January 24, 2012
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech - MER Opportunity - Credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/IPF
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This beautiful frame, taken on the 2793rd Martian Day (or Sol) of Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity Mission to Meridiani Planum - Mars - shows us, among others, a few interesting things. We decided, for today, to only underline and then bring to your attention three of them: 1) the portion of Opportunity's Solar Panel that we can see here shows us that, even after 2793 Martian Days (or Soles) of exposure, the so much "feared" Martian Dust did not settle on it. We, therefore, can logically assume that the Solar Panels in their entirety are, basically, "dust-free". Now the question is simple: how so? Because of the so-called "Cleansing Events" (such as the passage of one or more Dust Devils all over the MER - and remember that the Winds forming these "Small Hurricanes" can blow up to 200 Km-per-hour or even more!) or, maybe, because the Martian Atmosphere (at least in that portion of the Meridiani Planum Region which has so far been visited by the MER Opportunity), is not that "dusty"? No one knows for sure. Yet... 2) the Martian Soil near Opportunity (in particular where it has been disturbed by the passage of the Rover) reveals the existence of many cristal-like (and really shiny) Pebbles. What are these Pebbles made of? Is their nature really "crystalline" or it is just an impression caused by the peculiar illumination of the scene? No one knows for sure. Yet... 3) the cables visible on the Solar Panel, which have been exposed for more than 7 and a half years to the Martian Atmosphere, seem not to have suffered at all the (alleged) extreme cold and dryness that should characterize the Martian Environment. The reason of such a fact is, very likely, that each and every component of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity was "State-of-the-Art". And that's true, for sure! But, sometimes, we also have thought that, MAYBE, the Martian Environment (at least in that portion of the Meridiani Planum Region which has so far been visited by the MER Opportunity) is neither that cold nor that dry as we have always been tought to believe. And, as a matter of fact, once again no one knows for sure. Yet. This frame has been colorized in Absolute Natural Colors by (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were near the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity and then looked around, by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. |
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