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| Panoramas: Spirit |
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22-Dec-2005
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Sweeping View of the "Columbia Hills" and Gusev Crater
(Approximate True Color)
Spirit took this panorama of images, covering a field of view just under 180 degrees from left to right, with the panoramic camera on Martian days (sols) 594, 595, and 597 (Sept. 4, 5, and 7, 2005) of its exploration of Gusev Crater on Mars. This is an approximately true-color rendering generated using the camera's 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer, and 430-nanometer filters.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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Sweeping View of the "Columbia Hills" and Gusev Crater
(False Color)
Spirit took this panorama of images, covering a field of view just under 180 degrees from left to right, with the panoramic camera on Martian days (sols) 594, 595, and 597 (Sept. 4, 5, and 7, 2005) of its exploration of Gusev Crater on Mars. This is a false-color rendering generated using the camera's 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer, and 430-nanometer filters.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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Sweeping View of the "Columbia Hills" and Gusev Crater
(3-D)
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit obtained this stereo panorama of the surrounding Martian terrain in Gusev Crater from two positions about 10 meters (33 feet) apart. This is much greater separation than the 30-centimeter (11.8-inch) distance between the left and right "eyes" of the panoramic camera. The effect of increasing the separation distance of a stereo image is to greatly increase the apparent (visual) depth, allowing scientists and engineers to see details in terrain that are too far away for the standard baseline. Stereo images such as these enable planetary scientists to derive detailed information about slopes and topography, map the terrain, and select routes for the rover. Spirit is now descending from "Haskin Ridge," on the left, down the slopes of "Husband Hill" toward the "Inner Basin," a low region between Husband Hill and "McCool Hill" to the south. Scientists speculate that, on the way, Spirit may drive over successive rock layers or deeper exposures of the bedrock in the "Columbia Hills." They hope to reach the conspicuous circular feature (just to the right of the center of the image), nicknamed "Home Plate," before the Martian winter, in search of layered rock outcrops that may provide additional information about the geology of the Columbia Hills.
Current long-range plans are for Spirit to cross the lowest part of the basin and approach Home Plate within 50 to 60 Martian days, or sols. After investigating Home Plate, mission planners will possibly direct Spirit to the sunny, north-facing slopes of McCool Hill, placing the rover in view of the sun as it sinks lower toward the northern horizon. This would put the rover in position to soak up enough rays of solar energy to continue operating through the coming southern-hemisphere winter on Mars.
It took seven days, from sols 591 to 597 (Sept. 1 to Sept. 7, 2005) of its exploration of Mars, for Spirit's panoramic camera to acquire all the images combined into this mosaic. This panorama covers a field of view just under 180 degrees from left to right. This stereo view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction. The stereo image may be viewed with standard blue and red 3-D glasses.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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Sweeping View of the "Columbia Hills" and Gusev Crater
(Left Eye)
This panorama covers a field of view just under 180 degrees from left to right. This view is the left-eye member of a stereo pair presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction. The mosaic was acquired by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on sol 591 (Sept. 1, 2005).
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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Sweeping View of the "Columbia Hills" and Gusev Crater
(Right Eye)
This panorama covers a field of view just under 180 degrees from left to right. This view is the right-eye member of a stereo pair presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction. The mosaic was acquired by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on sols 594, 595, and 597 (Sept. 4, 5, and 7, 2005).
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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13-Dec-2005
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Descent from the Summit of 'Husband Hill'
In late November 2005 while descending "Husband Hill," NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took the most detailed panorama so far of the "Inner Basin," the rover's next target destination. Spirit acquired the 405 individual images that make up this 360-degree view of the surrounding terrain using five different filters on the panoramic camera. The rover took the images on Martian days, or sols, 672 to 677 (Nov. 23 to 28, 2005 -- the Thanksgiving holiday weekend).
This image is an approximately true-color rendering using camera's 750-, 530-, and 430-nanometer filters. Seams between individual frames have been eliminated from the sky portion of the mosaic to better simulate the vista a person standing on Mars would see.
"Home Plate," a bright, semi-circular feature scientists hope to investigate, is harder to discern in this image than in earlier views taken from higher up the hill. Spirit acquired this more oblique view, known as the "Seminole panorama," from about halfway down the south flank of Husband Hill, 50 meters (164 feet) or so below the summit. Near the center of the panorama, on the horizon, are "McCool Hill" and "Ramon Hill," named, like Husband Hill, in honor of the fallen astronauts of the space shuttle Columbia. Husband Hill is visible behind the rover, on the right and left sides of the panorama. An arc of rover tracks made while avoiding obstacles and getting into position to examine rock outcrops can be traced over a long distance by zooming in to explore the panorama in greater detail.
Spirit is now significantly farther downhill toward the center of this panorama, en route to Home Plate and other enigmatic soils and outcrop rocks in the quest to uncover the history of Gusev Crater and the "Columbia Hills."
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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Descent from the Summit of 'Husband Hill' (False Color)
In late November 2005 while descending "Husband Hill," NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took the most detailed panorama so far of the "Inner Basin," the rover's next target destination. Spirit acquired the 405 individual images that make up this 360-degree view of the surrounding terrain using five different filters on the panoramic camera. The rover took the images on Martian days, or sols, 672 to 677 (Nov. 23 to 28, 2005 -- the Thanksgiving holiday weekend).
This image is a false-color rendering using camera's 750-, 530-, and 430-nanometer filters, emphasizing somme colors more than others to enhance striking but subtle color differences among rocks, soils, hills, and plains.
"Home Plate," a bright, semi-circular feature scientists hope to investigate, is harder to discern in this image than in earlier views taken from higher up the hill. Spirit acquired this more oblique view, known as the "Seminole panorama," from about halfway down the south flank of Husband Hill, 50 meters (164 feet) or so below the summit. Near the center of the panorama, on the horizon, are "McCool Hill" and "Ramon Hill," named, like Husband Hill, in honor of the fallen astronauts of the space shuttle Columbia. Husband Hill is visible behind the rover, on the right and left sides of the panorama. An arc of rover tracks made while avoiding obstacles and getting into position to examine rock outcrops can be traced over a long distance by zooming in to explore the panorama in greater detail.
Spirit is now significantly farther downhill toward the center of this panorama, en route to Home Plate and other enigmatic soils and outcrop rocks in the quest to uncover the history of Gusev Crater and the "Columbia Hills."
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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05-Dec-2005
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Summit Panorama with Rover Deck
The panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took the hundreds of images combined into this 360-degree view, the "Husband Hill Summit" panorama. The images were acquired on Spirit's sols 583 to 586 (Aug. 24 to 27, 2005), shortly after the rover reached the crest of "Husband Hill" inside Mars' Gusev Crater. This is the largest panorama yet acquired from either Spirit or Opportunity. The panoramic camera shot 653 separate images in 6 different filters, encompassing the rover's deck and the full 360 degrees of surface rocks and soils visible to the camera from this position. This is the first time the camera has been used to image the entire rover deck and visible surface from the same position. Stitching together of all the images took significant effort because of the large changes in resolution and parallax across the scene.
The image is an approximately true-color rendering using the 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer and 480-nanometer filters for the surface, and the 600-nanometer and 480-nanometer filters for the rover deck. Image-to-image seams have been eliminated from the sky portion of the mosaic to better simulate the vista a person standing on Mars would see.
This panorama provided the team's first view of the "Inner Basin" region (center of the image), including the enigmatic "Home Plate" feature seen from orbital data. After investigating the summit area, Spirit drove downhill to get to the Inner Basin region. Spirit arrived at the summit from the west, along the direction of the rover tracks seen in the middle right of the panorama. The peaks of "McCool Hill" and "Ramon Hill" can be seen on the horizon near the center of the panorama. The summit region itself is a broad, windswept plateau. Spirit spent more than a month exploring the summit region, measuring the chemistry and mineralogy of soils and rocky outcrops at the peak of Husband Hill for comparison with similar measurements obtained during the ascent.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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'Algonquin' Outcrop on Spirit's Sol 680
This view combines four frames from Spirit's panoramic camera, looking in the drive direction on the rover's 680th Martian day, or sol (Dec. 1, 2005). The outcrop of apparently layered bedrock has the informal name "Algonquin."
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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21-Nov-2005
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'East Basin' Panorama
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its panoramic camera to obtain this view of the impact feature called "East Basin" to the northeast of "Husband Hill." The images combined into this mosaic were taken during Spirit's 653rd Martian day, or sol (Nov. 3, 2005), just before Spirit descended eastward onto "Haskin Ridge." The view is about 150 degrees wide. It is an approximately true-color rendering generated using the camera's 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer, and 480-nanometer filters.
Dark features on the far side of the basin, just left of center in this view, are basaltic sand deposits that were emplaced on the lee sides of hills by northwesterly winds. Haskin Ridge is visible along the right margin of the image, capped by a light-toned layer of rock. Spirit investigated the light-toned rock unit after taking this image. The basaltic plains located east of the "Columbia Hills" can be seen in the distance beyond "East Basin." The rim of Thira crater is just visible on the distant horizon some 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) away.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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11-Nov-2005
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A Sense of Place (Unlabeled)
NASA's Mars Exploration rover Spirit continues to descend along the east side of the "Columbia Hills," taking panoramic views of surrounding terrain at the end of each day of driving. This helps members of the science team get a sense of place before proceeding, kind of the way a hiker pauses now and then to view the scenery. Scientists and engineers use panoramas like this to select interesting rocks and soils for further study and to plan a safe path for the rover.
In this image mosaic, Spirit is pausing to take a good look around while descending due east toward a ridge nicknamed "Haskin Ridge." Before driving the rest of the way down, Spirit will take a panoramic image of the large, deep basin to the left of the ridge, which was not visible from the summit.
This 360-degree panorama was assembled from images Spirit took with its navigation camera on the 651st martian day, or sol (Nov. 2, 2005), of its exploration of Gusev Crater on Mars. The view is presented in a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/NMMNH
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A Sense of Place (Labeled)
NASA's Mars Exploration rover Spirit continues to descend along the east side of the "Columbia Hills," taking panoramic views of surrounding terrain at the end of each day of driving. This helps members of the science team get a sense of place before proceeding, kind of the way a hiker pauses now and then to view the scenery. Scientists and engineers use panoramas like this to select interesting rocks and soils for further study and to plan a safe path for the rover.
In this image mosaic, Spirit is pausing to take a good look around while descending due east toward a ridge nicknamed "Haskin Ridge." Before driving the rest of the way down, Spirit will take a panoramic image of the large, deep basin to the left of the ridge, labeled "East Basin," which was not visible from the summit. A longer-term destination is the prominent, round, platform-like feature labeled "Home Plate."
This 360-degree panorama was assembled from images Spirit took with its navigation camera on the 651st martian day, or sol (Nov. 2, 2005), of its exploration of Gusev Crater on Mars. The view is presented in a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/NMMNH
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07-Nov-2005
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'Everest' Panorama; 20-20 Vision
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If a human with perfect vision donned a spacesuit and stepped onto the martian surface, the view would be as clear as this sweeping panorama taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. That's because the rover's panoramic camera has the equivalent of 20-20 vision. Earthlings can take a virtual tour of the scenery by zooming in on their computer screens many times to get a closer look at, say, a rock outcrop or a sand drift, without losing any detail. This level of clarity is unequaled in the history of Mars exploration.
It took Spirit three days, sols 620 to 622 (Oct. 1 to Oct. 3, 2005), to acquire all the images combined into this mosaic, called the "Everest Panorama," looking outward in every direction from the true summit of "Husband Hill." During that period, the sky changed in color and brightness due to atmospheric dust variations, as shown in contrasting sections of this mosaic. Haze occasionally obscured the view of the hills on the distant rim of Gusev Crater 80 kilometers (50 miles) away. As dust devils swooped across the horizon in the upper right portion of the panorama, the robotic explorer changed the filters on the camera from red to green to blue, making the dust devils appear red, green, and blue. In reality, the dust devils are similar in color to the reddish-brown soils of Mars. No attempt was made to "smooth" the sky in this mosaic, as has been done in other panoramic-camera mosaics to simulate the view one would get by taking in the landscape all at once. The result is a sweeping vista that allows viewers to observe weather changes on Mars.
The summit of Husband Hill is a broad plateau of rock outcrops and windblown drifts about 100 meters (300 feet) higher than the surrounding plains of Gusev Crater. In the distance, near the center of the mosaic, is the "South Basin," the destination for the downhill travel Spirit began after exploring the summit region.
This panorama spans 360 degrees and consists of images obtained during 81 individual pointings of the panoramic camera. Four filters were used at each pointing. Images through three of the filters, for wavelengths of 750 nanometers, 530 nanometers and 430 nanometers, were combined for this approximately true-color rendering.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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21-Oct-2005
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Looking Back at Spirit's Trail to the Summit
Before moving on to explore more of Mars, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit looked back at the long and winding trail of twin wheel tracks the rover created to get to the top of "Husband Hill." Spirit spent several days in October 2005 at this location, perched on a lofty, rock-strewn incline next to a precarious outcrop nicknamed "Hillary." Researchers helped the rover make several wheel adjustments to get solid footing before conducting scientific analysis of the rock outcrop. The rock turned out to be similar in appearance and composition to a rock target called "Jibsheet" that the rover had studied several months earlier and hundreds of meters away.
To the west are the slopes of the "Columbia Hills," so named for the astronauts of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Beyond the hills are the flat plains and rim of Gusev Crater.
Spirit took this 360-degree panorama of images with its navigation camera on the 627th Martian day, or sol, (Oct. 7, 2005) of its exploration of Gusev Crater on Mars. This view is presented in a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Looking Back at Spirit's Trail to the Summit (Stereo)
Before moving on to explore more of Mars, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit looked back at the long and winding trail of twin wheel tracks the rover created to get to the top of "Husband Hill." Spirit spent several days in October 2005 at this location, perched on a lofty, rock-strewn incline next to a precarious outcrop nicknamed "Hillary." Researchers helped the rover make several wheel adjustments to get solid footing before conducting scientific analysis of the rock outcrop. The rock turned out to be similar in appearance and composition to a rock target called "Jibsheet" that the rover had studied several months earlier and hundreds of meters away.
To the west are the slopes of the "Columbia Hills," so named for the astronauts of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Beyond the hills are the flat plains and rim of Gusev Crater.
Spirit took this 360-degree panorama of images with its navigation camera on the 627th Martian day, or sol, (Oct. 7, 2005) of its exploration of Gusev Crater on Mars. This stereo view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Looking Back at Spirit's Trail to the Summit (Left Eye)
Before moving on to explore more of Mars, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit looked back at the long and winding trail of twin wheel tracks the rover created to get to the top of "Husband Hill." Spirit spent several days in October 2005 at this location, perched on a lofty, rock-strewn incline next to a precarious outcrop nicknamed "Hillary." Researchers helped the rover make several wheel adjustments to get solid footing before conducting scientific analysis of the rock outcrop. The rock turned out to be similar in appearance and composition to a rock target called "Jibsheet" that the rover had studied several months earlier and hundreds of meters away.
To the west are the slopes of the "Columbia Hills," so named for the astronauts of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Beyond the hills are the flat plains and rim of Gusev Crater.
Spirit took this 360-degree panorama of images with its navigation camera on the 627th Martian day, or sol, (Oct. 7, 2005) of its exploration of Gusev Crater on Mars. This view is the left-eye member of a stereo pair presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Looking Back at Spirit's Trail to the Summit (Right Eye)
Before moving on to explore more of Mars, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit looked back at the long and winding trail of twin wheel tracks the rover created to get to the top of "Husband Hill." Spirit spent several days in October 2005 at this location, perched on a lofty, rock-strewn incline next to a precarious outcrop nicknamed "Hillary." Researchers helped the rover make several wheel adjustments to get solid footing before conducting scientific analysis of the rock outcrop. The rock turned out to be similar in appearance and composition to a rock target called "Jibsheet" that the rover had studied several months earlier and hundreds of meters away.
To the west are the slopes of the "Columbia Hills," so named for the astronauts of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Beyond the hills are the flat plains and rim of Gusev Crater.
