Surveyor At Mars
Explanation:
Mars Global Surveyor achieved
Martian orbit on September 11 and began
aerobraking into its final mapping orbit, a process
that will take until March next year.
Anticipating the labors ahead,
Mars Orbital Camera operators have begun acquiring test images.
This dramatic detail of a recent image
shows a 10 mile wide swath of a highland valley, part of the Nirgal Vallis
system.
The original image was recorded from an
altitude of 250 miles at a resolution of about 30 feet per pixel
and has been rotated to represent the
camera's perspective view.
Were these valleys formed by flowing water
or did collapse and erosion caused by ground water
produced the channel? What other processes were important?
Time will tell.
From its planned mapping orbit,
with four times better resolution, Mars
Global Surveyor's images should provide
answers to these and other
questions about Mars.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
