investigation of the mars exploration rover gusev landing site using

INVESTIGATION OF THE MARS EXPLORATION
ROVER GUSEV LANDING SITE USING THE MARS
EXPRESS HRSC CAMERA
G. Michael (1), R. Jaumann (1), E. Hauber (1), H. Hoffmann (1), F. Scholten (1), K.
Gwinner (1), B. Foing (2), T. Zegers (2), R. Greeley (3), G. Neukum (4), and the
HRSC Co-Investigator Team
(1) Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, (2) European
Space Agency (ESA-ESTEC), Noordwijk, (3) Dept. of Geological Sciences, Arizona State
University (4) Institute of Geosciences, FU Berlin
We intend to use the data from the Mars Express HRSC camera to study the landing
site of the Spirit Mars Exploration Rover in Gusev crater. HRSC (High Resolution
Stereo Camera) records images at up to 10m resolution at nadir, with three colour, one
IR, and four stereo/photometry channels. It is operating on board the Mars Express
spacecraft, in orbit at Mars since December 2003.
The instrument offers broad coverage of the study region at high resolution, in colour,
with multiple viewing angles for stereo processing. To date, HRSC has made 3
imaging passes over Gusev, in orbits 24, 72, and 283, providing north-south swaths
of order 50 km in width We expect to produce digital elevation models of up to 50m
horizontal resolution for investigation in combination with the colour mosaics. Our
interest will be focused on the possible ancient presence of water in the crater, and
also on the origin and geological history of the ’Columbia Hills’ soon to come under
close study by the Spirit rover.
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