Spirit took this 360-degree panorama of images with its navigation camera on the 627th Martian day, or sol, (Oct. 7, 2005) of its exploration of Gusev Crater on Mars. This view is the right-eye member of a stereo pair presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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After Conquering 'Husband Hill,' Spirit Moves On
The first explorer ever to scale a summit on another planet, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has begun a long trek downward from the top of "Husband Hill" to new destinations. As shown in this 180-degree panorama from east of the summit, Spirit's earlier tracks are no longer visible. They are off to the west (to the left in this view). Spirit's next destination is "Haskin Ridge," straight ahead along the edge of the steep cliff on the right side of this panorama.
The scene is a mosaic of images that Spirit took with the navigation camera on the rover's 635th Martian day, or sol, (Oct. 16, 2005) of exploration of Gusev Crater on Mars. This view is presented in a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction.
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After Conquering 'Husband Hill,' Spirit Moves On (Stereo)
The first explorer ever to scale a summit on another planet, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has begun a long trek downward from the top of "Husband Hill" to new destinations. As shown in this 180-degree panorama from east of the summit, Spirit's earlier tracks are no longer visible. They are off to the west (to the left in this view). Spirit's next destination is "Haskin Ridge," straight ahead along the edge of the steep cliff on the right side of this panorama.
The scene is a mosaic of images that Spirit took with the navigation camera on the rover's 635th Martian day, or sol, (Oct. 16, 2005) of exploration of Gusev Crater on Mars. This stereo view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction.
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After Conquering 'Husband Hill,' Spirit Moves On (Left Eye)
The first explorer ever to scale a summit on another planet, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has begun a long trek downward from the top of "Husband Hill" to new destinations. As shown in this 180-degree panorama from east of the summit, Spirit's earlier tracks are no longer visible. They are off to the west (to the left in this view). Spirit's next destination is "Haskin Ridge," straight ahead along the edge of the steep cliff on the right side of this panorama.
The scene is a mosaic of images that Spirit took with the navigation camera on the rover's 635th Martian day, or sol, (Oct. 16, 2005) of exploration of Gusev Crater on Mars. This view is the left-eye member of a stereo pair presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction.
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After Conquering 'Husband Hill,' Spirit Moves On (Right Eye)
The first explorer ever to scale a summit on another planet, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has begun a long trek downward from the top of "Husband Hill" to new destinations. As shown in this 180-degree panorama from east of the summit, Spirit's earlier tracks are no longer visible. They are off to the west (to the left in this view). Spirit's next destination is "Haskin Ridge," straight ahead along the edge of the steep cliff on the right side of this panorama.
The scene is a mosaic of images that Spirit took with the navigation camera on the rover's 635th Martian day, or sol, (Oct. 16, 2005) of exploration of Gusev Crater on Mars. This view is the right-eye member of a stereo pair presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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05-Oct-2005
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More Climbing Ahead
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit will not plant a flag, as did Sir Edmund Hillary when he scaled Mount Everest on Earth, when the rover reaches the hilltop outcrop shown here, which scientists have nicknamed in honor of Hillary. But Spirit will send images and other scientific data across the millions of miles that separate Earth from the distant planet where no human has yet set foot. This false-color view combines images that Spirit took with its panoramic camera during the rover's 608th martian day, or sol (Sept. 18, 2005). The site is on top of 'Husband Hill' inside Gusev Crater, where the rover has been conducting scientific studies. The component images were taken through the camera's 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer and 430-nanometer filters.
The slightly lower outcrop to the left of 'Hillary' is nicknamed 'Tenzing.' The names recall the first humans -- Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal -- to reach the highest point on Earth, in 1953. Husband Hill rises 106 meters (348 feet) above the surrounding plains.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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21-Sep-2005
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Sand-Strewn Summit of "Husband Hill" on Mars
Undulating bands of dark and light sand, sloping dunes, and scattered cobbles form an apron around a ridge of light-colored rock that stands in bold relief against distant plains, as viewed by NASA's "Spirit" rover from the top of "Husband Hill" on Mars. "The view of the summit is spectacular where we are right now," said geologist Larry Crumpler, with the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque.
From here, Spirit is looking north-northeast en route to examining more of the local geology of the "Columbia Hills" in Gusev Crater. A few days after taking this picture, Spirit investigated the small, sinuous drifts on the left, located north-northeast of the rover's position in this image. The last previous time Spirit examined a drift was on the rim of "Bonneville Crater" almost 500 martian days, or sols, ago, in March 2004.
The largest light-colored rock in the foreground is nicknamed "Whittaker." The cliff beyond it and slightly to the left is nicknamed "Tenzing." The highest rock on the ridge ahead has been dubbed "Hillary." Science team members selected the nicknames in honor of the earliest climbers to scale Mount Everest on Earth.
This view covers approximately 50 degrees of the compass from left to right. It is a mosaic assembled from frames Spirit took with the panoramic camera on sol 603 (Sept. 13, 2005). It was taken through a blue (430-nanometer) filter and is presented as a cylindrical projection.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/NMMNH
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01-Sep-2005
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Postcard Above Tennessee Valley
This "postcard" or mini-panorama was taken by NASA's Spirit rover on martian day, or sol, 582 (August 23, 2005), just as the rover finally completed its intrepid climb up Husband Hill. The summit appears to be a windswept plateau of scattered rocks, little sand dunes and small exposures of outcrop. The breathtaking view here is toward the north, looking down into the drifts and outcrops of the "Tennessee Valley," a region that Spirit was not able to visit during its climb to the top of the hill.
The approximate true-color postcard spans about 90 degrees and consists of images obtained by the rover's panoramic camera during 18 individual pointings. At each pointing, the rover used three of its panoramic filters (600, 530 and 480 nanometers).
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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"Independence" Panorama
This is the Spirit "Independence" panorama, acquired on martian days, or sols, 536 to 543 (July 6 to 13, 2005), from a position in the "Columbia Hills" near the summit of "Husband Hill." The summit of "Husband Hill" is the peak near the right side of this panorama and is about 100 meters (328 feet) away from the rover and about 30 meters (98 feet) higher in elevation. The rocky outcrops downhill and on the left side of this mosaic include "Larry's Lookout" and "Cumberland Ridge," which Spirit explored in April, May, and June of 2005.
The panorama spans 360 degrees and consists of 108 individual images, each acquired with five filters of the rover's panoramic camera. The approximate true color of the mosaic was generated using the camera's 750-, 530-, and 480-nanometer filters. During the 8 martian days, or sols, that it took to acquire this image, the lighting varied considerably, partly because of imaging at different times of sol, and partly because of small sol-to-sol variations in the dustiness of the atmosphere. These slight changes produced some image seams and rock shadows. These seams have been eliminated from the sky portion of the mosaic to better simulate the vista a person standing on Mars would see. However, it is often not possible or practical to smooth out such seams for regions of rock, soil, rover tracks or solar panels. Such is the nature of acquiring and assembling large panoramas from the rovers.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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Top of the World
This panorama is one of the first that NASA's Spirit rover snapped upon reaching the summit of "Husband Hill," located in "Columbia Hills" in Gusev Crater, Mars. It reveals the vast landscape to the east previously hidden behind the Columbia Hills. The rim of "Thira Crater" frames the distant horizon some 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) away. The summit area is divided by a shallow saddle that slopes north (left) into an area called "Tennessee Valley." Large amounts of sandy material have been blown up the valley and across the saddle in the left-to-right direction, creating the rippled piles of sand seen in this image.
The science team will examine bedrock and other materials in the summit area to determine their composition and the orientation of the rock layers. These and other observations will provide clues to how the rocks formed and how the hills were sculpted in the geologic past.
This mosaic was taken by Spirit's panoramic camera, using the blue filter of its right eye.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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Spirit's Spectacular View from the Summit
This approximate true-color panorama was taken by NASA's Spirit rover after it successfully trekked to the top of "Husband Hill," in the "Columbia Hills" of Gusev Crater. The "little rover that could" spent the last 14 months climbing the hills in both the forward and reverse directions to reduce wear on its wheels.
This breathtaking view from the summit reveals previously hidden southern terrain called "Inner Basin"(center), where team members hope to direct Spirit in the future. The rover left tracks to the left point toward the west, the direction Spirit arrived from. The peaks of "McCool Hill" and "Ramon Hill," both in the "Columbia Hills," can be seen just to the left and behind Inner Basin.
