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This false color image from NASA's rover Opportunity takes a look at Matijevic Hill, an area within the 'Cape York' segment of Endeavour's rim where clay minerals have been detected from orbit. | Annotated versionClick on the image for larger version
As NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity neared the ninth anniversary of its landing on Mars, the rover was working in the 'Matijevic Hill' area seen in this view from Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam). Opportunity landed Jan. 24, 2004, PST (Jan. 25 UTC). The landing site was about 12 miles (19 kilometers), straight-line distance, or about 22 miles (35.5 kilometers) driving-route distance, from this location on the western rim of Endeavour Crater.Matijevic Hill is an area within the "Cape York" segment of Endeavour's rim where clay minerals have been detected from orbit. This view is centered northwestward, toward the crest of Cape York. It extends more than 210 degrees from left to right. The field of view encompasses most of the terrain traversed by Opportunity during a "walkabout" in October and November 2012 to scout which features to spend time examining more intensely. Two of the features investigated at Matijevic Hill are "Copper Cliff," the dark outcrop in the left center of the image, and "Whitewater Lake," the bright outcrop on the far right. Opportunity's Pancam took the component images for this mosaic during the period from the mission's 3,137th Martian day, or sol, (Nov. 19, 2012) through Sol 3150 (Dec. 3, 2012).The image combines exposures taken through Pancam filters centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near-infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). The view is presented in false color to make some differences between materials easier to see.JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL also manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project and its rover, Curiosity. | |
Taken on May 22, 2003, this image from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor is the first image of Earth ever taken from another planet that actually shows our home as a planetary disk when Jupiter, Earth, and the Moon aligned. | MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-368, 22 May 2003What does Earth look like when viewed from Mars? At 13:00 GMT on 8 May 2003, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) had an opportunity to find out. In addition, a fortuitous alignment of Earth and Jupiter--the first planetary conjunction viewed from another planet--permitted the MOC to acquire an image of both of these bodies and their larger satellites. At the time, Mars and the orbiting camera were 139 million kilometers (86 million miles) from Earth and almost 1 billion kilometers (nearly 600 million miles) from Jupiter. The orbit diagram shows the geometry at the time the images were obtained.Because Jupiter is over 5 times farther from the Sun than Earth, two different exposures were needed to image the two planets. The images are shown mosaiced together. The composite has been highly contrast-enhanced and "colorized" to show both planets and their satellites. The MGS MOC high resolution camera only takes grayscale (black-and-white) images; the color was derived from Mariner 10 and Cassini pictures of Earth/Moon and Jupiter, respectively, as described in the note below.Earth/Moon: This is the first image of Earth ever taken from another planet that actually shows our home as a planetary disk. Because Earth and the Moon are closer to the Sun than Mars, they exhibit phases, just as the Moon, Venus, and Mercury do when viewed from Earth. As seen from Mars by MGS on 8 May 2003 at 13:00 GMT (6:00 AM PDT), Earth and the Moon appeared in the evening sky. The MOC Earth/Moon image has been specially processed to allow both Earth (with an apparent magnitude of -2.5) and the much darker Moon (with an apparent magnitude of +0.9) to be visible together. The bright area at the top of the image of Earth is cloud cover over central and eastern North America. Below that, a darker area includes Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. The bright feature near the center-right of the crescent Earth consists of clouds over northern South America. The image also shows the Earth-facing hemisphere of the Moon, since the Moon was on the far side of Earth as viewed from Mars. The slightly lighter tone of the lower portion of the image of the Moon results from the large and conspicuous ray system associated with the crater Tycho.Jupiter/Galilean Satellites: When Galileo first turned his telescope toward Jupiter four centuries ago, he saw that the giant planet had four large satellites, or moons. These, the largest of dozens of moons that orbit Jupiter, later became known as the Galilean satellites. The larger two, Callisto and Ganymede, are roughly the size of the planet Mercury; the smallest, Io and Europa, are approximately the size of Earth's Moon. This MGS MOC image, obtained from Mars orbit on 8 May 2003, shows Jupiter and three of the four Galilean satellites: Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa. At the time, Io was behind Jupiter as seen from Mars, and Jupiter's giant red spot had rotated out of view. This image has been specially processed to show both Jupiter and its satellites, since Jupiter, at an apparent magnitude of -1.8, was much brighter than the three satellites.A note about the coloring process: The MGS MOC high resolution camera only takes grayscale (black-and-white) images. To "colorize" the image, a Mariner 10 Earth/Moon image taken in 1973 was used to color the MOC Earth and Moon picture, and a recent Cassini image acquired during its Jupiter flyby was used to color the MOC Jupiter picture. The procedure used was as follows: the Mariner 10 and Cassini color images were converted from 24-bit color to 8-bit color using a JPEG to GIF conversion program. These 8-bit color images were converted to 8-bit grayscale and an associated lookup table mapping each gray value of that image to a red-green-blue color triplet (RGB). Each color triplet was root-sum-squared (RSS), and sorted in increasing RSS value. These sorted lists were brightness-to-color maps for their respective images. Each brightness-to-color map was then used to convert the 8-bit grayscale MOC image to an 8-bit color image. This 8-bit color image was then converted to a 24-bit color image. The color image was edited to return the background to black. Three separate color tables were used: one each for the Earth, Moon and Jupiter. Jupiter's Galilean Satellites were not colored.To view images separately, see: Earth and Jupiter as viewed from Mars PIA04530, Earth and Moon as viewed from Mars PIA04531, Jupiter and its Galilean Satellites as viewed from Mars PIA04532. | |
As spring progresses at the south pole, the surface reacts to the change of season. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a region of the south pole that is monitored throughout spring, summer, and fall at the south pole. | Context imageAs spring progresses at the south pole, the surface reacts to the change of season. Today's VIS image shows a region of the south pole that is monitored throughout spring, summer, and fall at the south pole.Orbit Number: 47662 Latitude: -86.8526 Longitude: 275.69 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-09-11 14:49Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
These two images come from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Images of locations in Gale Crater taken from orbit around Mars reveal evidence of erosion in recent geological times and development of small scarps, or vertical surfaces | Images of locations in Gale Crater taken from orbit around Mars reveal evidence of erosion in recent geological times and development of small scarps, or vertical surfaces. These two images come from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The image on the left shows the Yellowknife Bay area examined by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover during the rover's first 11 months on Mars. The red arrow points to the contact between the Sheepbed and Gillespie geological members. The blue arrow points to the contact between the Gillespie Lake member and overlying Glenelg member, which also forms a small scarp. These two geological contacts form scarps due to variations in rock hardness as eroded by the wind. The effect is to generate rock exposures that are relatively youthful in a geological timescale, on the order of 70 million years.The image on the right shows the KMS_9 area, which Curiosity may investigate on the rover's route to Mount Sharp. The purple arrow points to the contact between the lowermost striated unit and the middle bedded unit. The yellow arrow marks the contact between the middle bedded unit and the upper smooth hummocky material. It is possible that the rocks adjacent to these scarps have also been only recently exhumed and exposed due to wind erosion.The left image is a portion of HiRISE observation ESP_028335_1755, taken on Aug. 12, 2012. Other image products from this observation are available at http://www.uahirise.org/ESP_028335_1755. The right image was taken on Aug. 9, 2010, and other products from the same observation are available at http://www.uahirise.org/ESP_018920_175.HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity gives a view to the northeast from the rover's position on Oct. 18, 2008. Rover tracks are seen on Victoria Crater. | Since leaving "Victoria Crater," Opportunity has picked up the pace of driving. In the 90 sols (Martian days) since exiting the crater, Opportunity has driven more than 1,800 meters (1.1 miles), three times the distance that was required for the original prime mission. Scientists expect to encounter younger rocks the farther south the rover travels. They also expect to find small rocks ejected onto the landscape during formation of nearby craters. To reach these things, the rover must avoid sand traps as much as possible.Opportunity acquired this mosaic with the navigation camera on the rover_x0092_s 1,683rd Martian day, or sol (Oct. 18, 2008), of exploration. | |
This image released on July 17, 2004 fromNASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey shows that eons of atmospheric dust storm activity has left its mark on the surface of Mars. Yardangs form in channel floor deposits. | Released 19 July 2004The atmosphere of Mars is a dynamic system. Water-ice clouds, fog, and hazes can make imaging the surface from space difficult. Dust storms can grow from local disturbances to global sizes, through which imaging is impossible. Seasonal temperature changes are the usual drivers in cloud and dust storm development and growth. Eons of atmospheric dust storm activity has left its mark on the surface of Mars. Dust carried aloft by the wind has settled out on every available surface; sand dunes have been created and moved by centuries of wind; and the effect of continual sand-blasting has modified many regions of Mars, creating yardangs and other unusual surface forms. The yardangs in this image are forming in channel floor deposits. The channel itself is funneling the wind to cause the erosion.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 4.5, Longitude 229.7 East (133.3 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows windstreaks located to the northeast of Meridiani Planum. The 'tails' point in different directions, indicating that the winds in the region vary in direction. | Context image for PIA10342WindstreaksThese windstreaks are located to the northeast of Meridiani Planum. The "tails" point in different directions, indicating that the winds in the region vary in direction.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 2.7N, Longitude 9.2E. 18 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows an extensive set of layered lava flows from Arsia Mons on Mars. The crater in the upper portion of the image that has been encircled and partially filled by the flows. | The extensive set of layered lava flows seen in this nighttime IR image originated from Arsia Mons. Note the crater in the upper portion of the image that has been encircled and partially filled by the flows.Image information: IR instrument. Latitude -7.1, Longitude 239.6 East (120.4 West). 100 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows the martian volcano, Apollinaris Patera on Mars. | 3 September 2004On 3 September 2004, the 28th anniversary of the Viking 2 landing on Mars, we take a look back only 9 months at another place where a U.S. spacecraft landed on the red planet. This oblique red wide angle camera image obtained by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) shows the proximity of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER-A), Spirit, landing site in Gusev Crater to the martian volcano, Apollinaris Patera. The January 2004 Spirit landing site is indicated by the white circle at the bottom (south end) of the image. The volcano covers most of the upper (northern) half of the picture. The volcano's summit depression, or caldera is about 73 kilometers (~45 miles) across. This perspective view was obtained in June 2004 by MOC as MGS was beginning to roll so as to point the camera at a target located further north. The Spirit landing site is located near 14.8°S, 184.6°W. Sunlight illuminates this scene from the upper left. | |
