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RadarCat
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Posted: Wed Jan 7th, 2009 10:55 pm | 1st Post |
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Photo Essays
The Mars Rovers: 5 Years on the Surface
Spirit and Opportunity continue to transmit data after a half-decade of service
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1869259,00.html
NASA
The Mars Exploration Rover Mission
On January 4, 2004, the first of two Mars Exploration Rovers (shown above in an artist's rendering) landed on the Martian surface. The goal of therovers was to search for and analyze rocks and soils that yield clues to the planet's watery past. Water, of course, is essential for life - at least as we understand it.
NASA / Getty
Preparation
NASA technicians examine MER-2, subsequently dubbed Spirit, at Kennedy Space Center in March 2003. The spacecraft's name, along with the name of its twin, Opportunity, was chosen through a student essay competition.
Bruce Weaver / AFP / Getty
Launch
A Delta II rocket with Spirit aboard takes off from Earth on June 10, 2003. The relatively small rover - it weighs just a little more than 400 pounds - is packed into the tip of this giant rocket,
NASA / EPA
Landing
An artist's drawing shows how Spirit's parachute deployed as it approached the Martian surface. The first rover arrived on the planet on January 4, 2004. The second arrived three weeks later.
Damian Davargenes / EPA
Celebration
NASA scientists and technicians celebrate Opportunity's landing on Mars. Putting the second rover on the planet made them "two for two."
NASA / Getty
First Impressions
This panoramic image, a 3-D stereo photo made by the rover's navigation camera, was released by NASA shortly after Spirit arrived on the Martian surface. It shows a surface depression nicknamed 'Sleepy Hollow' visible at the center left of the frame.
Bill Ingalls / NASA / AP
Viewing
NASA's chief scientist in 2004, James Garvin, left, and an agency public affairs officer study the 3-D images provided by Spirit in January 2004.
Self Portrait with Rock
In February 2004 Spirit transmitted this photograph of its exploratory arm and the ground beneath it. NASA nicknamed this rock "Adirondack."
NASA / JPL / EPA
From the Rover Photo Album
Opportunity generated this false-color image of dune crests as it navigated further into "Endurance Crater." In their five years on the planet surface, the two rovers have traveled a combined 13 miles.
NASA / JPL / EPA
Microscopic View
This image shows approximately 1.2 inches of a rock surface scientists named "El Capitan." Spirit and Opportunity have transmitted over a quarter million images during their stay on the planet surface.
NASA / JPL / EPA
The Wide View
Spirit provided the data for this image, stitched together from several separate frames, in January 2004. When NASA first announced the rover missions, no one expected that they would last for so long. The original mission profile suggested that they would operate for approximately three months apiece.
NASA / AFP / Getty
The Next Generation
An artist's rendering shows the Mars Science Laboratory, the vehicle that lies at the heart of the next mission to the Red Planet. It is presently set for launch in 2011.
RadarCat
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Forseti
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Posted: Sun Jan 11th, 2009 02:05 am | 2nd Post |
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Thanks for the pics. I have always been fascinated by Mars. It has an atmosphere, and thanks to NASA, there is now strong evidence of it having water and a past environment that might have rivaled Earth's at some point in its history. If such conditions can happen on a non-Earth planet, then the possibility exists that it could happen elsewhere in the Universe.
What is also interesting about Mars is that it once had a magnetic field. This is important because if scientists can determine how Mars lost its magnetic field, then they can determine if the Earth could ever lose its magnetic field, and possibly take preventative measures.
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