The mosaic is made up of images taken by the rover's panoramic camera over a period of three days (sols 583 to 585, or August 24 to 26, 2005). It spans about 240 degrees in azimuth, and was acquired using 51 different camera pointings and three camera filters (750, 530 and 480 nanometers). Image-to-image seams have been eliminated from the sky portion of the mosaic to better simulate what a person standing on Mars would see.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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A Great Place to Watch the Weather
In this time of year when Mars is most likely to be covered by global dust storms, NASA's Spirit rover has been experiencing relative calm. In fact, the martian winds have been quite beneficial, clearing dust from the rover's solar panels and increasing the solar energy available for driving to new places and conducting scientific experiments.
Another thing the martian wind has done is send hundreds of dust devils spinning across the surface of the planet. From Spirit's high perch approximately 90 meters (295 feet) above the surrounding plains, as shown in this image taken from the summit of "Husband Hill," three dust devils are clearly visible in the plains of Gusev Crater. Planetary Scientist Ron Greeley of Arizona State University, Tempe, describes the whirling vortices of wind and dust as "vacuum cleaners" that were first seen in images from the Viking Orbiter in 1985, though their existence was predicted as early as 1964.
The most prominent dust devil in this image, visible on the left side of the 360-degree panorama, is one of the closest seen by Spirit. It is about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away from the rover, about 90 meters (295 feet) in diameter at its widest point, and 275 meters (902 feet) tall. Its flux is about 1 kilogram per second, meaning it is picking up about 2 pounds of sediment each second and moving it around.
The smaller dust devil just to the right of the largest one is 2.5 to 3 kilometers (1.6 to 1.9 miles) away and is churning up about 0.5 kilograms (1 pound) per second. Both are north of the rover's position and are moving in an east-southeast direction. On the right side of the mosaic shown here is a third dust devil.
Greeley has calculated that if the number and frequency of dust devils Spirit has encountered are similarly spaced throughout Gusev Crater, the crater probably experiences about 90,000 dust devils per martian day, or sol. Collectively, the whirlwinds lift and redeposit an estimated 4.5 million kilograms (9.9 million U.S. pounds) of sediment per sol.
Spirit took this mosaic of images with its navigation camera on sol 581 (Aug. 22). Straight ahead, just east of the rover, is the summit of "Husband Hill." The 360-degree field of view is presented in a cylindrical projection with geometrical seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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A Great Place to Watch the Weather (3-D)
In this time of year when Mars is most likely to be covered by global dust storms, NASA's Spirit rover has been experiencing relative calm. In fact, the martian winds have been quite beneficial, clearing dust from the rover's solar panels and increasing the solar energy available for driving to new places and conducting scientific experiments.
Another thing the martian wind has done is send hundreds of dust devils spinning across the surface of the planet. From Spirit's high perch approximately 90 meters (295 feet) above the surrounding plains, as shown in this image taken from the summit of "Husband Hill," three dust devils are clearly visible in the plains of Gusev Crater. Planetary Scientist Ron Greeley of Arizona State University, Tempe, describes the whirling vortices of wind and dust as "vacuum cleaners" that were first seen in images from the Viking Orbiter in 1985, though their existence was predicted as early as 1964.
The most prominent dust devil in this image, visible on the left side of the 360-degree panorama, is one of the closest seen by Spirit. It is about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away from the rover, about 90 meters (295 feet) in diameter at its widest point, and 275 meters (902 feet) tall. Its flux is about 1 kilogram per second, meaning it is picking up about 2 pounds of sediment each second and moving it around.
The smaller dust devil just to the right of the largest one is 2.5 to 3 kilometers (1.6 to 1.9 miles) away and is churning up about 0.5 kilograms (1 pound) per second. Both are north of the rover's position and are moving in an east-southeast direction. On the right side of the mosaic shown here is a third dust devil.
Greeley has calculated that if the number and frequency of dust devils Spirit has encountered are similarly spaced throughout Gusev Crater, the crater probably experiences about 90,000 dust devils per martian day, or sol. Collectively, the whirlwinds lift and redeposit an estimated 4.5 million kilograms (9.9 million U.S. pounds) of sediment per sol.
Spirit took this mosaic of images with its navigation camera on sol 581 (Aug. 22). Straight ahead, just east of the rover, is the summit of "Husband Hill." The 360-degree field of view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometrical seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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A Great Place to Watch the Weather (left eye)
In this time of year when Mars is most likely to be covered by global dust storms, NASA's Spirit rover has been experiencing relative calm. In fact, the martian winds have been quite beneficial, clearing dust from the rover's solar panels and increasing the solar energy available for driving to new places and conducting scientific experiments.
Another thing the martian wind has done is send hundreds of dust devils spinning across the surface of the planet. From Spirit's high perch approximately 90 meters (295 feet) above the surrounding plains, as shown in this image taken from the summit of "Husband Hill," three dust devils are clearly visible in the plains of Gusev Crater. Planetary Scientist Ron Greeley of Arizona State University, Tempe, describes the whirling vortices of wind and dust as "vacuum cleaners" that were first seen in images from the Viking Orbiter in 1985, though their existence was predicted as early as 1964.
The most prominent dust devil in this image, visible on the left side of the 360-degree panorama, is one of the closest seen by Spirit. It is about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away from the rover, about 90 meters (295 feet) in diameter at its widest point, and 275 meters (902 feet) tall. Its flux is about 1 kilogram per second, meaning it is picking up about 2 pounds of sediment each second and moving it around.
The smaller dust devil just to the right of the largest one is 2.5 to 3 kilometers (1.6 to 1.9 miles) away and is churning up about 0.5 kilograms (1 pound) per second. Both are north of the rover's position and are moving in an east-southeast direction. On the right side of the mosaic shown here is a third dust devil.
Greeley has calculated that if the number and frequency of dust devils Spirit has encountered are similarly spaced throughout Gusev Crater, the crater probably experiences about 90,000 dust devils per martian day, or sol. Collectively, the whirlwinds lift and redeposit an estimated 4.5 million kilograms (9.9 million U.S. pounds) of sediment per sol.
Spirit took this mosaic of images with its navigation camera on sol 581 (Aug. 22). Straight ahead, just east of the rover, is the summit of "Husband Hill." This is the left-eye member of a stereo pair presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometrical seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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A Great Place to Watch the Weather (right eye)
In this time of year when Mars is most likely to be covered by global dust storms, NASA's Spirit rover has been experiencing relative calm. In fact, the martian winds have been quite beneficial, clearing dust from the rover's solar panels and increasing the solar energy available for driving to new places and conducting scientific experiments.
Another thing the martian wind has done is send hundreds of dust devils spinning across the surface of the planet. From Spirit's high perch approximately 90 meters (295 feet) above the surrounding plains, as shown in this image taken from the summit of "Husband Hill," three dust devils are clearly visible in the plains of Gusev Crater. Planetary Scientist Ron Greeley of Arizona State University, Tempe, describes the whirling vortices of wind and dust as "vacuum cleaners" that were first seen in images from the Viking Orbiter in 1985, though their existence was predicted as early as 1964.
The most prominent dust devil in this image, visible on the left side of the 360-degree panorama, is one of the closest seen by Spirit. It is about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away from the rover, about 90 meters (295 feet) in diameter at its widest point, and 275 meters (902 feet) tall. Its flux is about 1 kilogram per second, meaning it is picking up about 2 pounds of sediment each second and moving it around.
The smaller dust devil just to the right of the largest one is 2.5 to 3 kilometers (1.6 to 1.9 miles) away and is churning up about 0.5 kilograms (1 pound) per second. Both are north of the rover's position and are moving in an east-southeast direction. On the right side of the mosaic shown here is a third dust devil.
Greeley has calculated that if the number and frequency of dust devils Spirit has encountered are similarly spaced throughout Gusev Crater, the crater probably experiences about 90,000 dust devils per martian day, or sol. Collectively, the whirlwinds lift and redeposit an estimated 4.5 million kilograms (9.9 million U.S. pounds) of sediment per sol.
