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NASA/VIKING/Mary A. Dale-Bannister,
Washington University in St. Louis
A European-built Mars robot
is now en route to the red planet and two surface-roving NASA robots are slated
to launch soon [Full Coverage].
The pictures they send back will probably remind a lot of folks of the intrepid
Sojourner rover from the 1997 Pathfinder mission -- the last to touch down safely
on Mars.
Others might be reminded
of the twin Viking landers, the pioneers of Martian surface exploration.
This picture is from Viking
1, the first spacecraft to land on Mars (on July 20, 1976). The image was made
by combining low-resolution Viking color images with high-resolution black-and-white
photos.
The big rock to the left
of center is called Big Joe and is about 6 feet (2 meters) wide. Scientists
name Mars rocks so they can discuss them more conveniently.
The rock is covered in red
dust. Mars is red because its soil contains a lot of oxidized iron. Here on
Earth, we call that rust.
-- Robert
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