Mars Global Surveyor images the tracks of Spirit

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nacnud

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Astrobiology Magazine is carrying an article on imaging the tracks of the MERs all I can say is wow, check it out for your self.<br /><br /><font color="yellow"><b>Making Tracks on Mars</b><br /><br />Summary (Sep 27, 2004): In a remarkable series of orbital pictures, the Mars Global Surveyor's cameras have imaged the tracks of the Spirit rover on the surface. Individual debris pieces including the backshell and lander are visible with remarkable clarity using an innovative roll of the satellite.</font><br /><br />NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, starting its third mission extension this week after seven years of orbiting Mars, is using an innovative technique to capture pictures even sharper than most of the more than 170,000 it has already produced.<br /><br />One dramatic example from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera shows wheel tracks of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit and the rover itself. Another tells scientists that no boulders bigger than about 1 to 2 meters (3 to 7 feet) are exposed in giant ripples created by a catastrophic flood.<br /><br />In addition, about 24,000 newly catalogued images that Mars Global Surveyor took between October 2003 and March 2004 have been added to the Mars Orbiter Camera Image Gallery . These include additional pictures of the Mars Exploration Rover sites seen from orbit.<br /><br />"Over the past year and a half, the camera and spacecraft teams for Mars Global Surveyor have worked together to develop a technique that allows us to roll the entire spacecraft so that the camera can be scanned in a way that sees details at three times higher resolution than we normally get," said Dr. Ken Edgett, staff scientist for Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., which built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. The technique adjusts the rotation rate of the spacecraft to match the ground speed under th
 
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earth_bound_misfit

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Thats real cool thanks nacnud.<br />Its a shame though, that the Beagle can not be seen. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------- </p><p>Wanna see this site looking like the old SDC uplink?</p><p>Go here to see how: <strong>SDC Eye saver </strong>  </p> </div>
 
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mrmorris

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<font color="yellow">"Its a shame though, that the Beagle can not be seen." </font><br /><br />If they knew exactly where to photograph (which they don't), the same technology could photograph Beagle. Unfortunately -- without the tracks shown in the Spirit photo -- what you'd end up with would be an isolated dot the size of the one showing Spirit's lander. That dot then would not be resolvable to the point where they could be *sure* it was Beagle. Ergo -- no point to the excercise. <br /><br />A decade or so down the road, there will be a satellite in orbit that can take pictures with sufficient resolution to see Beagle clearly. Of course at that time, it will be of interest mainly to space historians...<br />
 
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robotical

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Even if they have the required resolution at that future date, they may not want to waste time trying to find a probe that could be anywhere in a very large area. They know the coordinates of Spirit, the same cannot be said of the Beagle. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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flynn

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Wow, that is seriously cool. A great read too. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>
 
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