Spirit took this mosaic of images with its navigation camera on sol 581 (Aug. 22). Straight ahead, just east of the rover, is the summit of "Husband Hill." This is the right-eye member of a stereo pair presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometrical seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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31-Aug-2005
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A Whale of a Panorama
More than 1.5 years into their exploration of Mars, both of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers continue to send a cornucopia of images to Earth. The results are so spectacular that Deputy Project Manager John Callas recently described them as "an embarrassment of riches." Spirit produced this image mosaic, nicknamed the "Whale Panorama," two-thirds of the way to the summit of "Husband Hill," where the rover investigated martian rocks. On the right side of the panorama is a tilted layer of rocks dubbed "Larry's Outcrop," one of several tilted outcrops that scientists examined in April, 2005. They used spatial information to create geologic maps showing the compass orientation and degree of tilting of rock formations in the vicinity. Such information is key to geologic fieldwork because it helps establish if rock layers have been warped since they formed. In this case, scientists have also been studying the mineral and chemical differences, which show that some rocks have been more highly altered than others.
In the foreground, in the middle of the image mosaic, Spirit is shown with the scientific instruments at the end of its robotic arm positioned on a rock target known as "Ahab." The rover was busy collecting elemental chemistry and mineralogy data on the rock at the same time that it was taking 50 individual snapshots with its five panoramic camera filters to create this stunning view of the martian scenery. The twin tracks of the rover's all-terrain wheels are clearly visible on the left.
This mosaic of images spans about 220 degrees from left to right and is an approximate true-color rendering of the Mars terrain acquired through the panoramic camera's 750-, 530-, and 430-nanometer filters. Spirit collected these images from its 497th martian day, or sol, through its 500th sol (May 27 through May 30, 2005).
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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Looking Up from the Deep
Not long after conducting extensive investigations of tilted martian rock layers along its path, NASA's Spirit rover prepared to resume the trek to the top of the "Columbia Hills" in June. This panorama, nicknamed "Sunset Ridge," shows the terrain that lay ahead of the rover on Spirit's 519th martian day, or sol (June 19, 2005). On the left is the summit of "Husband Hill," Spirit's objective at that time.
This mosaic of images is an approximate true-color rendering of snapshots taken by the rover's panoramic camera using 750-, 530-, and 430-nanometer filters. Spirit took these images at approximately 3 p.m. local true solar time in Gusev Crater on Mars. The rover then continued to climb throughout July, making numerous scientific investigations of martian rocks along the way.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/USGS/Cornell
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19-Aug-2005
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Dust Devils at Gusev, Sol 525
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This movie clip shows several dust devils moving across the plain inside Mars' Gusev Crater. It consists of frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 525th martian day, or sol (June 25, 2005).
Spirit began seeing dust devil activity around the beginning of Mars' spring season. Activity increased as spring continued, but fell off again for about two weeks during a dust storm. As the dust storm faded away, dust devil activity came back. In the mid-afternoons as the summer solstice approached, dust devils were a very common occurrence on the floor of Gusev crater. The early-spring dust devils tended to move southwest-to-northeast, across the dust devil streaks in Gusev seen from orbit. Increasingly as the season progresses, the dust devils are seen moving northwest-to-southeast, in the same direction as the streaks. Scientists are watching for the big dust devils that leave those streaks.
In this clip, contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust moved by wind. The total time elapsed during the taking of these frames was 12 minutes, 25 seconds.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M
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Gusev Dust Devil, sol 532
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This movie clip shows a dust devil seen by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 532nd martian day, or sol (July 2, 2005). The dust-carrying whirlwind is moving across a plain inside Gusev Crater and viewed from Spirit's vantage point on hills rising from the plain. The clip consists of frames taken by Spirit's navigation camera, processed to enhance contrast for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame. The total elapsed time during the taking of these frames was 8 minutes, 48 seconds.
Spirit began seeing dust devil activity around the beginning of Mars' spring season. Activity increased as spring continued, but fell off again for about two weeks during a dust storm. As the dust storm faded away, dust devil activity came back. In the mid-afternoons as the summer solstice approached, dust devils were a very common occurrence on the floor of Gusev crater. The early-spring dust devils tended to move southwest-to-northeast, across the dust devil streaks in Gusev seen from orbit. Increasingly as the season progresses, the dust devils are seen moving northwest-to-southeast, in the same direction as the streaks. Scientists are watching for the big dust devils that leave those streaks.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M
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Dust Devils at Gusev, Sol 537
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This movie clip shows some distant dust devils and one closer one blowing across the floor of Mars' Gusev Crater. It consists of frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 537th martian day, or sol (July 7, 2005).
Spirit began seeing dust devil activity around the beginning of Mars' spring season. Activity increased as spring continued, but fell off again for about two weeks during a dust storm. As the dust storm faded away, dust devil activity came back. In the mid-afternoons as the summer solstice approached, dust devils were a very common occurrence on the floor of Gusev crater. The early-spring dust devils tended to move southwest-to-northeast, across the dust devil streaks in Gusev seen from orbit. Increasingly as the season progresses, the dust devils are seen moving northwest-to-southeast, in the same direction as the streaks. Scientists are watching for the big dust devils that leave those streaks.
In this clip, contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust moved by wind. The total time elapsed during the taking of these frames was 13 minutes, 46 seconds.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M
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Gusev Dust Devil, Sol 543
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One dust devil scoots across the center of the view in this movie clip showing a few dust devils inside Mars' Gusev Crater. The clip consists of frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 543rd martian day, or sol (July 13, 2005).
Spirit began seeing dust devil activity around the beginning of Mars' spring season. Activity increased as spring continued, but fell off again for about two weeks during a dust storm. As the dust storm faded away, dust devil activity came back. In the mid-afternoons as the summer solstice approached, dust devils were a very common occurrence on the floor of Gusev crater. The early-spring dust devils tended to move southwest-to-northeast, across the dust devil streaks in Gusev seen from orbit. Increasingly as the season progresses, the dust devils are seen moving northwest-to-southeast, in the same direction as the streaks. Scientists are watching for the big dust devils that leave those streaks.
In this clip, contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust moved by wind. The total time elapsed during the taking of these frames was 8 minutes, 21 seconds.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M
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Wide-Angle View of Gusev Dust Devil, Sol 559
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This movie clip shows dust devils moving across the plain inside Mars' Gusev Crater, as seen with a hazard-identification camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. The clip consists of consists of frames taken by that camera during a span of 8 minutes, 26 seconds on the rover's 559th martian day, or sol (July 29, 2005). Contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust moved by wind.
Spirit began seeing dust devil activity around the beginning of Mars' spring season. Activity increased as spring continued, but fell off again for about two weeks during a dust storm. As the dust storm faded away, dust devil activity came back. In the mid-afternoons as the summer solstice approached, dust devils were a very common occurrence on the floor of Gusev crater. The early-spring dust devils tended to move southwest-to-northeast, across the dust devil streaks in Gusev seen from orbit. Increasingly as the season progresses, the dust devils are seen moving northwest-to-southeast, in the same direction as the streaks. Scientists are watching for the big dust devils that leave those streaks.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M
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Sol 568 Dust Devil in Gusev, Unenhanced
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This movie clip shows several dust devils moving from right to left across a plain inside Mars' Gusev Crater, as seen from the vantage point of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in hills rising from the plain. The clip consists of frames taken by Spirit's navigation camera during the rover's 543rd martian day, or sol (July 13, 2005). Unlike some other movie clips of dust devils seen by Spirit, the images in this clip have not been processed to enhance contrast of the dust devils. The total time elapsed during the taking of these frames was 12 minutes, 17 seconds.
Spirit began seeing dust devil activity around the beginning of Mars' spring season. Activity increased as spring continued, but fell off again for about two weeks during a dust storm. As the dust storm faded away, dust devil activity came back. In the mid-afternoons as the summer solstice approached, dust devils were a very common occurrence on the floor of Gusev crater. The early-spring dust devils tended to move southwest-to-northeast, across the dust devil streaks in Gusev seen from orbit. Increasingly as the season progresses, the dust devils are seen moving northwest-to-southeast, in the same direction as the streaks. Scientists are watching for the big dust devils that leave those streaks.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M
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08-July-2005
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| Gust and Dust at Gusev, Sol 495 |
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This movie clip shows movement of dust by a gust of wind inside Mars' Gusev Crater. It consists of frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the afternoon of the rover's 495th martian day, or sol (May 25, 2005). Contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust moved by wind.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M
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Whirlwind Drama During Spirit's 496th Sol
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This movie clip shows a dust devil growing in size and blowing across the plain inside Mars' Gusev Crater. The clip consists of frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the morning of the rover's 496th martian day, or sol (May 26, 2005). Contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust moved by wind.
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Mars Gusts Blow Toward Spirit
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This movie clip shows several gusts and whirlwinds carrying dust as they move toward NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. It consists of frames taken by the navigation camera on Spirit during the afternoon of the rover's 501st martian day, or sol (May 31, 2005). The camera was facing into the wind. Contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust moved by wind.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M
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27-May-2005
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| Spirit's Wind-Driven Traveler on Mars (Spirit Sol 486) |
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A dust devil spins across the surface of Gusev Crater just before noon on Mars. NASA's Spirit rover took the series of images in this spectacular 21-frame animation with its navigation camera on the rover's martian day, or sol, 486 (May 15, 2005).
The event occurred during a period of 9 minutes and 35 seconds beginning at 11:48 a.m. local Mars time, recording the dust devil's progress in a northeasterly direction about 1.0 kilometer (0.62 mile) away from Spirit's perch on the slopes of the "Columbia Hills." The whirlwind was traveling at about 4.8 meters per second (16 feet per second) and covered a distance of about 1.6 kilometers (1 mile).
Contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust devil. The dust devil is about 34 meters (112 feet) in diameter.
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20-May-2005
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Spirit's 'Lookout Panorama' in 3-D
This is a stereoscopic version of the Spirit panoramic camera's "Lookout" panorama, acquired on the rover's 410th to 413th martian days, or sols (Feb. 27 to Mar. 2, 2005). The view is from a position known informally as "Larry's Lookout" along the drive up "Husband Hill." The summit of Husband Hill is the far peak near the center of this panorama and is about 200 meters (656 feet) away from the rover and about 45 meters (148 feet) higher in elevation. The bright rocky outcrop near the center of the panorama is part of the "Cumberland Ridge," and beyond that and to the left is the "Tennessee Valley." Spirit's tracks leading back from the "West Spur" region can be seen on the right side of the panorama. The region just beyond the area where the tracks made their last zig-zag is the area known as "Paso Robles", where Spirit discovered rock and soil deposits with very high sulfur abundances.
This stereo anaglyph is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with special "untilt" processing. The tilt of the rover (roll -14 degrees, pitch +13 degrees) has been removed by special processing of the images, resulting in a flat horizon (thus a more "natural" view) with very little vertical disparity. (Vertical disparity is one of the main things that gives you a headache when looking at stereo images.) Geometric and brightness corrections have been applied.
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Spirit's 'Lookout Panorama' (Left Eye)
This is the left-eye member of a stereo pair of images acquired as the Spirit panoramic camera's "Lookout" panorama during the rover's 410th to 413th martian days, or sols (Feb. 27 to Mar. 2, 2005). The view is from a position known informally as "Larry's Lookout" along the drive up "Husband Hill." The summit of Husband Hill is the far peak near the center of this panorama and is about 200 meters (656 feet) away from the rover and about 45 meters (148 feet) higher in elevation. The bright rocky outcrop near the center of the panorama is part of the "Cumberland Ridge," and beyond that and to the left is the "Tennessee Valley." Spirit's tracks leading back from the "West Spur" region can be seen on the right side of the panorama. The region just beyond the area where the tracks made their last zig-zag is the area known as "Paso Robles", where Spirit discovered rock and soil deposits with very high sulfur abundances.
This view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with special "untilt" processing. The tilt of the rover (roll -14 degrees, pitch +13 degrees) has been removed by special processing of the images, resulting in a flat horizon (thus a more "natural" view) with very little vertical disparity. (Vertical disparity is one of the main things that gives you a headache when looking at stereo images.) Geometric and brightness corrections have been applied.
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Spirit's 'Lookout Panorama' (Right Eye)
This is the right-eye member of a stereo pair of images acquired as the Spirit panoramic camera's "Lookout" panorama during the rover's 410th to 413th martian days, or sols (Feb. 27 to Mar. 2, 2005). The view is from a position known informally as "Larry's Lookout" along the drive up "Husband Hill." The summit of Husband Hill is the far peak near the center of this panorama and is about 200 meters (656 feet) away from the rover and about 45 meters (148 feet) higher in elevation. The bright rocky outcrop near the center of the panorama is part of the "Cumberland Ridge," and beyond that and to the left is the "Tennessee Valley." Spirit's tracks leading back from the "West Spur" region can be seen on the right side of the panorama. The region just beyond the area where the tracks made their last zig-zag is the area known as "Paso Robles", where Spirit discovered rock and soil deposits with very high sulfur abundances.
This view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with special "untilt" processing. The tilt of the rover (roll -14 degrees, pitch +13 degrees) has been removed by special processing of the images, resulting in a flat horizon (thus a more "natural" view) with very little vertical disparity. (Vertical disparity is one of the main things that gives you a headache when looking at stereo images.) Geometric and brightness corrections have been applied.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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11-May-2005
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Twilight at Gusev
Here is the martian twilight sky at Gusev crater, as imaged by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit around 6:20 in the evening of the rover's 464th martian day, or sol (April 23, 2005). Spirit was commanded to stay awake briefly after sending that sol's data to Mars Odyssey at sunset. This small panorama of the western sky was obtained using camera's 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer and 430-nanometer color filters. This filter combination allows false color images to be generated that are similar to what a human would see, but with the colors exaggerated. In this image, the bluish glow in the sky above where the Sun had just set would be visible to us if we were there, but the redness of the sky farther from the sunset is exaggerated compared to the daytime colors of the martian sky.
These kinds of images are beautiful and evocative, but they also have important scientific purposes. Specifically, twilight images are occasionally acquired by the science team to determine how high into the atmosphere the martian dust extends, and to look for dust or ice clouds. Other images have shown that the twilight glow remains visible, but increasingly fainter, for up to two hours before sunrise or after sunset. The long martian twilight compared to Earth's is caused by sunlight scattered around to the night side of the planet by abundant high altitude dust. Similar long twilights or extra-colorful sunrises and sunsets sometimes occur on Earth when tiny dust grains that are erupted from powerful volcanoes scatter light high in the atmosphere. These kinds of twilight images are also more sensitive to faint cloud structures, though none were detected when these images were acquired. Clouds have been rare at Gusev crater during Spirit's 16-month mission so far.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M/Cornell
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05-May-2005
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Dust Devil in Gusev Crater, Sol 445
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This movie clip shows a single dust devil -- a whirlwind that lofts dust into the air -- about 2 kilometers (1 mile) away, moving across a plain inside Mars' Gusev Crater for several minutes. The dust devil appears in 21 frames. The number of seconds elapsed since the first frame is indicated at lower left of the images, typically 20 seconds between frames. The navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took these images on the rover's 445th martian day, or sol (April 14, 2005.) Contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust devil.
Scientists expected dust devils since before Spirit landed. The landing area inside Gusev Crater is filled with dark streaks left behind when dust devils pick dust up from an area. It is also filled with bright "hollows", which are dust-filled miniature craters. Dust covers most of the terrain. Winds flow into and out of Gusev crater every day. The Sun heats the surface so that the surface is warm to the touch even though the atmosphere at 2 meters (6 feet) above the surface would be chilly. That temperature contrast causes convection. Mixing the dust, winds, and convection can trigger dust devils.
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Dust Devil Near Spirit, Sol 446
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This movie clip shows a single dust devil -- a whirlwind that lofts dust into the air -- that passed near the bottom of the hillside where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit was located at the time. A shorter clip of the same dust devil was release previously PIA-07861, but an additional frame of the sequence was sent later by the rover. The proximity of the dust devil makes this sequence the best obtained so far for showing details of its structure. Spirit's navigation camera took these images on the rover's 446th martian day, or sol (April 15, 2005.) Contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust devil.
Scientists expected dust devils since before Spirit landed. The landing area inside Gusev Crater is filled with dark streaks left behind when dust devils pick dust up from an area. It is also filled with bright "hollows", which are dust-filled miniature craters. Dust covers most of the terrain. Winds flow into and out of Gusev crater every day. The Sun heats the surface so that the surface is warm to the touch even though the atmosphere at 2 meters (6 feet) above the surface would be chilly. That temperature contrast causes convection. Mixing the dust, winds, and convection can trigger dust devils.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
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Several Dust Devils in Gusev Crater, Sol 461
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This movie clip shows a several dust devils -- whirlwinds that loft dust into the air -- moving across a plain below the hillside vantage point of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. Several of the dust devils are visible at once in some of the 21 frames in this sequence. The local solar time was about 2 p.m., when the ground temperature was high enough to cause turbulence that kicks up dust devils as the wind blows across the plain. The number of seconds elapsed since the first frame is indicated at lower left of the images, typically 20 seconds between frames. Spirit's navigation camera took these images on the rover's 461st martian day, or sol (April 20, 2005.) Contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust devil.
