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NASA's Phoenix Mars took this image on August 6, 2008. The shadow shows the outline of Phoenix's Thermal and Electrical Conductivity Probe, or TECP. The holes seen in the Martian surface were made by this instrument to measure the soil's conductivity. | NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Robotic Arm Camera took this image on Sol 71 (August 6, 2008), the 71st Martian day after landing. The shadow shows the outline of Phoenix's Thermal and Electrical Conductivity Probe, or TECP. The holes seen in the Martian surface were made by this instrument to measure the soil's conductivity. A fork-like probe inserted into the soil checks how well heat and electricity move through the soil from one prong to another.The measurements completed Wednesday ran from the afternoon of Phoenix's 70th Martian day, or sol, to the morning of Sol 71.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. | |
At 11:02 a.m. EDT on April 7, 2001, crowds watch a Boeing Delta II rocket lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, carrying NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft into space on its seven-month journey to Mars. | At 11:02 a.m. EDT on April 7, 2001, crowds watch a Boeing Delta II rocket lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, carrying NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft into space on its seven-month journey to Mars. The spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has been orbiting Mars since Oct. 24, 2001, investigating the planet, supporting robotic missions on the surface of Mars, and aiding preparations for missions taking humans to Mars. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a graben cutting through a plateau. The graben is part of Sirenum Fossae. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a graben cutting through a plateau. The graben is part of Sirenum Fossae.Orbit Number: 56490 Latitude: -39.4375 Longitude: 179.303 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-09-08 03:08Please 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 Exploration Rover Opportunity looks back out at the plains of Meridiani Planum from the rover's first dip inside the rim of 'Endurance Crater.' Opportunity's rear hazard-avoidance camera took this picture on June 8, 2004. | NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity looks back out at the plains of Meridiani Planum from the rover's first dip inside the rim of "Endurance Crater." Opportunity's rear hazard-avoidance camera took this picture during the rover's 133rd martian day, or sol, on June 8, 2004. | |
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 image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the surface of the south polar cap during springtime. | 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 the surface of the south polar cap during springtime.Orbit Number: 7298 Latitude: -82.1416 Longitude: 128.053 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2003-08-07 07:32Please 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 left image of a stereo image pair of the rock 'Chimp' was taken by NASA's Sojourner rover's front cameras on Sol 72 (September 15). Fine-scale texture on Chimp and other rocks is clearly visible. Sol 1 began on July 4, 1997. | This left image of a stereo image pair of the rock "Chimp" was taken by the Sojourner rover's front cameras on Sol 72 (September 15). Fine-scale texture on Chimp and other rocks is clearly visible. Wind tails, oriented from lower right to upper left, are seen next to small pebbles in the foreground. These were most likely produced by wind action.This image and PIA01575 (right eye) make up a stereo pair.Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. 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).
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 Mars Global Surveyor shows layered sedimentary rocks exposed in eastern Candor Chasma, part of the vast Valles Marineris trough system on Mars. Dry debris has cut narrow, straight chutes into the slope. | 30 November 2004This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image was acquired using the cPROTO technique described on 27 September 2004 in "cPROTO Views of Spirit's Rover Tracks and Athabasca Vallis Flood Features." In other words, the picture was obtained by MOC with a resolution that is better than 1 meter per pixel (better than 3 feet per pixel). On the left is a view of the entire cPROTO image; on the right is a magnified view of the features seen in the white box on the left. The 200 meter scale bar is about 219 yards long. This cPROTO image, obtained in August 2004, shows layered sedimentary rocks exposed in eastern Candor Chasma, part of the vast Valles Marineris trough system. On the steep slope in the lower half of the image (left), the rocks have been breaking down into fine-grained material that slides down the slope to create fan-shaped talus accumulations. In some cases, the movement of this dry debris has cut narrow, straight chutes into the slope. The sub-meter resolution of the cPROTO image reveals that there are no boulders in the talus, attesting to the extremely fine-grained and easily broken-up nature of these sedimentary rocks. The image is located near 7.3°S, 69.0°W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a cluster of craters in far western Arabia Terra on Mars. The crater cluster is oriented along a line that runs nearly left-right across the scene. | 7 October 2005This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a cluster of craters in far western Arabia Terra. The crater cluster is oriented along a line that runs nearly east-west (left-right) across the scene. Clusters of craters positioned along a line like this are secondary craters -- that is, they formed as the result of a much larger meteor, asteroid, or cometary impact somewhere else in the region. These craters do not form from the object that impacted Mars to form the larger, primary crater; these are the product of the impact of the rocks and debris thrown out by the larger impact.Location near: 14.9°N, 19.3°W Image width: width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season: Northern Autumn | |
Northern Plains | Image PSP_001413_2495 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 69.3 degrees latitude, 10.8 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 314.2 km (196.4 miles). At this distance the image scale is 31.4 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~94 cm across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 cm/pixel. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:04 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 59 degrees, thus the sun was about 31 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. | |
Embayment relationship is displayed where mottled plains material laps up against higher standing plains material in this image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The embaying material could be lava or possibly mud. | Released 23 April 2003Embayment relationship displayed where mottled plains material laps up against higher standing plains material. The embaying material could be lava or possibly mud.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.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 44.8, Longitude 10 East (350 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution. | |
This exposure of finely laminated bedrock on Mars includes tiny crystal-shaped bumps, plus mineral veins with both bright and dark material as seen by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover. | Figure 1Click on the image for larger versionThis exposure of finely laminated bedrock on Mars includes tiny crystal-shaped bumps, plus mineral veins with both bright and dark material. This rock target, called "Jura," was imaged by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Jan. 4, 2018, during the 1,925th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars.The view combines three MAHLI frames covering a postcard-size patch of the rock. Fig. 1 includes a scale bar of 2 centimeters (about 0.8 inch) and a blow-up of a "swallowtail" crystal shape. The combination of simpler "lenticular" crystal shapes with swallowtails and more complex "lark's foot" and star shapes is characteristic of crystals of gypsum, a type of calcium sulfate.To the right of a prominent swallowtail near the top of the image is one bright mineral vein and another with both bright and dark portions. This rock is near the southern, uphill edge of "Vera Rubin Ridge" on lower Mount Sharp.MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover.More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
This image, taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft, shows flow features on the northern flank of Olympus Mons. | Context image for PIA11894Olympus MonsThis VIS image shows flow features on the northern flank of Olympus Mons.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 22.7N, Longitude 228.1E. 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 Reconnaissance Orbiter shows blocks of bright, layered rock embedded in darker material that are thought to have been deposited by a giant flood that occurred when Uzboi Valles breached the rim of Holden Crater. | Figure 1Click on the image for larger versionThis image shows blocks of bright, layered rock embedded in darker material that are thought to have been deposited by a giant flood that occurred when Uzboi Valles breached the rim of Holden Crater (Grant et al., 2008, Geology v. 36, p. 195-198).The magnitude of this ancient flood is indicated by the large size of the blocks (up to 100 meters, or 328 feet, across) (Figure 1). The blocks do not appear to have been moved very far by the flood, as they are not rounded.Holden Crater is one of the four potential landing sites for the Mars Science Laboratory rover, to be launched in November 2011. The bright layered rock in this image probably contain a record of a wetter, warmer period early in Martian history, and are therefore a prime target for exploration.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, 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 & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. | |
Based on the first direct measurements ever obtained of Martian rocks and terrain, scientists on NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission report in this week's Science magazine that the red planet may have once been much more like Earth. | Based on the first direct measurements ever obtained of Martian rocks and terrain, scientists on NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission report in this week's Science magazine that the red planet may have once been much more like Earth, with liquid water streaming through channels and nourishing a much thicker atmosphere.Among the more significant discoveries of the Mars Pathfinder mission was the identification of possible conglomerate rocks, which suggests the presence of running water to smooth and round the pebbles and cobbles, and deposit them in a sand or clay matrix, says Dr. Matthew Golombek, Mars Pathfinder project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. This scenario supports the theory that Mars was once warmer and wetter."If you consider all of the evidence we have at Ares Vallis -- the rounded pebbles and cobbles and the possible conglomerate, the abundant sand and dust-sized particles and models for their origins, in addition to the high silica rocks," Golombek says, "it suggests a water-rich planet that may have been more Earth-like than previously recognized, with a warmer and wetter past in which liquid water was stable and the atmosphere was thicker."A panoramic view of Pathfinder's Ares Vallis landing site, featured on the cover of the Dec. 5 issue of Science, reveals traces of this warmer, wetter past, showing a floodplain covered with a variety of rock types, boulders, rounded and semi-rounded cobbles and pebbles. These rocks and pebbles are thought to have been swept down and deposited by floods which occurred early in Mars' evolution in the Ares and Tiu regions near the Pathfinder landing site.The cover image, which is a 75-frame, color-enhanced mosaic taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder, looks to the southwest toward the Rock Garden, a cluster of large, angular rocks tilted in a downstream direction from the floods. The image shows the Pathfinder rover, Sojourner, snuggled against a rock nicknamed Moe. The south peak of two hills, known as Twin Peaks, can be seen on the horizon, about 1 kilometer (6/10ths of a mile) from the lander. The rocky surface is comprised of materials washed down from the highlands and deposited in this ancient outflow channel by a catastrophic flood."Before the Pathfinder mission, knowledge of the kinds of rocks present on Mars was based mostly on the Martian meteorites found on Earth, which are all igneous rocks rich in magnesium and iron and relatively low in silica," Golombek and a team of Pathfinder scientists report in a paper entitled, "Overview of the Mars Pathfinder Mission and Assessment of Landing Site Predictions." The paper summarizes the scientific results of the mission, which are also detailed in six other papers in this issue. The scientists report that chemical analyses of more than 16 rocks and studies of different regions of soil -- along with spectral imaging of rock colors, textures and structures -- have confirmed that these rocks have compositions distinct from those of the Martian meteorites found on Earth."The rocks that were analyzed by the rover's alpha proton X-ray spectrometer were basaltic or volcanic rocks, with granite-like origins, known as andesitic rocks," Golombek reports. "The high silica or quartz content of some rocks suggests that they were formed as the crust of Mars was being recycled, or cooled and heated up, by the underlying mantle. Analyses of rocks with lower silica content appear to be rich in sulfur, implying that they are covered with dust or weathered. Rover images show that some rocks appear to have small air sacks or cavities, which would indicate that they may be volcanic. In addition, the soils are chemically distinct from the rocks measured at the landing site."The remarkably successful Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, part of NASA's Discovery program of fast track, low-cost missions with highly focused science objectives, was the first spacecraft to explore Mars in more than 20 years. In all, during its three months of operations, the mission returned about 2.6 gigabits of data, which included more than 16,000 images of the Martian landscape from the lander camera, 550 images from the rover and about 8.5 million temperature, pressure and wind measurements.The rover traveled a total of about 100 meters (328 feet) in 230 commanded maneuvers, performed more than 16 chemical analyses of rocks and soil, carried out soil mechanics and technology experiments, and explored about 250 square meters (820 square feet) of the Martian surface. The flight team lost communication with the lander on Sept. 27, after 83 days of daily commanding and data return. In all, the lander operated nearly three times its design lifetime of 30 days, and the small, 10.5 kilogram (23- pound) rover operated 12 times its design lifetime of seven days. Now known as the Sagan Memorial Station, the Mars Pathfinder mission was designed primarily to demonstrate a low-cost way of delivering a set of science instruments and a free-ranging rover to the surface of the red planet. Landers and rovers of the future will share the heritage of spacecraft designs and technologies first tested in this "pathfinding."
