[FPSPACE] FW: Cornell Chronicle: Mars briefing

[LARRY KLAES]

>From: Cornell Chronicle Online <cunews at cornell.edu>
>Reply-To: Cornell Chronicle Online <cunews at cornell.edu>
>To: CUNEWS-PHYSICAL_SCIENCE-L at cornell.edu (CUNEWS-PHYSICAL_SCIENCE-L), 
>CUNEWS-SCIENCE-L at cornell.edu (CUNEWS-SCIENCE-L)
>Subject: Cornell Chronicle: Mars briefing
>Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2006 17:44:26 -0400
>
>News from Chronicle Online
>
>Cornell's Squyres and Bell introduce Mars crater with a stunning view and a 
>perspective of the past
>http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Oct06/mars.briefing.html
>
>Oct. 6, 2006
>
>By Lauren Gold
>LG34 at cornell.edu
>
>"And how about that view?!?"
>
>That was Cornell's Steve Squyres' question, posted in his blog last week 
>after the Mars rover Opportunity rolled up to the edge of Victoria Crater 
>on Sept. 27.
>
>On Friday (Oct. 6), as NASA held a press conference to unveil the latest 
>images, the world got to see even more of what he was talking about.
>
>At the Washington, D.C., briefing at NASA headquarters, the space agency's 
>administrator Michael Griffin introduced Squyres, the principal 
>investigator for the space agency's Mars Exploration Rover mission and 
>Cornell's Goldwin Smith Professor of Planetary Science; and Jim Bell, 
>Cornell associate professor of astronomy and lead scientist for the rover's 
>panoramic camera (pancam).
>
>And Squyres and Bell introduced the breathtaking views.
>
>Also at the briefing were Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars 
>Exploration program, and Alfred McEwen, Arizona State University astronomer 
>and principal investigator for the imaging instrument on the Mars 
>Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The MRO just arrived on the scene for a 
>five-year mission and is surveying the planet from 275 kilometers (171 
>miles) above its surface, giving the rover team a spectacular aerial 
>perspective.
>
>Victoria Crater, at about a half-mile wide and 200 feet deep, offers an 
>unprecedented look back into Martian history. By analyzing its layers upon 
>layers of rock with Opportunity's scientific payload, researchers hope to 
>find clues about what the environment was like on the planet billions of 
>years ago and how it has changed over time.
>
>  But first, said Squyres, the rover team needs to find a safe way into the 
>crater -- and a safe way out. That means spending a little time 
>circumnavigating the rim and planning strategy. Also, the team has about a 
>week to get the rover into position for conjunction, the period of several 
>weeks when Mars passes behind the sun and communication between Earth and 
>the twin rovers Opportunity and Spirit is limited.
>
>"We still have a lot to do," said Bell. "For me this week has sort of felt 
>like opening a book -- maybe a mystery novel. And you read the first few 
>lines, the first few pages, and you're hooked. ... I'm totally hooked, as 
>so many on the team are. And really looking forward to reading the rest of 
>the story."
>
>So stay tuned, he added. The pancam images are still coming, albeit slowly 
>as Mars creeps behind the sun. (Find them at 
><http://pancam.astro.cornell.edu/pancam_instrument/index.html>.)
>
>Check out the MRO image, too -- not just of the giant crater with its 
>rippled edge; but also of the little dark smudge on the rim, and the tiny 
>light dot beside the smudge.
>
>That's Opportunity (and her shadow), 200 million miles from Earth, perched 
>on the tip of Cape Verde on day 960 of her 90-day mission.
>
>Take in the scenery.
>
>And how about that view?
>
>--
>
>
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>