USGS Astrogeology Hot Topics

Martian Valentine From Mars with Love

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Martian Valentine

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Are Martians trying to tell us something? This image of an indentation on Mars resembles a heart, a common human symbol for love. Because intelligent Martians have never been known to exist, and because formations with similarities have been found that clearly result from natural phenomena, the pit shown above is thought not to be a form of interplanetary communication. Many scientists believe instead that the right-most wall of the two-kilometer wide heart-shaped pit was created by a naturally occurring graben, a surface drop caused by expansion along a fault-line.

Perhaps love is easier to find here on Earth.

Credit: Malin Space Science Systems, MGS, JPL, NASA

Posted by HotTopicsJournalist in Humorous at 15:01

Roll on ROLO

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Rolo Image of the Moon

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Some people imagine that the moon is made of cheese, and some think of ROLO as a kind of caramel candy, but in reality ROLO is the RObotic Lunar Observatory, an active project worked diligently by Tom Stone of the USGS Astrogeolgy team. A goal of the project is to determine the precise brightness of the Moon and use it as an absolute radiance calibration standard for Earth-orbiting satellite imaging instruments.

Earth-orbiting spacecraft and their instruments, such as the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS); Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS); Advance Land Imager (ALI); and Geostationary Environmental Satellites (GOES), use data provided by ROLO as part of a calibration reference to monitor the Earth’s brightness levels and its changes.

Twin Telescopes on Fork Mount
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One might wonder why ROLO uses the Moon as a calibration source. “The surface of the moon has extremely stable reflectance, much more stable than any hardware that can be flown on an ‘on-board’ calibration system” says Tom Stone, Project Scientist.

On clear nights for more than 6 years, twin telescopes on a fork mount have recorded some 85,000 images of the Moon from first quarter to last quarter phase in 32 bands from 350-2500 nm. However, routine observations stopped in September 2003, and intermittent observations continue.

The ROLO project was started as a collaboration between Hugh Kieffer, formerly of the U.S. Geological Survey, who now serves as a consultant on the project, and Robert Wildey, who was then employed with Northern Arizona University (but came to work for U.S. Geological Survey). Robert Wildey developed the acronym ROLO and it is used in his memory; he was a critical part of ROLO from its inception until his death in 1998.

The ultimate goal of project ROLO is to establish the Moon as a spectral radiance standard with an accuracy of 1-2 % absolute, traceable to SI units (Système International d'unités). Another project goal to precisely measure satellite instrument changes has been achieved and is in use by satellite instrument teams.

Link: USGS Astrogeology - ROLO website

Posted by HotTopicsJournalist in Astrogeology at 13:25

New Horizons Launch

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

New Horizons Launch

Liftoff of the Atlas V carrying NASA's New Horizons spacecraft to a distant date with Pluto!

Image credit: NASA/KSC

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After launch aboard a Lockheed-Martin Atlas V rocket, the New Horizons spacecraft set out on a journey to the edge of the solar system. Liftoff occurred Jan. 19, 2006 at 2:00:00 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. New Horizons is headed for a distant rendezvous with the mysterious planet Pluto almost a decade from now.

As the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and its moon Charon, New Horizons looks to unlock one of the solar system's last, great planetary secrets. The New Horizons spacecraft will cross the entire span of the solar system and conduct flyby studies of Pluto and Charon in 2015. The seven science instruments on the piano-sized probe will shed light on the bodies' surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres.

More: NASA -New Horizons Heads for Pluto

Posted by HotTopicsJournalist in Other Missions at 09:47