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft captured these rounded, mysterious mounds occur along the floor of a depression in northern Arabia Terra. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionThese rounded, mysterious mounds occur along the floor of a depression in northern Arabia Terra. The mound surface has many parallel troughs that contain light-toned transverse aeolian (e.g., formed by the wind) ridges oriented perpendicular to the trough walls.The resolution of this image will help assess the nature and grain size of the sediment that makes up these mounds and whether layering is present, ultimately helping to constrain the environment in which these mounds formed. This is a stereo pair with ESP_043201_2160.The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This oblique view, captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows geological layers of rock exposed on a mound inside Gale Crater on Mars. This view was created from a three-dimensional topographic model of the mound. | Click on the image for larger versionThis oblique view shows geological layers of rock exposed on a mound inside Gale Crater on Mars. This is a lower portion of the mound, with the crater floor at the left (and lowest) edge of the image. Layers near the bottom of the mound contain clay and sulfate minerals that indicate wet conditions. Overlying rock layers contain sulfates with little or no clay, consistent with these layers forming in an environment in which water was evaporating and Mars was drying out.This view was created from a three-dimensional topographic model of the mound. The U.S. Geological Survey generated the model from a stereo pair of images taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Observations of the site by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, on the same orbiter, yielded information about composition. The vertical dimension is exaggerated three-fold relative to the horizontal dimensions. The view is toward the southeast. The width of the area included in the image is about 1.5 kilometers (about 5,000 feet). The scale bar in the labeled version is 200 meters (656 feet).Gale Crater is approximately 152 kilometers (94 miles) in diameter and centered at about 5 degrees south latitude, 138 degrees east longitude. The mound near its center is over 4 kilometers (2.4 miles) high, making it more than twice as thick as the stack of rocks exposed in the Grand Canyon on Earth. This image combines data from HiRISE observations PSP_001488_1750, taken on Nov. 20, 2006, and PSP_001752_1750, taken Dec. 10, 2006. Other image products from these observation are available at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_001488_1750 and http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_001752_1750. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey released on April 7, 2004 shows various flows from Arsia Mons on Mars. Older flows with more dust cover are brighter than the relatively dust-free younger flows. | Released 7 April 2004The Odyssey spacecraft has completed a full Mars year of observations of the red planet. For the next several weeks the Image of the Day will look back over this first mars year. It will focus on four themes: 1) the poles - with the seasonal changes seen in the retreat and expansion of the caps; 2) craters - with a variety of morphologies relating to impact materials and later alteration, both infilling and exhumation; 3) channels - the clues to liquid surface flow; and 4) volcanic flow features. While some images have helped answer questions about the history of Mars, many have raised new questions that are still being investigated as Odyssey continues collecting data as it orbits Mars.This daytime infrared image was collected Oct. 30, 2002 during late southern fall. Infrared images highlight the various flows from Arsia Mons. Older flows with more dust cover are brighter than the relatively dust-free younger flows.Image information: IR instrument. Latitude -20, Longitude 242.8 East (117.2 West). 100 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander shows a fish-eye view of a hummocky terrain with troughs on martian polar terrain. | North is up (12 o'clock position) in this seam-corrected 360 degree polar projection using downsampled images from sols 1 and 3. Seam boundaries show different times of day, e.g. 9 o'clock (west) position shows scoop of RA, 7 o'clock view shows the MET mast with telltale (mast contains three temperature sensors).Note: hummocky terrain with troughs, typical of Earth polar terrain where we would see permafrost and ice beneath surface. 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.Photojournal Note: As planned, the Phoenix lander, which landed May 25, 2008 23:53 UTC, ended communications in November 2008, about six months after landing, when its solar panels ceased operating in the dark Martian winter. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a section of Mamers Valles. Mamer Valles is nearly 1000 km long (600 miles). | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a section of Mamers Valles. Mamer Valles is nearly 1000 km long (600 miles). It originates near Cerulli Crater in northern Arabia Terra, and after a short section near the crater where flow is to the south, flows northward to empty in Deuteronilus Mensae. The section of the channel in this image is part of the southward flowing part of the system. The steep walls of Mamers Valles can reach heights of 1200 m (4000 feet).Orbit Number: 89757 Latitude: 31.2642 Longitude: 20.0676 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-03-09 21:42Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a portion of Hebrus Valles. The flow of liquid (water or lava) is from the bottom of the image into the circular feature, which was likely filled by the material from the channel. | Context imageThis VIS image shows a portion of Hebrus Valles. The flow of liquid (water or lava) is from the bottom of the image into the circular feature, which was likely filled by the material from the channel. The channel continues, exiting out of the circular feature to the northwest (just outside the image boundary).Orbit Number: 53813 Latitude: 19.277 Longitude: 127.727 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-01-30 20:27Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity through the 43rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 19, 2012). The route starts where the rover touched down, a site subsequently named Bradbury Landing. | This map shows the route driven by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity through the 43rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 19, 2012).The route starts where the rover touched down, a site subsequently named Bradbury Landing. The line extending toward the right (eastward) from Bradbury Landing is the rover's path. Numbering of the dots along the line indicate the sol number of each drive. North is up. The scale bar is 200 meters (656 feet).By Sol 43, Curiosity had driven at total of about 950 feet (290 meters). The Glenelg area farther east is the mission's first major science destination, selected as likely to offer a good target for Curiosity's first analysis of powder collected by drilling into a rock.The image used for the map is from an observation of the landing site by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | |
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover can be seen at the 'Pahrump Hills' area of Gale Crater in this view from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Unannotated VersionHigh resolution TIFF fileClick on the image for larger browse versionNASA's Curiosity Mars rover can be seen at the "Pahrump Hills" area of Gale Crater in this view from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Pahrump Hills is an outcrop at the base of Mount Sharp. The region contains sedimentary rocks that scientists believe formed in the presence of water.The location of the rover, with its shadow extending toward the upper right, is indicated with an inscribed rectangle. An unannotated version of the image can be viewed above. North is toward the top. The view covers an area about 360 yards (330 meters) across. HiRISE made the observation on Dec. 13, 2014. At that time, Curiosity was near a feature called "Whale Rock." A map showing the rover's path for the weeks leading up to that date is at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=6884. The inset map at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=6913 labels the location of Whale Rock and other features in the Pahrump Hills area.The bright features in the landscape are sedimentary rock and the dark areas are sand. The HiRISE team plans to periodically image Curiosity, as well as NASA's other active Mars rover, Opportunity, as the vehicles continue to explore Mars.This image is an excerpt from HiRISE observation ESP_039280_1755. Other image products from this observation are available at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_039280_1755.The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project and Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
Phoenix Landing Area Viewed by Mars Color Imager | Larger Annotated VersionNASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is scheduled to land on the Martian northern plains near 68 degrees north latitude, 127 degrees west longitude on May 25, 2008. In preparation for the landing, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been monitoring weather in the region around the landing site. On April 20, 2008, the orbiter's Mars Color Imager camera captured this view of a large region of northern Mars that includes the landing target area in the lower right quadrant.An annotated version of the image indicates the location of the landing ellipse, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) long. The Context Camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took an image of the landing area at the same time the Mars Color Imager took this image. A dot within the landing ellipse marks the location of two active dust devils visible in the Context Camera image, PIA10633.When the Mars Color Imager acquired this image, the season in Mars' northern hemisphere was late spring. A few weeks earlier, the Phoenix landing site was still covered with seasonal frost left over from the previous winter.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, provided and operates the Context Camera and Mars Color Imager. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter includes an especially long example of a type of dark marking that advances down some Martian slopes in warmer months and fades away in cooler months. | This image includes an especially long example of a type of dark marking that advances down some Martian slopes in warmer months and fades away in cooler months.The features, called "recurrent slope linea," may be seasonal flows of salty water. Red arrows indicate the location of one on this image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This one is three-quarters of a mile (1.2 kilometers) long.HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows the southern hemisphere of Mars featuring a band of clouds that marks the edge of a dust storm. | Context image for PIA10339Storm CloudsOne active process on change on Mars today is the wind. This image of the southern hemisphere shows a band of clouds that marks the edge of a dust storm.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -43.5N, Longitude 332.4E. 34 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows | 10 March 2004 This arrow in this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image points to an active dust devil observed in Isidis Planitia near 18.3°N, 268.9°W. The columnar shadow of the dust devil is visible, as is a pencil-thin (at least, pencil-thin at the scale of the image) line created by the vortex as it disrupted the dust that coats the surface. The streak indicates that the dust devil had already traveled more than 3 kilometers (1.9 miles), over craters, large ripples, and ridges, before the MOC took this picture. The dust devil was moving from the northeast (upper right) toward the southwest (lower left). Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left; the image covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. | |
These spectrograms from the MARSIS instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter show the intensity of radar echo in Mars' far-northern ionosphere at three times on Oct. 19 and 20, 2014. | These three plots are spectrograms showing the intensity of radar echo in the Martian far-northern ionosphere at three different times on Oct. 19 and 20, 2014. The middle plot reveals effects attributed to dust from a comet that passed near Mars that day. The data are from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS), an instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. The horizontal axis is the radio-wave frequency of pulses emitted by MARSIS. The vertical axis is the altitude above the Martian surface, as estimated based on the time delay between transmitting the pulse and receiving its reflected signal. The apparent altitude has been computed with an assumption that the radar signal propagates at the speed of light, uncorrected for dispersion and other effects. Increasing intensity is indicated by color-coding from blue to red, as shown by the scale on the right. All three spectrograms were collected as the orbiter passed overhead at about 84 degrees north latitude. The top spectrogram shows conditions a few minutes before comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring sped within about 87,000 miles (139,500 kilometers) of Mars. Except for a weak echo below 1.5 megahertz at about 93 miles (150 kilometers) altitude, no other echoes can be seen. This is typical of the night side of Mars, where little ionization is expected because of the absence of solar illumination.The middle one, from about seven hours later, shows a new, temporary layer of enhanced electron density within the ionosphere. The layer was at an altitude of about 50 miles (80 kilometers), extending to about 4.6 megahertz, with an electron density of about 260,000 electrons per cubic centimeter. Densities this high have never previously been detected by Mars Express on the night side of Mars.The bottom spectrogram, from another seven hours later, shows that the temporary layer had cleared away. Researchers attribute the temporary layer to heating caused by high-velocity entry into the Martian atmosphere by fine dust particles that were released by the comet.NASA and the Italian Space Agency jointly funded MARSIS. | |
