How to Land on Mars

Images of Mars in JPL gallery

At our last visit to JPL, it was so amazing to learn about the many discoveries NASA scientists have made relating to Mars. One of the things that fascinated me most was seeing just how far the technology has come over the past 100 years. In the early 20^th century, many people still believed that little green men had built elaborate societies on the red planet. Today, scientists have debunked these myths and are currently analyzing the possibility of finding life on Mars, and the process of investigating Mars is much more complex now than ever before. The first color image of Mars was not a simple photograph. The image was created by using pastels to fill in the various hues based on a number system. Today we are able to see not only color, but textures of the entire surface of Mars as well.

Geospatial information scientist Fred Calef spoke to us at JPL. Calef is essentially a cartographer – he looks at the textures in images of Mars to see how to land and drive safely on Mars. This analysis is essential for the rovers to gather information on Mars. I noticed some similarities between Calef’s research and the principles I have learned in a number of art classes, particularly the use of perspective. Calef uses perspective to get an overall sense of the landscape, and also to determine the size and height of various objects. Unwrapping images of the 3D surface to form a 2D images allows for a clearer view of Mars’ surface. To determine the specific height of objects, he blends the aerial view and side shots of an image, and also looks at shadow length. Just as we use perspective to create realistic images, Calef uses perspective to better see what is already there.

Curiosity landing site

With the help of Calef’s research, the rovers are able to navigate the unfamiliar surface of our neighboring planet, and as a result collect plenty of important data (including evidence of liquid water!). It was so interesting to see how JPL has been able to land so many rovers on Mars and how far technology has come. Who knows what JPL will discover in the next 100 years? Who knows!