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30 January 2004

The Latest from Mars

The ongoing adventures of the two Mars Rovers is among the most exciting science stories in years.

The amazing photographs streaming back from these robotic explorers provide a completely new view of two very different places on the red planet.

This image from Mars shows intriguing rock outcroppings adjacent to Opportunity's landing site on the floor of a small crater. Notice the layering within the rocks. Image courtesy of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Click image to enlarge

The photographs from Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, the second craft to arrive on Mars, reveal fascinating rock layers with obvious layering. Are they sedimentary rocks deposited by water? Are they formed from layers of volcanic ash? Why is their color different from the surrounding sand? Hopefully Opportunity will provide answers to these questions.

Especially interesting is the panoramic view from Opportunity on NASA's web site (www.nasa.gov) that clearly shows the rock outcroppings and the rim of the small crater in which Opportunity is located.

On the opposite side of Mars, Spirit, the first of the two Rover twins, is being gradually brought back to life after various software glitches. On January 28 it sent back the first photograph in more than a week.

The images returned by both Spirit and Opportunity are well worth viewing. They show that the surface of Mars is foreboding, hostile, fascinating and generally orange or brown in color. All the images show a very dusty sky. Amateur scientists with a slow Internet link might want to consider visiting a friend or a library with a fast link in order to view the high resolution images.

The most direct source of images is www.nasa.gov. A Mars exploration site designed especially for students is www.marsquestonline.org/ For much more about Mars, do a search on your area of interest using an Internet search engine like www.google.com.