Thursday, May 24, 2012

As seen on Mars: Springtime photos from the Mars Rover:

It looks like Arizona or New Mexico.  NASA's Mars Rover recently sent back pictures from the Red Planet.  Amazing!
NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity recently 'woke up' from a winter-long 'sleep' where it couldn't charge its solar panels - but even while it rested, it found time to capture a spectacular image of the 14-mile-wide Endeavour crater, the largest the robot vehicle has explored.The Rover even 'sees itself' using its panoramic camera - Pancam - as it took the mosaic image between 4.30 and 5pm, local time on Mars.
The Rover even 'sees itself' using its panoramic camera - Pancam - as it took the mosaic image between 4.30 and 5pm, local time on Mars
The Rover even 'sees itself' using its panoramic camera - Pancam - as it took the mosaic image between 4.30 and 5pm, local time on Mars
Most of the component images were recorded during the 2,888th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars. Opportunity had spent 19 weeks stuck in one place to 'weather out' the dark months of the Martian winter on an outcrop called Greeley Haven.At that time, Opportunity was spending low-solar-energy weeks of the Martian winter at the Greeley Haven outcrop on the Cape York segment of Endeavour's western rim. Opportunity has worked through four Martian southern hemisphere winters since it landed in in January 2004 about 14 miles northwest of its current location. 
Closer to the equator than its twin rover, Spirit, Opportunity has not needed to stay on a sun-facing slope during the previous winters.
Now, however, Opportunity's solar panels carry a thicker coating of dust, and the team is using a strategy employed for three winters with Spirit: staying on a sun-facing slope.
A view captured by Opportunity before starting its first drive of 2012. The Rover has been 'stuck' in the same place for 19 weeks, waiting for the sun to provide enough power. This week, it drove 12 feet
A view captured by Opportunity before starting its first drive of 2012. The Rover has been 'stuck' in the same place for 19 weeks, waiting for the sun to provide enough power


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2149273/Shadow-Mars-Nasas-Rover-Opportunity-sees-looks-misty-blue-Endeavour-crater-Martian-surface.html#ixzz1vpFP6oCa

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