[meteorite-list] Mars Global Surveyor - 2002 Solar Conjunction Sampler

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:52:08 2004
Message-ID: <200208081806.LAA18619_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/8_2002_releases/index.html

                            Mars Global Surveyor
                          Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)
                       2002 Solar Conjunction Sampler

            MGS MOC Releases MOC2-316 to MOC2-319, 8 August 2002

The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) was turned off on
July 31, 2002, and it will remain off until at least August 19, 2002. During
this time, Mars is behind the Sun relative to Earth, and communication with
the spacecraft is extremely limited (for several days, there will be no
communication at all). MOC is off during this time because any images it
might acquire could not be transmitted to Earth, and the twice-weekly
targeting schedules can not be sent to the spacecraft.

Solar Conjunction is the term used to describe the period when the Sun is
between Earth and Mars---from the Earth, Mars appears to move towards, and
eventually merge with, the Sun. Solar Conjunction comes around about every
25 months, the first solar conjunction for MGS occurred in May 1998, the
second in June/July 2000, the third in August 2002. Each time, the MOC was
turned off and safely returned to service after the conjunction period
ended.

With the MOC "on vacation," the MOC Operations Team can also take a short
breather, having commanded over 125,000 images over the past 4+ years.
However, "short" is the operative word, as in a few days the team will be
hard at work preparing for the MOC turn-on later in the month. The pictures
shown here (click on icons, below) are examples of some of the things the
MOC team has been seeing in the past few months leading up to Solar
Conjunction, including continued monitoring of mid-latitude gullies, dust
devils, and chance observations of unusual landforms.

           [Image] [Image] [Image] [Image]

           MOC2-316 MOC2-317 MOC2-318 MOC2-319
       Meridiani Crater Newton Gullies Dust Devil "Inca City"
Received on Thu 08 Aug 2002 02:06:09 PM PDT