[FPSPACE] FW: NASA Spacecraft Photographs Avalanches on Mars

[LARRY KLAES]

>From: "NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory" <info at jpl.nasa.gov>
>Reply-To: <info at jpl.nasa.gov>
>Subject: NASA Spacecraft Photographs Avalanches on Mars
>Date: Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:53:41 -0800
>
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>
>Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
>NASA Headquarters, Washington
>dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov
>
>Guy Webster 818-354-6278
>Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
>guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov
>
>Lori Stiles 520-626-4402
>University of Arizona, Tucson
>lstiles at u.arizona.edu
>
>NEWS RELEASE: 2008-036      	  	     			March 3, 2008
>
>NASA Spacecraft Photographs Avalanches on Mars
>
>Pasadena, Calif. - A NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars has taken the 
>first ever image
>of active avalanches near the Red Planet's north pole. The image shows tan 
>clouds
>billowing away from the foot of a towering slope, where ice and dust have 
>just cascaded
>down.
>
>The High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars 
>Reconnaissance
>Orbiter took the photograph Feb. 19. It is one of approximately 2,400 
>HiRISE images
>being released today.
>
>Ingrid Daubar Spitale of the University of Arizona, Tucson, who works on 
>targeting the
>camera and has studied hundreds of HiRISE images, was the first person to 
>notice the
>avalanches. "It really surprised me," she said. "It's great to see 
>something so dynamic on
>Mars. A lot of what we see there hasn't changed for millions of years."
>
>The camera is looking repeatedly at selected places on Mars to track 
>seasonal changes.
>However, the main target of the Feb. 19 image was not the steep slope.
>
>"We were checking for springtime changes in the carbon-dioxide frost 
>covering a dune
>field, and finding the avalanches was completely serendipitous," said 
>Candice Hansen,
>deputy principal investigator for HiRISE, at NASA's Jet Propulsion 
>Laboratory,
>Pasadena, Calif.
>
>The full image reveals features as small as a desk in a strip of terrain 6 
>kilometers (3.7
>miles) wide and more than 10 times that long, at 84 degrees north latitude. 
>Reddish layers
>known to be rich in water ice make up the face of a steep slope more than 
>700 meters
>(2,300 feet) tall, running the length of the image.
>
>"We don't know what set off these landslides," said Patrick Russell of the 
>University of
>Berne, Switzerland, a HiRISE team collaborator. "We plan to take more 
>images of the
>site through the changing Martian seasons to see if this kind of avalanche 
>happens all
>year or is restricted to early spring."
>
>More ice than dust probably makes up the material that fell from the upper 
>portion of the
>scarp. Imaging of the site during coming months will track any changes in 
>the new
>deposit at the base of the slope. That will help researchers estimate what 
>proportion is ice.
>
>"If blocks of ice broke loose and fell, we expect the water in them will be 
>changing from
>solid to gas," Russell said. "We'll be watching to see if blocks and other 
>debris shrink in
>size. What we learn could give us a better understanding of one part of the 
>water cycle on
>Mars."
>
>Another notable HiRISE image released today shows a blue crescent Earth and 
>its moon,
>as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The west coast of South America 
>is visible
>in the photo. Still other images allow viewers to explore a wide variety of 
>Martian
>terrains, such as dramatic canyons and rhythmic patterns of sand dunes.
>
>The camera is one of six science instruments on the orbiter. The spacecraft 
>reached Mars
>in March 2006 and has returned more data than all other current and past 
>missions to
>Mars combined.
>
>"Our Mars program is the envy of the world," said Alan Stern, associate 
>administrator of
>NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. "We plan to launch a total 
>of five
>more missions in the next decade, beginning with the Mars Science Lab rover 
>next year
>and a Mars Aeronomy Scout mission in 2011."
>
>The avalanche image, other selected images, and additional information 
>about the Mars
>Reconnaissance Orbiter are online at http://www.nasa.gov/mro . All the 
>newly posted
>and previously posted images from the High Resolution Imaging Science 
>Experiment are
>available online at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu .
>
>The MRO mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
>Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is the prime 
>contractor for
>the project and built the spacecraft. The University of Arizona operates 
>the High
>Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, which was built by Ball 
>Aerospace and
>Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
>
>-end-
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