FOR RELEASE: July 3, 1997
Contact: Larry Bernard
Office: (607) 255-3651
Internet: [email protected]
Compuserve: Larry Bernard 72650,565
http://www.news.cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- When Pathfinder lands on Mars on Independence Day, the
images it sends back to Earth will be interpreted with the help of a
Cornell University scientist. "We're looking for anything out of the
ordinary, in addition to basic geological information," said James Bell,
research associate in the Cornell astronomy department's Center for
Radiophysics and Space Research.
Bell, chosen for the lander imaging team just a few months ago, will help
determine what types of minerals and rocks are present on the Martian
surface. The camera, a CCD video camera similar to that used by consumers
for home use, is outfitted with about a dozen color filters to discriminate
individual minerals. Iron oxide, for example, should be abundant because
oxidation of rock is what gives Mars its red color.
"This is really a geology mission," said Bell, who will help with
mineralogy and image interpretation. "We'll look at the shape, size and
color of the rocks, as well as at geologic formations and
surface-atmosphere interactions. We'll be looking for whether the climate
was different in the past, too, and anything else that looks interesting."
If successful, images will be stored by the lander camera system and then
will be transmitted to Earth two or three times per day, about every eight
hours or so.
At night, scientists will use the camera as a telescope, training it on
stars and the Martian moons as they pass overhead. "It will be like we're
astronomers on the surface of Mars," Bell said.
The camera, called the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP), will make
observations at various times during the day to detect any changes over the
lifetime of the mission that might be attributed to the actions of frost,
dust or sand deposition, erosion or other surface-atmosphere interactions.
Observations of the general landscape, surface slopes and the distribution
of rocks will be obtained by panoramic stereo images.
Cornell also has a high-capacity mirror site on the Internet for
information and to follow the Pathfinder mission. The site,
day. The site is maintained at the Cornell Theory Center, which houses
nationally used supercomputers.
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