Scientists expected dust devils since before Spirit landed. The landing area inside Gusev Crater is filled with dark streaks left behind when dust devils pick dust up from an area. It is also filled with bright "hollows", which are dust-filled miniature craters. Dust covers most of the terrain. Winds flow into and out of Gusev crater every day. The Sun heats the surface so that the surface is warm to the touch even though the atmosphere at 2 meters (6 feet) above the surface would be chilly. That temperature contrast causes convection. Mixing the dust, winds, and convection can trigger dust devils.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
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Dust Devils in Gusev Crater, Sol 463
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This movie clip shows a several dust devils -- whirlwinds that loft dust into the air -- moving across a plain below the hillside vantage point of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. Several of the dust devils are visible at once in some of the frames in this sequence. The local solar time was about 2 p.m., when the ground temperature was high enough to cause turbulence that kicks up dust devils as the wind blows across the plain. The number of seconds elapsed since the first frame is indicated at lower left of the images, typically 20 seconds between frames. Spirit's navigation camera took these images on the rover's 463rd martian day, or sol (April 22, 2005.) Contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust devil.
Scientists expected dust devils since before Spirit landed. The landing area inside Gusev Crater is filled with dark streaks left behind when dust devils pick dust up from an area. It is also filled with bright "hollows", which are dust-filled miniature craters. Dust covers most of the terrain. Winds flow into and out of Gusev crater every day. The Sun heats the surface so that the surface is warm to the touch even though the atmosphere at 2 meters (6 feet) above the surface would be chilly. That temperature contrast causes convection. Mixing the dust, winds, and convection can trigger dust devils.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
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Large Dust Devil on Horizon, Sol 468
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This movie clip shows a large, distant dust devil -- a whirlwind that lofts dust into the air -- as a dark shape on the horizon near the right side of the images. This dust devil was about 5 kilometers (3 miles) away from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, and may have been up to 200 meters or yards in diameter. Smaller dust devils closer to the rover appear bright against the dark ground. Spirit's navigation camera took these images on the rover's 468th martian day, or sol (April 27, 2005.) Contrast has been enhanced for anything in the images that changes from frame to frame, that is, for the dust devil. The number of seconds elapsed since the first frame is indicated at lower left of the images, typically 20 seconds between frames.
Scientists expected dust devils since before Spirit landed. The landing area inside Gusev Crater is filled with dark streaks left behind when dust devils pick dust up from an area. It is also filled with bright "hollows", which are dust-filled miniature craters. Dust covers most of the terrain. Winds flow into and out of Gusev crater every day. The Sun heats the surface so that the surface is warm to the touch even though the atmosphere at 2 meters (6 feet) above the surface would be chilly. That temperature contrast causes convection. Mixing the dust, winds, and convection can trigger dust devils.
Image credit: NASA/JPL
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29-Apr-2005
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'Lookout Panorama' from Spirit
This is the Spirit panoramic camera's "Lookout" panorama, acquired on the rover's 410th to 413th martian days, or sols (Feb. 27 to Mar. 2, 2005). The view is from a position known informally as "Larry's Lookout" along the drive up "Husband Hill." The summit of Husband Hill is the far peak near the center of this panorama and is about 200 meters (656 feet) away from the rover and about 45 meters (148 feet) higher in elevation. The bright rocky outcrop near the center of the panorama is part of the "Cumberland Ridge," and beyond that and to the left is the "Tennessee Valley."
The panorama spans 360 degrees and consists of images obtained in 108 individual pointings and five filters at each pointing. This mosaic is an approximately true-color rendering generated using the images acquired through panoramic camera's 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer, and 480-nanometer filters. The lighting varied considerably during the four sols that it took to acquire this image (partly because of imaging at different times of sol, but also partly because of small sol-to-sol variations in the dustiness of the atmosphere), resulting in some obvious image seams or rock shadow variations within the mosaic. These seams have been smoothed out from the sky parts of the mosaic in order to simulate better the vista that a person would have if they were viewing it all at the same time on Mars. However, it is often not possible or practical to smooth out such seams for regions of rock, soil, rover tracks, or solar panels. Such is the nature of acquiring and assembling large Pancam panoramas from the rovers.
Spirit's tracks leading back from the "West Spur" region can be seen on the right side of the panorama. The region just beyond the area where the tracks made their last zig-zag is the area known as "Paso Robles", where Spirit discovered rock and soil deposits with very high sulfur abundances. After acquiring this mosaic (which took several weeks to fully downlink and then several more weeks to process), Spirit drove around the Cumberland Ridge rocks seen here and is now driving up the flank of Husband Hill, heading toward the summit.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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14-Mar-2005
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Spirit Captures Two Dust Devils On the Move
At the Gusev site recently, skies have been very dusty, and on its 421st sol (March 10, 2005) NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit spied two dust devils in action. This is an image from the rover's navigation camera.
Views of the Gusev landing region from orbit show many dark streaks across the landscape -- tracks where dust devils have removed surface dust to show relatively darker soil below -- but this is the first time Spirit has photographed an active dust devil.
Scientists are considering several causes of these small phenomena. Dust devils often occur when the Sun heats the surface of Mars. Warmed soil and rocks heat the layer of atmosphere closest to the surface, and the warm air rises in a whirling motion, stirring dust up from the surface like a miniature tornado. Another possibility is that a flow structure might develop over craters as wind speeds increase. As winds pick up, turbulence eddies and rotating columns of air form. As these columns grow in diameter they become taller and gain rotational speed. Eventually they become self-sustaining and the wind blows them down range.
One sol before this image was taken, power output from Spirit's solar panels went up by about 50 percent when the amount of dust on the panels decreased. Was this a coincidence, or did a helpful dust devil pass over Spirit and lift off some of the dust?
By comparing the separate images from the rover's different cameras, team members estimate that the dust devils moved about 500 meters (1,640 feet) in the 155 seconds between the navigation camera and hazard-avoidance camera frames; that equates to about 3 meters per second (7 miles per hour). The dust devils appear to be about 1,100 meters (almost three-quarters of a mile) from the rover.
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28-Feb-2005
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Spirit 360-Degree View, Sol 388
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its navigation camera to take the images combined into this 360-degree view of the rover's surroundings on Spirit's 388th martian day, or sol (Feb. 4, 2005). Spirit had driven about 13 meters (43 feet) uphill toward "Cumberland Ridge" on this sol. This location is catalogued as Spirit's Site 102, Position 513. The view is presented in a cylindrical projection with geometric and brightness seam correction.
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Spirit 360-Degree View, Sol 388 (3-D)
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its navigation camera to take the images combined into this stereo, 360-degree view of the rover's surroundings on Spirit's 388th martian day, or sol (Feb. 4, 2005). Spirit had driven about 13 meters (43 feet) uphill toward "Cumberland Ridge" on this sol. This location is catalogued as Spirit's Site 102, Position 513. The view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric and brightness seam correction.
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Spirit 360-Degree View, Sol 388 (Left Eye)
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its navigation camera to take the images combined into this 360-degree view of the rover's surroundings on Spirit's 388th martian day, or sol (Feb. 4, 2005). Spirit had driven about 13 meters (43 feet) uphill toward "Cumberland Ridge" on this sol. This location is catalogued as Spirit's Site 102, Position 513. This is the left-eye member of a stereo pair presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric and brightness seam correction.
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Spirit 360-Degree View, Sol 388 (Right Eye)
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its navigation camera to take the images combined into this 360-degree view of the rover's surroundings on Spirit's 388th martian day, or sol (Feb. 4, 2005). Spirit had driven about 13 meters (43 feet) uphill toward "Cumberland Ridge" on this sol. This location is catalogued as Spirit's Site 102, Position 513. This is the right-eye member of a stereo pair presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric and brightness seam correction.
