Rockin' radar rolls
Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 06:40 UTC
Sometimes eye doctors need only to make slight adjustments to lenses to help one's vision improve. Normally Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is looking down, or "nadir."
Like adjusting vision, a slight modification to looking straight down proves to be a better angle for the spacecraft's shallow radar (SHARAD) to "see" beneath the polar surface, where rock layering reveals water's role in its formation.
A test involving a significant "roll" of the orbiter proved that measuring from 25 degrees off-nadir allows scientists to confidently detect more detail in the rock layering. The engineering team is considering continuing these rolls periodically to allow scientists to "see" these mysterious areas better than before.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
High resolution image (3.9 MB)
JPL Image Release