This view in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars shows the region around NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity as seen by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Annotated ImageClick on the image for larger versionThis view of an area about 140 kilometers (about 90 miles) wide in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars shows the region around NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. Opportunity, in the seventh year of its exploration of Mars, is in the upper central portion of the image, on multi-year trek from Victoria crater toward the much larger Endeavour crater. In April 2010, Opportunity captured views of the rims of Endeavour crater and the more distant Iazu crater on the horizon to southeast from the rover. (See PIA13081 and PIA13080.) The rover's position relative to those craters is indicated here.This view is a mosaic of daytime infrared images taken by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. The THEMIS mosaic was prepared using JMARS (http://jmars.asu.edu), a software tool developed at Arizona State University for viewing and analyzing Mars data sets.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
A Myriad of Geologic Processes in Terra Cimmeria | This scene in a region of Mars named Terra Cimmeria shows a variety of ancient and recent geologic processes. In the upper portion of the image, a twisting ridge of raised ground may outline the location of a subsurface thrust fault. This type of fault results in the compression and crumpling of a planet's surface. This crumpling of the planet's surface has squeezed two originally circular craters on the ridge into oval-shaped craters. Valleys are also present throughout the image, suggesting that water flowed across this area a long time ago. Many valleys and craters in the image are now filled by deposits of dust or debris. This debris mantle is common over the middle latitudes of Mars and is a geologically recent deposit. This image was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on March 25, 2006. The image is centered at 40.64 degrees south latitude, 144.39 degrees east longitude. It is oriented such that north is 7 degrees to the left of up. The range to the target was 2,038 kilometers (1,266 miles). At this distance the image scale is 2.04 meters (6.69 feet) per pixel, so objects as small as 6.1 meters (20 feet) are resolved. In total this image is 12.34 kilometers (7.67 miles) or 6,045 pixels wide and 34.68 kilometers (21.55 miles) or 17,003 pixels long. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 07:28 and the scene is illuminated from the upper right with a solar incidence angle of 82.0 degrees, thus the sun was about 8.0 degrees above the horizon. At an Ls of 30 degrees (with Ls an indicator of Mars' position in its orbit around the sun), the season on Mars is southern autumn.Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mro or http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov.JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity shows the rover's view of Meridiani Planum as it headed to Endurance Crater on Mars. | This cylindrical-perspective projection was constructed from a sequence of images taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's navigation camera on the rover's 93rd sol on Mars. The mosaic was created from three images from the camera's right eye. The camera acquired the images at approximately 12:27 Local Solar Time, or around 8:22 AM Pacific Daylight Time on April 28, 2004. On that sol, Opportunity sat about 75 meters (246 feet) away from the rim of "Endurance Crater."See PIA05849 for 3-D view and PIA05850 for left eye view of this right eye cylindrical-perspective projection. | |
The fractures in this image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are aligned with most of the fractures in Tempe Terra on Mars, but are some distance from the bulk of the fracturing. | Context imageThe fractures in this image are aligned with most of the fractures in Tempe Terra, but are some distance from the bulk of the fracturing.Orbit Number: 46153 Latitude: 32.5486 Longitude: 297.7 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-05-10 11:16Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This false color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the floor of Antoniadi Crater. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of the floor of Antoniadi Crater.Orbit Number: 2020 Latitude: 19.1696 Longitude: 61.8854 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2002-05-29 21:50Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows Lonar Crater. This crater has undergone very little modification since it formed, and so is one of the younger features in this region. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows Lonar Crater. This crater has undergone very little modification since it formed, and so is one of the younger features in this region.Orbit Number: 54828 Latitude: 72.999 Longitude: 38.4817 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-04-24 08:53Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows light-toned, layered, sedimentary rock outcrops in northwest Schiaparelli Basin on Mars. The layers are all of about the same thickness (a few meters or less) and appear to have similar properties. | 29 May 2006This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows light-toned, layered, sedimentary rock outcrops in northwest Schiaparelli Basin. The layers are all of about the same thickness (a few meters or less) and appear to have similar properties. They were likely deposited in an episodic or cyclic manner, perhaps in an underwater setting.Location near: 1.2°S, 346.3°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Southern Autumn | |
This image shows the nighttime temperature of the Martian surface as measured by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument onboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. | This image shows the nighttime (2 AM) temperature of the Martian surface as measured by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor. The data were acquired during the first 500 orbits of the MGS mapping mission. The coldest temperatures (shown in purple) are -120C and the warmest temperatures (white) are -65C. The pattern of nighttime temperature in the equatorial region indicates variations in the particle size of the surface materials.The coldest regions are areas of very fine (dust) grains, while the warmest regions are areas of coarse sand, gravel, and rocks. Valles Marineris (~-10S, 30-90W) and the channels leading into Acidalia Planitia and the Pathfinder landing site (5-20N; 20-45W) are clearly visible as regions of warm (sand and rock) material. The cold regions in the south mark the edge of the south polar cap. The pattern of nighttime temperatures observed by TES agrees well with the thermal inertia maps made by the Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper experiment, but the TES data shown here are at significantly higher spatial resolution (15 km versus 60 km). | |
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This false color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a portion of Kasei Vallis. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows a portion of Kasei Vallis.Orbit Number: 2611 Latitude: 25.2538 Longitude: 298.802 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2002-07-17 13:24Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows dunes forming in the lower elevations of part of Olympia Undae on Mars. | Context imageToday's image is part of Olympia Undae, but unlike yesterday's image, there is more topography in this region. The dunes are forming in the lower elevations, but can migrate up the sides of the hills if the prevailing winds are strong enough.Orbit Number: 54784 Latitude: 79.4646 Longitude: 234.741 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-04-20 17:56Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The north end of this long image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a lava surface in southern Elysium Planitia. Small cones are common on the extensive young flood lavas in this region. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionChasma Boreale is the 560-kilometer long valley that cuts through the Northern Polar layered deposits of Mars.The section that it exposes show fine scaled layering and a major unconformity, where the azimuth of the beds changes markedly. This is is characteristic of the polar layered deposits. The formation of the unconformity suggests a time when the lower sediments were being eroded rather than deposited. The extracted image shows a roughly 4 x 4 kilometer area across the unconformity.The polar layered deposits are weakly cemented rocks, and so lying over the scarps you can see lines of mass wasting where dust and sand size particles have slumped downhill. This image is part of a planned stereo pair, and was in the late summer in the Northern Hemisphere of Mars.Comparing images like this to those taken in previous years and in different seasons allows a more accurate understanding of current surface processes on the Red Planet.This is a stereo pair with ESP_036515_2650.HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
Fans and ribbons of dark sand dunes creep across the floor of Bunge Crater in response to winds blowing from the direction at the top of the picture. This image is from NASA's Mars Odyssey, one of an 'All Star' set. | Fans and ribbons of dark sand dunes creep across the floor of Bunge Crater in response to winds blowing from the direction at the top of the picture. The frame is about 14 kilometers (9 miles) wide.This image was taken in January 2006 by the Thermal Emission Imaging System instrument on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter and posted in a special December 2010 set marking the occasion of Odyssey becoming the longest-working Mars spacecraft in history. The pictured location on Mars is 33.8 degrees south latitude, 311.4 degrees east longitude.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This NASA Mars Odyssey image shows the dissected interior of a crater in the Cydonia region of Mars. The flat-topped buttes and mesas in the northern portion of the image were once a continuous layer of material that filled the crater. | This image shows the dissected interior of a crater in the Cydonia region of Mars. The flat-topped buttes and mesas in the northern portion of the image were once a continuous layer of material that filled the crater. Since deposition, the material has been disturbed and dissected. The process that causes such landforms is not well known, but likely involves frozen subsurface water that may have found its way to the surface. The surfaces on the mesas are not rough, suggesting that the whole scene is mantled with fine dust, masking the details that may give clues to whether surface water was involved at some point in the past. Small recent channels can be seen in the lower left. This is an indication of relatively recent small-scale surface activity, which has been could have been volcanic, fluvial, or some process involving subsurface volatiles (ice).Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recorded this 3D view of a rise called 'Nobbys Head' during a stop on a multi-week southward drive between two raised segments of the west rim of Endeavour Crater. | Left-eye viewRight-eye viewClick on an individual image for full resolution figures imageNASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera (Navcam) to record this stereo view of a rise called "Nobbys Head" during a stop on a multi-week southward drive between two raised segments of the west rim of Endeavour Crater. The view appears three-dimensional when seen through blue-red glasses with the red lens on the left. It is centered toward the south-southeast, with Opportunity's next destination, "Solander Point," a bump on the horizon. It Nobbys Head is about a third of the way from the rim segment where Opportunity worked for most of the past two years, "Cape York," to Solander Point. See PIA17072 for a map of this section of the rim of Endeavour Crater. Opportunity began a trek of approximately 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) from part of Cape York to Solander Point in late May 2013. The navigation camera exposures that are combined into this mosaic view were taken during the 3,335th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's mission on Mars (June 11, 2013). The rover drove 114.4 feet (34.88 meters) on that sol.Opportunity has been studying the western rim of Endeavour Crater since arriving there in August 2011. The crater spans 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter, by far the largest that Opportunity has visited since it landed on Mars in January 2004. | |
This image acquired on June 21, 2021 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the North Polar Layered Deposits (NPLD), large layered deposits of dusty water-ice in the northern polar region of Mars. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionThe North Polar Layered Deposits (NPLD) are large layered deposits of dusty water-ice in the northern polar region of Mars. The layering we see is caused mainly by slight variations in the dust-to-ice ratio, which records variations in the Martian climate over time.Another interesting aspect of the NPLD is the fact that we have observed on its scarps numerous avalanche events (for example, PSP_007338_2640 and ESP_016228_2650). Avalanches have also been spotted at this scarp. Spring monitoring is key to constrain frequency of avalanches and timing of "avalanche season" onset on Mars. Can you spot any avalanches in the image?This caption is partly based on the science rationale behind acquiring this image.The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 31.8 centimeters [12.5 inches] per pixel [with 1 x 1 binning]; objects on the order of 96 centimeters [37.8 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took the images combined to make this stereo view on March 21, 2009. West is at the center, where a dust devil is visible in the distance. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image. | Left-eye view of a color stereo pair for PIA11960Right-eye view of a color stereo pair for PIA11960NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its navigation camera to take the images that have been combined into this stereo, 180-degree view of the rover's surroundings during the 1,854th Martian day, or sol, of Spirit's surface mission (March 21, 2009).This view combines images from the left-eye and right-eye sides of the navigation camera. It appears three-dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left. The rover had driven 13.79 meters (45 feet) westward earlier on Sol 1854. West is at the center, where a dust devil is visible in the distance. North on the right, where Husband Hill dominates the horizon; Spirit was on top of Husband Hill in September and October 2005. South is on the left, where lighter-toned rock lines the edge of the low plateau called "Home Plate."This view is presented as a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows dark rippled surfaces and a patch of light-toned, perhaps sedimentary rock exposed on the floor of western Tithonium Chasma, part of the vast Valles Marineris trough system on Mars. | 26 June 2005This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dark rippled surfaces and a patch of light-toned, perhaps sedimentary rock exposed on the floor of western Tithonium Chasma, part of the vast Valles Marineris trough system.Location near: 5.0°S, 90.3°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season Southern Spring | |
