Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity and its tracks are captured in this enhanced-resolution image.

The picture was taken from Mars orbit with the Mars Orbiter Cameraon board the Mars Global Surveyor. The image was captured on April 26, 2004,Opportunity’s 91st martian day. The rover was on its way toEndurance Crater.

Also visible and labeled on this image are the spacecraft’slander, backshell, parachute and heat shield, plus effects of itslanding rockets.

The camera captured this image with use of a technique calledcompensated pitch and roll targeted observation. In this method,the entire spacecraft rolls as it passes over the target area sothe camera can scan in a way that sees details at three timeshigher resolution than the camera’s normal high-resolutioncapability.

Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. North is toward thetop of the image. The 100-meter scale bar is 109 yards long.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS