[Space] NASA - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

[Octane]

lo SHARAD, il radar italiano a bordo dell'MRO e' stato attivato:

September 19, 2006

Ground-Piercing Radar on NASA Mars Orbiter Ready for Work

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has extended the long-armed antenna of its radar, preparing the instrument to begin probing for underground layers of Mars.

The orbiter's Shallow Subsurface Radar, provided by the Italian Space Agency, will search to depths of about one kilometer (six-tenths of a mile) to find and map layers of ice, rock and, if present, liquid water.

The radar's antenna had remained safely folded and tucked away throughout the flight to Mars from Aug. 12, 2005, to March 10, 2006, and while the orbiter used the friction of dipping into the top of Mars' atmosphere 426 times in the past six months to shrink the size of its orbit. Latches on the restraints were popped open on Sept. 16, and the spring-loaded twin arms of the antenna unfolded themselves. Subsequent information from the spacecraft indicates that each arm properly extended to its 5 meter (16.4 feet) length.

"The deployment of the antenna has succeeded. It went exactly as planned," said Dr. Enrico Flamini, the Italian Space Agency's program manager for the Shallow Subsurface Radar. "Now the excitement builds about what the radar will find hiding beneath the surface of Mars."

A radar-team engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., Ali Safaeinili, said, "Motion sensors on Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter gave us good evidence that the antenna had deployed successfully. The amount of antenna vibrations as the arms unfolded was within the range anticipated."

The radar received its first radio echo from the Martian surface during a test on Sept.18, providing a preliminary indication that the entire instrument is working properly. Researchers will use the instrument for more test observations at the end of this month. Communication with all spacecraft at Mars will be intermittent during most of October while that planet is behind the sun from Earth's perspective. The two-year-long main science phase of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission will begin in November.

"We will use the Shallow Radar to map buried channels, to study the internal structure of ice caps and to see boundaries between layers of different materials," said Dr. Roberto Seu of the University of Rome La Sapienza, leader of the instrument's science team. "The data will provide our first detailed look just under the Martian surface, where ices might reside that would be accessible for future explorers."

The radar instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will complement a similar instrument that went into use last year on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding. The two instruments use different radar frequencies. The one on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter can discriminate between thinner layers, but cannot penetrate as deep underground, compared with the one on Mars Express. Both result from Italian and American partnership in using radar for planetary probes.

Alcatel Alenia Spazio-Italia, in Rome, is the Italian Space Agency's prime contractor for the instrument. Astro Aerospace, of Carpineria, Calif., a business unit of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp., developed the antenna as a subcontractor to Alcatel Alenia.

Further information about the Shallow Subsurface Radar is online at www.sharad.org. For more detailed information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, see www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/main. The mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor and built the orbiter.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/newsroo...20060919a.html

[duchetto]

stanno giungendo le nuove foto della HIRISE tenete sotto controllo questo blog per essere aggiornati in tempo reale
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/HiBlog/

[duchetto]

PRIMA IMMAGINE

MRO's HiRISE camera captured its first image of Mars in the mapping orbit, demonstrating the full resolution capability. The image was acquired at 8:16 AM (Pacific time), and parts of the image became available to the HiRISE team at 1:30 PM. With the spacecraft at an altitude of 280 km, the image scale is 25 cm/pixel (about 10 inches/pixel).


SECONDA IMMAGINE

This image of the north polar layered deposits was taken during the summer season (solar longitude of 113.6 degrees), when carbon dioxide frost had evaporated from the surface. The bright spots seen here are most likely patches of water frost, but the location of the frost patches does not appear to controlled by topography. Layers are visible at the bottom of the image, mostly due to difference in slope between them. The variations in slope are probably caused by differences in the physical properties of the layers. Thinner layers that have previously been observed in these deposits are visible, and may represent annual deposition of water ice and dust that is thought to form the polar layered deposits. These deposits are thought to record global climate variations on Mars, similar to ice ages on Earth. HiRISE images such as this should allow Mars' climate record to be inferred and compared with climate changes on Earth.

