Click on image for animation
This false-color polar map was generated from images obtained by the Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mars Color Imager (MARCI) on May 18, 2008. It
shows a large local dust storm that researchers were monitoring to see if
it would affect weather conditions at NASA's Phoenix spacecraft's landing
site on landing day, May 25, 2008. The landing site is labeled and marked
with the yellow dot.
The dust storm, indicated with yellow arrows in the close-up view, is the
sinuous, light-colored feature to the left of the white northern polar cap
at the center of the map.
This dust storm was too early and too far away to affect the lander.
The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf
of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin
Space Systems, Denver.
