[meteorite-list] First Images of Opportunity Site Show Bizarre Landscape

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:09 2004
Message-ID: <200401251910.LAA12326_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster (818) 354-5011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Donald Savage (202) 358-1547
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

NEWS RELEASE: 2004-036 January 25, 2004

First Images of Opportunity Site Show Bizarre Landscape

NASA's Opportunity rover returned the first pictures of its landing
site early today, revealing a surreal, dark landscape unlike any ever
seen before on Mars.

Opportunity relayed the images and other data via NASA's Mars Odyssey
orbiter. The data showed that the spacecraft is healthy, said Matt
Wallace, mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"Opportunity has touched down in a bizarre, alien landscape," said Dr.
Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal
investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin,
Spirit. "I'm flabbergasted. I'm astonished. I'm blown away."

The terrain is darker than at any previous Mars landing site and has
the first accessible bedrock outcropping ever seen on Mars. The
outcropping immediately became a candidate target for the rover to
visit and examine up close.

Wallace noted that the straight-ahead path looks clear for the rover
to roll off its lander platform. The rover is facing north-northeast.

JPL Administrator Dr. Charles Elachi said, "This team succeeded the
old fashioned way. They were excellent, they were determined, and they
worked very hard."

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena,
manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space
Science, Washington, D.C. Additional information about the project
is available from JPL at

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov

and from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., at

http://athena.cornell.edu/ .

-end-
Received on Sun 25 Jan 2004 02:10:34 PM PST