Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., hemos recibido de la Agencia Espacial NASA, la información sobre un punto de vista de NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity; que nos muestra una parte de la "Maratón del Valle," un destino en el borde occidental del cráter Endeavour, visto desde un mirador norte del valle.
Mars 'Marathon Valley' Overlook
This view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows part of
"Marathon Valley," a destination on the western rim of Endeavour Crater, as seen
from an overlook north of the valley.
The scene spans from east, at left, to southeast. It combines four pointings
of the rover's panoramic camera (Pancam) on March 13, 2015, during the 3,958th
Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars.
The rover team selected Marathon Valley as a science destination because
observations of this location using the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging
Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
yielded evidence of clay minerals, a clue to ancient wet environments. By the
time Opportunity explores Marathon Valley, the rover will have exceeded a total
driving distance equivalent to an Olympic marathon. Opportunity has been
exploring the Meridiani Planum region of Mars since January 2004.
This version of the image is presented in approximate true color by combining
exposures taken through three of the Pancam's color filters at each of the four
camera pointings, using filters centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers
(near-infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet).
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State
Univ.
NASA's Opportunity Mars Rover Finishes Marathon, Clocks
in at Just Over 11 Years
This illustration depicts some highlights along the
route as NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove as far as a marathon
race during the first 11 years and two months after its January 2004 landing in
Eagle Crater. The vehicle surpassed marathon distance of 26.219 miles (42.195
kilometers) with a drive completed on March 24, 2015, during the 3,968th Martian
day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars. For this map, north is on the
left.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./USGS/Arizona State
Univ.
There was no tape draped across a finish line, but NASA is celebrating a win.
The agency’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity completed its first Red Planet
marathon Tuesday -- 26.219 miles (42.195 kilometers) – with a finish time of
roughly 11 years and two months.
This map shows the southward path driven by
Opportunity from late December 2014 until it passed marathon distance on March
24, 2015, during the 3,968th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on
Mars.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
"This is the first time any human enterprise has exceeded the distance of a
marathon on the surface of another world," said John Callas, Opportunity project
manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. "A
first time happens only once."
This map shows the rover's entire traverse from
landing to that point.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/NMMNHS
The rover team at JPL plans a marathon-length relay run at the laboratory
next week to celebrate.
The long-lived rover surpassed the marathon mark during a drive of 153 feet
(46.5 meters). Last year, Opportunity became the long-distance champion of all
off-Earth vehicles when it topped the previous record set by the former Soviet
Union's Lunokhod 2 moon rover.
"This mission isn't about setting distance records, of course; it's about
making scientific discoveries on Mars and inspiring future explorers to achieve
even more," said Steve Squyres, Opportunity principal investigator at Cornell
University in Ithaca, New York. "Still, running a marathon on Mars feels pretty
cool."
Opportunity's original three-month prime mission in 2004 yielded evidence of
environments with liquid water soaking the ground and flowing on planet’s
surface. As the rover continued to operate far beyond expectations for its
lifespan, scientists chose the rim of Endeavour Crater as a long-term
destination. Since 2011, examinations of Endeavour's rim have provided
information about ancient wet conditions less acidic, and more favorable for
microbial life, than the environment that left clues found earlier in the
mission.
JPL manages the Mars rover projects for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington. The Mars Exploration Rover Project, NASA's newer Curiosity Mars
rover, and three active NASA Mars orbiters are part of NASA's Mars Exploration
Program, which seeks to characterize and understand Mars as a dynamic system,
including its present and past environment, climate cycles, geology and
biological potential. In parallel, NASA is developing the human spaceflight
capabilities needed for its journey to Mars.
For more information about Opportunity, visit
Follow the project on social media at:
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