An isolated mesa east of the Phlegra Montes in northeastern Elysium Planitia has a cracked surface that, combined with its overall shape, gives the appearance of a giant loaf of bread in this image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | An isolated mesa east of the Phlegra Montes in northeastern Elysium Planitia has a cracked surface that, combined with its overall shape, gives the appearance of a giant loaf of bread. Other mesas with similar surfaces are found in the area, suggesting that at one time these mesas were part of a continuous layer of material. It is likely that at that time, some process caused the graben-like cracks to form. Later erosion of the cracked layer left only the isolated mesas seen in the THEMIS image. One clue that supports this scenario is the presence of many filled and eroded craters throughout the scene but no fresh ones. One way to produce this landscape begins with an ancient and heavily cratered surface that subsequently is buried by some other material. If this overburden was stripped off relatively recently, not enough time would have passed to allow for a new population of fresh craters to be produced. The result would be a landscape with isolated mesas of younger material on top of an ancient, cratered surface.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
Located roughly equidistant between two massive volcanoes, the approximately 60 km Poynting Crater and its ejecta, shown in this image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft, have experienced an onslaught of volcanic activity. | (Released 30 July 2002)Located roughly equidistant between two massive volcanoes, the approximately 60 km Poynting Crater and its ejecta have experienced an onslaught of volcanic activity. Pavonis Mons to the south and Ascraeus Mons to the north are two of the biggest volcanoes on Mars. They have supplied copious amounts of lava and presumably, ash and tephra to the region. This THEMIS image captures evidence for these volcanic materials. The rugged mound of material that dominates the center of the image likely is ejecta from Poynting Crater just 40 km to the west (see MOLA context image). The textural features of this mound are surprisingly muted, giving the appearance that the image is out of focus or has atmospheric obscuration. But the surrounding terrain shows clear textural details and the mound itself displays tiny craters and protruding peaks that demonstrate the true clarity of the image. One conclusion is that the ejecta mound is covered by a mantle of material that could be related to its proximity to the big volcanoes. The tephra and ash deposits produced by these volcanoes could easily accumulate to a thickness that would bury any textural details that originally existed on the ejecta mound. In contrast, the lava flows that lap up to the base of the mound show clear textural details, indicating that they came after the eruptive activity that mantled the ejecta mound. Given the fact that any ejecta material is preserved at all suggests that the impact that produced Poynting Crater postdated the major construction phase of the volcanoes. | |
Scarp within Chasma Boreale | This HiRISE image is of the north polar layered deposits (PLD) and underlying units exposed along the margins of Chasma Boreale. Chasma Boreale is the largest trough in the north PLD, thought to have formed due to outflow of water from underneath the polar cap, or due to winds blowing off the polar cap, or a combination of both. At the top and left of the image, the bright area with uniform striping is the gently sloping surface of the PLD. In the middle of the image this surface drops off in a steeper scarp, or cliff. At the top of this cliff we see the bright PLD in a side view, or cross-section. From these two perspectives of the PLD it is evident that the PLD are a stack of roughly horizontal layers. The gently sloping top surface cuts through the vertical sequence of layers at a low angle, apparently stretching the layers out horizontally and thus revealing details of the brightness and texture of individual layers. The surface of the PLD on the scarp is also criss-crossed by fine scale fractures. The layers of the PLD are probably composed of differing proportions of ice and dust, believed to be related to the climate conditions at the time they were deposited. In this way, sequences of polar layers are records of past climates on Mars, as ice cores from terrestrial ice sheets hold evidence of past climates on Earth. Further down the scarp in the center of the image the bright layers give way suddenly to a much darker section where a few layers are visible intermittently amongst aprons of dark material. The darkest material, with a smooth surface suggestive of loose grains, is thought to be sandy because similar exposures elsewhere show it to be formed into dunes by the wind. An intermediate-toned material also appears to form aprons draped over layers in the scarp, but its surface contains lobate structures that appear hardened into place and its edges are more abrupt in places, suggesting it may contain some ice or other cementing agent that makes it more competent, or resistant. At the base of the cliff, especially visible on the right side of the image, are several prominent bright layers with regular, rectangular-shaped polygons. Due to similarities in brightness and surface fracturing with the upper PLD, these bottom layers are also likely to be ice rich. The presence of sandy material sandwiched in between the upper PLD and these bottom layers suggests that the climate was once much different from the times during which the icier layers were deposited. The scattered bright and dark points are boulder-sized blocks that are likely pieces of the fractured PLD or other darker layers that have broken off and fallen downhill. At the bottom and right of the image, the floor of Chasma Boreale is dark, with a knobby texture and irregular polygons. Several circular features surrounded by an area that is slightly smoother, lighter, and raised relative to the chasm floor may be impact craters that have been modified after their formation in ice-rich ground. Image PSP_001412_2650 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on November 14, 2006. The complete image is centered at 84.7 degrees latitude, 4.0 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 320.9 km (200.6 miles). At this distance the image scale ranges from 32.1 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) to 128.4 cm/pixel (with 4 x 4 binning). The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 cm/pixel. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 12:52 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 67 degrees, thus the sun was about 23 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 135.3 degrees, the season on Mars is Northern Summer. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo. | |
One of NASA's Viking 1's three feet, which should be visible in this view, lies buried beneath a cover of loose Martian soil. | One of Viking 1's three feet, which should be visible in this view, lies buried beneath a cover of loose Martian soil. This picture, taken Sunday (August 1), is the first to show the buried footpad #3. If not buried, the edge of the foot would be seen extending across the picture about midway between top and bottom. The foot sank about five inches, and fine-grained soil slumped into the depression and over the foot. The cracked nature of the surface near the slump area and the small, steep cliff at left indicates that the material is weakly cohesive. The surface material here is very similar mechanically to lunar soil. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a variety of surface textures within the south polar residual cap of Mars. It was taken during the southern spring, when the surface was covered by seasonal carbon dioxide frost and is easily seen. | This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows a variety of surface textures within the south polar residual cap of Mars.It was taken during the southern spring, when the surface was covered by seasonal carbon dioxide frost, so that surface relief is easily seen. Illumination is from the bottom left, highlighting long troughs at to the right and round pits and irregular mesas to the left of center.These unique landforms are common in the south polar residual cap, which is known from previous Mars Global Surveyor images to be eroding rapidly in places. Right of center, polar layered deposits are exposed on a sun-facing scarp. These deposits are older than the residual ice cap, and the layers are thought to record climate variations on Mars similar to ice ages on Earth.The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the spacecraft development and integration contractor for the project and built the spacecraft.Originally released on July 7, 2010 | |
Melas Chasma is the central portion of Valles Marineris. This image taken by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey shows a small portion of the floor of Melas Chasma, including layered deposits and wind eroded and deposited materials. | Context imageMelas Chasma is the central portion of Valles Marineris. This VIS image shows a small portion of the floor of Melas Chasma, including layered deposits and wind eroded and deposited materials.Orbit Number: 36307 Latitude: -12.8562 Longitude: 288.27 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-02-19 19:00Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows gullies emergent from a specific layer in the wall of an ancient crater within a much larger crater, Kaiser, on Mars. | This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows gullies emergent from a specific layer in the wall of an ancient crater within a much larger crater, Kaiser. Located at 46.4°S, 341.4°W, this picture obtained in early southern summer also shows a plethora of dark, and in some places squiggly, streaks. The streaks are thought to have been formed by the passage of dust devils that removed or disrupted a thin coating of dust from the surface. Such streaks commonly form at martian middle latitudes in late spring and early summer. The gullies in the crater wall were likely eroded by a fluid, perhaps water. This picture was obtained in January 2002; it covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) across and is illuminated from the upper left. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows landslide deposits formed when material slumped off the Mutch crater wall. | Figure 1Figure 2Thomas A. Mutch has been called an explorer of two worlds. Known to colleagues as Tim, he was born on August 26, 1931. An avid mountaineer as well as a scientist, he climbed in the Canadian Rockies and the Himalayas, and had a passion for exploration in all its forms. Mutch became a geologist after majoring in history at Princeton; he received a master's degree from Rutgers and a doctorate from Princeton. In 1960 he became a geology professor at Brown University, later serving as department chairman.In the late 1960s, Mutch applied the geologic discipline called stratigraphy to the study of features on the Moon, work that led to his writing the landmark book, The Geology of the Moon. Mutch went on to become the leader of the Viking Lander Imaging Team, which had responsibility for obtaining and interpreting the first images from the surface of Mars. Following the successful touchdowns of Viking 1 on July 20, 1976 and Viking 2 a few weeks later, the twin landers transmitted a total of more than 4,000 images from the Martian surface.Mutch had an ability to inspire those around him and a dedication to involving young people in the experience of exploration. He helped create the Viking Student Intern program, a pioneering educational activity since duplicated by many planetary missions, which allowed several dozen college students to participate in the Viking mission. At Brown, where he taught a seminar in exploration, he invited students to participate in a Himalayan climbing expedition. In May 1978, Mutch led a team of 32 students, faculty, and alumni to the21,900-foot Indian peak Devistan; 24 of them, including Mutch, made it to the summit.In October 1980, Mutch died on the slopes of Mount Nun in the Himalayas, following a climbing accident while descending from the 23,410-foot summit. At the time he was on leave from Brown, serving as NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science. His legacy endures in the many minds and spirits he helped nurture. In the planetary science community his former students include R. Stephen Saunders, James W. Head, III, Raymond E. Arvidson, and James B. Garvin. In 1981, NASA administrator Robert Frosch announced that the Viking 1 lander had been renamed the Mutch Memorial Station, and unveiled a stainless steel plaque that is to be placed on the lander, someday, by a team of explorers. The inscription on the plaque reads, "Dedicated to the memory of Tim Mutch, whose imagination, verve, and resolve contributed greatly to the exploration of the Solar System."Located at 0.6°N, 55.3°W, Mutch Crater is about 211 kilometers (131 miles) in diameter. Naming of this crater for Tim Mutch was approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1985.The main image is a mosaic of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) red wide angle images acquired during the MOC Geodesy Campaign in May 1999. The white boxes show the location of figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 is a mosaic of MOC and lower-resolution Mars Odyssey THEMIS VIS images that cover a smaller, unnamed crater located in west-central Mutch Crater. Figure 2 is a portion of the mosaic of the small, unnamed crater, showing landslide deposits formed when material slumped off the crater wall. The source alcoves of the landslides are well defined, as are longitudinal troughs and ridges on the surface of the landslides. These mass movements occurred long after the crater was formed, judging by the difference in the number of small impact craters on their surfaces and on the nearby floor of the crater. The view of the landslides in the northeast corner of the small, unnamed crater in Mutch was acquired by the MGS MOC just a few days ago, on 23 August 2006, to commemorate the 75th birthday of Tim Mutch on 26 August 2006.Noted space writer Andrew Chaikin (http://www.andrewchaikin.com), a former Tim Mutch student, suggested the 23 August 2006 MGS MOC image and contributed to the text of this release. | |
Members of NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission were jubilant on Feb. 18, 2021, after the spacecraft successfully touched down on Mars. | Members of NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission were jubilant on Feb. 18, 2021, after the spacecraft successfully touched down on Mars. They are in Mission Control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.The Mars 2020 mission is part of a larger program that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.For more about Perseverance, go to: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ or nasa.gov/perseverance. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows an unnamed channel system in northern Arabia Terra. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows an unnamed channel system in northern Arabia Terra.Orbit Number: 88161 Latitude: 30.6021 Longitude: 344.658 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-10-29 11:43Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows | 24 December 2003This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a small portion of the vast Isidis Planitia, the region in which the Beagle 2 is scheduled to land on 25 December 2003 (GMT; it will be the evening of 24 December 2003 in the U.S.). Much of Isidis Planitia has low hills and mounds like those shown here. Many of these are remnants of a layer (or group of sub-resolution layers) that once more extensively covered Isidis Planitia, but was later stripped away, revealing previously-buried meteor impact craters. The light-toned ridges and somewhat squiggly features are windblown dunes. This picture is located around 10.7°N, 268.6°W, which is in the vicinity of the projected Beagle 2 landing zone. The picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left/lower left. | |
Oxia Planum is broad clay-bearing surface between Mawrth and Ares Vallis that has been proposed as a future landing site on Mars. This image is from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionOxia Planum is broad clay-bearing surface between Mawrth and Ares Vallis that has been proposed as a future landing site on Mars.Remnants of a possible fan or delta near the outlet of Coogoon Vallis is a potential science target at this location.HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This mosaic of images from the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows a terrain that includes light-toned bedrock and darker ripples of wind-blown sand. | This mosaic of images from the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows a 90-degree view centered toward the east following a 93.3-meter (306-foot) drive east-northeastward during the 2,382nd Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's mission on Mars (Oct. 6, 2010).The camera took the component images for this mosaic on Sol 2382 after the drive. The terrain includes light-toned bedrock and darker ripples of wind-blown sand. On the following sol, Opportunity drove an additional 94.3 meters (309 feet) toward its long-term destination: the rim of Endeavour Crater. Portions of the rim, still more than 8 kilometers (5 miles) away, are visible in the horizon of this scene. This view is presented as a cylindrical projection. | |
This image shows the martian terrain through the eyes of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's mini-thermal emission spectrometer, an instrument that detects the infrared light, or heat, emitted by objects. Red represents warmer regions and blue, cool. | This image shows the martian terrain through the eyes of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's mini-thermal emission spectrometer, an instrument that detects the infrared light, or heat, emitted by objects. The different colored circles show a spectrum of soil and rock temperatures, with red representing warmer regions and blue, cooler. Clusters of cool rocks can be seen to the left and center. Scientists and engineers will use this data to pinpoint features of interest, and to plot a safe course for the rover free of loose dust. The mini-thermal emission spectrometer data are superimposed on an image taken by the rover's panoramic camera. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a swath of a debris apron east of Hellas Basin. Features like this are often found surrounding isolated mountains in this area. Original release date March 3, 2010. | This observation shows a swath of a debris apron east of Hellas Basin. Features like this are often found surrounding isolated mountains in this area. Material flowed down off of the top of the mountain and settled in an area around its base. The bottom of the image (to the south) shows the base of the mountain, where material is sliding off and piling up into ridges. The top of the image (to the north) shows the lobate edge of the apron, where it stopped flowing.Recently, the SHARAD (Shallow ground-penetrating radar) instrument (also on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter with HiRISE) measured large amounts of water ice mixed into this and other debris aprons. The water ice is what gives the apron its unique texture, which is especially clear at HiRISE's high resolution. Parallel ridges and grooves indicate material has moved slowly while remaining solid - a process called "creep." Pits and buttes may have formed when the dust- and debris-covered ice cracked and sublimated (went directly from a solid to a gas phase).We can also use this HiRISE image to study the small impact craters found in these areas. Débris aprons like this one have fewer craters than their surroundings. Because impacts generally occur indiscriminately over all of Mars, this means that either the débris apron is younger than its surroundings, or some process is erasing craters on the apron -- a process which is not occurring as rapidly on the surrounding plains.The fact that this apron is rich in water ice is a clue to what is happening. Another clue is the craters on the apron themselves: they have a different appearance than most craters. Some of these degraded craters are "inverted" (higher in the middle than at the edges, which is the opposite of normal craters).Craters like this have been modified, so we can tell the surface has been active at some time since the impact that formed the crater. For this reason we can't estimate the age of the flow by counting craters, like we are be able to do on some surfaces. However, we can use these craters to study the processes that are actively modifying the apron material.The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the spacecraft development and integration contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows several dust devils in in northern Amazonis Planitia on Mars. | 141 cWhat is 8 kilometers (5 miles) high, forms in the mid-afternoon, and cannot be found the next day?A Martian dust devil! The arrow in the left image (MOC2-141a, above) points to the tallest (8 km, 5 mi) of several dust devils spied by the Mars Global Surveyor MOC Wide Angle camera during its global geodesy campaign in May.The above two pictures (MOC2-141a and MOC2-141b, top row) are centered near 36°N, 159°W in northern Amazonis Planitia. Each image covers an area 88 kilometers (55 miles) across, and each shows similar features on the ground, such as the two partially-buried craters at the center left.Each image also shows features that are not found in the other image. These are dust devils. Each scene is illuminated by sunlight from the lower left-- thus each towering dust devil casts a long, dark shadow that points toward the right/upper right. The "movie" (lower row, MOC2-141c) shows a comparison of the two images. When viewing the "movie," note that permanent features such as the two partly buried craters do not move, but the dust devils in one image do not appear in the other. Different dust devils are seen in each of the two images. Other variations in apparent surface brightness are also seen when the two images are compared--these are thought to be places where smaller, ground-hugging dust plumes are also being "kicked-up" by the wind.The pictures were taken 2 days apart--the first on May 13, 1999, the second on May 15, 1999. Large dust devils were known to occur in this region because they were seen in Viking images 20 years ago, but the new and repeated coverage by MOC gives more information about the dust devil's shape and occurrence. Dust devils are columnar vortices of wind that move across the landscape, pick up dust, and look somewhat like miniature tornadoes. For more information on dust devils, see MOC image release MOC2-60 from July 1998, "SUV Tracks on Mars? The Devil is in the Details."Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. | |
On this image of the rock target 'Knorr,' color coding maps the amount of mineral hydration indicated by a ratio of near-infrared reflectance intensities measured by the Mastcam on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. | On this image of the rock target "Knorr," color coding maps the amount of mineral hydration indicated by a ratio of near-infrared reflectance intensities measured by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. The color scale on the left shows the assignment of colors for relative strength of the calculated signal for hydration. The map shows that the stronger signals for hydration are associated with pale veins and light-toned nodules in the rock. This image and the data for assessing hydration come from a Mastcam observation of Knorr during the 133rd Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Dec. 20, 2012). The width of the area shown in the image is about 10 inches (25 centimeters).Curiosity's Mastcam was built and is operated by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project and the mission's Curiosity rover for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed and assembled at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
Vandi Verma, an engineer who now works with NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, is seen here working as a driver for the Curiosity rover. The special 3D glasses she's wearing are still used by rover drivers to easily detect changes in terrain. | Vandi Verma, an engineer who now works with NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, is seen here working as a driver for the Curiosity rover. The special 3D glasses she's wearing are still used by rover drivers to easily detect changes in terrain that the rover may need to avoid.A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft looks like a piece of abstract art. | Context image Do you see what I see? I'd hang this piece of abstract art on my wall.Orbit Number: 63689 Latitude: 79.922 Longitude: 35.9293 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-04-22 23:28Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The Mars Pathfinder Rover Sojourner images by NASA's Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) as it nears the rock 'Wedge.' Part of the Rock Garden is visible in the upper right of the image. Sol 1 began on July 4, 1997. | The Mars Pathfinder Rover Sojourner images by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder as it nears the rock "Wedge." Part of the Rock Garden is visible in the upper right of the image.Pathfinder, a low-cost Discovery mission, is the first of a new fleet of spacecraft that are planned to explore Mars over the next ten years. Mars Global Surveyor, already en route, arrives at Mars on September 11 to begin a two year orbital reconnaissance of the planet's composition, topography, and climate. Additional orbiters and landers will follow every 26 months.The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. | |
Yankee Clipper' crater on Mars carries the name of the command and service module of NASA's 1969 Apollo 12 mission to the moon. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recorded this stereo view on Nov. 4, 2010. 3D glasses are necessary. | Left-eye view of a color stereo pairRight-eye view of a color stereo pair"Yankee Clipper" crater on Mars carries the name of the command and service module of NASA's 1969 Apollo 12 mission to the moon. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recorded this stereo view of the crater during a pause in a 102-meter (365-foot) drive during the 2,410th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Nov. 4, 2010). The scene appears three-dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left. It combines images taken with the left eye and right eye of Opportunity's navigation camera. Yankee Clipper crater is about 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter.The rover science team uses a convention of assigning the names of historic ships of exploration as the informal names for craters seen by Opportunity. Apollo 12's Yankee Clipper orbited Earth's moon while the mission's lunar module carried two astronauts to the lunar surface on Nov. 19, 1969, and later brought all three of the mission's astronauts back to Earth, arriving Nov. 24, 1969. A dramatic view of Earth rising over a lunar horizon, taken from Apollo 12's Yankee Clipper, is online at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/apollo/apollo12/html/as12-47-6891.html. | |
