NASA Mars Opportunity rover gets panoramic image at 'Wdowiak Ridge'

This stereo vista from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows "Wdowiak Ridge," from left foreground to center, as part of a northward look with the rover's tracks visible at right. 

The image combines views from the left eye and right eye of Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) to appear three-dimensional when seen through blue-red glasses with the red lens on the left. 

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

The latest fieldwork site for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, which has been examining a series of Martian craters since 2004, is on the slope of a prominent hill jutting out of the rim of a large crater and bearing its own much smaller crater.

It's called "Wdowiak Ridge." "Wdowiak Ridge sticks out like a sore thumb.

"We want to understand why this ridge is located off the primary rim of Endeavour Crater and how it fits into the geologic story of this region," said Opportunity science-team member Jim Rice of the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona.

The ridge extends about 500 feet (about 150 meters) long and stands about 40 feet (12 meters) above surrounding ground, about two football fields' distance outside the main crest line of Endeavour Crater's western rim.

Thomas J. Wdowiak

The science team calls it "Wdowiak Ridge" [DOW-ee-ak] as a tribute to former team member Thomas J. Wdowiak (1939-2013), who taught astronomy for decades at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

"Tom would have enjoyed this view," said Rice, who first knew of Wdowiak as the enthusiastic outer-space expert who appeared on local television when Rice was a grade-schooler in Alabama in the 1960s.

"Decades later, when I was selected by NASA to be on the Mars rover science team with him, I told Tom I was one of the kids he inspired," Rice said. "Inspiring young people to become interested in space exploration is important to us on this mission."

This vista from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows "Wdowiak Ridge," from left foreground to center, as part of a northward look with the rover's tracks visible at right. 

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

Opportunity approached Wdowiak Ridge from the north on the rover's traverse along the western rim of Endeavour crater, which is about 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter.

The rover is now examining rocks that were tossed outward by an impact that dug a crater 100 feet wide (30 meters) into the southern end of the ridge. That much-smaller crater is called "Ulysses."

Jim Rice

"Ulysses is punched down into Wdowiak Ridge, so this boulder field around the crater gives us samples of different types of rocks from inside the ridge," said Opportunity Principal Investigator Steve Squyres, of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

"Wdowiak Ridge is one on the most dramatic topographic features we've seen on this mission. Why does it stand up the way it does? Is it especially resistant to erosion? What formed it?"

During Opportunity's first decade on Mars and the 2004-2010 career of its twin, Spirit, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project yielded a range of findings proving wet environmental conditions on ancient Mars—some very acidic, others milder and more conducive to supporting life.

This vista from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows "Wdowiak Ridge" in false color, from left foreground to center, as part of a northward look with the rover's tracks visible at right. 

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

NASA Mars Rover Curiosity: New Mount Sharp panorama in transit

Curiosity rover panorama of Mount Sharp captured on June 6, 2014 (Sol 651) during traverse inside Gale Crater. Note rover wheel tracks at left. 

She will eventually ascend the mountain at the ‘Murray Buttes’ at right later this year. 

Assembled from Mastcam color camera raw images and stitched by Marco Di Lorenzo and Ken Kremer. 

Credit: NASA /JPL /MSSS /Marco Di Lorenzo

Within the past Martian day on Friday, June 6, NASA's rover Curiosity captured a stunning new panorama of towering Mount Sharp and the treacherous sand dunes below which she must safely traverse before reaching the mountains foothills, while in transit to her primary destination.

See our brand new Mount Sharp photo mosaic above – taken coincidentally by humanity's emissary on Mars on the 70th anniversary of D-Day on Earth.

Basically she's eating desiccated dirt while running a Martian marathon.

Having said 'Goodbye Kimberley' after drilling her third bore hole deep into a cold red slab of enticing bumpy textures of Martian sandstone in the name of science, our intrepid mega Rover Curiosity is trundling along with all deliberate speed towards the inviting slopes of sedimentary rocks at the base of mysterious Mount Sharp which hold clues to the habitability of the Red Planet.

The sedimentary layers of Mount Sharp, which reaches 3.4 miles (5.5 km) into the Martian sky, is the six wheeled robots ultimate destination inside Gale Crater because it holds caches of water altered minerals.

Such minerals could possibly mark locations that sustained potential Martian microbial life forms, past or present, if they ever existed.

The 1 ton robot is driving on a path towards the Murray Buttes which lies across the dunes on the right side of Mount Sharp as seen in our photo mosaic above, with wheel tracks on the left side.

She will eventually ascend the mountain at the 'Murray Buttes' after crossing the sand dunes.

Mars Rover Curiosity’s panoramic view departing Mount Remarkable and ‘The Kimberley Waypoint’ where rover conducted 3rd drilling campaign inside Gale Crater on Mars. 

