Fwd: Rolling Boulder on Mars Leaves Trail Visible from Space

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: August 14, 2014 2:06:27 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Rolling Boulder on Mars Leaves Trail Visible from Space

Tall Boulder Rolls Down Martian Hill, Lands Upright

The track left by an oblong boulder as it tumbled down a slope on Mars runs from upper left to right center of this image. The boulder came to rest in an upright attitude at the downhill end of the track. The HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded this view on July 3, 2014.
› Full image and caption

 

August 13, 2014

A track about one-third of a mile (500 meters) long on Mars shows where an irregularly shaped boulder careened downhill to its current upright position, seen in a July 3, 2014, image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The image is available online at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA18594

The shadow cast by the rock in mid-afternoon sunlight reveals it is about 20 feet (6 meters) tall. In the downward-looking image, the boulder is only about 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide. It happened to come to rest with its long dimension vertical. The trail it left on the slope has a pattern that suggests the boulder couldn't roll smoothly or straight due to its shape.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. HiRISE, one of six science instruments on the orbiter, is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson. The instrument was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado.

For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been studying Mars from orbit since 2006, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mro

For more information about HiRISE, visit:

http://www.uahirise.org/

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

2014-275

 

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Whoa! Rolling Boulder on Mars Leaves Trail Visible from Space

By Miriam Kramer, Staff Writer   |   August 14, 2014 12:03am ET

 

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted the trail from an oblong boulder (bottom right) that rolled down a slope on the Red Planet. The image was taken on July 3, 2014. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona View full size image

NASA has a case of Mars rock and roll ... literally.

The agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently orbiting the Red Planet has spotted the trail left behind after a tall boulder tumbled down a Martian slope. The Mars rock's misshapen prints are clearly visible in the spacecraft's view from orbit. While NASA unveiled the MRO spacecraft's black and white view of the rocky road on Wednesday (Aug. 13), the image was actually captured on July 3. 

By looking at the large rock's shadow, scientists at NASA have calculated that the boulder is about 20 feet tall (6 meters) and 11.5 feet wide (3.5 m). The SUV-sized boulder ended its roll pointed straight up on its axis, according to NASA officials. [See more amazing Mars photos by MRO]

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped this view, showing the the trail left by a rolling boulder that tumbled down the side of a slope, on July 3, 2014.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

View full size image

"The boulder's trail down the slope is about one-third of a mile (about 500 meters) long," NASA officials wrote in an image description. "The trail has an odd repeating pattern, suggesting the boulder could not roll straight due to its shape." 

Scientists used MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera to take the Mars boulder photo.

The space agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched to space in 2005 and has been orbiting the Red Planet in 2006. The spacecraft has beamed back some amazing images of the Martian surface including pictures of the Spirit rover and Viking landers. NASA's probe has also witnessed dust devils and avalanches from its place in orbit.

In October, MRO will also have a chance to monitor Mars' close brush with a comet set to fly by the Red Planet. NASA has started to adjust the orbits of spacecraft at Mars to prepare them for their encounter with Comet Siding Spring and ensure that they will be safe from any ill effects that could be caused by the comet.

NASA's MRO and Odyssey are both currently in operation orbiting Mars. The space agency's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft, better known as  MAVEN, is on its way to the Red Planet and will arrive before the comet's closest approach. NASA's Curiosity and Opportunity rovers are also functional on the Red Planet."MRO will monitor Mars' atmosphere for possible temperature increases and cloud formation, as well as changes in electron density at high altitudes," NASA officials said in a statement. "The MRO team also plans to study gases in the comet's coma. Along with other MRO observations, the team anticipates this event will yield detailed views of the comet's nucleus and potentially reveal its rotation rate and surface features."

 

 

Whoa! Rolling Boulder on Mars Leaves Trail Visible from Space

http://www.space.com/13962-photos-nasa-mars-reconnaissance-orbiter.html

 

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