Image of the Day: "Fresh Tracks of Human Technology on Mars"

 

                

This full-circle scene combines 817 images taken by the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. It shows the terrain that surrounded the rover while it was stationary for four months of work during its most recent Martian winter.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has given scientists a new view of where the space agency's rover settled for the recent Martian winter. According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the rover's panoramic camera (Pancam) has found fresh rover tracks and an impact crater from billions of years ago. The Pancam has also spotted the reddish terrain around the outcrop where the rover hunkered down.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory compares the panorama from the rover's mass-mounted color camera to the view one would see from the top of the rover, looking out at the Martian landscape. NASA scientists said the release of Pancam footage marks several milestones for the explorer: Opportunity's 3000th Martian day and NASA's 15 years of robotic presence on Mars.

"Opportunity has now exceeded 3,000 sols, or Martian days, of operation on the surface of Mars!" reads the latest Opportunity update. "The rover is still exploring the north end of Cape York on the rim of Endeavour Crater." Those interested in the footage can view it here.

According to scientists, the footage is "presented in false color to emphasize differences between materials in the scene." The 817 component images were captured between Dec. 21, 2011, and May 8, 2012, while the Mars rover was hunkered down on "Greeley Haven," on a portion of the rim of the Endeavour Crater.

"The view provides rich geologic context for the detailed chemical and mineral work that the team did at Greeley Haven over the rover's fifth Martian winter, as well as a spectacularly detailed view of the largest impact crater that we've driven to yet with either rover over the course of the mission," Pancam lead scientist Jim Bell of Arizona State University said in a statement.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ. Photo: NASA

Comments

[smartypants]

The entire time it was sitting still, 1 martian was charging 25 quatloos for each picture he took with the kids of other martians "riding" on the rover.

[sandi]

crop circles!

[Weknownothing]

I never get tired of looking at pictures of the Martian surface. Is there anywhere we can go to find the many more pictures I am sure exist out there?

[kristi276]

The view from Opportunity is awe-inspiring and the fact that we have sent three explorers to the surface of Mars is a testimonial to the consanguinity of the people of NASA and ESA. Since we have a great track record in the exploration of Mars, why are we going to chase after asteroids? Under the leadership of Obama NASA seems to be like a child in a candy store, just drooling over all of the candy it can consume and wanting to do it all now. In the next month Curiosity will land on the Red Planet and who knows what panoramic vistas will come out of that. Maybe the stuck rover can be rescued by Curiosity and we could be back up to three rovers on the planet. Curiosity should have brought along an extra power-pack to recharge the disabled rover.