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National Aeronautics and Space Administration OPPORTUNITY • MARS EXPLORATION ROVER CURIOSITY • MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY 2013 2014 ONE MARTIAN YEAR • TWO EARTH YEARS How to Use the Calendar Mars A Martian Year Each page of the calendar has a diagram showing the relative positions of Earth and Mars on the first day of the month. Mars is farther from the Sun compared with Earth, so it takes Mars longer to complete one orbit and its year is longer than an Earth year. Earth A Mars year is 687 Earth days long — almost two Earth years. This Cover Artist’s concepts of calendar covers one Martian year and two Earth years. NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity and Mars Science Laboratory A Martian Day Like Earth, Mars rotates on its axis, but more slowly, Curiosity. 305 1 so a Mars day is slightly longer than an Earth day. The Mars day (sol) Opportunity and its twin, is 24 hours, 39-1/2 minutes long. This calendar tracks how many sols L =256.2o have passed since Opportunity (designated “B” in red type) and Curi- Spirit, landed on opposite s B3179 osity (“C” in blue type) landed on Mars. (Spirit had the “A” designation sides of Mars in January C145 2004, each with a planned while it was in operation.) About every 36 days the calendar skips an mission of 90 Martian Earth day in counting sols, so days and sols can stay synchronized. days (sols). Spirit lasted more than six years, ceas- Day of the Year Each calendar square representing a day has a ing operation March 22, number in the top right corner indicating the consecutive day of the 2010, on Sol 2210. As of year (DOY). Space mission operations typically use DOY as a shorthand December 2012, Opportu- way of showing the date. nity roved nearly 22 miles (35 kilometers) for more DSN Week Number This number helps all operating deep space than 3100 sols, and missions schedule use of Earth-based antennas in the Deep Space continues to explore and Network (DSN). DSN Week 1 begins on the first Monday of the calen- communicate with Earth. dar year and is numbered sequentially to the end of the year. Curiosity landed on Mars August 6, 2012 (UTC) for Mars Seasons Mars solar longitude (the L number on the first day a planned 23-month mis- s sion to investigate whether of each month in the calendar) determines seasons on Mars. As Mars Mars ever had favorable travels around the Sun through 360°, it experiences seasons just as environmental conditions Earth does. (habitats) to support microbial life. Northern Spring/Southern Autumn o Ls = 0 Northern Visit mars.jpl.nasa.gov Winter/ Southern Summer o Ls = 270 Northern Summer/ Southern Winter Northern Autumn/ o Ls = 90 Southern Spring o Ls = 180 ROVER INSTRUMENTS MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS • SPIRIT & OPPORTUNITY MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY • CURIOSITY Opportunity has six science instruments, along with engineering cameras. Curiosity has 10 science instruments, along with engineering cameras and sample-collection tools. Remote Sensing Instruments Contact Science Instruments Remote Sensing Instruments Analytical Laboratory Instruments • Panoramic Camera (Pancam) — Creates high-resolu- • Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) — Brushes and grinds • Mast Camera (Mastcam) — Takes high-definition • Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) — Measures tion color images with a stereoscopic camera pair that can rocks to clean away dust and other surface deposits so color images and video with a telephoto lens for distant minerals in rock and soil samples, especially those formed rotate in a complete circle and look straight up and down. the spectrometers can analyze their composition. views and a medium-angle lens similar to Opportunity’s in water. • Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini- • Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) — Pancam. • Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) — Measures the TES) — Analyzes infrared light to identify rock-forming Measures the chemical composition of Martian rocks • Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) — Fires chemical and isotopic composition of rocks, soils, and minerals; measures the heat-holding properties (ther- and soils. a laser to analyze chemical elements of vaporized atmosphere, seeking organics, the chemical building mal inertia) of rocks and soils; measures atmospheric • Mössbauer Spectrometer (MB) — Measures materials from small areas on Martian rocks and soils. blocks of life. temperatures from the surface to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) iron-bearing mineralogy of rocks and soils. • Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) — Took color video in altitude. • Microscopic Imager (MI) — Provides high-resolution during the rover’s descent toward the surface; provides Environmental Instruments images of the small-scale features of Martian rocks and images of the ground beneath the rover. • Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) — Measures soils. high-energy radiation to understand if habitable conditions Contact Science Instruments for microbial life or future human exploration are