Mission Name HST: Hubble Space Telescope - Mars LASP Instruments Principal Investigator: Unknown Destination Approx 600 km Earth Orbit Launch Date April 25th, 1990 Launch Location Kennedy Space Center Launch Vehicle Shuttle Mission Duration 7 years Mission Description/ LASP involvement   LASP Divisions Involved Science LASP Mission Web Page   Official Mission Web Page http://hubble.nasa.gov/index.php

In late-1990, the Hubble Space Telescope began a long-term program of observations to monitor seasonal and inter-annual changes which occur on the surface and in the atmosphere of the planet Mars. The science team undertaking this program is composed of planetary scientists Steve Lee (LASP, University of Colorado), Philip James (University of Toledo), Todd Clancy and Mike Wolff (Space Science Institute), and Jim Bell (Cornell University).

During the most recent observing cycle, our HST observations of Mars resumed in late-2000 and continued through late-2001. Several sets of observations were scheduled in the several months before and after the Mars opposition in June 2001. At opposition, Mars was about 68 million km from Earth; from this distance, HST could resolve features as small as 16 km across.

In late-June 2001, the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor observed the initiation of a global dust storm. Within a week, clouds suspended dust encircled the entire planet. The dust did not begin to settle until October 2001. During this time, the surface of the planet was obscured by the optically thick dust clouds.

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