The navcam raw images were taken on Sol 630, May 15, 2014, stitched and colorized. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mars Rover Curiosity still has roughly another 4 kilometers of driving to go to reach the foothills of Mount Sharp sometime later this year.

Approximately four weeks ago, Curiosity successfully completed her 3rd drilling campaign since landing at the science waypoint region called "The Kimberley" on May 5, Sol 621, into the 'Windjana' rock target at the base of a 16 foot tall ( 5 Meter) hill called Mount Remarkable.

Mars was far wetter and warmer – and more conducive to the origin of life – billions of years ago.

The fresh hole drilled into "Windjana" was 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter and about 2.6 inches (6.5 centimeters) deep and resulted in a mound of dark grey coloured drill tailings piled around. It looked different from the initial holes drilled at Yellowknife Bay in the spring of 2013.

Composite photo mosaic shows deployment of NASA Rover Curiosity robotic arm and two holes after drilling into ‘Windjana’ sandstone rock on May 5, 2014, Sol 621, at Mount Remarkable as missions third drill target for sample analysis by rover’s chemistry labs. 

The Navcam raw images were stitched together from several Martian days up to Sol 621, May 5, 2014 and coloured. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Windjana lies some 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) southwest of Yellowknife Bay.

Curiosity then successfully delivered pulverized and sieved samples to the pair of onboard miniaturised chemistry labs; the Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin) and the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument (SAM), for chemical and compositional analysis.

Before departing, Curiosity blasted the hole multiple times with her million watt laser on the Mast mounted Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument , leaving no doubt of her capabilities or intentions.

And she completed an up close examination of the texture and composition of 'Windjana' with the MAHLI camera and spectrometers at the end of her 7-foot-long (2 meter) arm to glean every last drop of science before moving on.

NASA Mars Rover Curiosity: A Big Week for Space Exploration

This panorama is a mosaic of images taken by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity while the rover was working at a site called "Rocknest" in October and November 2012.

CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Space Exploration fans have plenty to get excited about this week, beginning with a discussion of the latest findings from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity.

The Curiosity rover update is the first press conference scheduled here during the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), a huge gathering of Earth scientists, space scientists, students, educators and exhibitors this week. The conference begins today and ends Friday.

You can watch the Mars rover briefing live from 12 p.m. EST (1700 GMT) via a webcast feed.

Last year, more than 20,000 people attended the fall meeting, which featured more than 6,000 oral presentations and 12,000 posters, according to the AGU website.

The 2012 edition should be similarly huge and action-packed. Its many multi-presentation sessions include three separate rounds on "Planetary Evolution and the Fate of Planetary Habitability" and four about "Planetary Atmospheres and Evolution".

ESA ESO's VLT Captures Milky Way in the Southern Sky

The Milky Way arches across this rare 360-degree panorama of the night sky above the Paranal platform, home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).

The image was made from 37 individual frames with a total exposure time of about 30 minutes, taken in the early morning hours.

The Moon is just rising and the zodiacal light shines above it, while the Milky Way stretches across the sky opposite the observatory.

Credit: ESO/H.H.Heyer

NASA MARS Rover Curiosity NavCams: First 360-Degree Panorama

Remarkable image sets from NASA's Curiosity rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are continuing to develop the story of Curiosity's landing and first days on Mars.

The images from Curiosity's just-activated navigation cameras, or Navcams, include the rover's first self-portrait, looking down at its deck from above.

Another Navcam image set, in lower-resolution thumbnails, is the first 360-degree view of Curiosity's new home in Gale Crater.

Also downlinked were two, higher-resolution Navcams providing the most detailed depiction to date of the surface adjacent to the rover.

"These Navcam images indicate that our powered descent stage did more than give us a great ride, it gave our science team an amazing freebie," said John Grotzinger, project scientist for the mission from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

"The thrust from the rockets actually dug a one-and-a-half-foot-long [0.5-meter] trench in the surface. It appears we can see Martian bedrock on the bottom. Its depth below the surface is valuable data we can use going forward."

Another image set, courtesy of the Context Camera, or CTX, aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has pinpointed the final resting spots of the six, 55-pound (25-kilogram) entry ballast masses.

The tungsten masses impacted the Martian surface at a high speed of about 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) from Curiosity's landing location.

Curiosity's latest images are available

NASA Mars Rover Curiosity's New Home: Panoramic Picture

These are the first two full-resolution images of the Martian surface from the Navigation cameras on NASA's Curiosity rover, which are located on the rover's "head" or mast.

The rim of Gale Crater can be seen in the distance beyond the pebbly ground.

The topography of the rim is very mountainous due to erosion.

The ground seen in the middle shows low-relief scarps and plains.

The foreground shows two distinct zones of excavation likely carved out by blasts from the rover's descent stage thrusters.