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 Mars Global Surveyor shows | 20 December 2003This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows barchan sand dunes west of the Meroe Patera volcanic caldera in central Syrtis Major. The winds that shape these dunes blow from the right/upper right (northeast). The surface across which the dunes have traveled is probably composed of volcanic rocks; the dunes, too, may have volcanic materials, such as sand-sized grains of tephra-volcanic ash-in them. This October 2003 view is located near 7.4°N, 292.3°W, and covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left. | |
NASA's Opportunity rover has spent 13 years exploring a small region of Meridiani Planum which has a rather ordinary appearance as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionThe 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.NASA's Opportunity rover has spent 13 years exploring a small region of Meridiani Planum which has a rather ordinary appearance as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).Other portions of Meridiani are much more interesting, with well-exposed layered bedrock eroded into strange patterns. 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 traverse map traces the route that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove from its landing inside Eagle Crater on Jan. 4, 2004. | Annotated VersionClick on the image for full viewThe red-and-white line on this image traces the route that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove from its landing inside Eagle Crater on Jan. 4, 2004 (Universal Time; Jan. 3 Pacific Standard Time) through the 1,742nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission (Dec. 17, 2008). During that period, Opportunity drove 13.62 kilometers (8.5 miles). Opportunity climbed out of the 800-meter-wide (half-mile-wide) Victoria Crater on Sol 1634 (Aug. 28, 2008). The rover's next major destination is a much larger crater further south, Endeavour Crater, with a diameter of about 22 kilometers (14 miles).The route and labels on this map are overlain on an image from the Thermal Emission Imaging System camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. | |
These plots, or spectra, show that a rock dubbed 'McKittrick' near NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site at Meridiani Planum, Mars, has higher concentrations of sulfur and bromine than a nearby patch of soil nicknamed 'Tarmac.' | These plots, or spectra, show that a rock dubbed "McKittrick" near the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site at Meridiani Planum, Mars, has higher concentrations of sulfur and bromine than a nearby patch of soil nicknamed "Tarmac." These data were taken by Opportunity's alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, which produces a spectrum, or fingerprint, of chemicals in martian rocks and soil. The instrument contains a radioisotope, curium-244, that bombards a designated area with alpha particles and X-rays, causing a cascade of reflective fluorescent X-rays. The energies of these fluorescent X-rays are unique to each atom in the periodic table, allowing scientists to determine a target's chemical composition.Both "Tarmac" and "McKittrick" are located within the small crater where Opportunity landed. The full spectra are expressed as X-ray intensity (logarithmic scale) versus energy. When comparing two spectra, the relative intensities at a given energy are proportional to the elemental concentrations, however these proportionality factors can be complex. To be precise, scientists extensively calibrate the instrument using well-analyzed geochemical standards.Both the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and the rock abrasion tool are located on the rover's instrument deployment device, or arm. | |
This image depicts how a mountain inside a Mars' Gale Crater might have formed. At left, the crater fills with layers of sediment. Yellow is for deposits in alluvial fans, deltas, and drifts during both wet and dry periods. | This diagram illustrates how Mount Sharp in Gale Crater, Mars, where NASA's Curiosity rover is now driving, might have formed billions of years ago. The left side shows Gale Crater filled up with layers of sediment. The yellow units represent sediments derived from the crater rim highlands and transported toward the center of the crater in alluvial fans, deltas, and wind-blown drifts. These mixtures represent both wet and dry periods. Also during wet periods, water pooled in lakes where sediments settled out in the center of crater (brown). Even during dry periods in the crater center, groundwater would have existed beneath the surface. Then, during the next wet period it would resurface to form the next lake. This alternation of lakes, rivers and deserts could have represented a long-lasting habitable environment. The drawing at right shows what happened later: After the crater had at least partially filled with sediment, erosion of previously deposited sedimentary layers occurred, exposing the ancient sequence of lake, river and desert environments as a series of bands, or layers, along the lower flanks of Mount Sharp. As Curiosity drove uphill and southward from its landing site -- toward the middle of the crater -- it encountered evidence for the lake deposits (brown) that had been exhumed by erosion. These layers are part of the Murray formation in the lower regions of Mount Sharp.More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
Several landslides are visible in this image of Thithomium Chasma on Mars as seen by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image for PIA08771Tithonium ChasmaSeveral landslides are visible in this image of Thithomium Chasma.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -4.6N, Longitude 274.5E. 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 Global Surveyor shows dust plumes created by gusting winds on a plain southwest of Argyre Planitia. | 27 March 2006This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dust plumes created by gusting winds on a plain southwest of Argyre Planitia.Location near: 67.0°S, 75.2°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Southern Autumn | |
During a long drive on Labor Day, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity reached the estimated halfway point of its journey from Victoria Crater to Endeavour Crater. | NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera to record this view at the end of a 111-meter (364-foot) drive on the 2,353rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 6, 2010). This sol's drive took Opportunity past the estimated halfway point of the approximately 19-kilometer (11.8-mile) journey from Victoria Crater to the much larger Endeavour Crater.Opportunity began the trip from Victoria to Endeavour in September 2008 after two years of exploring in and around Victoria. After the rover science team selected Endeavour as the rover's next long-term destination, observations of Endeavour's rim by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed the presence of clay minerals. This finding makes the site an even more compelling science destination. Clay minerals, which form exclusively under wet conditions, have been found extensively on Mars from orbit, but have not been examined on the surface. A portion of the Endeavour rim is visible on the horizon in this image. In the nearer ground, exposures of bright-toned outcrop are visible between crests of darker, wind-sculpted sand ripples.Opportunity completed its three-month prime mission on Mars in April 2004 and has been operating as an extended mission since then. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more about the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, see http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a small, dust-covered, volcano in the Jovis Fossae region of Mars, known for its extremely large volcanoes, such as Olympus Mons. Many small volcanoes also occur on the red planet, particularly in the Tharsis region. | 3 July 2005This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a small, dust-covered, volcano in the Jovis Fossae region of Mars. While Mars is known for its extremely large volcanoes, such as Olympus Mons, many small volcanoes also occur on the red planet, particularly in the Tharsis region. This small volcano is a good example of those. It was originally found by members of the MGS Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) team during the MGS primary mission. The volcano is old, and cratered. Its surface is mantled by dust, and its caldera (summit depression) has some dust-covered wind ripples on its floor.Location near: 20.7°N, 111.3°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season Northern Autumn | |
This NASA Mars Odyssey image shows a remarkable array of dunes on the floor of a large impact crater named Baldet. Many of the dunes in this region are isolated features with large, sand-free 'interdune' surfaces between the individual dunes. | (Released 13 June 2002)The ScienceThis THEMIS visible image shows a remarkable array of dunes on the floor of a large impact crater named Baldet located near 22.8° N. Many of the dunes in this region are isolated features, with large, sand-free "interdune" surfaces between the individual dunes. These isolated dunes typically occur in regions where there is a limited supply of sand. Any sand that is present moves rapidly across the interdune surfaces, which in many cases are hardened surfaces over which the sand can easily bounce, or "saltate." When this loose sand lands on a dune it cannot travel as quickly and is trapped within the dune. In some areas within this sand mass the dunes have grown together to form crescent dunes and dune ridges. The dunes in this image are likely active today, slowly migrating across the crater floor. THEMIS will re-image this and other dunes throughout the Mars Odyssey mission to search for any evidence of dune motion over time. Based on the asymmetrical shape of the dunes, the wind direction over much of the dune field appears to be from the right (west) or upper right (northwest). However, the topography of the crater floor apparently produces complex wind patterns within the dune field, as can be seen by the different orientations of the dunes. For example the dunes in the lower portion of the image appear to be somewhat symmetrical and aligned east-west, suggesting that the wind in this region blows from both the north (top) and south (bottom).The StoryA fuzzy "carpet" of sand dunes covers the floor of a large impact crater, which you can see almost in full in the context image to the right. While the dunes give this area a plush, tufted look, there actually isn't a lot of sand in this area. How can you tell? Large, sand-free spaces exist in between the dunes, and those usually occur when sand particles are sparse. You can see these "interdune spaces" better if you click on the image for the more detailed view.The sand that is present on the crater floor doesn't just drift, it hops or bounces across the hardened surface. Given the very thin Martian atmosphere, the wind doesn't have the strength to pick up grains of sand and transport them very far. So, the sand simply skips across the land until it is trapped within a dune like the ones in this image.The wind doesn't always blow in the same direction, though, so the sand hops and skips in different directions too. Based on the shape of the dunes at the top of this image, the wind direction over much of the dune field appears to be from the west or northwest. However, the dunes in the lower portion of the image are clearly aligned in a different (east-west) direction, meaning the wind blows in a north-south direction there. Such differences in wind direction are probably due to the topography of the crater floor, which apparently produces complex wind patterns within the dune field. This difference gives the entire dune field a whirly feel.In some areas within this sand mass the dunes have grown together to form curvy, crescent dunes and long, snaky dune ridges. While some sand dunes on Mars have solidified into stationary landforms, the dunes in this image are probably active today, slowly migrating across the crater floor in tiny leaps and bounds. Keep following THEMIS images to witness this migration over time, because the camera will re-image these and other dunes throughout the Mars Odyssey mission. | |
This image taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows the texture of the patch of flat-lying bedrock called 'Cumberland,' which was the mission's second target for use of the rover's sample-collecting drill. | Annotated ImageClick on the image for larger versionThis image taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows the texture of the patch of flat-lying bedrock called "Cumberland," which was the mission's second target for use of the rover's sample-collecting drill. Cumberland was selected to be similar to the first, "John Klein," but with a slightly greater concentration of erosion-resistant granules that cause surface bumps. The bumps are concretions, or clumps of minerals that formed when water soaked the rock long ago. Analysis of a sample containing more material from these concretions could provide information about the variability within the rock layers of both drill targets, John Klein and Cumberland.This image was taken on the 279th Martian day, or sol, of the mission (May 19, 2013) from a distance of 2 inches (5 centimeters).Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, developed, built and operates MAHLI. 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/. | |
This image acquired on June 2, 2018 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows an impact crater in the south Syrtis Major region. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionSome regions of Mars are not very colorful, but we can be surprised by local features. This image of an impact crater in the south Syrtis Major region was acquired as a "ride-along" with a CRISM observation, which targeted this location because that instrument's team expected a distinct composition.Our enhanced image reveals colors ranging from red to green to blue. These are infra-red shifted colors (infrared-red-blue) so it's different than what we would see with our eyes. The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 53.3 centimeters (21.0 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 160 centimeters (63.0 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 is a 3-D version of the first 360-degree view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's position outside 'Eagle Crater.' 3D glasses are necessary to view this image. | Click on the image for Looking Back at 'Eagle Crater'(3-D) (QTVR)This is a 3-D version of the first 360-degree view from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's new position outside "Eagle Crater," the small crater where the rover landed about two months ago. Scientists are busy analyzing Opportunity's new view of the plains of Meridiani Planum. The plentiful ripples are a clear indication that wind is the primary geologic process currently in effect on the plains. The rover's tracks can be seen leading away from Eagle Crater. At the far left are two depressions--each about a meter (about 3.3 feet) across---that feature bright spots in their centers. One possibility is that the bright material is similar in composition to the rocks in Eagle Crater's outcrop and the surrounding darker material is what's referred to as "lag deposit," or erosional remnants, which are much harder and more difficult to wear away. These twin dimples might be revealing pieces of a larger outcrop that lies beneath. The depression closest to Opportunity is whimsically referred to as "Homeplate" and the one behind it as "First Base." The rover's panoramic camera is set to take detailed images of the depressions today, on Opportunity's 58th sol. The backshell and parachute that helped protect the rover and deliver it safely to the surface of Mars are also visible near the horizon, at the left of the image. This image was taken by the rover's navigation camera. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Indus Vallis, located in northern Terra Sabaea. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows part of Indus Vallis, located in northern Terra Sabaea. The channel system is over 300 km (186 miles) long.Orbit Number: 86799 Latitude: 18.9615 Longitude: 38.7759 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-07-09 08:09Please 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 composite of Mars Global Surveyor daily global images acquired at Ls 193° during a previous Mars year shows the Acidalia/Mare Erythraeum face of Mars. | 12 April 2005 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 193° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 193° occurs in mid-April 2005. The picture shows the Acidalia/Mare Erythraeum face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn.Location near: 47.3°N, 294.0°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season: Northern Summer | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a small portion of the immense lava flows that originated from Arsia Mons. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a small portion of the immense lava flows that originated from Arsia Mons. Arsia Mons is the southernmost of the three large aligned volcanoes in the Tharsis region. Arsia Mons' last eruption was 10s of million years ago. The different surface textures are created by differences in the lava viscosity and cooling rates. The lobate margins of each flow can be traced back to the start of each flow — or to the point where they are covered by younger flows. Flows in Daedalia Planum can be as long as 180 km (111 miles). For comparison the longest Hawaiian lava flow is only 51 km (˜31 miles) long. The total area of Daedalia Planum is 2.9 million square km – more than four times the size of Texas.Orbit Number: 92988 Latitude: -14.2638 Longitude: 243.558 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-11-30 21:37Please 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 presents results from APXS onboard NASA's rover Curiosity, with the comparisons simplified across diverse elements by dividing the amount of each element measured in the rocks by the amount of the same element in a local soil. | Researchers have used the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument on the robotic arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity to determine elemental compositions of rock surfaces at several targets in the "Yellowknife Bay" area of Gale Crater. This graphic presents results from APXS, with the comparisons simplified across diverse elements by dividing the amount of each element measured in the rocks by the amount of the same element in a local soil, called "Portage." Vein-rich rocks contain elevated abundances of sulfur and calcium. Other rock targets are remarkably uniform in composition and similar to the Portage soil, excepting high chlorine. Brushing by Curiosity's Dust Removal Tool reveals lower abundances of sulfur in the rock than in the dust coating that the brushing removed.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/. | |
This image acquired on August 14, 2022 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a curious depression with zig-zag walls on the north rim of Secchi Crater. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionThis scene on the north rim of Secchi Crater shows a curious depression with zig-zag walls. Some of the linear ridges on the floor of this feature are aligned with them.In some places on Mars, the dust and dirt is mixed with ice that covers a rocky surface. When the Sun shines, the ice can sublimate (turn directly into a vapor) and the dust and dirt collapse. This can form pits and depressions with a linear wall that is frequently parallel to the equator, and that wall "retreats" towards the equator.This retreat most likely started at the southern end and grew to a stable width. At some point it became wider, stopped, and then grew wider again. Linear ridges on the floor that parallel the top edge are deposits that show where the wall stopped during its long retreat northwards.There is also one long ridge that parallels the eastern wall. Researchers think that the area east of the ridge formed after the main depression. It again started at the south and mostly had a fixed width as its north wall retreated in that direction. The ridge is a remainder of the original east wall.The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 24.9 centimeters [9.8 inches] per pixel [with 1 x 1 binning]; objects on the order of 75 centimeters [29.5 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.This is a stereo pair with ESP_075309_1235.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 short section of Reull Vallis. | Context image This VIS image shows a short section of Reull Vallis. Reull Vallis starts in Promethei Terra and ends in Hellas Plainitia.Orbit Number: 67310 Latitude: -40.6272 Longitude: 100.468 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2017-02-15 05:44Please 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 Polar layered deposits (NPLD) are a stack of layers of ice and dust at the North Pole of Mars. The layers are thought to have been deposited over millions of years. This image is from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionThe North Polar layered deposits (NPLD) are a stack of layers of ice and dust at the North Pole of Mars. The layers are thought to have been deposited over millions of years, as the atmosphere changed in response to the varying tilt of the planet's axis. Learning to read this record could tell us much about recent conditions on Mars, but we first need to understand the processes that have shaped the NPLD.Comparing this HiRISE image with an observation from the previous Martian year reveals an example of one of these processes: block falls. The slope is steep and fractured here, and a large chunk of dusty ice has tumbled down the slope and broken apart. Scientists on the HiRISE team are studying this process at many locations in order to measure how quickly the NPLD is changing.Other changes are visible on the slope as well: sand patches have shifted, and in some places on the slope they have been eroded into grooves or troughs, most likely by the carbon dioxide frost (dry ice) that covers the North Pole in the winter.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. | |
Layers in Becquerel Crater | The layers shown in this HiRISE image formed by loose sediment accumulating within Becquerel crater. The layers are interesting in that there are repeated cycles of thick and thin layers. These cyclic changes in layer thickness shows that some environmental conditions varied in a repeated way as each subsequent layer was deposited. These variations may be due to annual climate cycles and/or a cyclic variability in the source of the sediment. Most layers are parallel to each other, indicating that deposition occurred by material settling onto the surface. A few layers are cross-bedded, meaning that they are not parallel to the older or younger layers. Cross-bedding indicates that at the time that the layers were deposited, the sediment was transported along the ground surface by wind or water. Image PSP_001546_2015 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on November 24, 2006. The complete image is centered at 21.4 degrees latitude, 351.9 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 284.1 km (177.6 miles). At this distance the image scale is 28.4 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~85 cm across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 cm/pixel and north is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:27 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 49 degrees, thus the sun was about 41 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 140.4 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. | |
Spirit Traverse Map, Sol 680 | Annotated Spirit Traverse MapThis image shows the route that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has driven inside Gusev Crater from its first Martian day (sol 1) to its 680th sol (Dec. 1, 2005), more than a complete Martian year. The underlying image (previously released as PIA07849) is a mosaic of images from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. The scale bar at lower left is 500 meters (0.31 mile). As of sol 680, Spirit had driven a total of 5,495 meters (3.41 miles). | |
This 360-degree view, called the 'McMurdo' panorama, comes from the panoramic camera aboard NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. From April through October 2006, Spirit has stayed on a small hill known as 'Low Ridge.' 3D glasses are necessary. | 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 has stayed on a small hill known as "Low Ridge." There, the rover's solar panels are 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 as a stereo anaglyph to show the scene three-dimensionally when viewed through red-blue glasses (with the red lens on the left).Oct. 26, 2006, marks Spirit's 1,000th sol of what was planned as a 90-sol mission. (A sol is a Martian day, which lasts 24 hours, 39 minutes, 35 seconds). The rover has lived through the most challenging part of its second Martian winter. Its solar power levels are rising again. Spring in the southern hemisphere of Mars will begin in early 2007. Before that, the rover team hopes to start driving Spirit again toward scientifically interesting places in the "Inner Basin" and "Columbia Hills" inside Gusev crater. The McMurdo panorama is providing team members with key pieces of scientific and topographic information for choosing where to continue Spirit's exploration adventure.The Pancam began shooting component images of this panorama during Spirit's sol 814 (April 18, 2006) and completed the part shown here on sol 932 (Aug. 17, 2006). The panorama was acquired using all 13 of the Pancam's color filters, using lossless compression for the red and blue stereo filters, and only modest levels of compression on the remaining filters. The overall panorama consists of 1,449 Pancam images and represents a raw data volume of nearly 500 megabytes. It is thus the largest, highest-fidelity view of Mars acquired from either rover. Additional photo coverage of the parts of the rover deck not shown here was completed on sol 980 (Oct. 5, 2006). The team is completing the processing and mosaicking of those final pieces of the panorama, and that image will be released on the Web shortly to augment this McMurdo panorama view.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 since mid-2005. Left of center, tracks and a trench dug by Spirit's right-front wheel, which no longer rotates, have exposed bright underlying material. This bright material is evidence of sulfur-rich salty minerals in the subsurface, which may provide clues about the watery past of this part of Gusev Crater.Spirit has stayed busy at Winter Haven during the past six months even without driving. In addition to acquiring this spectacular panorama, the rover team has also acquired significant new assessments of the elemental chemistry and mineralogy of rocks and soil targets within reach of the rover's arm. The team plans soon to have Spirit drive to a very nearby spot on Low Ridge to access different rock and soil samples while maintaining a good solar panel tilt toward the sun for the rest of the Martian winter.Despite the long span of time needed for acquiring this 360-degree view -- a few images at a time every few sols over a total of 119 sols because the available power was so low -- the lighting and color remain remarkably uniform across the mosaic. This fact attests to the repeatability of wintertime sols on Mars in the southern hemisphere. This is the time of year when Mars is farthest from the sun, so there is much less dust storm and dust devil activity than at other times of the year.The left-eye and right-eye mosaics combined into this anaglyph were generated from a hybrid combination of the Pancam's near-infrared and blue filters to bring out details that are otherwise visible only in some of the filters. | |
This observation captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a small crater in within the much larger Pollack Crater containing light-toned material. | This observation shows a small crater in within the much larger Pollack Crater containing light-toned material. Pollack Crater is a 90-kilometer diameter impact crater first imaged by the Mariner 9 spacecraft.This material was first observed by the THEMIS team, and there are multiple Context Camera and Mars Orbiter Camera images showing that this light-toned material may be similar to the large "White Rock" outcrop to the northwest. HiRISE has also imaged White Rock several times. In these cases, we can see how different teams can work together to get an interesting image at high resolution for further study.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 was taken by a camera aboard NASA's Sojourner rover on July 8, 1997. The large rock 'Yogi' can be seen at the upper right portion of this image on Mars. | The image was taken by a camera aboard the Sojourner rover on Sol 4. The large rock "Yogi" can be seen at the upper right portion of the image. Sojourner's Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer instrument is currently studying the sand around Yogi, and may study Yogi itself later on. One of Sojourner's cleated wheels is visible at lower right.Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. 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.
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. | |
This mosaic image from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the area in front of the rover after its record 27.5 meters (90.2 feet) drive on Sol 43, which ended February 16, 2004. | This mosaic image from the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the area in front of the rover after its record 27.5 meters (90.2 feet) drive on Sol 43, which ended February 16, 2004. Spirit is looking toward one of its future targets, the rim of a crater nicknamed "Bonneville." | |
This view of 'Bookshelf Two' was produced by combining the 'Super Panorama' frames from the IMP camera from NASA's Mars Pathfinder lander. 3D glasses are necessary to identify surface detail. | This view of the "Bookshelf Two" was produced by combining the "Super Panorama" frames from the IMP camera. Super resolution was applied to help to address questions about the texture of these rocks and what it might tell us about their mode of origin.The composite color frames that make up this anaglyph were produced for both the right and left eye of the IMP. The composites consist of 7 frames in the right eye and 8 frames in the left eye, taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution panchromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. These panchromatic frames were then colorized with the red, green, and blue filtered images from the same sequence. The color balance was adjusted to approximate the true color of Mars.The anaglyph view was produced by combining the left with the right eye color composite frames by assigning the left eye composite view to the red color plane and the right eye composite view to the green and blue color planes (cyan), to produce a stereo anaglyph mosaic. This mosaic can be viewed in 3-D on your computer monitor or in color print form by wearing red-blue 3-D glasses.Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. 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 a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).The left eye and right eye panoramas from which this anaglyph was created is available atPIA02405 andPIA02406.
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. | |
This image taken by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey shows chaotic terrain on Mars is thought to form when there is a sudden removal of subsurface water or ice, causing the surface material to slump and break into blocks. | Released 4 June 2003Chaotic terrain on Mars is thought to form when there is a sudden removal of subsurface water or ice, causing the surface material to slump and break into blocks. The chaotic terrain in this THEMIS visible image is confined to a crater just south of Elysium Planitia. It is common to see chaotic terrain in the vicinity of the catastrophic outflow channels on Mars, but the terrain in this image is on the opposite side of the planet from these channels, making it somewhat of an oddity.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -5.9, Longitude 108.1 East (251.9 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 captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a portion of a sand sheet with surface dune forms on the floor of an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra. | Context image This VIS image shows a portion of a sand sheet with surface dune forms on the floor of an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra.Orbit Number: 67200 Latitude: -45.445 Longitude: 36.7847 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2017-02-06 04:11Please 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. | |
Small channels dissect the inner rim of this unnamed crater in Arabia Terra as seen by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context imageSmall channels dissect the inner rim of this unnamed crater in Arabia Terra.Orbit Number: 45539 Latitude: 39.2719 Longitude: 5.53365 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-03-20 22:19Please 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. | |
At Mars' North Pole is a dome of icy layers ranging up to 2 kilometers thick, roughly analogous to the Earth's ice caps in Greenland or Antarctica. This image is from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionAt Mars' North Pole is a dome of icy layers ranging up to 2 kilometers thick, roughly analogous to the Earth's ice caps in Greenland or Antarctica.Although not visible here, the dome is characterized by incised spiraling troughs that reveal sequences of layers thought to reflect varying climate conditions over the time they were originally deposited. This image is of an area on the top surface of the polar dome between the troughs - vast, generally smooth, flat plains composed of a thin layer of very pure water ice. This image also shows that this thin ice layer has a rough texture, composed of knobs, ridges, and depressions on the scale of 1 - 10 meters.This texture is only beginning to be studied with the high-resolution capabilities of HiRISE -- the details of the texture varies around the polar cap, but the causes of the variation are not yet clear. This image has two particularly interesting features. One is that the surface dips into a depression towards the southwest, where the texture of the ice surface appears to change. The other is that there is a fracture or chain of pits in the southeast, which is a rare feature.The brightness, composition, texture, and small-scale features of this ice layer that covers most of the polar dome are important as they influence the local energy balance (such the amount of sunlight reflected and absorbed), which in turn influences polar-wide climate and the stability of ice. 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, 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 image from NASA's Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter covers a small central portion of the Hellas Planitia basin, the largest visible impact basin in the Solar System, and shows a dune field with lots of dust devil trails. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionAt around 2,200 kilometers in diameter, Hellas Planitia is the largest visible impact basin in the Solar System, and hosts the lowest elevations on Mars' surface as well as a variety of landscapes. This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter (MRO) covers a small central portion of the basin and shows a dune field with lots of dust devil trails.In the middle, we see what appears to be long and straight "scratch marks" running down the southeast (bottom-right) facing dune slopes. If we look closer, we can see these scratch marks actually squiggle back and forth on their way down the dune. These scratch marks are linear gullies.Just like on Earth, high-latitude regions on Mars are covered with frost in the winter. However, the winter frost on Mars is made of carbon dioxide ice (dry ice) instead of water ice. We believe linear gullies are the result of this dry ice breaking apart into blocks, which then slide or roll down warmer sandy slopes, sublimating and carving as they go.The linear gullies exhibit exceptional sinuosity (the squiggle pattern) and we believe this to be the result of repeated movement of dry ice blocks in the same path, possibly in combination with different hardness or flow resistance of the sand within the dune slopes. Determining the specific process that causes the formation and evolution of sinuosity in linear gullies is a question scientists are still trying to answer. What do you think causes the squiggles?This is a stereo pair with ESP_051836_1345.
The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 26.4 centimeters (10.4 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 79 centimeters (31.1 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.
