#mars2020

[rashardmro]

PIA23967: Perseverance Twin Raises Its Mast

Experience Curiosity

[whirligig-girl]

Ayo has NASA ever shown any pics of Mars moons in it's sky? I NEED TO KNOW

a couple asks ago i showed an example of this. here’s a few more:

annular solar eclipse/transit of Phobos across the Sun from Curiosity.

transit of Deimos across the Sun from Curiosity.

Occultation of Deimos by Phobos as seen by Curiosity.

The telephoto cameras used for navigation on Mars are also capable of being used as weak telescopes. (I do not know how they safely get photos of the Sun, though. Even at Mars distance that would still fry the sensors--so i assume they must have put a solar filter on the instrument specifically for this use case.)

While looking for images I came across this really cool one from Spirit:

The bright moon-like glow is Phobos. The dimmer dot is Deimos. Towards the bottom of the image is the Hyades cluster, and the bright star Aldeberan. In the lower left is the Pleiades cluster. This is an approximately naked eye-like view (well, maybe 2x or 3x magnification), except that with the naked eye Phobos would not look overexposed.This is really striking to me because this actually feels like a view of the night sky on Earth, yet with alien moons. Really cool.

Here’s a labelled, overexposed version:

I don’t think there’s been any color pictures of this done because Mars rovers are not astronomical observatories and because there’s not much color detail actually visible in the moons. And I assume aside from the solar eclipse pictures these images were all taken at night, with pitch-black skies and nearly black horizons.

This evening or afternoon image depicting Phobos as seen by Curiosity is a composite image--Phobos is probably much brighter here than it would really look during the day on Mars.

Deimos is visible in this poorly white-balanced shot of Mars from Perseverence. The sky is green here but Mars’ sky is really more of a yellow or brown color.

Here is almost the reverse--seen from an orbiting satellite, here is Phobos against the limb (edge of the visible disk; horizon) of Mars. I believe terrain looks weirdly flattened and a little distorted here due to lensing from Mars’ atmosphere--you can see how the effect gets worse closer to the limb. A similar effect, but more significant, can happen when looking at the limb of the Earth from space. Space probes use multiple color filters to take color photos, but when it comes to fast moving targets it’s not possible to switch colors in time, which is why this image is in grayscale. Notice also how dark Phobos is--it’s almost black. It only appears bright against the even blacker space. This is also true of the Moon, incidentally, but the effect is even more pronounced with Phobos.

[nasa]

Curious about how NASA will land the next mission to the Red Planet – the Perseverance Mars rover? Here’s your chance to ask our expert! 

After nearly 300 million miles, our Perseverance rover completes its journey to Mars on Feb. 18. To reach the surface of the Red Planet, it has to survive the harrowing final phase known as Entry, Descent, and Landing. Mission engineer Chloe Sackier will be taking your questions in an Answer Time session on Thursday, Feb. 4 from noon to 1pm ET here on our Tumblr! Make sure to ask your question now by visiting http://nasa.tumblr.com/ask. 

Chloe Sackier is a systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. She works on the Mars 2020 Entry, Descent and Landing team, tasked with safely delivering the Perseverance rover to the surface of Mars.

Landing Perseverance on Mars – fun facts: 

The landing system on the mission includes a parachute, descent vehicle, and an approach called a "skycrane maneuver" for lowering the rover on a tether to the surface during the final seconds before landing.

Perseverance will use new technologies for landing, including Terrain-Relative Navigation. This sophisticated navigation system allows the rover to detect and avoid hazardous terrain by diverting around it during its descent through the Martian atmosphere. 

A microphone allows engineers to analyze entry, descent, and landing. It might also capture sounds of the rover at work, which would provide engineers with clues about the rover's health and operations.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

[ketrinadrawsalot]

Welcome to Mars, Perseverance and Ingenuity!

[explorationimages]

Perseverance: First hazcam photo from the surface of Mars. Woohoo!

[mindblowingscience]

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity's Flight footage (lift off and landing FOOTAGE)

[marsmisson]

This image was taken by Right Navigation Camera onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 589 (2014-04-03 10:00:03 UTC). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech (Note: subscribe our page on youtube too, checkout link on bio) Follow 👉 @marsmisson For More Update #spacetravel #nasa #astronomy #cosmos #universe #science #space #iss #galaxy #planet #astronaut #mars #mars2020 #rocketscience #falcon9 #spacex #LaunchAmerica #atlasV #CountdownToMars #rocket #cosmonaut #perseverance #curiosity #exoplanet #robotics #astrobiology #spaceexploration #marsrover #helicopter #perseverance #marsrover #marshelicopter (at United States) https://www.instagram.com/p/CZpBvb9MlAz/?utm_medium=tumblr

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

You did it, you funky little rover!