These are full-resolution images, 1024 by 1024 pixels in size.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA MARS Rover Opportunity: Greeley Haven Panorama Image

The so-called Greeley Panorama was produced by combining 817 photographs NASA was able to capture via the panoramic camera, or Pancam, on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity between Dec. 21 and May 8.

Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ Arizona State University 

NASA released this week a stunning image produced by combining 817 photographs it was able to capture via the panoramic camera, or Pancam, on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity between Dec. 21 and May 8.

North is at the center of the so-called Greeley Panorama image, and south is at both ends, according to NASA.

"During the recent four months that Opportunity worked at Greeley Haven, activities included radio-science observations to better understand Martian spin axis dynamics and thus interior structure, investigations of the composition and textures of an outcrop exposing an impact-jumbled rock formation on the crater rim, monitoring the atmosphere and surface for changes, and acquisition of this full-color mosaic of the surroundings," NASA reported.

"The panorama combines exposures taken through Pancam filters centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet)." NASA said. "The view is presented in false color to make some differences between materials easier to see."

Opportunity has been working on Mars since January 2004.

Panoramic view of SpaceX ship Interior - Dragon

Click on the Image to visit the SpaceX Panoramic website.

Dragon is a free-flying, reusable spacecraft being developed by SpaceX under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.

Initiated internally by SpaceX in 2005, the Dragon spacecraft is made up of a pressurized capsule and unpressurized trunk used for Earth to LEO transport of pressurized cargo, unpressurized cargo, and/or crew members.

The Dragon spacecraft is comprised of 3 main elements:

• the Nosecone, which protects the vessel and the docking adaptor during ascent; 
• the Spacecraft, which houses the crew and/or pressurized cargo as well as the service section containing avionics, the RCS system, parachutes, and other support infrastructure; and 
• the Trunk, which provides for the stowage of unpressurized cargo and will support Dragon’s solar arrays and thermal radiators.

In December 2008, NASA announced the selection of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) when the Space Shuttle retires.

The $1.6 billion contract represents a minimum of 12 flights, with an option to order additional missions for a cumulative total contract value of up to $3.1 billion.

Though designed to address cargo and crew requirements for the ISS, as a free-flying spacecraft Dragon also provides an excellent platform for in-space technology demonstrations and scientific instrument testing.

SpaceX is currently manifesting fully commercial, non-ISS Dragon flights under the name “DragonLab”. DragonLab represents an emergent capability for in-space experimentation.

Dragon Spacecraft with Solar Panels deployed

Dragon Highlights:

• Fully autonomous rendezvous and docking with manual override capability in crewed configuration
• 6,000 kg (13,228 lbs) payload up-mass to LEO; 3,000 kg (6,614 lbs) payload down-mass
• Payload Volume: 10 m3 (350 ft3) pressurized, 14 m3  (490 ft3) unpressurized
• Supports up to 7 passengers in Crew configuration
• Two-fault tolerant avionics system with extensive heritage
• Reaction control system with 18 MMH/NTO thrusters designed and built in-house; these thrusters are used for both attitude control and orbital maneuvering
• 1290 kg of propellant supports a safe mission profile from sub-orbital insertion to ISS rendezvous to reentry
• Integral common berthing mechanism, with LIDS or APAS support if required
• Designed for water landing under parachute for ocean recovery
• Lifting re-entry for landing precision & low-g’s
• Ablative, high-performance heat shield and sidewall thermal protection

To ensure a rapid transition from cargo to crew capability, the cargo and crew configurations of Dragon are almost identical, with the exception of the crew escape system, the life support system and onboard controls that allow the crew to take over control from the flight computer when needed.

This focus on commonality minimizes the design effort and simplifies the human rating process, allowing systems critical to Dragon crew safety and ISS safety to be fully tested on uncrewed demonstration flights.

For cargo launches the inside of the spacecraft is outfitted with a modular cargo rack system designed to accommodate pressurized cargo in standard sizes and form factors.

For crewed launches, the interior is outfitted with crew couches, controls with manual override capability and upgraded life-support.

To Read More about the Dragon visit the SpaceX website

Panorama: Palm Oil endangers Urangutan Conservation efforts in Indonesia

The challenge of saving the orangutan - man's closest relative - from extinction is trickling down to the weekly shop.

Many of the biscuits, margarines, breads, crisps and even bars of soap that consumers pick off supermarket shelves contain an ingredient that is feeding a growth industry that conservationists say is killing the orangutans.

The mystery ingredient in the mix is palm oil - the cheapest source of vegetable oil available - and one that rarely appears on the label of most products.

Palm oil is grown on land that was once home to the vast rainforests of Borneo, and the natural habitat of the orangutan.


To read the full article on the BBC Panorama website click here.....