Mars: prelude to an orbit.Coasting through space, the Mars Observer Mars Observer, launched by NASA in September 25, 1992, was the first of the proposed Observer series of planetary missions, and was designed to study the geoscience and climate of Mars. snapped this image of the Red Planet on July 28 to test its high-resolution, narrow-angle camera. Despite dim light and an intervening distance of some 3.6 million miles, the photograph reveals glimmers of bright and dark markings etched by dust and sand. In the dark center, above the sunrise line, lie the volcanic plains and vast sand dunes of Syrtis Major Syrtis Major Planum is a "dark spot" (an albedo feature) located in the boundary between the northern lowlands and southern highlands of Mars. It was discovered, on the basis of data from Mars Global Surveyor, to be a low-relief shield volcano[1] . The bright area of the northern polar cap halos the top of the planet. The Mars Observer will enter orbit, 248 miles above the Martian surface, on Aug. 24 (see p. 104). Once in orbit, the spacecraft will send back detailed pictures of geologic features such as the polar ice cap
NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. headquarters in Washington, D.C. The new images will help scientists attain one of the mission's major objectives: an understanding of the climate of Mars The climate of Mars has been an issue of scientific interest for centuries, due not least to the fact that Mars is the only terrestrial planet whose surface can be directly observed in detail from the Earth. , French says. The high-resolution camera will be able to discern objects as small as 1.4 meters across--about 20,000 times greater detail than that captured in the image shown here. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion