HR: 0830h
AN: P31B-1062    [PDF]
TI: Terrestrial Radar Observations of Gusev Crater, Mars
AU: * Larsen, K W
EM: kris@shannon.jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Inst. of Tech. 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Haldemann, A F
EM: albert@shannon.jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Inst. of Tech. 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Jurgens, R F
EM: jurgens@shannon.jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Inst. of Tech. 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Slade, M A
EM: marty@shannon.jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Inst. of Tech. 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AB: The Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, was launched on June 10, 2003, and is scheduled to land on the floor of Gusev Crater in January 2004. The close opposition of Mars in the summer of 2003 provided a final opportunity to observe the Gusev Crater landing site using Earth-based radar telescopes prior to the Rover's arrival. Similar observations of the Terra Meridiani site in 2001 demonstrated the capabilities of delay-Doppler radar interferometry in mapping the radar properties of planetary surfaces. The 2003 observation suite includes data from four nights in which the observation's sub-radar track was within five degrees of latitude of the planned landing site. High resolution, approximately five kilometers per pixel, radar imaging of the landing site indicates a site that will be of low risk to the rover and provides testable predictions of the local surface roughness that the rover will encounter.
DE: 5464 Remote sensing
DE: 5470 Surface materials and properties
DE: 6225 Mars
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting