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| Press Release Images: Spirit |
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20-Oct-2004
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'Columbia Hills' in Stereo
While en route to higher ground in the "Columbia Hills," NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its panoramic camera to take the images combined into this 360-degree stereo panorama of its surroundings. Because the rover was parked on a steep slope, it was tilted approximately 22 degrees to the west-northwest. This would be similar to tilting your body sideways like a leaning pole and turning your body and head around to survey your surroundings without bending your neck. At one point, you would be looking slightly down. At another point, you would be looking slightly up. In between those two points, your eyes would be slanted at an angle to the horizon. To compensate for this, image processing experts "untilted" the images, so to speak, which makes the martian horizon appear flat but also creates a vertical offset between the left and right eyes. This offset can make it difficult to view a scene like this looking through 3-D glasses because the two sides of the stereo image do not line up perfectly. Tilting your head one way or the other may help to view it more easily.
The highest point visible in this panorama is "Husband Hill," named for space shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband. To the right are the rover's tracks through the soil, where it stopped to perform maintenance on its right front wheel in July. In the distance, below the hills, is the floor of Gusev Crater, where Spirit landed Jan. 3, 2004, before traveling more than 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) to reach this point. This vista comprises 188 images taken between Spirit's 213th day, or sol, on Mars to its 223rd sol (Aug. 9 to 19, 2004). Team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Cornell University spent several weeks processing images and producing geometric maps to stitch all the images together in this mosaic. The 360-degree view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective map projection with geometric seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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Browse Image (57.6 kB) |
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'Columbia Hills' in Stereo (Left Eye)
This is the panoramic camera left-eye view from a stereo pair of images taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover in the "Columbia Hills."
The highest point visible in this panorama is "Husband Hill," named for space shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband. To the right are the rover's tracks through the soil, where it stopped to perform maintenance on its right front wheel in July. In the distance, below the hills, is the floor of Gusev Crater, where Spirit landed Jan. 3, 2004, before traveling more than 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) to reach this point. This vista comprises 188 images taken between Spirit's 213th day, or sol, on Mars to its 223rd sol (Aug. 9 to 19, 2004). Team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Cornell University spent several weeks processing images and producing geometric maps to stitch all the images together in this mosaic. The 360-degree view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective map projection with geometric seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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Browse Image (48 kB) |
Large (879 kB)
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'Columbia Hills' in Stereo (Right Eye)
This is the panoramic camera right-eye view from a stereo pair of images taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover in the "Columbia Hills."
The highest point visible in this panorama is "Husband Hill," named for space shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband. To the right are the rover's tracks through the soil, where it stopped to perform maintenance on its right front wheel in July. In the distance, below the hills, is the floor of Gusev Crater, where Spirit landed Jan. 3, 2004, before traveling more than 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) to reach this point. This vista comprises 188 images taken between Spirit's 213th day, or sol, on Mars to its 223rd sol (Aug. 9 to 19, 2004). Team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Cornell University spent several weeks processing images and producing geometric maps to stitch all the images together in this mosaic. The 360-degree view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective map projection with geometric seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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Browse Image (46 kB) |
Large (889 kB)
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True 3-D View of 'Columbia Hills' from an Angle
This mosaic of images from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows a panorama of the "Columbia Hills" without any adjustment for rover tilt. When viewed through 3-D glasses, depth is much more dramatic and easier to see, compared with a tilt-adjusted version. This is because stereo views are created by producing two images, one corresponding to the view from the panoramic camera's left-eye camera, the other corresponding to the view from the panoramic camera's right-eye camera. The brain processes the visual input more accurately when the two images do not have any vertical offset. In this view, the vertical alignment is nearly perfect, but the horizon appears to curve because of the rover's tilt (because the rover was parked on a steep slope, it was tilted approximately 22 degrees to the west-northwest). Spirit took the images for this 360-degree panorama while en route to higher ground in the "Columbia Hills."
The highest point visible in the hills is "Husband Hill," named for space shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband. To the right are the rover's tracks through the soil, where it stopped to perform maintenance on its right front wheel in July. In the distance, below the hills, is the floor of Gusev Crater, where Spirit landed Jan. 3, 2004, before traveling more than 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) to reach this point. This vista comprises 188 images taken by Spirit's panoramic camera from its 213th day, or sol, on Mars to its 223rd sol (Aug. 9 to 19, 2004). Team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Cornell University spent several weeks processing images and producing geometric maps to stitch all the images together in this mosaic. The 360-degree view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective map projection with geometric seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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Browse Image |
Medium Image (461 kB) |
Large (11.6 MB)
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True 3-D View of 'Columbia Hills' from an Angle (Left Eye)
This is the panoramic camera left-eye view from a stereo pair of images taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in the "Columbia Hills," without adjustment for the tilt of the rover.
The highest point visible in the hills is "Husband Hill," named for space shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband. To the right are the rover's tracks through the soil, where it stopped to perform maintenance on its right front wheel in July. In the distance, below the hills, is the floor of Gusev Crater, where Spirit landed Jan. 3, 2004, before traveling more than 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) to reach this point. This vista comprises 188 images taken by Spirit's panoramic camera from its 213th day, or sol, on Mars to its 223rd sol (Aug. 9 to 19, 2004). Team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Cornell University spent several weeks processing images and producing geometric maps to stitch all the images together in this mosaic. The 360-degree view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective map projection with geometric seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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Browse Image |
Medium Image (332 kB) |
Large (10.8 MB)
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True 3-D View of 'Columbia Hills' from an Angle (Right Eye)
This is the panoramic camera right-eye view from a stereo pair of images taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in the "Columbia Hills," without adjustment for the tilt of the rover.
The highest point visible in the hills is "Husband Hill," named for space shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband. To the right are the rover's tracks through the soil, where it stopped to perform maintenance on its right front wheel in July. In the distance, below the hills, is the floor of Gusev Crater, where Spirit landed Jan. 3, 2004, before traveling more than 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) to reach this point. This vista comprises 188 images taken by Spirit's panoramic camera from its 213th day, or sol, on Mars to its 223rd sol (Aug. 9 to 19, 2004). Team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Cornell University spent several weeks processing images and producing geometric maps to stitch all the images together in this mosaic. The 360-degree view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective map projection with geometric seam correction.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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Browse Image |
Medium Image (338 kB) |
Large (10.7 MB)
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