Caption written by Matthew Maclay
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 Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This pair of pieced-together images was taken by the Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, looking aft on March 6, 2004. It reveals the long and rocky path of nearly 787 feet that Spirit had traveled since safely arriving at Gusev Crater on Jan. 3, 2004. | This pair of pieced-together images was taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's left navigation camera looking aft on March 6, 2004. It reveals the long and rocky path of nearly 240 meters (787 feet) that Spirit had traveled since safely arriving at Gusev Crater on Jan. 3, 2004. The lander can still be seen in the distance, but will never be "home" again for the journeying rover. This image is also a tribute to the effectiveness of the autonomous navigation system that the rovers use during parts of their martian drives. Instead of driving directly through the "hollow" seen in the middle right of the image, the autonomous navigation system guided Spirit around the high ridge bordering the hollow. In the two days after these images were taken, Spirit has traveled roughly 60 meters (197 feet) farther toward its destination at the crater nicknamed "Bonneville." | |
This view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's panoramic camera is a true-color composite rendering of the first seven holes that the rover's rock abrasion tool dug on the inner slope of 'Endurance Crater' on Mars. | This view from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's panoramic camera is an approximately true color rendering of the first seven holes that the rover's rock abrasion tool dug on the inner slope of "Endurance Crater." The rover was about 12 meters (about 39 feet) down into the crater when it acquired the images combined into this mosaic. The view is looking back toward the rim of the crater, with the rover's tracks visible. The tailings around the holes drilled by the rock abrasion tool, or "Rat," show evidence for fine-grained red hematite similar to what was observed months earlier in "Eagle Crater" outcrop holes.Starting from the uppermost pictured (closest to the crater rim) to the lowest, the rock abrasion tool hole targets are called "Tennessee," "Cobblehill," "Virginia," "London," "Grindstone," "Kettlestone," and "Drammensfjorden." Opportunity drilled these holes on sols 138 (June 13, 2004), 143 (June 18), 145 (June 20), 148 (June 23), 151 (June 26), 153 (June 28) and 161 (July 7), respectively. Each hole is 4.5 centimeters (1.8 inches) in diameter.This image was generated using the panoramic camera's 750-, 530-, and 430-nanometer filters. It was taken on sol 173 (July 19). | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows thousands of buttes, mesas, ridges, and knobs in the transition zone between the cratered uplands of western Arabia Terra and the low, northern plains of Mars. | A key aspect of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Extended Mission is the opportunity to turn the spacecraft and point the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) at specific features of interest. A chance to point the spacecraft comes about ten times a week. Throughout the Primary Mission (March 1999 - January 2001), nearly all MGS operations were conducted with the spacecraft pointing "nadir"--that is, straight down. In this orientation, opportunities to hit a specific small feature of interest were in some cases rare, and in other cases non-existent. In April 1998, nearly a year before MGS reached its Primary Mission mapping orbit, several tests of the spacecraft's ability to be pointed at specific features was conducted with great success (e.g., Mars Pathfinder landing site, Viking 1 site, and Cydonia landforms). When the Mars Polar Lander was lost in December 1999, this capability was again employed to search for the missing lander. Following the lander search activities, a plan to conduct similar off-nadir observations during the MGS Extended Mission was put into place. The Extended Mission began February 1, 2001. On April 8, 2001, the first opportunity since April 1998 arose to turn the spacecraft and point the MOC at the popular "Face on Mars" feature.Viking orbiter images acquired in 1976 showed that one of thousands of buttes, mesas, ridges, and knobs in the transition zone between the cratered uplands of western Arabia Terra and the low, northern plains of Mars looked somewhat like a human face. The feature was subsequently popularized as a potential "alien artifact" in books, tabloids, radio talk shows, television, and even a major motion picture. Given the popularity of this landform, a new high-resolution view was targeted by pointing the spacecraft off-nadir on April 8, 2001. On that date at 20:54 UTC (8:54 p.m., Greenwich time zone), the MGS was rolled 24.8° to the left so that it was looking at the "face" 165 km to the side from a distance of about 450 km. The resulting image has a resolution of about 2 meters (6.6 feet) per pixel. If present on Mars, objects the size of typical passenger jet airplanes would be distinguishable in an image of this scale. The large "face" picture covers an area about 3.6 kilometers (2.2 miles) on a side. Sunlight illuminates the images from the left/lower left. | |
Splotchy water ice clouds obscure the northern lowland plains in the region where NASA's Viking 2 spacecraft landed in this image by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | (Released 14 May 2002)The ScienceThis image, centered near 48.5 N and 240.5 W, displays splotchy water ice clouds that obscure the northern lowland plains in the region where the Viking 2 spacecraft landed. This image is far enough north to catch the edge of the north polar hood that develops during the northern winter. This is a cap of water and carbon dioxide ice clouds that form over the Martian north pole. As Mars progresses into northern spring, the persistent north polar hood ice clouds will dissipate and the surface viewing conditions will improve greatly. As the season develops, an equatorial belt of water ice clouds will form. This belt of water ice clouds is as characteristic of the Martian climate as the southern hemisphere summer dust storm season. Seasons on Mars have a dramatic effect on the state of the dynamic Martian atmosphere.The StoryMuted in an almost air-brushed manner, this image doesn't have the crispness that most THEMIS images have. That's because clouds were rising over the surface of the red planet on the day this picture was taken. Finding clouds on Mars might remind us of conditions here on Earth, but these Martian clouds are made of frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide -- in other words, clouds of ice and "dry ice."Strange as that may sound, the clouds seen here form on a pretty regular basis at the north Martian pole during its winter season. As springtime comes to the northern hemisphere of Mars (and fall comes to the southern), these clouds will slowly disappear, and a nice belt of water ice clouds will form around the equator. So, if you were a THEMIS camera aimer, that might tell you when your best viewing conditions for different areas on Mars would be.As interesting as clear pictures of Martian landforms are, however, you wouldn't want to bypass the weather altogether. Pictures showing seasonal shifts are great for scientists to study, because they reveal a lot about the patterns of the Martian climate and the circulation of the atmosphere. There are a lot of interesting global climate relationships to study. For example, when it's winter in the north of Mars and clouds like the ones in this image form, dust storms rage in the south of Mars, where it's summer.So why does Mars have these wild seasons? Like the Earth, Mars is tilted on its axis. As it travels in its orbit around the sun, the angle between the Earth's axis and the Earth-Sun line changes. That's true for Mars as well. As each point on Mars spins on the rotating red planet each day, the part of the cycle spent in sunlight (day) and shadow (night) just aren't equal because of these angles. When day is longer than night (summer) in the north, night is longer than day (winter) in the south. Half a year later, when Mars has traveled in its orbit to the other side of the sun, the situation is exactly reversed.All this sounds familiar to Earthlings, but there's yet one more difference. Mars is farther away from the sun than the Earth. That means it takes longer for Mars to make a trip around the sun in its orbit than the Earth does -- about twice as long, in fact. That means that the seasons on Mars also last twice as long! | |
A dance-step pattern is visible in the wheel tracks near the left edge of this scene recorded by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on Mars on April 1, 2011. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image. | Left-eye viewRight-eye viewClick on an individual image for full resolution figures imageA dance-step pattern is visible in the wheel tracks near the left edge of this scene recorded in stereo by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity during the 2,554th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (April 1, 2011). The pattern comes from use of a new technique for Opportunity to autonomously check for hazards in its way while driving backwards. For scale, the distance between the parallel tracks of the left and right wheels is about 1 meter (about 40 inches).The scene appears three dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left. The rover team routinely tells Opportunity to drive backwards because experience has shown this is less likely to increase the amount current drawn by the drive motor in the right-front wheel. More than two years ago, the right-front wheel on Opportunity began showing signs of drawing more current than other wheels. Opportunity's twin, Spirit, had shown similar elevated current in the right-front wheel for more than a year before that wheel on Spirit stopped working in 2006. The view looks back after Sol 2554's drive at the tracks imprinted by the drive. The drive covered at total of 118.6 meters (389 feet). Rover drivers had planned the drive based on images taken from the rover's Sol 2553 location. The first portion -- which imprinted the more distant, simpler, tracks -- was a backward "blind" drive. Rover drivers command blind drives -- either forward or backward -- when they can assess the safety of the terrain well enough from the images taken at the drive's starting point that they don't need the rover to pause and look for obstacles along the route. For the Sol 2554 drive over flat ground, the drivers chose a blind drive of 100 meters (328 feet). They commanded Opportunity to begin using backward autonomous navigation after it reached the end of the blind drive on that sol. That "backward autonav" driving imprinted the nearest portion of the tracks visible here.The rover team began using the backward autonav strategy last year as a modification of forward autonav, which the team has used since the rovers' first year on Mars. In autonav mode, the rover pauses periodically during a drive, uses its stereo navigation camera to view the route in the intended drive direction, analyzes the images for potential hazards in the route, and makes a decision about what to do based on that analysis. One catch, when driving backwards, is that the navigation camera's view is partially blocked over the rear of the rover by the low-gain antenna. So, lest a hazard be hidden behind that antenna, the backward autonav technique includes turning the rover 17.5 degrees away from the drive direction just before taking the navigation camera images. This gives the camera an unobstructed view in the drive direction. This little maneuver -- repeated every 1.2 meters -- is what created the dance-step pattern in the foreground portion of the rover tracks in this image.In forward autonav, Opportunity can plot its own way around an obstacle and continue driving. In backward autonav, Opportunity just ends the drive for the day if the onboard analysis of images detects a hazard in the route. On the level terrain Opportunity has been crossing this spring on the trek from Santa Maria crater toward Endeavour crater, obstacles are few, so backward autonav has significantly extended the distance the rover can cover in one sol's driving.This mosaic combining several pointings of the navigation camera is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection. The center of the image is toward the northeast, and the full view covers a sweep of 252 degrees, from westward on the left to southeastward on the right. Opportunity has been exploring the Meridiani Planum region of Mars since early 2004 in a mission originally planned to last for three months. Both Opportunity and Spirit have made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a section of Tiu Valles. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a section of Tiu Valles. Located in Margaritifer Terra, Tiu Valles is a complex channel that is part of a large system of outflow channels that arise from Vallis Marineris and flow northward to empty into Chryse Planitia. Tiu Vallis is 1720 km (1069 miles) long.Orbit Number: 87675 Latitude: 4.06653 Longitude: 329.088 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-09-19 11:09Please 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 part of the summit caldera of Arsia Mons. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows part of the summit caldera of Arsia Mons.Orbit Number: 63900 Latitude: -10.0873 Longitude: 239.197 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-05-10 07:58Please 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 Mars Odyssey shows an unnamed crater located in Arabia Terra. The small crater seen in the image is located on the floor of a much larger crater. | Context imageToday's image shows an unnamed crater located in Arabia Terra. The small crater seen in the image is located on the floor of a much larger crater. The details visible in the crater indicate that it is a relatively youthful crater exhibiting pre-erosion morphology. This crater shape is a central peak with two rims that are close together. The inner ring is actually part of the original rim that slumped downward during the impact event. The inner rim is mostly a flat terrace, giving this a crater morphology type the name terraced wall crater. Small dark dunes are visible in the lower left corner of the image.Orbit Number: 78901 Latitude: 10.8884 Longitude: 9.16256 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-09-28 00:39Please 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 mosaic of images shows a boulder-sized rock called 'Strathdon,' which is made up of many complex layers. NASA's Curiosity Mars rover took these images using its Mast Camera, or Mastcam. | Annotated ImageClick on the image for larger versionThis mosaic of images shows a boulder-sized rock called "Strathdon," which is made up of many complex layers. NASA's Curiosity Mars rover took these images using its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on July 9, 2019, the 2,461st Martian sol, or day, of the mission.The color in the image has been adjusted to approximate white balancing to resemble how the rocks and sand would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth.Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam. A division of Caltech, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington and built the project's Curiosity rover.For more information about Curiosity, visit http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl or https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html. | |