This image covers a 26-kilometer-wide impact crater northeast of the Hellas impact basin as observed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionThis image covers a 26-kilometer-wide impact crater northeast of the Hellas impact basin. The crater exposes large blocks of bedrock (called "megabreccia") in both the central uplift and in the walls of the crater.The enhanced-color subimage from the wall shows a large, approximately 250-meter-wide reddish block, although actually "red" in the infrared-shifted color of HiRISE. These blocks could be ejecta from the ancient Hellas impact or other large impacts from billions of years ago.HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This unnamed crater near Timoshenko Crater has been breached by a channel on Mars as seen by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image for PIA09040Channel & CraterThis unnamed crater near Timoshenko Crater has been breached by a channel.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 43.6N, Longitude 296.4E. 19 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows lobate fronts of a large flow or series of smaller flow features in Kasei Valles on Mars. | MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-503, 4 October 2003This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) picture shows the lobate fronts of a large flow or series of smaller flow features in Kasei Valles. The rubbly surface of the flow has been interpreted to suggest that this might have been a mud flow, rather than a lava flow, but final determination will someday require a person to visit this landform "in the field." This picture is illuminated from the right and covers an area approximately 8 km (5 miles) wide near 15.7°N, 77.7°W. | |
This infrared image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the dune field on the floor of Rabe Crater. The dunes are 'brighter' than the surrounding material, indicating that they are warmer. | Context imageThis IR image shows part of the dune field on the floor of Rabe Crater. The dunes are "brighter" than the surrounding material, indicating that they are warmer. In visible wavelength images the dunes are dark, because they are comprised of basaltic sand.Orbit Number: 51694 Latitude: -41.6772 Longitude: 34.5902 Instrument: IR Captured: 2013-08-09 10:00Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows layers broken-up by processes that form nearly square polygonal cracks and textures in the south polar region of Mars. | 25 July 2004This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows layers broken-up by processes that form nearly square polygonal cracks and textures in the south polar region of Mars. Exactly how the polygons formed is anyone's guess; typically, polygon patterns in the martian polar regions are taken to indicate the presence of ground ice, similar to polygons in the Earth's arctic and antarctic regions. This picture is located near 86.4°S, 180.3°W, and is illuminated by sunlight from the upper left. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. | |
Large boulders are visible in this enlargement of pictures taken by NASA's Mars Pathfinder lander camera on July 4, 1997. The landing site is in the dry flood channel named Ares Valles. | Large boulders are visible in this enlargement of pictures taken by the Mars Pathfinder lander camera on July 4, 1997. The landing site is in the dry flood channel named Ares Valles. The boulders probably represent deposits from one of the catastrophic floods that carved the ancient channel. Between the rocks is brownish windblown soil. The gray-tan sky results from dust particles in the atmosphere.Pathfinder, a low-cost Discovery mission, is the first of a new fleet of spacecraft that are planned to explore Mars over the next ten years. Mars Global Surveyor, already en route, arrives at Mars on September 11 to begin a two year orbital reconnaissance of the planet's composition, topography, and climate. Additional orbiters and landers will follow every 26 months.Mars Pathfinder was developed and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator.
Photojournal note: Sojourner spent 83 days of a planned seven-day mission exploring the Martian terrain, acquiring images, and taking chemical, atmospheric and other measurements. The final data transmission received from Pathfinder was at 10:23 UTC on September 27, 1997. Although mission managers tried to restore full communications during the following five months, the successful mission was terminated on March 10, 1998. | |
NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey captured this image of individual dunes located on the floor of Briault Crater. | Context imageThese individual dunes are located on the floor of Briault Crater.Orbit Number: 36863 Latitude: -9.97258 Longitude: 89.2188 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-04-06 13:41Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This 360-degree view, called the 'McMurdo' panorama, from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, where the rover stayed on a small hill known as 'Low Ridge' from April through October 2006. | This 360-degree view, called the "McMurdo" panorama, comes from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. From April through October 2006, Spirit stayed on a small hill known as "Low Ridge." There, the rover's solar panels were tilted toward the sun to maintain enough solar power for Spirit to keep making scientific observations throughout the winter on southern Mars. This view of the surroundings from Spirit's "Winter Haven" is presented in approximately true color.The Pancam began shooting component images of this panorama during the 814th Martian day, or sol, of Spirit's work on Mars (April 18, 2006) and completed the part shown here on Sol 980 (Oct. 5, 2006).This beautiful scene reveals a tremendous amount of detail in Spirit's surroundings. Many dark, porous-textured volcanic rocks can be seen around the rover, including many on Low Ridge. Two rocks to the right of center, brighter and smoother-looking in this image and more reflective in infrared observations by Spirit's miniature thermal emission spectrometer, are thought to be meteorites. On the right, "Husband Hill" on the horizon, the rippled "El Dorado" sand dune field near the base of that hill, and lighter-toned "Home Plate" below the dunes provide context for Spirit's travels from mid-2005 to early 2006. Left of center, tracks and a trench dug by Spirit's right-front wheel, which could no longer rotate, exposed bright underlying material. This bright material is evidence of sulfur-rich salty minerals in the subsurface, providing clues about the watery past of this part of Gusev Crater.A version of the McMurdo panorama without the rover deck, but including a supplemental figure with landscape features labeled, is at PIA01907.This is an approximately true-color, red-green-blue composite panorama generated from images taken through the Pancam's 600-nanometer, 530-nanometer and 480-nanometer filters. Some image mosaic seams and brightness variations in the sky as well as several other small areas of color mis-alignments or other mismatch problems have been smoothed over in image processing in order to simulate the view that a human would see if he or she were standing here and looking around.This "natural color" view is the rover team's best estimate of what the scene would look like if we were there and able to see it with our own eyes. It is presented as a cylindrical projection. Spirit completed its three-month prime mission on Mars in April 2004, then continued operating in bonus extended missions into March 2010, when it ceased communicating. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Bonestell Crater. Bonestell Crater is a relatively young crater located in Acidalia Planitia. | Context imageToday's image shows part of Bonestell Crater. Bonestell Crater is a relatively young crater located in Acidalia Planitia. Dust blown into the crater and the downslope movement of fine materials from the rim are slowly modifying the crater features. This material is responsible for the sand dunes visible at the bottom of the image. Dark blue tones in this false color combination typically indicate basaltic materials.The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image.Orbit Number: 62961 Latitude: 42.0703 Longitude: 329.385 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-02-23 00:05Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a field of small barchan (crescent-shaped) dunes covered with the remains of wintertime frost on Mars. The dark spots around the base of each dune mark the first signs of the spring thaw. | 12 April 2004Today is April 12, 2004, the 43rd anniversary of the first human flight into space (Yuri Gagarin, 1961) and the 23rd anniversary of the first NASA Space Shuttle flight (Columbia, 1981). Meanwhile, on Mars, spring is in full swing in the martian northern hemisphere. With spring comes the annual defrosting of the north polar dunes. This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image, acquired on April 7, 2004, shows a field of small barchan (crescent-shaped) dunes covered with the remains of wintertime frost. The dark spots around the base of each dune mark the first signs of the spring thaw. The sand in these dunes is dark, like the black sand beaches of Hawaii or the dark, sandy soil of the rover, Opportunity, landing site, but in winter and spring their dark tone is obscured by bright carbon dioxide frost. This picture is located near 75.9°N, 45.3°W, and covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left. | |
On June 28, 2019, NASA's InSight lander used its robotic arm to move the support structure for its digging instrument. This view was captured by the fisheye Instrument Context Camera. | Click here for animationOn June 28, 2019, NASA's InSight lander used its robotic arm to move the support structure for its digging instrument, informally called the "mole." This view was captured by the fisheye Instrument Context Camera under the lander's deck.Lifting the support structure had been done in three steps, a little bit at a time, to ensure the mole wasn't pulled out of the soil. Moving the structure out of the way will give the InSight team a better look at the mole and allow them to try to help it dig.JPL manages InSight for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission.A number of European partners, including France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are supporting the InSight mission. CNES and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) provided the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, with significant contributions from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Switzerland, Imperial College and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and JPL. DLR provided the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) instrument, with significant contributions from the Space Research Center (CBK) of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. Spain's Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) supplied the wind sensors.For more information about the mission, go to https://mars.nasa.gov/insight. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a small portion of the floor of Coprates Catena, just south of the Valles Marineris canyon system. The lighter toned materials in the center of the image are layered deposits. | Context imageThis VIS image shows a small portion of the floor of Coprates Catena. Coprates Catena is just south of the Valles Marineris canyon system. The catena is not as deep as the main canyon. The lighter toned materials in the center of the image are layered deposits.Orbit Number: 36057 Latitude: -14.8296 Longitude: 300 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-01-30 05:00Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image acquired on December 26, 2018 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the hills that resulted from uplifted rocks due to an impact that formed the 230-kilometer diameter Galle Crater. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionThis image was taken of the hills that resulted from uplifted rocks due to an impact that formed the 230-kilometer diameter Galle Crater. These hills form a segment of a circle known as a "peak ring" and this particular formation makes Galle Crater look like a "smiley face" from orbit.Small gullies, visible in the center of this image, have formed on the flanks of these hills and they have eroded back into the bedrock. The crater itself is probably billions of years old, yet these gullies are likely only hundreds of thousands of years old and may even be active today. The small channels in these gullies are easily erased by the wind over long time periods, so we know these gullies must have been active recently.The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 25.7 centimeters (10.1 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 77 centimeters (30.3 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the floor of Hale Crater. The mountains in the image are part of the elongated central peak of the crater. | Context image This VIS image shows part of the floor of Hale Crater. The mountains in the image are part of the elongated central peak of the crater. It is believed that Hale Crater was formed by an oblique impact, which caused it's more oval form and central peak elongation.Orbit Number: 66105 Latitude: -35.5732 Longitude: 323.646 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-11-07 23:04Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This map from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey released on Dec 8, 2003 shows the percent of water by weight in near-surface materials of Mars' north polar region. Significant concentrations of water (greater than 20 percent) are poleward of 55 deg north latitude. | December 8, 2003This map shows the percent of water by weight in near-surface materials of Mars' north polar region. It is derived from the gamma ray spectrometer component of the gamma ray spectrometer suite of instruments on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft.Significant concentrations of water (greater than 20 percent) are poleward of 55 degrees north latitude. The highest concentration, greater than 50 percent, is between 75 degrees north and the pole. Another area with a high concentration of water by weight is in the north polar plains between longitudes minus 105 degrees and minus 140 degrees, and between latitudes 60 degrees and 75 degrees.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for the NASA Office of Space Science in Washington. Investigators at Arizona State University in Tempe, the University of Arizona in Tucson and NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, operate the science instruments. The gamma-ray spectrometer was provided by the University of Arizona in collaboration with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, which provided the high-energy neutron detector, and the Los Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico, which provided the neutron spectrometer. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL. | |
