Explore the Martian surface from the comfort of your sofa with NASA's new online interactive experiences.
A pair of web-based adventures let anyone with an internet connection and a bit of imagination visit Jezero Crater, the landing site of NASA's Perseverance rover, no astronaut training required.
The first experience, "Explore with Perseverance" (HERE) lets you follow alongside the rover as if you were on the Red Planet itself. Composed mostly of images taken by the probe from various vantage points, the program is padded with additional images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Experiment) camera.
"It's the best reconstruction available of what Mars looks like," Parker Abercrombie, a senior software engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said in a statement. "We can highlight scientifically interesting rocks and other features, or the Ingenuity helicopter flight locations."
Unlike on Earth, where you can get your bearings by looking at landmarks such as trees and buildings, the Martian terrain can be "really hard to wrap your head around," Abercrombie said. These new experiences are meant to help people understand location and distance as if they were on Mars.
Parents and teachers are encouraged to share 3D views with kids, while adults can steal some time away from work to become a part-time explorer. The 3D function is a user-friendly version of the Advanced Science Targeting Tool for Robotic Operations (ASTTRO) used by NASA's rover team to select interesting targets of study.
"It's a unique challenge to set things up so people can browse in a way they'll understand, since users have varying experiences in using 3D environments," according to Abercrombie. "This is a great opportunity for the public to follow along with the mission, using the same type of visualization tools as the mission scientists."
A second activity, called "Where is Perseverance?" (HERE) shows the real-time location of the probe and Ingenuity Mars Helicopter as they study the local scenery. The site, also based on ASTTRO, is regularly updated with new views and points of interest after every drive and flight. "Terrain maps like this one allow scientists to spot interesting places to look for possible evidence of ancient life," according to the JPL. "And you'll be able to share in the journey."
Using "practically the same software" as NASA, anyone can zoom in and out and pan around the Red Planet, following the rover's route and stopping points, complete with markets indicating the Martian day and a peak at where Perseverance and Ingenuity might head next.
The Curiosity mission has a similar online experience. (HERE)
Credit: pcmag.com
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