Using its rock abrasion tool, otherwise known as 'Rat,' NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity dotted the slope of 'Endurance Crater' with dimples that give scientists a glimpse into its layered geologic history. | Using its rock abrasion tool, otherwise known as "Rat," NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity dotted the slope of "Endurance Crater" with dimples that give scientists a glimpse into its layered geologic history. This image from the rover's navigation camera, taken on sol 169 (July 15, 2004), highlights the prolific work of the robotic "rodent." How many Rat holes can you identify? You will be able to check your answer against an image to be posted soon with all the holes identified. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows an unnamed channel that dissects the rim of a large crater in Arabia Terra. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows an unnamed channel that dissects the rim of a large crater in Arabia Terra.Orbit Number: 53879 Latitude: 31.2164 Longitude: 26.7961 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-02-05 06:44Please 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 group of small, dark sand dunes trapped along an arcuate ridge. The ridge probably marks the location of a partially-buried, eroded, and filled meteor crater. | 8 November 2004This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a group of small, dark sand dunes trapped along an arcuate ridge. The ridge probably marks the location of a partially-buried, eroded, and filled meteor crater. The dunes are located in Noachis Terra near 45.1°S, 322.0°W. The image covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across and is illuminated by sunlight from the upper left. | |
Growing Library of Mars Spectrometer Images | A September 2008 release of 1,575 new images, such as this one, from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter brings the number of released, high-resolution CRISM images to 4,580. This image in enhanced color from visible-light wavelengths shows light-toned rugged highland material in an area near the Martian equator. It covers an area about 10 kilometers or 6 miles wide.The images from the instrument are helping researchers learn what minerals are on the Martian surface at many areas, including candidate landing sites for future Mars missions.The images are on the CRISM Web site, http://crism.jhuapl.edu/, which also offers an online map showing the locations on Mars for which the spectrometer images are available. Images specifically for supporting the evaluation of candidate landing sites are also at links from http://crism.jhuapl.edu/msl_landing_sites/index.php#label5.CRISM is one of six science instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Led by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., the CRISM team includes expertise from universities, government agencies and small businesses in the United States and abroad. 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, built the orbiter. | |
This cylindrical projection was taken by the navigation camera onboard NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The view is a region dubbed 'Fram Crater' located .3 miles from 'Eagle Crater' and roughly 820 feet from 'Endurance Crater' (upper right). | This cylindrical projection was constructed from a sequence of four images taken by the navigation camera onboard the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.The images were acquired on sol 85 of Opportunity's mission to Meridiani Planum. The camera acquired the images at approximately 14:28 local solar time, or around 6:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, on April 20, 2004.The view is from the rover's new location, a region dubbed "Fram Crater" located some 450 meters (.3 miles) from "Eagle Crater" and roughly 250 meters (820 feet) from "Endurance Crater" (upper right). | |
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. Data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the rim and floor of an unnamed crater in Terra Cimmeria. | 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 rim and floor of an unnamed crater in Terra Cimmeria.Orbit Number: 7923 Latitude: -28.1094 Longitude: 129.804 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2003-09-27 17:59Please 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 observation from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows an incredible diversity of ancient lava tubes and impact craters filled with sediment on the flank of Arsia Mons. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionThis observation shows an incredible diversity of ancient lava tubes and impact craters filled with sediment on the flank of Arsia Mons.The rationale for this observation is to get a better look at those lava tubes; their shapes, morphology, and erosional degradation, which ultimately might help to date active period when lava flowed through the volcano. We will also be able to see in high resolution an erosional "snapshot" of the collapsed lava tubes and how they have been modified by dust falling from the air, mass-wasting, and impacts over time.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 image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the northern terminus of an outflow channel located in the volcanic terrains of Amenthes Planum. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionThis image shows the northern terminus of an outflow channel located in the volcanic terrains of Amenthes Planum.The channel sources from the Palos impact crater to the south, where water flowed into the crater from Tinto Vallis and eventually formed a paleo lake. As rising lake levels breached through the crater's rim and inundated the plains to the north, the resulting high velocity, large discharge floods plucked out and eroded the volcanic plains scouring out the "Palos Outflow Channel" and the streamlined mesa-islands on its floor.These streamlined forms are the eroded remnants of plains material sculpted by catastrophic floods and are not sediment deposits emplaced by lower magnitude stream flows. Both the fluvial channel floor and the volcanic island surfaces are densely cratered by impacts suggesting that both the surfaces and the flood events are ancient.The morphology (shape) of the channel system and its islands have been preserved through the eons, but water has long been absent from this drainage system. Since then, winds have transported light-toned sediments across this terrain forming extensive dune fields within the channel system, on the floors of impact craters, and in other protected locations in the Palos Outflow Channel region.A closer look shows chevron, or fish-bone shaped, light-toned dunes located near the top of the image where numerous smaller channels have cut through the landscape. These dunes likely started out as Transverse Aeolian Ridges (TAR) that form perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction where the wind-blown sediment supply is scarce. This intriguing morphology likely reflects changes in the prevailing wind environment over time. 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 image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of the extensive volcanic flows that make up Daedalia Planum. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows part of the extensive volcanic flows that make up Daedalia Planum. The different layers and surface textures are due to flows at different times, or the affect of cooling as the flow narrows and extends far from the lava source. Daedalia Planum volcanic flows originate at or near Arsia Mons.Orbit Number: 75431 Latitude: -18.9209 Longitude: 241.546 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2018-12-16 05:39Please 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 camera contains 5 filters. Data from different filters can be combined in many ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Coprates Chasma. | Context image 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. Today's false color image shows part of Coprates Chasma.Orbit Number: 59076 Latitude: -12.8501 Longitude: 293.344 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-04-09 00:34Please 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 shows a possible landing site for the 2020 Mission: Jezero Crater, as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionIt's not only when trying to find a scientifically interesting place to land that the high-resolution images from HiRISE come in handy: it's also to identify potential hazards within a landing ellipse.This is one of the trickier aspects of selecting landing sites on Mars: a place to do good science but also where the risks of landing are low. Jezero Crater is an ancient crater where clay minerals have been detected, and with a delta deposit indicating that water was once flowing into a lake. Since clays form the in presence of water, this crater would be a very good candidate for a lander to explore and build on what we've learned from the Mars Science Laboratory. Could some form of ancient life have existed here and for how long?This is a stereo pair with ESP_039203_1985.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. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows thermal wave phenomena that are caused by the large topographic variety of Mars' surface. | This map from the MGS Horizon Sensor Assembly (HORSE) shows middle atmospheric temperatures near the 1 mbar level of Mars between Ls 170 to 175 (approx. July 14 - 23, 1999). Local Mars times between 1:30 and 4:30 AM are included. Infrared radiation measured by the Mars Horizon Sensor Assembly was used to make the map. That device continuously views the "limb" of Mars in four directions, to help orient the spacecraft instruments to the nadir: straight down.The map shows thermal wave phenomena that are caused by the large topographic variety of Mars' surface, as well the latitudinally symmetric behavior expected at this time of year near the equinox. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows an unnamed channel located on the northwest margin of Arabia Terra. | Context imageThis unnamed channel is located on the northwest margin of Arabia Terra.Orbit Number: 54230 Latitude: 32.6306 Longitude: 347.534 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-03-06 03:05Please 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. | |
Sharp Scarp and Varied Features | Image PSP_001440_2175 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on November 16, 2006. The complete image is centered at 37.1 degrees latitude, 1.5 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 294.8 km (184.2 miles). At this distance the image scale ranges from 29.5 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) to 59.0 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning). The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 cm/pixel and north is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:23 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 49 degrees, thus the sun was about 41 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 136.3 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. | |
This enhanced-color view of the eastern rim and floor of 'Victoria Crater' shows ridges that may be fractures surrounded by chemically cemented sedimentary bedrock. | Annotated VersionThis enhanced-color view of the eastern rim and floor of "Victoria Crater" in Mars' Meridiani Planum region comes from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera in NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.It shows ridges that may be fractures surrounded by chemically cemented sedimentary bedrock. The ridges are therefore potentially fruitful targets for analysis by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, which is investigating the rim of this crater. Illumination is from the upper left.The image is a detail from a image TRA_000873_1780 in the camera's catalog [PIA08813], taken on Oct. 3, 2006. 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. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows two barchan dunes in the north polar region of Mars. The orientation of the dunes, with the steep faces pointed toward the southeast, indicates that the winds responsible for their formation blew from the northwest. | 3 March 2006This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows two barchan dunes in the north polar region of Mars. The orientation of the dunes, with the steep faces pointed toward the southeast (lower right), indicates that the winds responsible for their formation blew from the northwest (upper left). At the time this image was acquired by MOC, the dunes and surrounding plains were covered by seasonal carbon dioxide frost.Location near: 73.8°N, 40.8°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season: Northern Winter | |
