Sections
Log in
Top News
U.S. News World News Featured Voices
Odd News
Entertainment
Movies Music TV
Sports
Soccer NFL NBA MLB
Photos
News Entertainment Sports Features
More...
Defense Featured Science Health Video Archive Almanac
About Feedback Privacy Policy
About Feedback Privacy Policy
Search
Trending
Taylor Swift
Measles
North Korea
Kennedy Space Center
Prison workers
Angela Merkel
UPS hostage
Helicopter crash
Tennessee execution
Michael Bloomberg
Science News
July 9, 2012 / 5:07 PM

Rover image captures Mars panorama

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.

GREENBELT, Md., July 9 (UPI) -- NASA has released a full-circle panoramic photo taken by its Opportunity rover of the martian surface it describes as the next best thing to being there.

The photo, a combination of 817 images, shows fresh rover tracks and an impact crater created millions of years ago at the location where the long-lived exploring rover spent its most recent martian winter, a NASA release reported.

The images were taken between Dec. 21 and May 8 from Opportunity's vantage point on an outcrop informally named "Greeley Haven," on a segment of the rim of the ancient Endeavour Crater.

"The view provides rich geologic context for the detailed chemical and mineral work that the team did at Greeley Haven over the rover's fifth martian winter, as well as a spectacularly detailed view of the largest impact crater that we've driven to yet with either rover over the course of the mission," said Jim Bell of Arizona State University, lead scientist for the rover's Pancam operations.

RELATED Party chiefs spar over Obama, Romney

Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, landed on Mars in January 2004 for missions originally planned to last for three months.

NASA's next-generation Mars rover, Curiosity, is set to land on the Red Planet in August.

The rover's science team dubbed Opportunity's winter site Greeley Haven in tribute to Ronald Greeley, a team member who died in 2011 after teaching generations of planetary science students at Arizona State University.

RELATED Crash mars Tour de France

"Ron Greeley was a valued colleague and friend, and this scene, with its beautiful wind-blown drifts and dunes, captures much of what Ron loved about Mars," Steve Squyres of Cornell University, principal investigator for the rovers Opportunity and Spirit, said.

RELATED Crew chosen for simulated Mars mission

RELATED Study: Mission wouldn't have to dig deep

RELATED NASA's Orion spacecraft arrives in Florida
  • Topics
  • Jim Bell
  • Steve Squyres

Latest Headlines

Checkerboard of unharvested corn in snowy North Dakota seen in NASA image
Science News // 1 hour ago
Checkerboard of unharvested corn in snowy North Dakota seen in NASA image
Dec. 6 (UPI) -- NASA's Landsat 7 satellite revealed a unique checkerboard-like pattern of unharvested corn across South Dakota caused by a combination of weather and agricultural phenomena.

Healing the ozone layer helped slow global warming
Science News // 3 hours ago
Healing the ozone layer helped slow global warming
Dec. 6 (UPI) -- New research suggests the Montreal Protocol helped slow global warming. Chlorofluorocarbons, a class of chemicals that destroy the ozone layer, are also greenhouse gases.

School cafeterias waste 530K tons of food per year
Science News // 5 hours ago
School cafeterias waste 530K tons of food per year
Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A new study by the World Wildlife Fund suggests schools in the United States are generating hundreds of thousands of tons of post-service food waste every year.

Resilient, opportunistic plants are most invasive threat, study shows
Science News // 7 hours ago
Resilient, opportunistic plants are most invasive threat, study shows
Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Previously, scientists thought plants with the fastest growth rates posed the greatest threat, but new research suggests plants that quickly rebound in the wake of disruption are most likely to invade foreign soil.

Volcanic rock movements caused dramatic shift in climate 55 million years ago
Science News // 1 day ago
Volcanic rock movements caused dramatic shift in climate 55 million years ago
Dec. 5 (UPI) -- New research suggests the rise of massive amounts of magma in Earth's crust can trigger periods of dramatic warming.

Calving to leave Thwaites Glacier increasingly vulnerable to collapse
Science News // 1 day ago
Calving to leave Thwaites Glacier increasingly vulnerable to collapse
Dec. 5 (UPI) -- New research suggests that once the Thwaites Glacier's ice shelf is gone, the glacier's flow toward the ocean, and its subsequent breakup, is likely to accelerate dramatically.

Early climate change models were pretty accurate, study finds
Science News // 1 day ago
Early climate change models were pretty accurate, study finds
Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Early climate models get a bad wrap for being imprecise, but new research suggests they were surprisingly accurate.

Atmospheric rivers cost American West $1 billion a year in flood damage
Science News // 1 day ago
Atmospheric rivers cost American West $1 billion a year in flood damage
Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Atmospheric rivers, long bands of water vapor carried west to east across the Pacific Ocean by fast high-altitude winds, have cost the Western United States billions in flood damage over the last four decades.

Data from Parker Solar Probe helps unravel sun's mysteries
Science News // 2 days ago
Data from Parker Solar Probe helps unravel sun's mysteries
Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The observations and measurements recorded by the Parker Solar Probe are bringing scientists closer to solving some of the sun's greatest mysteries, according to the authors of four new studies.

As the planet warms, birds are shrinking
Science News // 2 days ago
As the planet warms, birds are shrinking
Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Migratory songbirds in Illinois are no exception to Bergmann's rule, which posits that specimens representing that same species tend to be smaller in warmer climates and bigger in colder climates.

Trending Stories

Volcanic rock movements caused dramatic shift in climate 55 million years ago
Volcanic rock movements caused dramatic shift in climate 55 million years ago
Early climate change models were pretty accurate, study finds
Early climate change models were pretty accurate, study finds
Resilient, opportunistic plants are most invasive threat, study shows
Resilient, opportunistic plants are most invasive threat, study shows
Data from Parker Solar Probe helps unravel sun's mysteries
Data from Parker Solar Probe helps unravel sun's mysteries
Calving to leave Thwaites Glacier increasingly vulnerable to collapse
Calving to leave Thwaites Glacier increasingly vulnerable to collapse

Photo Gallery

 
On the red carpet at the International Emmy Awards
On the red carpet at the International Emmy Awards

Latest News

USS America arrives at new home port in Sasebo, Japan
New York Knicks fire head coach David Fizdale
White House refuses judiciary's invite to participate in impeachment probe
Checkerboard of unharvested corn in snowy North Dakota seen in NASA image
Clinical trial to test stem cells against type 1 diabetes
 
Back to Article
/
Back to top
About UPI Contact Feedback Advertisements Submit News Tips
Copyright © 2019 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of UsePrivacy Policy