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One robot spacecraft spies another


The HiRISE camera in orbit around Mars caught Mars Curiosity rover, just left of center in this image, on March 25, 2016 (MSL Sol 1291). Image via University of Arizona.

The Curiosity rover is currently located on the Naukluft Plateau of Mars, just north of the Bagnold Dune field. Image via University of Arizona.

The HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars reconnaissance Orbiter has acquired many amazing images of the surface of Mars, looking down from high above, but this one is particularly fun. The image – acquired on March 25 but described by the HiRISE team on June 22, 2016 – shows a second Mars spacecraft, not an orbiter this time, but a rover crawling along the Martian surface. It’s the Mars Curiosity rover. The camera team said:

HiRISE periodically acquires images of the two working rovers on Mars, Opportunity (Mars Exploration Rover) and Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory). Although earlier pictures are generally sufficient for mapping the terrain and topography, new images allow scientists and engineers to study rover tracks and their covering with dust over time.

The ability to keep track of the rovers’ progress and seeing their current location on Mars in the HiRISE images is of great interest to the public. In the case of Curiosity, new images allow the tracking of active sand dunes currently in the vicinity of the rover. This dune field, informally named the Bagnold Dunes after the pioneering British aeolian scientist Ralph Bagnold (1896-1990), has recently been investigated by Curiosity.

Via University of Arizona



from EarthSky http://ift.tt/28U1jNV
The HiRISE camera in orbit around Mars caught Mars Curiosity rover, just left of center in this image, on March 25, 2016 (MSL Sol 1291). Image via University of Arizona.

The Curiosity rover is currently located on the Naukluft Plateau of Mars, just north of the Bagnold Dune field. Image via University of Arizona.

The HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars reconnaissance Orbiter has acquired many amazing images of the surface of Mars, looking down from high above, but this one is particularly fun. The image – acquired on March 25 but described by the HiRISE team on June 22, 2016 – shows a second Mars spacecraft, not an orbiter this time, but a rover crawling along the Martian surface. It’s the Mars Curiosity rover. The camera team said:

HiRISE periodically acquires images of the two working rovers on Mars, Opportunity (Mars Exploration Rover) and Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory). Although earlier pictures are generally sufficient for mapping the terrain and topography, new images allow scientists and engineers to study rover tracks and their covering with dust over time.

The ability to keep track of the rovers’ progress and seeing their current location on Mars in the HiRISE images is of great interest to the public. In the case of Curiosity, new images allow the tracking of active sand dunes currently in the vicinity of the rover. This dune field, informally named the Bagnold Dunes after the pioneering British aeolian scientist Ralph Bagnold (1896-1990), has recently been investigated by Curiosity.

Via University of Arizona



from EarthSky http://ift.tt/28U1jNV

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