NASA scientists showed off their first color “post card” of Mars, today.
The photograph, actually a mosaic of a dozen three-color frames shot by Spirit’s twin panoramic cameras, brought into sharp focus such vivid details as the shape and texture of rocks, the soil trails left by dust devils, nearby hills, and a tantalizing but distant mesa.
“It looks like mud but it can’t be mud,” said Steven Squyres, the principal investigator for the team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “It’s very cohesive. It holds together well.”
The picture also revealed that the surface of the rocks surrounding Spirit in its landing site at Gusev Crater appeared to have been worn clean by the sand-blasting effects of high winds. A close-up of one small rock showed it to be pitted with tiny craters of its own.
Jim Bell, the team’s leading camera specialist, said the “post card” image was 16 times higher resolution than the earlier black-and-white panoramic photos taken by Spirit’s navigation cameras and three to four times sharper than the best pictures ever shot on Mars before, those taken by the Mars Pathfinder mission in 1997.
Still, scientists said the best is yet to come. Tuesday’s 12-million-pixel photo, though higher definition than earlier pictures, represents about one-eighth of the entire 360-degree panorama that the twin pan cams are capable of shooting.
In a matter of days, the JPL teams expects to acquire a full 360-degree shot in three-dimensional, four-color, splendor.
The @Sat Orbiter Locator for Pocket PCs and Smartphones lets users can stay in touch with the Mars Rover missions, track orbiters like the Space Station and download the latest images. It tells you when the next overpass will happen, and where to look.
Carneigne Mellon’s EventScope provides first-hand access to 3D data right from NASA. The software is free and gives the user the ability to download unlimited Remote Experience files to learn about and explore Mars. By using EventScope, educators can collaborate with both students and remote scientists within an immersive virtual environment.
The EventScope Authoring Tool provides advanced users with the ability to author and edit navigable 3D remote experiences, science lessons, and compelling scientific presentations. It can use any VRML model. Or start with EventScope models based on NASA data. It’s a free download!
NASA’s Maestro program lets you look at Mars the way NASA does. It’s the primary software tool used by scientists to operate the Mars Exploration Rovers, from JPL. Anyone can download Maestro for free and use it to follow along with the rovers’ progress during the mission. Maestro can view pictures from Mars in 2D and 3D and create rover activity plans. Slashdot has more, including a link to a pdf white paper and Spirit’s first stereo images.
Related Daily Wireless articles include Mars: Dead or Alive and Telepresence Now!
