Mar 13 1998
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (3MB PDF)
New data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor Mission provided insights into the planet's deeply layered terrain, its strong, localized magnetic fields, and the genesis and evolution of a Martian dust storm. Scientists analyzed data collected in October and November 1997, publishing the first set of formal results in the 13 March 1998 issue of Science. Mars Global Surveyor had used a variety of instruments to collect data. The thermal emission spectrometer had mapped the temperature and opacity of the Martian atmosphere during the sandstorm, and a camera had returned visual images of the storm's effects. The spectrometer had also obtained some infrared emission spectra of Mars's surface, indicating "the presence of pyroxene and plagioclase, minerals which are common in volcanic rocks, with a variable amount of dust component." Surveyor's magnetometer and electron reflectometer had measured strong localized magnetic fields on Mars. A laser altimeter had collected data from Mars's northern hemisphere, revealing a flat surface, becoming increasingly rough toward the equator. Scientists had interpreted a variety of landforms in the Mars images, including the northern polar cap and gigantic canyons, ridges, craters, and shield volcanoes.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
