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NASA / JPL-Caltech / Cornell / ASU
NASA's Opportunity rover catches its own late-afternoon shadow in a view looking eastward across Endeavour Crater on Mars. Endeavour measures 14 miles across, encompassing a crater with about as much area as the city of Seattle. The colors in this picture have been tweaked to exaggerate surface differences.
NASA's Opportunity rover can't really take a full-frontal picture of itself on Mars, but catching its own shadow on camera is the next best thing. And if you can get a breathtaking view of Endeavour Crater in the background, so much the better.
This view combines about a dozen separate images taken by Opportunity's panoramic camera in early March, while the rover was biding its time on Endeavour's western rim. At the time, the solar-powered rover was in stationary, low-energy mode due to the Martian winter. But since the images for this mosaic were collected, Opportunity has resumed its drive and is currently investigating a patch of windblown Martian dust nearby.
Eventually, Opportunity will head for a spot known as Cape Tribulation to look for special types of clay minerals known as phyllosilicates. If such minerals are found, studying the deposits could provide fresh insights into the role that water played in Mars' ancient past.
The picture reflects the scene at 4:30 to 5 p.m. on a Martian afternoon, with the colors enhanced to exaggerate differences in surface composition. That's why the far reaches of Endeavour Crater's basin have a bluish tinge. In natural color, the vista would have a more uniform reddish tone.
And while we're on the subject of color, check out the knobby protuberance at lower left. That's the rover's sundial. The device isn't used so much to tell the time as to calibrate the panoramic camera's color balance. Patches of color and circles of grayscale help the rover operators back on Earth figure out how to match the colors to what the eye would see. Unfortunately, the color-calibrating "Marsdial" isn't as helpful as it might be, because it's covered with reddish dust — like the rest of the solar panels in the foreground.
To find out what the Marsdial looks like when it's cleaned up, and to get a better sense of how it's used, check out this explanation from Cornell University's Athena team.
NASA sent Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, to opposite sides of Mars in January 2004, with the expectation that their missions would last for 90 days. Both rovers were crazy overachievers, and although Spirit gave up the ghost a year or two ago, Opportunity is still going strong. Soon it will no longer be alone: In August, NASA's Curiosity rover is due to be dropped onto the Martian surface for at least a couple of years of work on the Red Planet.
More about Mars:
- Mock Mars rover takes test drive in the desert
- Curiosity's destination: It's now Mount Sharp
- Slideshow: The making of Curiosity
- Slideshow: Greatest hits from Mars
- Cosmic Log archive on Mars
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Look at the dirt on the solar panels. Amazing the thing is still working.
Your right ....
It makes it look all rusty ....
Maybe a Mars Dust Devil will spin by it and blow that mess off .... "LOL"
It's still a great view ....
Funny how the photo lens is staying so clean and clear ....
Thanks Alan Boyle ....
All I asked for were two things, one, an arm that could reach the solar panels, and two, a tool that could clean the dust off the panels.
Makes R2D2 and C3PO look pristine by comparison.
I hate to say it, but OMG how pretty is that? When you think how far away, this is the real news we're making...the rest is just stupid.
Yea, and how lucky are we? Amazing times we live in! :)
I was thinking the same thing! All I can say is WOW!
How much energy needs to be collected to power a compressor to compress the Martian atmosphere and periodically blow off the dust off the solar panels? Not for these rovers of course but for future missions. You might not get all the dust off the panels but at least get a majority of it off...
Just a thought...or am I thinking too simple?
[0.o] How much energy needs to be collected to power a compressor to compress the Martian atmosphere and periodically blow off the dust off the solar panels?
That would be tricky - Mar's air is about 6 / 1000th as thick as Earth's - so not a 'vacuum' exactly, but pretty close. We always hear about the 'thin atmosphere', but it's REALLY thin.
However, the basic idea of cleaning those panels is good - maybe a windshield wiper type of wand with a brush? Of course, the rovers were only expected to survive about 90 days - so they never thought they'd live long enough to see this much dust. :)
Yes, at Caltech they've been working on "artificial muscles" that would basically be wipers for the solar panels. Curiosity rover won't have that problem so much because it's powered by RTGs (radioisotope thermoelectric generators).
http://www.space.com/13702-nuclear-generators-rtg-power-nasa-planetary-probes-infographic.html
Guys.... how about a simple high speed oscillating fan?
Perfect!
Ya how can it still work with that much dust on the solar panels?
Why is there a shoe on the rover?
....six more weeks of Martian winter
A better caption would be "sees its own shadow"
Very clever, I wish I had thought of it.
Keep on truckin' little rover, keep on truckin'.
Done!
Nice view, just wait till they find something they can profit from.
Johnny Five is alive!!!
The look of the epoxy or sealant material on the solar panels look sloppy and irregular in application. Maybe this is the appearence of dust on these surfaces????
Wonder what the ambient temperature was at the time the photo was taken.....?
Why do you think it's epoxy or sealant?
I think NASA hit a homerun with the Spirit and Opportunity rover design. Those things are like the Energizer Bunny!
It really feels good when something that was supposed to last 90 days is still clocking along after, what, 5 years? That's good old American technology at work for ya. I'd also say that we got our money's worth outta these two crafty crafts. Maybe the next generation of rovers will have self cleaning solar panels or some other type of long lasting, renable power source.
Just another piece of the puzzle of things we don't yet know. Gotta love it.
PS. The panorama is beautiful.
The first thought that came to me when I looked at the picture was Alec Guiness' voice saying, "Mos Eisley spaceport..."
Still looks like Yuma to me....
It is just awesome to stop and realize that this picture was taken on another planet. When I look up into the sky and see Mars, it is surreal to think that there are pieces of man-made equipment all the way out there.
The fact that these rovers have lasted as long as they have demonstrates the high quality of the people NASA has working for them. I support every single tax dollar that they have spent on this program.
I think a next great step would be to send a fixed Power, Cleaning and Inspection station to Mars. Deploy this station to a location near the newest rover and include 4 legs with extendable spikes to anchor it into the surface, a large solar array to capture power, an array of high-capacity batteries to store up the power, a compressor capable of a long duty cycle in order to run long enough to store up a useful amount of compressed gas, and extendable booms with great dexterity, equipped with air nozzles for cleaning the rover's (and it's own) solar panels, and cameras to inspect the exterior of the rover.
I know! Forty years ago we considered it amazing to see taped snipets of John Glenn's flight. How far we've come. How far we are going (provided, of course, that we don't blow ourselves up before we get anywhere else).
GO rovers!
This little guy needs a good bath. Long live Opportunity!
Soon there will an acid rain and he will be disinfected...
Ooops I nearly jumped...(the Rover said when startled by its own moving shadow...since NASA told him he was the only one one MARS.)
Well, considering it is the Martian winter, it seeing it's own shadow might mean another 6 weeks of winter (take that, Puxatanie Pete,, you ol' groundhog).
Seriously though, Mr. Binkie, where do you see a shoe on the rover? It is truly amazing that the rover is still operating; let alone sending pictures back five years after it supposedly was to be useless.
Way to go, NASA!
It's just an awesome photo, and an even more awesome achievement. Wow, wow, wow...
It's lasted 8 years longer than it was supposed to...not 5 as some keep saying. It's 2012...not 2009. :)
How many Martian Years is that?
I wonder what type of biology we can culture from that dust...