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22-Feb-2005
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Spirit's View on Sol 399
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its navigation camera to capture this view during the rover's 399th martian day, or sol, (Feb. 15, 2005). An attempted drive on that sol did not gain any ground toward nearby "Larry's Lookout" because of slippage that churned the soil on the slope. Spirit used its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to examine the churned soil. This view is presented in a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction.
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Spirit's View on Sol 399 (3-D)
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its navigation camera to capture this stereo view during the rover's 399th martian day, or sol, (Feb. 15, 2005). An attempted drive on that sol did not gain any ground toward nearby "Larry's Lookout" because of slippage that churned the soil on the slope. Spirit used its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to examine the churned soil. This stereo view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction.
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Spirit's View on Sol 399 (Left Eye)
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its navigation camera to capture this view during the rover's 399th martian day, or sol, (Feb. 15, 2005). An attempted drive on that sol did not gain any ground toward nearby "Larry's Lookout" because of slippage that churned the soil on the slope. Spirit used its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to examine the churned soil. This view is the left-eye member of a stereo pair presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction.
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Spirit's View on Sol 399 (Right Eye)
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its navigation camera to capture this view during the rover's 399th martian day, or sol, (Feb. 15, 2005). An attempted drive on that sol did not gain any ground toward nearby "Larry's Lookout" because of slippage that churned the soil on the slope. Spirit used its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to examine the churned soil. This view is the right-eye member of a stereo pair presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction.
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08-Feb-2005
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Legacy Panorama on Spirit's Way to 'Bonneville'
This is view captured by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit nearly a year ago is called Spirit's "Legacy" panorama. It combines many frames acquired during Spirit's 59th through 61st martian days, or sols (March 3 to 5, 2004) from a position about halfway between the landing site and the rim of "Bonneville Crater." The location is within the transition from the relatively smooth plains to the more rocky and rugged blanket of material ejected from Bonneville by the force of the impact that dug the crater.
The panorama spans 360 degrees and consists of images obtained in 78 individual pointings. The camera took images though 5 different filter at each pointing. This mosaic is an approximately true-color rendering generated using the images acquired through filters centered at wavelengths of 750, 530, and 480 nanometers.
The Columbia Memorial Station lander can be seen about 200 meters (about 650 feet) in the distance by following the rover tracks back toward right of center in the mosaic and zooming in.
Click "Animation" below to see a QTVR (QuickTime) 360 degree spin.
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04-Feb-2005
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Still Giving Thanks for Good Health
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this full-circle panorama of the region near "Husband Hill" (the peak just to the left of center) over the Thanksgiving holiday, before ascending farther. Both the Spirit and Opportunity rovers are still going strong, more than a year after landing on Mars.
This 360-degree view combines 243 images taken by Spirit's panoramic camera over several martian days, or sols, from sol 318 (Nov. 24, 2004) to sol 325 (Dec. 2, 2004). It is an approximately true-color rendering generated from images taken through the camera's 750-, 530-, and 480-nanometer filters. The view is presented here in a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction.
Spirit is now driving up the slope of Husband Hill along a path about one-quarter of the way from the left side of this mosaic.
Click "Animation" below to see a QTVR (QuickTime) 360 degree spin.
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13-Jan-2005
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Spirit's Surroundings on 'West Spur,' Sol 305
This 360-degree panorama shows the terrain surrounding NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit as of the rover's 305th martian day, or sol, (Nov. 11, 2004). At that point, Spirit was climbing the "West Spur" of the "Columbia Hills." The rover had just finished inspecting a rock called "Lutefisk" and was heading uphill toward an area called "Machu Picchu." Spirit used its navigational camera to take the images combined into this mosaic. The rover's location when the images were taken is catalogued as the mission's site 89, position 205. The view is presented here as a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction.
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Spirit's Surroundings on 'West Spur,' Sol 305 (3-D)
This 360-degree stereo panorama shows the terrain surrounding NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit as of the rover's 305th martian day, or sol, (Nov. 11, 2004). At that point, Spirit was climbing the "West Spur" of the "Columbia Hills." The rover had just finished inspecting a rock called "Lutefisk" and was heading uphill toward an area called "Machu Picchu." Spirit used its navigational camera to take the images combined into this mosaic. The rover's location when the images were taken is catalogued as the mission's site 89, position 205. The stereo-anaglyph view presented here is a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction.
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Spirit's Surroundings on 'West Spur,' Sol 305 (Left Eye)
This 360-degree panorama shows the terrain surrounding NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit as of the rover's 305th martian day, or sol, (Nov. 11, 2004). At that point, Spirit was climbing the "West Spur" of the "Columbia Hills." The rover had just finished inspecting a rock called "Lutefisk" and was heading uphill toward an area called "Machu Picchu." Spirit used its navigational camera to take the images combined into this mosaic. The rover's location when the images were taken is catalogued as the mission's site 89, position 205. This view is the left-eye member of a stereo pair, presented as a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction.
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Spirit's Surroundings on 'West Spur,' Sol 305 (Right Eye)
This 360-degree panorama shows the terrain surrounding NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit as of the rover's 305th martian day, or sol, (Nov. 11, 2004). At that point, Spirit was climbing the "West Spur" of the "Columbia Hills." The rover had just finished inspecting a rock called "Lutefisk" and was heading uphill toward an area called "Machu Picchu." Spirit used its navigational camera to take the images combined into this mosaic. The rover's location when the images were taken is catalogued as the mission's site 89, position 205. This view is the right-eye member of a stereo pair, presented as a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction.
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12-Jan-2005
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Meandering Tracks on "Husband Hill"
This 360-degree panorama of a section of the "Columbia Hills" shows meandering, crisscrossing wheel tracks that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit left behind while using its scientific instruments to analyze a new class of rocks in Gusev Crater on Mars. Because Spirit has been experiencing a high rate of slip on the sandy, sloped terrain on this flank of "Husband Hill," scientists are directing the rover to check its progress often to avoid getting a rock stuck in one of its wheel wells.
Rocks in this region are higher in phosphorus than other rocks that Spirit has examined.
This view is a mosaic of frames that Spirit took with its navigation camera during the rover's 358th and 359th martian days, or sols, (Jan. 3 and 4, 2005). It is presented here in a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction.
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Meandering Tracks on "Husband Hill" (3-D)
This 360-degree, stereo panorama of a section of the "Columbia Hills" shows meandering, crisscrossing wheel tracks that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit left behind while using its scientific instruments to analyze a new class of rocks in Gusev Crater on Mars. Because Spirit has been experiencing a high rate of slip on the sandy, sloped terrain on this flank of "Husband Hill," scientists are directing the rover to check its progress often to avoid getting a rock stuck in one of its wheel wells.
Rocks in this region are higher in phosphorus than other rocks that Spirit has examined.
This view is a mosaic of frames that Spirit took with its navigation camera during the rover's 358th and 359th martian days, or sols, (Jan. 3 and 4, 2005). It is presented here in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction.
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Meandering Tracks on "Husband Hill" (Left Eye)
This 360-degree panorama of a section of the "Columbia Hills" shows meandering, crisscrossing wheel tracks that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit left behind while using its scientific instruments to analyze a new class of rocks in Gusev Crater on Mars. Because Spirit has been experiencing a high rate of slip on the sandy, sloped terrain on this flank of "Husband Hill," scientists are directing the rover to check its progress often to avoid getting a rock stuck in one of its wheel wells.
Rocks in this region are higher in phosphorus than other rocks that Spirit has examined.
This view is a mosaic of frames that Spirit took with its navigation camera during the rover's 358th and 359th martian days, or sols, (Jan. 3 and 4, 2005). It is the left-eye member of a stereo pair presented a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction.
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Meandering Tracks on "Husband Hill" (Right Eye)
This 360-degree panorama of a section of the "Columbia Hills" shows meandering, crisscrossing wheel tracks that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit left behind while using its scientific instruments to analyze a new class of rocks in Gusev Crater on Mars. Because Spirit has been experiencing a high rate of slip on the sandy, sloped terrain on this flank of "Husband Hill," scientists are directing the rover to check its progress often to avoid getting a rock stuck in one of its wheel wells.
Rocks in this region are higher in phosphorus than other rocks that Spirit has examined.
This view is a mosaic of frames that Spirit took with its navigation camera during the rover's 358th and 359th martian days, or sols, (Jan. 3 and 4, 2005). It is the right-eye member of a stereo pair presented a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction.
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