Image TRA_000825_2665 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on September 29, 2006. Shown here is the full image, centered at 86.5 degree latitude, 172.0 degrees East longitude. The image is oriented such that north is to the top. The range to the target site was 298.9 km (186.8 miles). At this distance the image scale is 59.8 cm/pixel {with 2 x 2 binning} so objects ~1.79 m across are resolved. In total the original image was 12.2 km (10024 pixels) wide and 6.1 km (5000 pixels) long. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:30 PM and the scene is illuminated from the southwest with a solar incidence angle of 63.5 degrees, thus the sun was about 26.5 degrees above the horizon.

[gpc]

111Mb di jpeg ad alta risoluzione alla volta... qui partono dvd di archivio come il pane
Comunque... 30cm di risoluzione, alla faccia.

[GioFX]

Da SpaceFlightNow.com:

Mars rover spotted at crater by sharp-eyed orbiter

NASA NEWS RELEASE
Posted: October 6, 2006


This image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity near the rim of Victoria. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

NASA's long-lived robotic rover Opportunity is beginning to explore layered rocks in cliffs ringing the massive Victoria crater on Mars.

While Opportunity spent its first week at the crater, NASA's newest eye in the Martian sky photographed the rover and its surroundings from above. The level of detail in the photo from the high-resolution camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will help guide the rover's exploration of Victoria.

"This is a tremendous example of how our Mars missions in orbit and on the surface are designed to reinforce each other and expand our ability to explore and discover," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program in Washington. "You can only achieve this compelling level of exploration capability with the sustained exploration approach we are conducting at Mars through integrated orbiters and landers."

"The combination of the ground-level and aerial view is much more powerful than either alone," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. Squyres is principal investigator for Opportunity and its twin, Spirit. "If you were a geologist driving up to the edge of a crater in your jeep, the first thing you would do would be to pick up the aerial photo you brought with you and use it to understand what you're seeing from ground level. That's exactly what we're doing here."

Images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, orbiting the red planet since 1997, prompted the rover team to choose Victoria two years ago as the long-term destination for Opportunity. The images show the one-half-mile-wide crater has scalloped edges of alternating cliff-like high, jutting ledges and gentler alcoves. The new image by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter adds significantly more detail.

Exposed geological layers in the cliff-like portions of Victoria's inner wall appear to record a longer span of Mars' environmental history than the rover has studied in smaller craters. Victoria is five times larger than any crater Opportunity has visited during its Martian trek.

High-resolution color images taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera since Sept. 28 reveal previously unseen patterns in the layers. "There are distinct variations in the sedimentary layering as you look farther down in the stack," Squyres said. "That tells us environmental conditions were not constant."

Within two months after landing on Mars in early 2004, Opportunity found geological evidence for a long-ago environment that was wet. Scientists hope the layers in Victoria will provide new clues about whether that wet environment was persistent, fleeting or cyclical.

The rovers have worked on Mars for more than 10 times their originally planned three-month missions. "Opportunity shows a few signs of aging but is in good shape for undertaking exploration of Victoria crater," said John Callas, project manager for the rovers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

"What we see so far just adds to the excitement. The team has worked heroically for nearly 21 months driving the rover here, and now we're all rewarded with views of a spectacular landscape of nearly 50-foot-thick exposures of layered rock," said Jim Bell of Cornell. Bell is lead scientist for the rovers' panoramic cameras. NASA plans to drive Opportunity from crater ridge to ridge, studying nearby cliffs across the intervening alcoves and looking for safe ways to drive the rover down. "It's like going to the Grand Canyon and seeing what you can from several different overlooks before you walk down," Bell said.

The orbiter images will help the team choose which way to send Opportunity around the rim, and where to stop for the best views. Conversely, the rover's ground-level observations of some of the same features will provide useful information for interpreting orbital images.

"The ground-truth we get from the rover images and measurements enables us to better interpret features we see elsewhere on Mars, including very rugged and dramatic terrains that we can't currently study on the ground," said Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, Tucson. He is principal investigator for the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the rovers and orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

______________________


Immagine hires:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/fig...08812_fig1.jpg


Le altre foto qui:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/new

[gpc]

yuhu qui mi partono dvd a nastro, 900mb di immagini in una settimana

[gpc]

ho visto le foto ad alta risoluzione, minchia che impressione

[dupa]

che figata allucinante sta foto

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...c/PIA08813.jpg

si vede anche la traccia delle ruotine di opportunity

una curiosità.. qualcuno sa in quanto tempo (immagino anni...) si potrebbe avere una mappatura completa di marte con questa risoluzione?

intendo dire.. ipotizzando di farlo lavorare "full time" ogni secondo quanti m^2 di terreno è in grado di mappare?

grazie

[Octane]

Che si sappia l'MRO e' ancora impegnato a cercare di stabilire una comunicazione con il Mars Global Surveyor?

dal sito del JPL:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/newsroom/20061121a.html

"Realistically, we have run through the most likely possibilities for re-establishing communication, and we are facing the likelihood that the amazing flow of scientific observations from Mars Global Surveyor is over," said Fuk Li, Mars Exploration Program manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We are not giving up hope, though."

Efforts to regain contact with the spacecraft and determine what has happened to it will continue. NASA's newest Mars spacecraft, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, pointed its cameras toward Mars Global Surveyor on Monday. "We have looked for Mars Global Surveyor with the star tracker, the context camera and the high-resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter," said Doug McCuistion, Mars Exploration Program director at NASA Headquarters. "Preliminary analysis of the images did not show any definitive sightings of a spacecraft."

[gpc]

Ma queste simpatiche immaginette da 1.4Gb, così comode da archiviare e pratiche da scaricare, come vi sembrano?

[jumpjack]

Originariamente inviato da GioFX

Da SpaceFlightNow.com:

Mars rover spotted at crater by sharp-eyed orbiter

NASA NEWS RELEASE
Posted: October 6, 2006


This image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity near the rim of Victoria. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Qui c'e' la stessa foto, ma in 3d da vedere con gli occhialetti.
Gran bel buco!
http://www.marsunearthed.com/MRO/MRO...ictoria_3D.PNG

E si vede anche il rover! Solo che siccome si è spostato tra una foto e l'altra, si vede non in 3d, ma tipo "fantasma ubiquo" ;-)

[Octane]

Immagini del ghiaccio (sia CO2 sia H2O) su Marte:

Fonte: Nasa-JPL
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/gallery...onalFrost.html

[jumpjack]

Originariamente inviato da Octane

Immagini del ghiaccio (sia CO2 sia H2O) su Marte:

Fonte: Nasa-JPL
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/gallery...onalFrost.html

potevano anche sprecarsi a scrivere quant'è grossa l'area che si vede nella foto...

[Octane]

dal sito del JPL:

February 07, 2007

Spacecraft Set to Reach Milestone, Reports Technical Glitches



NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft this month is set to surpass the record for the most science data returned by any Mars spacecraft. While the mission continues to produce data at record levels, engineers are examining why two instruments are intermittently not performing entirely as planned. All other spacecraft instruments are operating normally and continue to return science data.
[...]
In late November 2006, the spacecraft team operating the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter noticed a significant increase in noise, such as bad pixels, in one of its 14 camera detector pairs. Another detector that developed the same problem soon after launch has worsened. Images from the spacecraft camera last month revealed the first signs of this problem in five other detectors.

While the current impact on image quality is small, there is concern as to whether the problem will continue to worsen.

In-flight data show that more warming of the camera's electronics before taking an image reduces or eliminates the problem. The imaging team aims to understand the root cause of the worsening over time and to determine the best operational procedures to maximize the long-term science benefits. The camera continues to make observations and is returning excellent images of the Martian surface.

The second instrument concern aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is related to an instrument designed to routinely scan from the surface across the atmosphere above Mars' horizon. The Mars Climate Sounder maps the temperature, ice clouds and dust distributions in the atmosphere on each of nearly 13 orbits every day. In late December, the sounder appeared to skip steps occasionally, so that its field of view was slightly out of position. Following uplink of new scan tables to the instrument, the position errors stopped and the instrument operated nominally.

In mid-January, the position errors reappeared. Although still intermittent, the errors became more frequent, so the instrument has been temporarily stowed while the science team investigates the problem.
[...]

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/newsroo...20070207a.html

[lzeppelin]

iscritto al 3d grazie ragazzi!

[Octane]

si torna a cercare risposte alla domanda: C'e' acqua su Marte?

Press Releases
February 15, 2007

NASA Mars Orbiter Sees Effects of Ancient Underground Fluids


Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona


Liquid or gas flowed through cracks penetrating underground rock on ancient Mars, according to a report based on some of the first observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. These fluids may have produced conditions to support possible habitats for microbial life.

