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Spirit Now Sending Color Postcards From Mars
Pasadena (JPL) Jan 05, 2004 NASA has begun receiving high resolution color photographs of Mars from the Spirit rover and is processing them for release sometime later Monday, officials here said. Scientists chalked up several new successes on the robot's first full day on Mars, including deployment of an antenna to transmit data directly to Earth and testing of instruments ahead of three months exploring the Martian surface. Shortly after landing on Mars overnight Saturday to Sunday, Spirit began transmitting low-resolution black and white images taken with its navigational camera, giving the world a first glimpse at the rocky plain where it came to a rest in the Gusev crater, about 15 degrees south of the Martian equator. Twenty-four hours later, NASA is receiving high-resolution, IMAX-quality color images at Jet Propulsion Laboratory here. Technicians were to spend the night of Sunday to Monday putting together a mosaic of images to produce 360-degree views, the best photographs ever taken on Mars, for release later in the day. The images were taken by Spirt's panoramic camera, mounted on a vertical telescopic arm, which essentially gives researchers a window onto Mars. The camera will help mission managers choose which soils and rocks to analyze and decide where to guide the robot once it is put in motion.
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