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Octavia E. Butler Landing

Coordinates: 18°26′N 77°27′E / 18.44°N 77.45°E / 18.44; 77.45
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The Mars Perseverance rover landed at the Octavia E. Butler Landing site in Jezero Crater.

Octavia E. Butler Landing is the February 18, 2021, landing site of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover within Jezero crater on planet Mars. On March 5, 2021, NASA named the site for the American science fiction author, Octavia E. Butler, who died on February 24, 2006. The Mars landing took place nearly 15 years to the day after her death.[1][2] The coordinates of the landing site on Mars are 18°26′N 77°27′E / 18.44°N 77.45°E / 18.44; 77.45[3]

Description

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The writer Octavia E. Butler at a book signing in 2005

Jezero Crater was chosen as the 2021 landing site for the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter as part of the Mars 2020 mission. Thought to have once been flooded with water, the crater contains a fan-delta deposit rich in clays.[4] The lake in the crater was present when valley networks were forming on Mars. Besides having a delta, the crater shows point bars and inverted channels. From a study of the delta and channels, it was concluded that the lake inside the crater probably formed during a period in which there was continual surface runoff.[5] Since it is believed that the lake was long-lived, life may have developed in the crater; the delta may have required a period of one to ten million years to form.[6]

Octavia E. Butler

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Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an African American science fiction author who published a number of novel series between 1976 and 1998. A multiple recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, in 1995 she became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.[a][7][8]

Butler published standalone novels, short stories, essays and speeches. She was born in and grew up in Pasadena, California, the location of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the Perseverance rover project.

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Octavia E. Butler Landing
Elevation map of Jezero crater
Perseverance rover landing site
Octavia E. Butler Landing viewed by the Perseverance rover.
The Ingenuity helicopter views the Perseverance rover (left) about 85 m (279 ft) away from 5.0 m (16.4 ft) in the air (April 25, 2021)
Map of MarsAcheron FossaeAcidalia PlanitiaAlba MonsAmazonis PlanitiaAonia PlanitiaArabia TerraArcadia PlanitiaArgentea PlanumArgyre PlanitiaChryse PlanitiaClaritas FossaeCydonia MensaeDaedalia PlanumElysium MonsElysium PlanitiaGale craterHadriaca PateraHellas MontesHellas PlanitiaHesperia PlanumHolden craterIcaria PlanumIsidis PlanitiaJezero craterLomonosov craterLucus PlanumLycus SulciLyot craterLunae PlanumMalea PlanumMaraldi craterMareotis FossaeMareotis TempeMargaritifer TerraMie craterMilankovič craterNepenthes MensaeNereidum MontesNilosyrtis MensaeNoachis TerraOlympica FossaeOlympus MonsPlanum AustralePromethei TerraProtonilus MensaeSirenumSisyphi PlanumSolis PlanumSyria PlanumTantalus FossaeTempe TerraTerra CimmeriaTerra SabaeaTerra SirenumTharsis MontesTractus CatenaTyrrhen TerraUlysses PateraUranius PateraUtopia PlanitiaValles MarinerisVastitas BorealisXanthe Terra
The image above contains clickable links Interactive image map of the global topography of Mars, overlain with locations of Mars Memorial sites. Hover your mouse over the image to see the names of over 60 prominent geographic features, and click to link to them. Coloring of the base map indicates relative elevations, based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Whites and browns indicate the highest elevations (+12 to +8 km); followed by pinks and reds (+8 to +3 km); yellow is 0 km; greens and blues are lower elevations (down to −8 km). Axes are latitude and longitude; Polar regions are noted.
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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ It wasn't until 2020 that another speculative fiction writer (N.K. Jemisin) received the prize.

References

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  1. ^ "NASA's Perseverance Drives on Mars Terrain for First Time". NASA. March 5, 2021. Retrieved March 5, 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ^ "Welcome to "Octavia E. Butler Landing"". NASA. March 5, 2021. Retrieved March 5, 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ "Mars Lander Missions". NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  4. ^ Muir, Hazel. "Prime landing sites chosen for biggest Martian rover". New Scientist. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  5. ^ Goudge, T. (2017). Stratigraphy and Evolution of Delta Channel Deposits, Jezero Crater Mars (PDF). Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2017). 1195.pdf.
  6. ^ Schon, S.; Head, J.; Fassett, C. (2012). "An overfilled lacustrine system and progradational delta in Jezero crater, Mars: Implications for Noachian climate". Planetary and Space Science. 67 (1): 28–45. Bibcode:2012P&SS...67...28S. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2012.02.003.
  7. ^ Crossley, Robert "Critical Essay" In Kindred, by Octavia Butler Boston: Beacon, 2004 ISBN 0807083690 (10) ISBN 978-0807083697 (13)
  8. ^ "Octavia Butler". MacArthur Foundation Fellows. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
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