Martian orbiting probe photographed his "colleague" on the planet.. / August 18, 2009 /

Martian probe orbiting Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) photographed Mars Opportunity, moving on the surface of the planet. Description of photos available on the project website HiRISE.

The photo captures Mars in its 1783 day on the Red planet (the duration of the mission is defined in the Opportunity Martian days). The image clearly visible traces of the wheel Mars. Before «photo» he traveled about 130 meters.

Monitoring Mars top allows in charge of its work plan for its future path, taking into account the terrain. Nevertheless, even these precautions can not completely protect Mars. One — Spirit — in May 2009 buttons in the sand. Since that time, NASA engineers and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are trying to get Mars, using the model in full size.

HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science) — This is a very powerful camera, mounted on board the probe MRO. It allows you to get images of Mars with a resolution of up to 0.3 meters (from a height of 300 kilometers). Such a result is achieved thanks to the unique optics — HiRISE looks at Mars through a telescope with a diameter of 0.5 meter primary mirror.

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