Mars Orbiter Sees Rover Tracks Among Thousands of New Images

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

Guy Webster (818) 354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Donald Savage (202) 358-1547
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

IMAGE ADVISORY:
2004-238
September 27, 2004

Mars Orbiter Sees Rover Tracks Among Thousands of New Images

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.

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.

Those examples are available online at

http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/27/ and
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs .

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 at ttp://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ . These include additional
pictures of the Mars Exploration Rover sites seen from orbit.

"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 the camera.

"The image motion compensation is tricky and the spacecraft does not
always hit its target. However, when it does, the results can be
spectacular," Edgett said.

The Mars Orbiter Camera acquires the highest resolution images ever
obtained from a Mars-orbiting spacecraft. During normal operating
conditions, the smallest objects that can be resolved on the martian
surface in these images are about 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet)
across. With the adjusted-rotation technique, called
"compensated pitch and roll targeted observation," objects as small as
1.5 meters (4.9 feet) can be seen in images from the same camera.
Resolution capability of 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) per pixel is improved
to one-half meter (1.6 feet) per pixel. Because the maneuvers are
complex and the amount of data that can be acquired is limited, most
images from the camera are still taken without using that technique.

Mars Global Surveyor began orbiting Mars on Sept. 12, 1997. After
gradually adjusting the shape of its orbit, it began systematically
mapping the planet in March 1999. The Mars Orbiter Camera's
narrow-angle camera has now examined nearly 4.5 percent of Mars'
surface, including extensive imaging of candidate and selected landing
sites for surface missions. The Mars Orbiter Camera also includes a
wide-angle camera that observes the entire planet daily.

"Mars Global Surveyor has been productive longer than any other
spacecraft ever sent to Mars, since it surpassed Viking Lander 1's
longevity earlier this year and has returned more images than all past
Mars missions combined," said Tom Thorpe, project manager for Mars
Global Surveyor at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
The mission will complete its 25,000th mapping orbit on Oct. 11.

Principal goals for the orbiter's latest mission extension, beginning
Oct. 1, include continued weather monitoring to form a continuous set
of observations with NASA's next Mars mission, Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter, scheduled to reach the red planet in 2006; imaging of
possible landing sites for the Phoenix 2007 Mars Scout lander and 2009
Mars Science Laboratory rover; continued mapping and analysis of key
sedimentary-rock outcrop sites; and continued monitoring of changes on
the surface due to wind and ice. Because the narrow-angle camera has
imaged only a small fraction of the surface, new discoveries about
surface features are likely to come at any time. The extension runs
two years, through September 2006, with a budget of $7.5 million per
year.

Dr. James Garvin, NASA's chief scientist for Mars and the Moon, said,
"Mars Global Surveyor continues to catalyze new science as it explores
Mars at scales compatible with those that our Mars Exploration Rovers
negotiate every day, and its extended mission will continue to set the
stage for upcoming observations by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter."

Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is available online
at: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ . In addition to semi-annual
releases of large collections of archived pictures, the Mars Orbiter
Camera team posts a new image daily and last year began soliciting
public suggestions for camera targets on Mars. These materials can be
viewed online at http://www.msss.com . For more information about
NASA and other space science programs on the Internet, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/ .

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Washington, D.C. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed
Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft.

- end -

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 12:17:30 -0700, Ron wrote:


Those examples are available online at

http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/09/27/ and
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs .


The photo is so cool! Amazing.

Resolution of 50 cms per pixel for Mars! Excellent.

The highest resolution routinely available from NOAA satellites
orbiting Earth is 250 metres per pixel (Modis). It would be nice to
see pictures of Earth to resolution of 50 cms per pixel. Landsat?
But I can't find anything on internet.

All I want to do is check on some damaged tiles on the roof of my
house - very hard to see from the ground. A "Mars Orbiter" would be
ideal.

Jack

Kinda makes you wonder how good spy satellites are huh? Who originally
thought of this technique? is the pentagon going to get ****y at NASA for
publicizing what's pretty much a software upgrade? or is this something
that's finally been declassified? No doubt you need a pretty clever bunch of
guys to run the orbiter correctly... Maybe not, and who knows if China's
orbiting beer cans with Kodak DISC cameras in them could benefit... but who
cares, those are damn cool! Have the Britts been calling to have images done
of where the beagle supposedly had landed? At that resolution, you could
practically watch a baseball game from space - or at least see the
runners...

Andy

"Jack Harrison" wrote in message
...
Resolution of 50 cms per pixel for Mars! Excellent.

The highest resolution routinely available from NOAA satellites
orbiting Earth is 250 metres per pixel (Modis). It would be nice to
see pictures of Earth to resolution of 50 cms per pixel. Landsat?
But I can't find anything on internet.

All I want to do is check on some damaged tiles on the roof of my
house - very hard to see from the ground. A "Mars Orbiter" would be
ideal.

Jack

"Jack Harrison" wrote in message
...
Resolution of 50 cms per pixel for Mars! Excellent.

