For quite a while now, I’ve looked forward to a periodic (automatic) email I receive from Ron Baalke at the Mars Exploration Program. It’s a simple email — just a list of links to particularly interesting new photos from the Mars Global Surveyor. The images here (click for a larger view) are from the latest of those emails.
Like many of our robotic (unmanned) space missions, this one has gathered little public attention (though the scientific community is pretty excited about it!). It just keeps plugging along, delivering remarkable science results month after month. To me these technological marvels rank amongst the most significant accomplishments of mankind, but clearly I’m one of the few who think so <smile>.
The Mars Global Surveyor images have another attribute that sets them apart from the products of many other missions: many of them are quite beautiful, wholly apart from their science value. Click on the thumbnails and see for yourself!
From Malin Space Sciences' Mars Global Surveyor site:
The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) first acquired images of Mars during its approach to the red planet in mid-1997. The spacecraft began orbiting Mars in September 1997. Following a period of aerobraking to achieve a nearly-circular, nearly-polar orbit, MGS began systematic mapping operations in March 1999. The primary mission was conducted for one Mars year, through January 2001. An extended mission phase followed. MGS and MOC are currently expected to operate through at least December 2006.
Hundreds of MOC images with captions describing their contents have been compiled and released by the MOC team at Malin Space Science Systems since 1997. The links below provide access to these captioned releases.
The link above takes you to the home page for the entire archive of MGS/MOC images made publicly available. It’s quite overwhelming; one could spend hours and hours up there…
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