In an area like Russell Crater, very ancient impact crater, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter can follow changes in the terrain by comparing images taken at different times. Frost (carbon dioxide ice) is seen in this image. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionRussell Crater dunes are a favorite target for HiRISE images not only because of their incredible beauty, but for how we can measure the accumulation of frost year after year in the fall, and its disappearance in the spring.The frost is, of course, carbon dioxide ice that often sublimates (going directly from a solid to a gas) during the Martian spring. HiRISE takes images of the same areas on Mars in order to study seasonal changes like this. In an area like Russell Crater -- a very ancient impact crater about 140 kilometers in diameter -- we can follow changes in the terrain by comparing images taken at different times. This helps give us a better understanding of active processes on the Red Planet.HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows the south polar region of Mars (bottom), and the north polar cap (top). Bluish areas are clouds in the atmosphere. The dark region immediately below the north polar cap is Acidalia Planitia. | 1 June 2004The Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) team celebrated a milestone late last week as Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) completed its 25,000th orbit since it reached the red planet on 12 September 1997. Also last week, on 27 May 2004, MGS's thrusters were fired briefly to adjust the spacecraft's orbit. This Orbit Synchronization Maneuver-7 (OSM-7) was designed to stop the orbital drift in Mars local mean solar time that MGS had been experiencing as a result of the OSMs that were done in late 2003 and early 2004 to move the spacecraft into position to relay data during the January landings of the Mars Exploration Rovers.OSM-7 occurred on the day side of Mars, and thus the effects of the maneuver are visible in the MOC wide angle daily global map image acquired on that orbit, as shown here. MOC has two wide angle cameras, one that acquires a red view, the other is blue. Because Mars has very little that is green, the green channel in the color image is synthesized by combining the red and blue channels by a known ratio. The black areas in the image are views of outer space. Black portions of the image were obtained because MGS was rotated into position for the burn, then the engines were fired.The spacecraft moves from south to north on the day side of the planet. Thus, the bottom of the image is near the south polar region of Mars, and the top shows the north polar cap. Before the black areas appeared near the bottom of the scene, the spacecraft was moving along in its normal orientation. Then, where the black first appears, MGS was being rotated relative to its normal position. Later, toward the middle of the image, the thrusters were fired. The spacecraft returned to its normal operational orientation before it reached the north polar region. The white area toward the lower left of the image is saturated by sunlight glinting off of clouds over the southern high latitudes. Bluish areas are clouds in the atmosphere. Sunlight illuminates the planet from the left. The dark region immediately south (below) the north polar cap is Acidalia Planitia.The status of MGS is described each week by the MGS Project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's web page, http://marsweb.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/status/reports/msop-mgs.html. These reports include additional information about OSM-7 and the previous OSMs conducted to support the rover mission. | |
The landslide deposit in this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft is located in an unnamed crater in Xanthe Terra. | Context imageThe landslide deposit in this VIS image is located in an unnamed crater in Xanthe Terra.Orbit Number: 47251 Latitude: 1.62497 Longitude: 308.495 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-08-08 20:29Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This graphic shows results of the first analysis of Martian soil by the CheMin experiment on NASA's Curiosity rover. The image reveals the presence of crystalline feldspar, pyroxenes and olivine mixed with some amorphous (non-crystalline) material. | This graphic shows results of the first analysis of Martian soil by the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) experiment on NASA's Curiosity rover. The image reveals the presence of crystalline feldspar, pyroxenes and olivine mixed with some amorphous (non-crystalline) material. The soil sample, taken from a wind-blown deposit called "Rocknest" within Gale Crater, where the rover landed, is similar to volcanic soils in Hawaii.Curiosity scooped the soil on Oct. 15, 2012, the 69th sol, or Martian day, of operations. It was delivered to CheMin for X-ray diffraction analysis on October 17, 2012, the 71st sol. By directing an X-ray beam at a sample and recording how X-rays are scattered by the sample at an atomic level, the instrument can definitively identify and quantify minerals on Mars for the first time. Each mineral has a unique pattern of rings, or "fingerprint," revealing its presence. The colors in the graphic represent the intensity of the X-rays, with red being the most intense.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, and built Curiosity and CheMin.For more information about Curiosity and its mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl . | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a small portion of Auqakuh Vallis on Mars. Several tributaries enter the main channel in the center and upper portions of the image. | Context image for PIA10864Auqakuh VallisThis VIS image shows a small portion of Auqakuh Vallis. Several tributaries enter the main channel in the center and upper portions of the image.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 30.4N, Longitude 66.6E. 19 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Terra Sabaea. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Terra Sabaea.The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the Martian surface using five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the spatial resolution and coverage of the image must be reduced to accommodate the additional data volume produced from using multiple filters. To make a color image, three of the five filter images (each in grayscale) are selected. Each is contrast enhanced and then converted to a red, green, or blue intensity image. These three images are then combined to produce a full color, single image. Because the THEMIS color filters don't span the full range of colors seen by the human eye, a color THEMIS image does not represent true color. Also, because each single-filter image is contrast enhanced before inclusion in the three-color image, the apparent color variation of the scene is exaggerated. Nevertheless, the color variation that does appear is representative of some change in color, however subtle, in the actual scene. Note that the long edges of THEMIS color images typically contain color artifacts that do not represent surface variation.Orbit Number: 88083 Latitude: 17.9048 Longitude: 76.7013 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-10-23 01:30Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a layered slope in the martian north polar region, being exposed by the removal of an overlying, smoother material seen in the lower third of the image. | 20 August 2006This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a layered slope in the martian north polar region, being exposed by the removal of an overlying, smoother material seen in the lower third of the image. At the time this picture was obtained, the entire area was covered by bright, carbon dioxide frost.Location near: 79.7°N, 341.0°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season: Northern Spring | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the dune field located on the floor of Arkhangelsky Crater. | Context imageThis VIS image shows part of the dune field located on the floor of Arkhangelsky Crater.Orbit Number: 36143 Latitude: -40.5646 Longitude: 335.295 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-02-06 07:05Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
Today's image shows the eastern side of the summit caldera of Ceraunius Tholus as seen by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows the eastern side of the summit caldera of Ceraunius Tholus.Orbit Number: 47827 Latitude: 24.0691 Longitude: 263.105 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-09-25 06:06Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This mini-panorama was taken by NASA's Spirit rover on August 23, 2005, just as the rover finally completed its intrepid climb up Husband Hill. The summit shows a windswept plateau of scattered rocks, little sand dunes and small exposures of outcrop. | This "postcard" or mini-panorama was taken by NASA's Spirit rover on martian day, or sol, 582 (August 23, 2005), just as the rover finally completed its intrepid climb up Husband Hill. The summit appears to be a windswept plateau of scattered rocks, little sand dunes and small exposures of outcrop. The breathtaking view here is toward the north, looking down into the drifts and outcrops of the "Tennessee Valley," a region that Spirit was not able to visit during its climb to the top of the hill.The approximate true-color postcard spans about 90 degrees and consists of images obtained by the rover's panoramic camera during 18 individual pointings. At each pointing, the rover used three of its panoramic filters (600, 530 and 480 nanometers). | |
Interpreting Radar View near Mars' South Pole, Orbit 1360 | A radargram from the Shallow Subsurface Radar instrument (SHARAD) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is shown in the upper-right panel and reveals detailed structure in the polar layered deposits of the south pole of Mars.The sounding radar collected the data presented here during orbit 1360 of the mission, on Nov. 10, 2006. The horizontal scale in the radargram is distance along the ground track. It can be referenced to the ground track map shown in the lower right. The radar traversed from about 74 degrees to 85 degrees south latitude, or about 650 kilometers (400 miles). The ground track map shows elevation measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. Green indicates low elevation; reddish-white indicates higher elevation. The traverse proceeds up onto a plateau formed by the layers.The vertical scale on the radargram is time delay of the radar signals reflected back to Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from the surface and subsurface. For reference, using an assumed velocity of the radar waves in the subsurface, time is converted to depth below the surface at one place: about 800 meters (2,600 feet) to one of the strongest subsurface reflectors. This reflector marks the base of the polar layered deposits. The color scale varies from black for weak reflections to white for strong reflections.The middle panel shows mapping of the major subsurface reflectors, some of which can be traced for a distance of 100 kilometers (60 miles) or more. The layering manifests the recent climate history of Mars, recorded by the deposition and removal of ice and dust.The Shallow Subsurface Radar was provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Its operations are led by the University of Rome and its data are analyzed by a joint U.S.-Italian science team. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This image acquired on January 30, 2022 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows an odd-shaped hole in Noachis Terra, clearly an impact crater. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionThis odd-shaped hole in Noachis Terra is clearly an impact crater. It has the characteristic raised rim that distinguishes it from pits that have simply collapsed. In contrast to most impact craters though, it isn't round.What could have caused this odd shape? Sometimes craters can be elongated when the impact occurs at a very grazing angle, but that's not the case here as the rough ejecta blanket around the crater is mostly symmetric.This HiRISE image may show the answer. Large blocks of material in the northeast and northwest corners look like they have slid into the crater. These collapses have extended the crater in those directions giving it an oblong appearance.The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 54.1 centimeters [21.3 inches] per pixel [with 2 x 2 binning]; objects on the order of 162 centimeters [63.8 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.This is a stereo pair with ESP_064445_1475.The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows dark, barchan sand dunes of the north polar region of Mars. Barchan dunes are simple, rounded forms with two horns that extend downwind. | 20 July 2004This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dark, barchan sand dunes of the north polar region of Mars. Barchan dunes are simple, rounded forms with two horns that extend downwind. Inequalities in local wind patterns may result in one horn being extended farther than the other, as is the case for several dunes in this image. The image also shows several barchans may merge to form a long dune ridge. The horns and attendant slip faces on these dunes indicate wind transport of sand from the upper left toward the lower right. The image is located near 77.6°N, 103.6°W. The picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide; sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft is of an unnamed crater located on the floor of the much larger Newton Crater. This crater had a central peak, gullies on the inner rim and dunes on the northern part of the crater floor. | Context imageToday's VIS image is of an unnamed crater located on the floor of the much larger Newton Crater. This crater had a central peak, gullies on the inner rim and dunes on the northern part of the crater floor.Orbit Number: 59391 Latitude: -41.9785 Longitude: 201.934 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-05-04 23:15Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