The highest resolution routinely available from NOAA satellites
orbiting Earth is 250 metres per pixel (Modis). It would be nice to
see pictures of Earth to resolution of 50 cms per pixel. Landsat?
But I can't find anything on internet.

All I want to do is check on some damaged tiles on the roof of my
house - very hard to see from the ground. A "Mars Orbiter" would be
ideal.

Shame they can't find Beagle with it.

George

Shame they can't find Beagle with it.


Not sure that they would learn anything even if they
did spot it like they did the rover. We know that
it hit Mars somewhere. But we wouldn't be able
to tell if it landed upside down or hit like Genesis
did in Utah.

Jack Harrison wrote:
Resolution of 50 cms per pixel for Mars! Excellent.

The highest resolution routinely available from NOAA satellites
orbiting Earth is 250 metres per pixel (Modis). It would be nice to
see pictures of Earth to resolution of 50 cms per pixel. Landsat?
But I can't find anything on internet.


Spysats are at least this good if not better. Spysats the
size of Hubble must be quite good. The atmosphere astronomers
complain about blurring their astro pictures probably don't
bother the spy sat guys, as sunlight on the items of interest
on the ground allow quick exposure settings in the cameras of
the spy sats. Before the atmosphere wiggles. Even at
night adaptive optics should be able to clean up the
atmospheric wiggles enough to see stuff. Someone who
knows the physics of optics for telescopes can probably make
a very good guess of the resolution one could get with say
a 1 meter reflector spy telescope. But the other guys will
just do their dirty work inside buildings or underground...

Robert Casey wrote:

Jack Harrison wrote:

Resolution of 50 cms per pixel for Mars! Excellent.

The highest resolution routinely available from NOAA satellites
orbiting Earth is 250 metres per pixel (Modis). It would be nice to
see pictures of Earth to resolution of 50 cms per pixel. Landsat? But
I can't find anything on internet.


Spysats are at least this good if not better. Spysats the
size of Hubble must be quite good. The atmosphere astronomers
complain about blurring their astro pictures probably don't
bother the spy sat guys, as sunlight on the items of interest
on the ground allow quick exposure settings in the cameras of
the spy sats. Before the atmosphere wiggles. Even at
night adaptive optics should be able to clean up the
atmospheric wiggles enough to see stuff. Someone who
knows the physics of optics for telescopes can probably make
a very good guess of the resolution one could get with say
a 1 meter reflector spy telescope. But the other guys will
just do their dirty work inside buildings or underground...

I find it highly amusing that people leave small towns because everyone
knows their business, get educated, go to big cities, invent wondrous
technology in order that they can spy on people and learn their
business. We're apparently not happy unless we're under surveillance.

Ain't humans grand? *|;-)

I find it highly amusing that people leave small towns because everyone
knows their business, get educated, go to big cities, invent wondrous
technology in order that they can spy on people and learn their
business. We're apparently not happy unless we're under surveillance.

Ain't humans grand? *|;-)


Sure, if the Department of Defense wanted to know if you had
a backyard barbicue last weekend. But they should be able to
know what an emeny is up to...

Robert Casey wrote:

Jack Harrison wrote:
Resolution of 50 cms per pixel for Mars! Excellent.

The highest resolution routinely available from NOAA satellites
orbiting Earth is 250 metres per pixel (Modis). It would be nice to
see pictures of Earth to resolution of 50 cms per pixel. Landsat?
But I can't find anything on internet.


Spysats are at least this good if not better. Spysats the
size of Hubble must be quite good. The atmosphere astronomers
complain about blurring their astro pictures probably don't
bother the spy sat guys, as sunlight on the items of interest
on the ground allow quick exposure settings in the cameras of
the spy sats. Before the atmosphere wiggles. Even at
night adaptive optics should be able to clean up the
atmospheric wiggles enough to see stuff. Someone who
knows the physics of optics for telescopes can probably make
a very good guess of the resolution one could get with say
a 1 meter reflector spy telescope.

Sure, it's not very difficult.
Assuming the following:
- No atmospheric distortion (or perfect correction)
- an altitude of about 500km (slightly lower than Hubble, but we're talking
ballpark figures here)
- a 1 meter primary mirror

then the resolving power is as follows:
Resolving power in seconds of arc is 115/D (with D = diameter in
millimeters), so here this would be 0.115 arc-seconds
1 arc second at 500 km = 500/206625 = 2.4 meters
so the max. resolving power of this scope would be 2.4*0.115 = 27.8 cm, or
about 11 inches for the Imperial-minded person.

The Hubble-telescope has a 2.4m mirror, wich would result in approx. 11.5 cm
resolving power, or 4.5 inches.

Basically, the laws of physics prevent the military from putting up a spysat
that can read license-plates or military insignia, because that would
require far too large a mirror to be launchable using existing rockets.

1cm resolving power at 1000km (remember, looking straight down won't show
license plates :-) would require a telescope with a 50 meter mirror,
something which would be somewhat noticeable if orbiting the earth...

But the other guys will
just do their dirty work inside buildings or underground...

But... think of the children, why won't anybody think of the children!!!