Improved MPF 360-degree Color Panorama
This is a more recent 'geometrically improved, color enhanced' version
of the 360-degree 'Gallery Pan', the first contiguous, uniform panorama
taken by the Imager for Mars (IMP) over the course of Sols 8, 9, and 10.
Different regions were imaged at different times over the three Martian
days to acquire consistent lighting and shadow conditions for all areas
of the panorama. In this version of the panorama, much of the
discontinuity that was due to parallax has been corrected, particularly
along the lower tiers of the mosaic containing the Lander features.
Distortion due to a 2.5 degree tilt in the IMP camera mast has been
removed.
The IMP is a stereo imaging system that, in its fully deployed
configuration, stands 1.8 meters above the Martian surface, and has a
resolution of two millimeters at a range of two meters. The IMP has color
capability provided by 24 selectable filters -- twelve filters per 'eye'. Its
red, green, and blue filters were used to take this panorama.
The three color images were first digitally balanced according to the
transmittance capabilities of a specific high-definition TV device at JPL,
and then enhanced via changes to saturation and intensity while
retaining the hue. A threshold was applied to avoid changes to the sky.
An MTF filter was applied to sharpen feature edges.
At left is a Lander petal and a metallic mast which is a portion of the
low-gain antenna. On the horizon the double 'Twin Peaks' are visible,
about 1-2 kilometers away. The rock 'Couch' is the dark, curved rock at
right of Twin Peaks. Another Lander petal is at left-center, showing the
fully deployed forward ramp at far left, and rear ramp at right, which
rover Sojourner used to descend to the surface of Mars on July 5.
Immediately to the left of the rear ramp is the rock 'Barnacle Bill',
which scientists found be andesitic, possibly indicating that it is a
volcanic rock (a true andesite) or a physical mixture of particles. Just
beyond Barnacle Bill, rover tracks lead to Sojourner, shown using its
Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument to study the large
rock 'Yogi'. Yogi, low in quartz content, appears to be more primitive
than Barnacle Bill, and appears more like the common basalts found
on Earth.
The tracks and circular pattern in the soil leading up to Yogi were
part of Sojourner's soil mechanics experiments, in which varying amounts
of pressure were applied to the wheels in order to determine physical
properties of the soil. During its traverse to Yogi the rover stirred the
soil and exposed material from several centimeters in depth. During
one of the turns to deploy Sojourner's Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer,
the wheels dug particularly deeply and exposed white material.
Spectra of this white material show it is virtually identical to the rock
'Scooby Doo', and such white material may underlie much of the site.
Deflated airbags are visible at the perimeter of all three Lander petals.
Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost
spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder
mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an
operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary
Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator.
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