"Calypso Panorama"


       This full-circle view from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the terrain surrounding the location called "Troy," where Spirit became embedded in soft soil during the spring of 2009. The hundreds of images combined into this view were taken beginning on the 1,906th Martian day (or sol) of Spirit's mission on Mars (May 14, 2009) and ending on Sol 1943 (June 20, 2009).

North is at the center; south at both ends. The western edge of the low plateau called Home Plate dominates the right half of the panorama. At the far right is a bright-topped mound called "Von Braun," a possible future destination for Spirit's exploration. Near the center of the panorama, in the distance, lies Husband Hill, where Spirit recorded views from the summit in 2005. The ridge on the left, near the rover tracks leading to Troy from the north, is called "Tsiolkovsky." For scale, the parallel tracks are about 1 meter (39 inches) apart. The track on the right is more evident because Spirit was driving backwards, dragging its right-front wheel, which no longer rotates.

The bright soil in the center foreground is soft material in which Spirit became embedded after the wheels on that side cut through a darker top layer. The composition of different layers in the soil at the site became the subject of intense investigation by tools on Spirit's robotic arm.

The Pancam team named this scene the Calypso Panorama. Three versions are offered at full resolution: an approximate true color rendering and a false-color, red-green-blue composite panorama generated from images taken through the Pancam's 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer and 430-nanometer filters, and a stereo anaglyph made from Pancam's left and right cameras.

Spirit has been investigating a region within Mars' Gusev Crater for more than 67 months in what was originally planned as a three-month mission. .
     
Jim Bell
Pancam Instrument Lead
31 August 2009

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
Image mosaicking: Pancam team (Jim Bell, Jonathan Joseph)
Calibration and color rendering: Cornell Calibration Crew and the Pancam team (Jim Bell)
Full Size JPG (True Color) | Full Size TIFF (True Color)
Full Size JPG (False Color) | Full Size TIFF (False Color)
Image Dimensions: 23123x5093


      NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its panoramic camera (Pancam) to record a 360-degree vista, dubbed the "Calypso" panorama. This view is a "red" stereo anaglyph of the view, showing it in three dimensions to viewers using red-blue stereo glasses (red lens on the left). The images combined into this anaglyph were taken through the Pancam's L2 (753 nm) and R2 (754 nm) filters.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
Image mosaicking: Pancam team (Jim Bell, Jonathan Joseph)
Full Size JPG (L2R2 stereo) | Full Size TIFF (L2R2 stereo)
Image Dimensions: 23123x5093

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