HiRISE and Mars Polar Lander |
HiRISE and Mars Polar Lander |
Guest_Sunspot_* |
Dec 6 2006, 02:05 PM
Post
#1
|
Guests |
Looking at the images of the Spirit/Opportunity landing site, it seems many of the features such as tracks and rocket blast markings have faded considerably often to the point of being invisible in the nearly three years since landing.
This had me thinking about the MGS images taken in the hope of finding MPL. Initially it was reported that MGS had spotted the lander, one image had a white spot/streak interpreted as the parachute and a dark patch with a spot in the centre not too far off, taken to be the blast zone of the rockets with the lander in the centre. However another image taken 5 years later seemed to discount this theory - the features had faded or changed significantly. BUT, seeing how much the rover sites have changed in an even shorter time, wouldn't the same happen to the MPL site in 5 years - perhaps to an even greater degree with the more extreme seasonal changes at that location. Also, the latest HiRISE images show just how difficult it has been to spot the landers on the surface with MGS, the Viking sites in particular. I hope HiRISE takes another look at this spot. Mars Polar Lander NOT Found, MSSS article: http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/10/17/ |
|
|
May 14 2008, 04:36 AM
Post
#2
|
|
Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
MarsIsImportant, I was also completely confused about what the north azimuth meant for HiRISE images until I had a conversation with some of the HiRISE folks. As Tim says, the north azimuth for the non-map-projected images (which are the ones I would recommend for performing these searches, as they represent non-resampled data) are measured clockwise from the right side of the frame (which I find counterintuitive enough; it gets worse). For map-projected images, it's the same, as long as you're dealing with an image that is not close to one of the poles. Polar images are in a polar stereographic projection, in which lines of latitude make concentric circles around the pole, and lines of longitude are straight, intersecting at the pole. So in the map-projected images of places close to the pole, north is not necessarily up. Which direction north is depends upon what longitude you're looking at. If you're looking at a place near longitude 0, north will be up. However, the Mars Polar Lander landing site is at 165, which is to say very close to longitude 180, so the map-projected images have north almost straight down. For the one you are looking at, PSP_005114_1035, the direction to north is given as 75 degrees, which (when you measure it clockwise from the right side of the frame) gives you a north direction that is only 15 degrees to the right of straight down.
I think Tim Parker would be the first to admit that he is not always right. But I think that if Tim says he's sure about something, you should consider it to be pretty likely that he's right. --Emily -------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
|
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 26th September 2024 - 07:11 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |