New Findings Show Diverse, Wet Environments on Ancient Mars (7/20/2008)
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| This three-dimensional image of a trough in the Nili Fossae region of Mars shows a type of minerals called phyllosilicates (in magenta and blue hues) concentrated on the slopes of mesas and along canyon walls. The abundance of phyllosilicates shows that water played a sizable role in changing the minerals of a variety of terrains in the planet's early history. - Credit: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL/University of Arizona/Brown University. |
The camera may also capture an image of the intended landing site for Russia's Phobos-Grunt mission, due for launch in 2009. The manoeuvres required to observe this site are an operational challenge, and the activity involves close cooperation between ESA mission scientists, the flight control team and flight dynamics specialists.
The Visible and Infrared Mineralogical Mapping Spectrometer, OMEGA, the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer, PFS, and the Ultraviolet and Infrared Atmospheric Spectrometer, SPICAM, will also gather details on the surface composition, geochemistry and temperature of Phobos.
The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) will collect information during two flybys (23 and 28 July) on the topography of the moon's surface and on the structure of its interior.
The Energetic neutral atoms analyser, ASPERA will study the environment around Phobos, in particular the plasma that surrounds the moon and also the interaction of the moon with the solar wind.
During the second fly-by, all efforts will be concentrated on accurately determining the mass of the moon using the Mars Radio Science experiment (MaRS).
The upcoming fly-bys
| Date | Altitude at closest approach
|---|
| 12 July | 563 km |
| 17 July | 273 km |
| 23 July | 97 km |
| 28 July | 361 km |
| 3 August | 664 km |
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
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