Physics
Scientific paper
Jun 1999
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999msls.work...88t&link_type=abstract
Second Mars Surveyor Landing Site Workshop, p. 88
Physics
Topography, Mars Surface, Landing Sites, Site Selection, Mars Photographs, Mars Landing, Viking Spacecraft, High Resolution
Scientific paper
Definition of the local topography of the Mars '01 Lander site is crucial for assessment of lander safety and rover trafficability. According to Golombek et al., steep surface slopes may (1) cause retro-rockets to be fired too early or late for a safe landing, (2) the landing site slope needs to be < 1deg to ensure lander stability, and (3) a nearly level site is better for power generation of both the lander and the rover and for rover trafficability. Presently available datasets are largely inadequate to determine surface slope at scales pertinent to landing-site issues. Ideally, a topographic model of the entire landing site at meter-scale resolution would permit the best assessment of the pertinent topographic issues. MOLA data, while providing highly accurate vertical measurements, are inadequate to address slopes along paths of less than several hundred meters, because of along-track data spacings of hundreds of meters and horizontal errors in positioning of 500 to 2000 m. The capability to produce stereotopography from MOC image pairs is not yet in hand, nor can we necessarily expect a suitable number of stereo image pairs to be acquired. However, for a limited number of sites, high-resolution Viking stereo imaging is available at tens of meters horizontal resolution, capable of covering landing-ellipse sized areas. Although we would not necessarily suggest that the chosen Mars '01 Lander site should be located where good Viking stereotopography is available, an assessment of typical surface slopes at these scales for a range of surface types may be quite valuable in landing-site selection. Thus this study has a two-fold application: (1) to support the proposal of White Rock as a candidate Mars '01 Lander site, and (2) to evaluate how Viking high resolution stereotopography may be of value in the overall Mars '01 Lander site selection process.
Howington-Kraus Elpitha
Kirk Randolph L.
MacKinnon David J.
Tanaka Ken L.
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