RELEASE DATE: For release on Jan-10-03 (for Joy Crisp's presentation at the 9am press conference). IMAGE FILE NAME: reconstruction2.tif, .jpg NAME OF SUBMITTER: Joy Crisp, JPL TITLE OF IMAGE: Atmosphere temperature during Spirit's Entry Descent, and Landing CAPTION: The red curve shows the estimated change in temperature as Spirit descended through the martian atmosphere, from 80 km (50 miles) on down, to just above parachute deployment. The estimated profile was "reconstructed" from accelerometer and gyro readings taken by the spacecraft during its descent. This is a reasonably good match to the blue curve, which is the temperature profile predicted before landing. The predicted profile was generated from a model that includes, for the upper atmosphere, temperatures derived from MGS Thermal Emission Spectrometer observations of Gusev Crater on December 23, 2003. CREDITS: NASA/JPL/George Washington University/Langley/ASU