Churned-Up Rocky Debris and Dust (True Color) | NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been analyzing sulfur-rich rocks and surface materials in the "Columbia Hills" in Gusev Crater on Mars. This image shows rocky debris and dust, which planetary scientists call "regolith" or "soil," that has been churned up by the rover wheels. This 40-centimeter-wide (16-inch-wide) patch of churned-up dirt, nicknamed "Paso Robles," contains brighter patches measured to be high in sulfur by Spirit's alpha particle X-ray Spectrometer. Spirit's panoramic camera took this image on martian day, or sol, 400 (Feb. 16, 2005). The image represents the panoramic camera team's best current attempt at generating a true color view of what this scene would look like if viewed by a human on Mars. The image was generated from a combination of six calibrated, left-eye images acquired through filters ranging from 430-nanometer to 750-nanometer wavelengths. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows lava flows terminating at the foot of canyon walls in Echus Chasma. These lava flows are also fractured into large plates in this region. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows lava flows terminating at the foot of canyon walls in Echus Chasma. These lava flows are also fractured into large plates in this region.Orbit Number: 44618 Latitude: 1.2569 Longitude: 278.94 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-01-05 03:07Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the 'Bradbury Landing' location where it landed in August 2012 to the 'Pahrump Hills' outcrop where it drilled into the lowest part of Mount Sharp. | This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the "Bradbury Landing" location where it landed in August 2012 to the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop where it drilled into the lowest part of Mount Sharp. The rover reached Pahrump Hills with a 73-foot (22.4-meter) drive on the 653rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Sept. 19, 2014).The base image for this map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. North is up. The dark ground south of the rover's route has dunes of dark, wind-blown material at the foot of Mount Sharp. The scale bar at lower right represents two kilometers (1.2 miles). For broader-context images of the area, see PIA17355, PIA16064 and PIA16058.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
This false-color scene from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity catches 'Pillinger Point,' on the western rim of Endeavour Crater, in the foreground. | This scene from the panoramic camera (Pancam) of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity catches "Pillinger Point," on the western rim of Endeavour Crater, in the foreground. It is presented in false color to make differences in surface materials more easily visible.The eastern rim of the crater is on the distant horizon. Endeavour Crater is 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter.The vista spans from north-northwest, at the left, to south-southwest, at the right. It combines several Pancam exposures taken on the 3,663rd Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars (May 14, 2014). The exposures were taken through three of the Pancam's color filters, centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near-infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). Opportunity's international science team chose Pillinger Point as the informal name for this ridge as a tribute to Colin Pillinger (1943-2014). Pillinger was the British principal investigator for the Beagle 2 project, which attempted to set a lander on Mars a few weeks before Opportunity's January 2004 landing.The site became a destination for Opportunity to examine because observations from orbit indicated the presence of a clay mineral named montmorillonite, which forms under wet conditions. JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Spirit and Opportunity, visit http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov.Photojournal Note: Also available is the full resolution TIFF file PIA18394_full.tif. This file may be too large to view from a browser; it can be downloaded onto your desktop by right-clicking on the previous link and viewed with image viewing software. | |
Spirit Lightens the Load | The history of Spirit's descent and landing on the surface of Mars is recorded in this image taken more than two weeks later on Jan. 19, 2004, by the camera on the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor. Spirit landed on Jan. 3, 2004. The two dots in the upper left are the spacecraft's backshell and parachute, which were shed as Spirit's bridle was cut, allowing the lander to bounce to a rest while safely encased in airbags. To the far right of the image, a dark streak above a large crater is believed to be the location where the heat shield impacted. The heat shield had protected the spacecraft during its descent through the martian atmosphere and was jettisoned several kilometers above the surface. A trail of bounce marks made by the airbags as Spirit bounced to a stop can be seen in the middle of the image. To the left of the second bounce mark is a square showing the location where engineers had calculated Spirit's airbags first hit the martian surface, based on data from the descent image motion estimation system located on the bottom of the rover's lander. The white dot near the bottom of the image is the lander, also known as the Columbia Memorial Station, at the Gusev Crater landing site. Beside it is a dot marked "surface feature location," showing the location of the lander estimated by the Spirit team using sight lines to landmarks in the lander's panoramic images. This image was taken in the early martian afternoon.Wind Gusts: No Longer a Rover's Achilles Heel This image shows the path (blue line) taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during its descent to Gusev Crater, Mars. Just seconds before landing, the rover fired its lateral rocket, called the Tranverse Impulse Rocket System, to protect against a horizontal gust of wind. The turquoise and yellow arrows show the actual speed and direction of Spirit; the purple arrow indicates what the rover's speed and direction would have been without the corrective maneuver. The red dot indicates where the parachute bridle was cut. North is denoted by the red-tipped arrow in the white cross. This picture consists of reconstructed telemetry mapped on top of surface images captured by the descent image motion estimation system camera located on the bottom of the rover. | |
This image acquired on October 4, 2022 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows gullies located in the Southern Highlands just east of Gorgonum Chaos. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionGullies lying on the northeast slopes of Triolet Crater (about 11.6 km in diameter ), are located in the Southern Highlands just east of Gorgonum Chaos. Some gullies have eroded through resistant layers up to the crater rim.At the downslope are fans of debris that overlap with those of nearby gully systems, suggesting that there were multiple periods of gully activity in this region. Just south of the gullies is a large fracture that cuts through the crater rim. This fracture is part of the Sirenum Fossae system that slices across the region for over 1,000 kilometers from the northeast to the southwest.Because this fracture (or "fossae") cuts through the rim and ejecta blanket of Triolet Crater, this means that the crater is older than the fracture. This is known as a cross-cutting relationship and demonstrates a basic principle in geology known as the "law of superposition."The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 26.5 centimeters [10.4 inches] per pixel [with 1 x 1 binning]; objects on the order of 80 centimeters [31.5 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.This is a stereo pair with ESP_075675_1425.The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a small portion of Iani Chaos on Mars. The brighter floor material is being covered by sand, probably eroded from the mesas of the Chaos. | Context image for PIA03046Iani ChaosThis image shows a small portion of Iani Chaos. The brighter floor material is being covered by sand, probably eroded from the mesas of the Chaos.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 1.7S, Longitude 341.6E. 17 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor acquired this image on Dec. 24, 1997 of a small portion of the potential Mars Surveyor '98 landing zone. | On 12/24/1997 at shortly after 08:17 UTC SCET, the Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) took this high resolution image of a small portion of the potential Mars Surveyor '98 landing zone. For the purposes of planning MOC observations, this zone was defined as 75 +/- 2 degrees S latitude, 215 +/- 15 degrees W longitude. The image ran along the western perimeter of the Mars98 landing zone (e.g., near 245°W longitude). At that longitude, the layered deposits are farther south than at the prime landing longitude. The images were shifted in latitude to fall onto the layered deposits. The location of the image was selected to try to cover a range of possible surface morphologies, reliefs, and albedos.This image is approximately 83.3 km long by 31.7 km wide. It covers an area of about 2750 sq. km. The center of the image is at 81.97 degrees S, 246.74 degrees W. The viewing conditions are: emission angle 58.23 degrees, incidence angle 60.23 degrees, phase of 30.34 degrees, and 15.49 meters/pixel resolution. North is to the top of the image.The effects of ground fog, which obscures the surface features(left), has been minimize by filtering (right).Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. | |
This artist's concept of the proposed NASA Mars Sample Return mission shows the launch of the martian sample back toward Earth. | This artist's concept of the proposed Mars Sample Return mission shows the launch of the martian sample back toward Earth. This image is part of a series designed to describe the current groundbreaking Mars Sample Return mission concept (see figure 1 below for a composite of the series), with a tentative launch date of 2013.Figure 1: series composite | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Elysium Fossae, located on the western flank of the Elysium volcanic complex. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows part of Elysium Fossae, located on the western flank of the Elysium volcanic complex. The fossae have both a tectonic and a volcanic origin. The linear depressions, created by tectonic activity, are aligned southeast to northwest (the top of the image is north). The sinuous nature of the channel at the top of the image is due to the flow of a liquid, most likely lava in this case.Orbit Number: 78834 Latitude: 29.682 Longitude: 139.489 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-09-22 12:21Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The dark fans in this image are made up of small particles from the surface deposited on top of the seasonal layer of ice; carbon dioxide ice still covers much of the surface at this high latitude site observed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionAlthough the season is late spring, carbon dioxide ice still covers much of the surface at this high latitude site. It is still a chilly -128 degrees Celsius.The weak boundaries of the polygonal structure of the surface have been eroded by spring sublimation of carbon dioxide as energy from the Sun turns ice to gas. The larger troughs in this image accentuate the surface polygonal structure, while the narrow cracks show the erosion caused when carbon dioxide gas escapes from under the seasonal ice layer carrying fine material from the surface.The dark fans in this image are made up of small particles from the surface deposited on top of the seasonal layer of ice. The fans originate at a crack, a weak spot that allows the gas to escape. The material is deposited in a direction determined by the direction of the wind as the gas was escaping. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. |
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