions combined.
More than 21,000 images taken by HiRISE are available for viewing
on the instrument team's website. Each
observation by this telescopic camera covers several square miles,
or square kilometers, and can reveal features as small as a desk.
(Images provided by NASA)
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