[meteorite-list] NASA Mars Orbiter Examines Dramatic New Crater (MRO)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2014 09:54:04 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201402051754.s15Hs4TX014331_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-037

NASA Mars Orbiter Examines Dramatic New Crater
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
February 05, 2014

Space rocks hitting Mars excavate fresh craters at a pace of more than
200 per year, but few new Mars scars pack as much visual punch as one
seen in a NASA image released today.

The image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE)
camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a crater about 100
feet (30 meters) in diameter at the center of a radial burst painting
the surface with a pattern of bright and dark tones. It is available
online at http://uahirise.org/ESP_034285_1835 and
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA17932.

The scar appeared at some time between imaging of this location by the
orbiter's Context Camera in July 2010 and again in May 2012. Based on
apparent changes between those before-and-after images at lower
resolution, researchers used HiRISE to acquire this new image on Nov.
19, 2013. The impact that excavated this crater threw some material as
far as 9.3 miles (15 kilometers).

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project is managed by NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute
of Technology in Pasadena. HiRISE is operated by the University of
Arizona, Tucson. The instrument was built by Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Malin Space Science Systems, San
Diego, built and operates the Context Camera.

For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has
been studying Mars from orbit since 2006, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mro .

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
jccook at jpl.nasa.gov

Daniel Stolte, 520-626-4402
University of Arizona, Tucson
stolte at email.arizona.edu

2014-037
Received on Wed 05 Feb 2014 12:54:04 PM PST