This image shows the topography, with shading added, around the area where NASA's Curiosity rover landed. An alluvial fan, or fan-shaped deposit where debris spreads out downslope, has been highlighted in lighter colors for better viewing. | This image shows the topography, with shading added, around the area where NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT). Higher elevations are colored in red, with cooler colors indicating transitions downslope to lower elevations. The black oval indicates the targeted landing area for the rover known as the "landing ellipse," and the cross shows where the rover actually landed.An alluvial fan, or fan-shaped deposit where debris spreads out downslope, has been highlighted in lighter colors for better viewing. On Earth, alluvial fans often are formed by water flowing downslope. New observations from Curiosity of rounded pebbles embedded with rocky outcrops provide concrete evidence that water did flow in this region on Mars, creating the alluvial fan. Water carrying the pebbly material is thought to have streamed downslope extending the alluvial fan, at least occasionally, to where the rover now sits studying its ancient history. Elevation data were obtained from stereo processing of images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.JPL manages the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.For more about NASA's Curiosity mission, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl, http://www.nasa.gov/mars, and http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Nanedi Valles. Located In Xanthe Terra, the channel system is 508 km (315 miles) long. | Context imageThis VIS image shows part of Nanedi Valles. Located In Xanthe Terra, the channel system is 508 km (315 miles) long. Nanedi Valles contains two large channels that join together as the elevation drops near Chryse Planitia. Both sections of channel are visible in this image.Orbit Number: 89747 Latitude: 6.03809 Longitude: 312.054 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-03-09 01:48Please 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. | |
Aram Chaos is a complex region which contains layered material with different surface textures and heavily fractured material forming chaos as seen by NASA's Mars Odyssey. | Context image for PIA01327Aram ChaosAram Chaos is a complex region which contains layered material with different surface textures and heavily fractured material forming chaos.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 1.7N, Longitude 340.0E. 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. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows | MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-537, 7 November 2003The smooth, rounded mounds in this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) picture are sand dunes. The scene is located in southern Hellas Planitia and was acquired in mid-southern autumn, the ideal time of year for Hellas imaging. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. These dunes are located near 49.1°S, 292.6°W. The picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows Kaiser Crater and many individual dunes. | Context imageThis VIS image is located in Kaiser Crater and shows many individual dunes. The crater floor is visible between the dunes, indicating that there is a limited sand supply creating the dunes. Local winds continue to move the sand dunes across the crater floor. There are two sides to a dune, the low angle slope of the windward face and the high angle slope of the leeward side. The steep side is called the slip face. Wind blows sand grains up the low angle slope of the dunes which then "fall down" the slip face. In this way the whole dune moves towards the slip face. The winds blow from the windward to the leeward side of the dunes. In this image the slip faces are on the left side of the dune, so the dunes are slowly moving to the left side of this image. Kaiser Crater is located in Noachis Terra.Orbit Number: 89982 Latitude: -46.6859 Longitude: 20.0452 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-03-28 09:55Please 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 dozens of repeated layers of sedimentary rock in a western Arabia Terra crater on Mars. Dark patches are drifts of windblown sand. | MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-348, 2 May 2003This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image acquired in March 2003 shows dozens of repeated layers of sedimentary rock in a western Arabia Terra crater at 8°N, 7°W. Wind has sculpted the layered forms into hills somewhat elongated toward the lower left (southwest). The dark patches at the bottom (south) end of the image are drifts of windblown sand. These sedimentary rocks might indicate that the crater was once the site of a lake--or they may result from deposition by wind in a completely dry, desert environment. Either way, these rocks have something important to say about the geologic history of Mars. The area shown is about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. | |
This area of terrain near the Sagan Memorial Station was taken by NASA's Mars Pathfinder. 3D glasses are necessary to identify surface detail. | This area of terrain near the Sagan Memorial Station was taken on Sol 3 by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP). 3D glasses are necessary to identify surface detail.The IMP is a stereo imaging system with color capability provided by 24 selectable filters -- twelve filters per "eye." It stands 1.8 meters above the Martian surface, and has a resolution of two millimeters at a range of two meters.Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. 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.Click below to see the left and right views individually.LeftRight
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. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows Siton Undae, a large dune field located in the northern plains near Escorial Crater on Mars. This image shows part of the central region of the dune field. | Context imageSiton Undae is a large dune field located in the northern plains near Escorial Crater. Siton Undae is west of the crater and is one of three dune fields near the crater. The nearby north polar cap is dissected by Chasma Boreale, which exposes an ice free surface. This image shows part of the central region of the dune field. The bright surface between dunes in the lower corner is dune free. Several isolated dunes are visible. The majority of the dune field is made of connected dunes covering the entire surface.The Odyssey spacecraft has spent over 15 years in orbit around Mars, circling the planet more than 69000 times. It holds the record for longest working spacecraft at Mars. THEMIS, the IR/VIS camera system, has collected data for the entire mission and provides images covering all seasons and lighting conditions. Over the years many features of interest have received repeated imaging, building up a suite of images covering the entire feature. From the deepest chasma to the tallest volcano, individual dunes inside craters and dune fields that encircle the north pole, channels carved by water and lava, and a variety of other feature, THEMIS has imaged them all. For the next several months the image of the day will focus on the Tharsis volcanoes, the various chasmata of Valles Marineris, and the major dunes fields. We hope you enjoy these images!Orbit Number: 46141 Latitude: 75.3307 Longitude: 297.051 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-05-09 11:19Please 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 simulation depicts a lake partially filling Mars' Gale Crater, receiving runoff from snow melting on the crater's rim, showing evidence that NASA's Curiosity rover has found ancient streams, deltas and lakes. | This illustration depicts a lake of water partially filling Mars' Gale Crater, receiving runoff from snow melting on the crater's northern rim. Evidence of ancient streams, deltas and lakes that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover mission has found in the patterns of sedimentary deposits in Gale Crater suggests the crater held a lake such as this more than three billion years ago, filling and drying in multiple cycles over tens of millions of years.Gale Crater is 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter. This view is looking toward the southeast. The land surface in this illustration is the area's modern shape. Three billion years ago, the rim would have been higher and less eroded. A large layered mountain, Mount Sharp, now stands in the middle of Gale Crater. Accumulation of sediments in lakes, deltas, streams and wind-blown deposits is proposed to have formed the layers making up the lower portion of the mountain. When the crater first held a lake, it might have had central peak, much smaller than Mount Sharp, formed as a rebound from the impact that excavated the crater. Such a peak might have appeared as an island in the lake.This illustration incorporates portions of a simulated oblique view of Gale Crater (PIA15292) based on elevation data from the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, image data from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and color information from Viking Orbiter imagery. The appearance of snow is added as part of the simulation of conditions from billions of years ago. The lake is depicted filling the crater approximately to the elevation where Curiosity found lakebed sediments in the "Pahrump Hills" outcrop at the base of Mount Sharp. More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
This segment of the first color image from the panoramic camera onboard NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the rover's airbag trails (upper left). These depressions in the soil were made when the airbags were deflated and retracted after landing. | This segment of the first color image from the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the rover's airbag trails (upper left). These depressions in the soil were made when the airbags were deflated and retracted after landing. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a spotted, high latitude plain, south of the Argyre basin on Mars. | 29 January 2006This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a spotted, high latitude plain, south of the Argyre basin. When the image was received from Mars by the MOC operations team, they noticed -- with a sense of humor -- the number "8" on this martian surface. The "8" is located at the center-right and is formed by the rims of two old impact craters that have been eroded and partly-filled and partly-buried beneath the surface.Location near: 68.6°S, 38.4°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Southern Summer | |
As of June 2012, the target landing area for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission is the ellipse marked on this image of Gale Crater. The ellipse is about 12 miles long and 4 miles wide (20 kilometers by 7 kilometers). | As of June 2012, the target landing area for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission is the ellipse marked on this image of Gale Crater. The ellipse is about 12 miles long and 4 miles wide (20 kilometers by 7 kilometers).Landing will be about 10:31 p.m. on Aug. 5, 2012, Pacific Daylight (early Aug. 6 Universal Time and Eastern Time). If landing goes well, the mission's rover, Curiosity, will drive in subsequent months to science destinations on Mount Sharp, outside of the landing ellipse. This view of Gale Crater is derived from a combination of data from three Mars orbiters. The view is looking straight down on the crater from orbit. Gale Crater is 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter. Mount Sharp rises about 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) above the floor of Gale Crater.Stratification on Mount Sharp suggests the mountain is a surviving remnant of an extensive series of deposits that were laid down after a massive impact that excavated Gale Crater more than 3 billion years ago. The layers offer a history book of sequential chapters recording environmental conditions when each stratum was deposited.During a prime mission lasting nearly two years after landing, Curiosity will use 10 instruments to investigate whether this area of Mars has ever offered conditions favorable for life, including the chemical ingredients for life. The image combines elevation data from the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, image data from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and color information from Viking Orbiter imagery. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
