Guy Webster 818-354-6278 Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726 NASA Headquarters,
Lori Stiles 520-626-4402
Image Advisory: 2007-005 Jan. 11, 2007
New NASA Orbiter Sees Details of 1997 Mars Pathfinder Site
The high-resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has imaged the 1997 landing site of NASA's Mars Pathfinder, revealing new details of hardware on the surface and the geology of the region.
The new image from the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is available on the Internet at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/pia09105.html and at links from http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu .
The Pathfinder mission's small rover, Sojourner, appears to have moved closer to the stationary lander after the final data transmission from the lander, based on tentative identification of the rover in the image. Pathfinder landed on
The lander's ramps, science deck and portions of the airbags can be discerned in the new image. The parachute and backshell used in the spacecraft's descent lie to the south, behind a hill from the viewpoint of the lander. Four bright features may be portions of the heat shield.
Rob Manning, Mars program chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Dr. Alfred McEwen of the
For more information on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro .
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in
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