These ancient patterns were revealed when the most powerful telescopic camera ever sent to Mars began examining the planet last year. The camera showed features as small as approximately 3 feet (one meter) across. Mineralization took place deep underground, along faults and fractures. These mineral deposits became visible after overlying layers were eroded away throughout millions of years.

Dr. Chris Okubo, a geologist at the University of Arizona, Tucson, discovered the patterns in an image of exposed layers in a Martian canyon named Candor Chasma. The image was taken in September 2006 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera aboard the orbiter.

"What caught my eye was the bleaching or lack of dark material along the fracture. That is a sign of mineral alteration by fluids that moved through those joints," said Okubo. "It reminded me of something I had seen during field studies in Utah, that is light-tone zones, or 'haloes,' on either side of cracks through darker sandstone."[...]

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/newsroo...20070215a.html

February 16, 2007

CRISM Uncovering Clues of Martian Surface Composition



Reaching its first 100 days of operations, the powerful mineral-detector aboard the newest satellite to circle Mars is changing the way scientists view the history of water on the red planet.

The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), designed and built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., has teamed with the five other cameras and sensors aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to provide new clues about where water could have existed -on or near the Martian surface. [...]

http://crism.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/articles/021607.php




http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/mission...er_update.html

[Octane]

visto che stiamo trascurando un po' questo thread butto li' qualche update..

March 22, 2007

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission Status

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter put itself into safe mode -- a precautionary status with minimized activities -- on March 14. It remained healthy and in communication with Earth, but with no science observations, while the flight team examined engineering data. On March 20, the team brought the spacecraft back out of safe mode.

Science instruments were powered up March 21 and are resuming normal science operations today, March 22.

When it went into safe mode, the spacecraft switched, for the first time in the mission, to a backup ("B") duplicate flight computer on board. Diagnosis of the "A" computer has not yet revealed what caused the switch to the B side.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/newsroo...20070322a.html

[GioFX]

ottimo octane!

[Octane]

Altre immagini dalllo strumento CRISM



Versione full res. qui


peccato solo non dicano nulla sul contenuto scientifico di queste immagini

[Octane]

CRISM View

Ora disponibile un tool per il monitoraggio dell'attivita' dell'MRO direttamente da web in "real-time":



http://crism.jhuapl.edu/science/CRISMview/

If you’ve ever wanted to soar over the surface of Mars, now you can – through the simulated eyes of the powerful mineral mapping camera now circling the Red Planet.
CRISM View, created by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory team that designed and operates the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, offers a look at the Martian surface as if the viewer were riding along with CRISM, one of six science instruments on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The application is available on the CRISM Web site, at http://crism.jhuapl.edu/science/CRISMview/. Based on the software CRISM team members use to monitor their instrument, CRISM View shows (in real time) the orbiter’s track, position and velocity above Mars; current CRISM instrument settings; a simulated view of the Martian surface below the spacecraft and the section of the surface in CRISM’s field of view; and a running list of CRISM observations. On-screen maps also illustrate the daytime and nighttime sections of the planet, and the current positions of Earth and Mars around the Sun.
“CRISM View is an opportunity to look over the shoulders of the mission team, to see what’s happening in real time,” says Scott Murchie, CRISM principal investigator from the Applied Physics Laboratory, in Laurel, Md. “The images on our Web site show the results of CRISM’s work, but with CRISM View it’s like people are sitting with the scientists and engineers at APL, watching our mission unfold.”
CRISM is looking for areas that were wet long enough to leave a mineral signature on the surface, searching for the spectral traces of aqueous and hydrothermal deposits, and mapping the geology, composition, and stratigraphy of surface features. Offering greater capability to map spectral variations than any similar instrument sent to another planet, CRISM can read 544 “colors” in reflected sunlight to detect minerals in the surface.
CRISM View is the latest opportunity the team has taken to bring the mission science to students and Web visitors. Featured images, at http://crism.jhuapl.edu/gallery/featuredImage/, highlight selected CRISM images that capture Mars' geologic evolution and compositional variability. A curriculum guide, at http://crism.jhuapl.edu/education/curriculum.php, uses Mars as a springboard to teach basic geologic concepts. And the Reflectance Spectroscopy Lab, at http://crism.jhuapl.edu/education/reflectSpectLab.php, teaches users how to recognize different types of rocks that may initially look or feel the same, based on subtle differences in the light they reflect.

http://crism.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/articles/060707.php