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PIA09945: Topographical Context of Phoenix Landing Region
This area was designated 'Region D' in the process of evaluating potential landing sites for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander. The topographical information is from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) 
Phoenix 
 Spacecraft:  Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter
 Instrument:  MOLA 
 Product Size:  1019 x 985 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  University of Arizona 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA09945.tif (3.015 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA09945.jpg (137 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

Color coding indicates the topography in this map of the region of Mars from 65 to 72 degrees north latitude and from 230 to 250 degrees east longitude. This area was designated "Region D" in the process of evaluating potential landing sites for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander. The location chosen for safe landing sites is within the box bordered with a heavy black line along the western boundary of this region.

Elevation in the region varies from about 3,600 meters (11,800 feet) to 4,400 meters (14,400 feet) below the zero reference point for Martian surface elevation. The topographical information is from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

Photojournal Note: As planned, the Phoenix lander, which landed May 25, 2008 23:53 UTC, ended communications in November 2008, about six months after landing, when its solar panels ceased operating in the dark Martian winter.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Washington Univ. St. Louis/Univ. of Arizona

Image Addition Date:
2007-08-02