possible. • Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) — Captures • Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) — Detects close-up views of minerals, textures, and structures in water content as low as one-tenth of 1 percent in the Martian rocks and in the surface layer of rocky debris Martian subsurface. and dust. • Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) Navigation Cameras • Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) — — Provides daily and seasonal weather reports (atmo- Measures chemical elements in rocks and soils in spheric pressure, humidity, ultraviolet radiation, wind, air Mini-Thermal Emission preparation for sample selection. and ground temperatures). Panoramic Spectrometer (At Rear) Cameras Ultra-High-Frequency ChemCam Antenna Mastcam Ultra-High- Low-Gain Antenna Multimission Radioisotope Frequency Thermonuclear Generator Antenna Solar Arrays Calibration Target REMS Low-Gain Antenna High-Gain Antenna SAM Inlets CheMin Inlets High-Gain Antenna Magnet Array DAN (Forward) Alpha Particle X-ray RAD Spectrometer Microscopic MARDI Imager Mössbauer Robotic Arm, Spectrometer APXS, MAHLI Rocker-Bogie Mobility System Rock Abrasion Tool Front (2) and Rear (2) Hazard Mobility System Avoidance Cameras (Not Shown) Largest meteorite on Mars This watermelon-sized rock discovered by pit (right). Landing Block Island in today’s thin Mar- Mars Opportunity, called “Block Island,” is the largest tian atmosphere without disintegrating when it hit OPPORTUNITY meteorite yet found on Mars. It is rich in iron and the ground is difficult. That means Mars once had nickel, similar to some meteorites found on Earth. a much thicker atmosphere or that the meteorite Earth As the meteorite came blazing in through Mars’ followed a rare, long, shallow flight path on its way atmosphere, smooth, rounded holes formed on its down. surface. Once the meteorite was on the ground, long-term weathering created the large, irregular Panoramic Camera, Sol 1961 (August 10, 2009). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell. February 1, 2013 January 2013 February 2013 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday The layers tell the story Each of the stacked layers in 3-mile-high Mount organics, the chemical building blocks of life. Top Mars Sharp inside Gale Crater may preserve a record of layers that incline sharply from left to right (above CURIOSITY the Martian environment at a given time in history. dotted line) likely formed under drier environmental Curiosity will study each layer as it climbs. Lower conditions than those lower on the slope. Earth layers contain minerals that formed in the presence of water (below dotted line). Some may preserve Mast Camera, Sol 23 (August 29, 2012). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. April 1, 2013 March 2013 April 2013 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Tracks in the sand Using special filters on its camera “eyes” to make nicknamed “blueberries,” which likely formed in the Mars OPPORTUNITY subtle differences in terrain more visible, Oppor- presence of water. The rover’s tracks are brighter and tunity captured a striking false-color view of its redder because the “blueberries” are pressed into the own rover tracks. Taken at different wavelengths surface, exposing brighter, redder rust-colored dust. Earth of light, such filtered images help scientists learn more about minerals found in Martian rocks and Panoramic Camera, False Color, Sol 2642 (June 30, 2011). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell. soil. The bluish hue is from iron-rich spherules June 1, 2013 May 2013 June 2013 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Getting ready for a hike Curiosity sent this scenic postcard of its ultimate tists adjusted the color to show Mars under lighting Earth CURIOSITY science destination: the lower reaches of Mount conditions found on Earth, which helps in studying Sharp in Gale Crater. Each rock layer in the moun- features in the terrain. The pointy mound (center) is Mars tain may contain evidence of the environmental about 1,000 feet (300 meters) across and 300 feet conditions at a prior time in Martian history. The (100 meters) high. rover will ascend through them, reading the record of Martian history from older to younger. Scien- Mast Camera, Sol 16 (August 23, 2012). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. August 1, /2013 July 2013 August 2013 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Destination: ancient history A portion of the west rim of Endeavour crater younger, sulfate-rich rocks that formed in acidic wa- OPPORTUNITY sweeps southward in this enhanced color view ter. However, this west crater rim appears to contain Earth from Opportunity. Not only is Endeavour crater 25 deposits that formed by reacting with neutral water. times wider than others Opportunity has explored, Seen by the rover since the first days after landing, it offers access to older rock layers than any stud- iron-rich spherules (“blueberries”) lie scattered over Mars ied so far. These layers may hold clues to whether the land. Mars provided habitable conditions for microbial October 1, 2013 life in earlier times.
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