Dark, narrow streaks on Martian slopes such as these at Hale Crater are inferred to be formed by seasonal flow of water on contemporary Mars as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Dark, narrow streaks on Martian slopes such as these at Hale Crater are inferred to be formed by seasonal flow of water on contemporary Mars. The streaks are roughly the length of a football field.The imaging and topographical information in this processed, false-color view come from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. These dark features on the slopes are called "recurring slope lineae" or RSL. Planetary scientists using observations with the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer on the same orbiter detected hydrated salts on these slopes at Hale Crater, corroborating the hypothesis that the streaks are formed by briny liquid water.The image was produced by first creating a 3-D computer model (a digital terrain map) of the area based on stereo information from two HiRISE observations, and then draping a false-color image over the land-shape model. The vertical dimension is exaggerated by a factor of 1.5 compared to horizontal dimensions. The camera records brightness in three wavelength bands: infrared, red and blue-green. The draped image is one product from HiRISE observation ESP_03070_1440. 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. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows layered buttes, knobs, and other landforms exposed by erosion in the Aeolis region of Mars. | 27 February 2006This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows layered buttes, knobs, and other landforms exposed by erosion in the Aeolis region of Mars.Location near: 6.3°S, 208.3°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Southern Summer | |
The area in and near the landing site selected for landing of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory offers a diversity of possible targets for examination by the mission's rover, Curiosity. | The area in and near the landing site selected for landing of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory offers a diversity of possible targets for examination by the mission's rover, Curiosity.For scale, the landing target ellipse indicated on this image is 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) by 15.5 miles (25 kilometers).The Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft is being prepared for launch during the period Nov. 25 to Dec. 18, 2011. In a prime mission lasting one Martian year -- nearly two Earth years -- after landing, researchers will use the rover's tools to study whether the landing region has had environmental conditions favorable for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life existed. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. | |
The lava flows in this image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are located of the eastern margin of the Tharsis Volcanic complex. | Context imageThe shadow in today's VIS image is being cast by the steep margin on the eastern flank of Olympus Mons.Orbit Number: 52723 Latitude: 16.5295 Longitude: 230.997 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2013-11-02 03:46Please 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 Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's panoramic camera is an approximate true-color rendering of the exceptional rock called 'Berry Bowl' in the 'Eagle Crater' outcrop. | This image from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's panoramic camera is an approximate true-color rendering of the exceptional rock called "Berry Bowl" in the "Eagle Crater" outcrop. The study of this "blueberry-strewn" area and the identification of hematite as the major iron-bearing element within these sphere-like grains helped scientists confirm their hypothesis that the hematite in these martian spherules was deposited in water. To separately analyze the mineralogical content of three main features within this area -- blueberries, dust and rock -- it was important that the rock abrasion tool's brush was able to rest on a relatively berry-free spot. The rock's small size and crowd of berries made the 10-minute brushing a challenge to plan and execute. The successful brushing on the target whimsically referred to as "Near Empty" on the rover's 48th sol on Mars left a dust-free impression for subsequent examination by the rover's spectrometers. No grinding was necessary on the rock because spectral data obtained on the dust-free surface were sufficient to verify that the rock's chemical composition differs significantly from the hematite-rich berries. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a small portion of Dao Vallis. Located south of Hadriacus Mons (a volcano), this channel is approximately 1200km (750 miles) long. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a small portion of Dao Vallis. Located south of Hadriacus Mons (a volcano), this channel is approximately 1200km (750 miles) long. It has been proposed that heating of the region due to volcanic activity melted subsurface ice which was released to the surface to carve the channel. Dao Vallis empties into the Hellas Planitia basin.Orbit Number: 83191 Latitude: -34.7957 Longitude: 91.6287 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2020-09-15 06:07Please 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. | |
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover examined both the 'Greenhorn' and 'Big Sky' targets with the rover's Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument. | NASA's Curiosity Mars rover examined both the "Greenhorn" and "Big Sky" targets with the rover's Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument. Greenhorn is located within an altered fracture zone and has an elevated concentration of silica (about 60 percent by weight). Big Sky is the unaltered counterpart for comparison. The bar plot on the left shows scaled concentrations as analyzed by Curiosity's APXS. The bar plot on the right shows what the Big Sky composition would look like if silica (SiO2) and calcium-sulfate (both abumdant in Greenhorn) were added. The similarity in the resulting composition suggests that much of the chemistry of Greenhorn could be explained by the addition of silica. Ongoing research aims to distinguish between that possible explanation for silicon enrichment and an alternative of silicon being left behind when some other elements were removed by acid weathering (see PIA20274).NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a portion of Shalbatana Vallis. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a portion of Shalbatana Vallis. Located in Xanthe Terra, Shalbatana Vallis is an outflow channel carved by massive floods of escaping groundwater whose source lies far to the south of this image. Shalbatana Vallis is over 1300 km long (808 miles). This channel, and all others in this region, drain into Chryse Planitia.Orbit Number: 86752 Latitude: 5.19688 Longitude: 316.501 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-07-05 11:12Please 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 complexly faulted region is part of Ceraunius Fossae, located south of Alba Mons. This image was captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context imageThis complexly faulted region is part of Ceraunius Fossae, located south of Alba Mons.Orbit Number: 54071 Latitude: 30.7824 Longitude: 251.441 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-02-21 01:57Please 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 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a lava channel, which lies just to the east of the largest volcano in the solar system: Olympus Mons. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionThis image shows a lava channel, which lies just to the east of the largest volcano in the solar system: Olympus Mons.The channel appears to be discontinuous, meaning it disappears several times throughout its length, but in fact, it is likely that the channel continues underground as a lava tube.These are relatively common features at terrestrial volcanic centers, such as the Big Island of Hawai'i. The channel appears to have been infilled with dust and sand, so that the entrance to a lava tube cave is no longer visible at this particular location; fortunately this has been observed elsewhere on Mars.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 image acquired on June 24, 2021 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows an impact crater on the southeastern flank of Ascraeus Mons, a notable volcano in the Tharsis Plateau. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionImpact craters are common on all solar system bodies. They offer many clues to scientists regarding the geologic history of a planetary surface, particularly regarding its age, evolution with time, and composition.For instance, this image covers an impact crater on the southeastern flank of Ascraeus Mons, a notable volcano in the Tharsis Plateau. Based on the original science rationale for acquiring this image, by gaining more information about its depth and consequently the stability of the crater wall, we can learn more about the nature of the volcano's flank materials.Also, by carefully studying the materials exposed in the crater walls, we can gain more information about the subsurface.The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 55.1 centimeters [21.7 inches] per pixel [with 2 x 2 binning]; objects on the order of 165 centimeters [65.0 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. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows grooves within channels of Kasei Valles that can be interpreted as evidence for fluvial activity. | 3D Projection onto MOLA dataThe MOLA context image of Kasei Valles suggests the observed channels may be partly structurally controlled due to their rectilinear pattern. However, the high-resolution THEMIS image shows grooves within the channels that can be interpreted as evidence for fluvial activity. This relationship suggests that the initial channel formation was structurally controlled, and that once formed, the channels provided a conduit for movement of material.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.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 15.2, Longitude 288.3 East (71.7 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows dunes cover part of the floor of this unnamed crater in Noachis Terra. | Context imageDunes cover part of the floor of this unnamed crater in Noachis Terra.Orbit Number: 57556 Latitude: -48.6267 Longitude: 34.009 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-12-04 21:28Please 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. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a section of one of the many channel forms found radial to the Elysium Mons volcanic complex. | Context imageToday's VIS image contains a section of one of the many channel forms found radial to the Elysium Mons volcanic complex. In this case the fossae are located to the west of Elysium Mons. Elysium Fossae are comprised of both linear and sinuous channels, usually interpreted to have both fluid and tectonic forces playing a part in the formation. The linear depression resembles a graben (formed by tectonic forces) and sinuous channels more closely resembles features caused by fluid flow – either lava or water created by melting subsurface ice due to volcanic heating.Orbit Number: 93771 Latitude: 25.4228 Longitude: 138.846 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2023-02-03 09:57Please 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 Mars Odyssey shows part of the south polar cap. This image was taken near the end of southern summer. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows part of the south polar cap. This image was taken near the end of southern summer. The cap was created over millions of years with deposition of ice and dust during different seasons, creating layers. The ice surface contains several different textures which can be seen in this image. The south polar cap is called Australe Planum.Orbit Number: 93106 Latitude: -86.8248 Longitude: 327.056 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-12-10 15:13Please 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 Mars Odyssey shows three large aligned Tharsis volcanoes known as Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons and Ascreaus Mons. There are collapse features on all three volcanoes, on the southwestern and northeastern flanks. | Context imageThe three large aligned Tharsis volcanoes are Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons and Ascreaus Mons (from south to north). There are collapse features on all three volcanoes, on the southwestern and northeastern flanks. This alignment may indicate a large fracture/vent system was responsible for the eruptions that formed all three volcanoes. This VIS image shows cross section from the summit caldera to the plains near the southern flank of Arsia Mons. Arsia Mons is 270 miles (450km) in diameter, almost 12 miles (20km) high, and the summit caldera is 72 miles (120km) wide. For comparison, the largest volcano on Earth is Mauna Loa. From its base on the sea floor, Mauna Loa measures only 6.3 (10km) miles high and 75 miles (120km) in diameter. A large volcanic crater known as a caldera is located at the summit of all of the Tharsis volcanoes. These calderas are produced by massive volcanic explosions and collapse. The Arsia Mons summit caldera is larger than many volcanoes on Earth.Orbit Number: 91821 Latitude: -11.0315 Longitude: 240.053 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-08-26 20:16Please 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. | |
This close-up image of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's instrument deployment device, or 'arm,' shows the donut-shaped plate on the Moessbauer spectrometer. | This close-up image of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's instrument deployment device, or "arm," shows the donut-shaped plate on the Moessbauer spectrometer. This image makes it easy to recognize the imprint left by the instrument in the martian soil at a location called "Peak" on sol 43 (February 16, 2004). This image was taken by the rover's panoramic camera on sol 39 (February 11, 2004). |
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