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Mapping the Red PlanetSince September 1997 the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft has been orbiting the planet Mars and acquiring new data about the red planet that is changing our view of its present state and past history. Except for a few weeks in October 1997 and a few months in the Spring/Summer of 1998 when special science operations were conducted the spacecraft spent the first 18 months if its time at Mars getting to the right orbital geometry for the mapping mission. But on March 1, 1999 the MGS spacecraft trained its instruments onto the planet to begin a full Mars year (684 Earth days) of continuous systematic mapping and observation of the planet. The camera began wide angle and high resolution mapping, the thermal emission spectrometer began sensing the atmosphere and the material properties of the surface, the magnetometer searched out regions of abnormally high magnetism, the altimeter began determining the precise shape of the planet, and the radio science experiment began determining atmospheric pressures, temperatures and mapping the planet's gravity field. In a matter of a month more data was acquired about
Document ID
20010045823
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Smith, David E.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Smith, David E.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2001
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Meeting Information
Meeting: Mars K-12 Educator''s Workshop "Mapping the Red Planet: New Discoveries on Mars"
Location: Tempe, AZ
Country: United States
Start Date: March 3, 2001
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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