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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used the Dust Removal Tool on its robotic arm to brush aside reddish, more-oxidized dust, revealing a gray patch of less-oxidized rock material at a target called 'Bonanza King,' visible from the rover's Mastcam. | NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used the Dust Removal Tool on its robotic arm to brush aside reddish, more-oxidized dust, revealing a gray patch of less-oxidized rock material at a target called "Bonanza King," visible in this image from the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam).The Mastcam's right-eye camera, which has a telephoto lens, took this image on Aug. 17, 2014, during the 722nd Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The brushing activity occurred earlier the same sol. The rover team is evaluating Bonanza King as a possible drilling target. The mission has previously drilled into three target rocks to collect sample powder for analysis by the rover's onboard laboratory instruments. The brushed area is about 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) across. It reveals thin, white, cross-cutting veins. They might be sulfate salts or another type of mineral that precipitated out of solution and filled fractures in the rock. These thin veins might be related to wider light-toned veins and features in the surrounding rock. To the left of the brushed patch is a row of five smaller and less conspicuous spots where dust has been partially removed. These are at points on Bonanza King that were zapped with the laser of Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument on Sol 719 (Aug. 14, 2014). Color balancing and contrast adjustment have been used in preparing this image from Mastcam's raw image of this exposure.Drilling a shallow test hole is the next step in evaluating this location for full-depth drilling to collect a sample. The shallow "mini-drill" test enables assessing whether powder from the drilling tends to clump.Bonanza King is on a ramp rising from the northeastern end of "Hidden Valley," between Curiosity's August 2012 landing site in Gale Crater and destinations on Mount Sharp within the crater.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. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the rover's Mastcam.More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
These two frames were taken of the same place on Mars by the same orbiting camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter before (left) and after some images from the camera began showing unexpected blur. | These two frames were taken of the same place on Mars by the same orbiting camera before (left) and after some images from the camera began showing unexpected blur.The images are from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They show a patch of ground about 500 feet or 150 meters wide in Gusev Crater. The one on the left, from HiRISE observation ESP_045173_1645, was taken March 16, 2016. The one on the right was taken Jan. 9, 2018. Gusev Crater, at 15 degrees south latitude and 176 degrees east longitude, is the landing site of NASA's Spirit Mars rover in 2004 and a candidate landing site for a rover to be launched in 2020. HiRISE images provide important information for evaluating potential landing sites. The smallest boulders with measurable diameters in the left image are about 3 feet (90 centimeters) wide. In the blurred image, the smallest measurable are about double that width.As of early 2018, most full-resolution images from HiRISE are not blurred, and the cause of the blur is still under investigation. Even before blurred images were first seen, in 2017, observations with HiRISE commonly used a technique that covers more ground area at half the resolution. This shows features smaller than can be distinguished with any other camera orbiting Mars, and little blurring has appeared in these images. 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. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows the Syrtis Major face of Mars. | 20 June 2006 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 66° during a previous Mars year This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 66° occurs in mid-June 2006. The picture shows the Syrtis Major 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. Season: Northern Spring/Southern Autumn | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows Uranius Fossae, a region of multi directional graben. | Context imageUranius Fossae is region of multi directional graben. Graben are tectonic features created by extension, where blocks of material move downward between paired faults. This region of graben is located east of Uranius Mons.Orbit Number: 78842 Latitude: 23.1816 Longitude: 269.606 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-09-23 04:08Please 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. | |
This image taken on Dec. 19 and 20, 2004 by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the downward-looking view omits the mast on which the camera is mounted. It shows Opportunity's solar panels to be relatively dust-free. | NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its panoramic camera to take the images combined into this mosaic view of the rover. The downward-looking view omits the mast on which the camera is mounted. It shows Opportunity's solar panels to be relatively dust-free. The images were taken through the camera's 600-, 530- and 480-nanometer filters during Opportunity's 322nd and 323rd martian days, or sols (Dec. 19 and 20, 2004). | |
The top of the butte in this scene from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is known as 'M9a' in the 'Murray Buttes' area, where individual buttes and mesas were assigned numbers. | The top of the butte in this scene from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover stands about 16 feet (about 5 meters) above the rover and about 82 feet (about 25 meters) east-southeast of the rover.Mastcam's right-eye (telephoto-lens) camera took the component images of this mosaic on Sept. 1, 2016, during the 1,448th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars.The site is in the scenic "Murray Buttes" area, where individual buttes and mesas were assigned numbers. This one is "M9a." The average slope on the prominent ridge on the left side is more than 40 degrees, while the average slope on the right side of the highest point is about 30 degrees.The rover's location when it recorded this scene was the site it reached in its Sol 1446 drive. (See map at http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=8009.)The scene is presented with a color adjustment that approximates white balancing, to resemble how the rocks and sand would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates Mastcam. JPL, a division of Caltech, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, and built the project's Curiosity rover. For more information about Curiosity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl. For more information about Curiosity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows springtime defrosting patterns formed in a dune field and surrounding polygon-patterned ground in the south polar region of Mars. | 1 October 2005This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a second view of varied springtime defrosting patterns formed in a dune field and surrounding polygon-patterned ground in the south polar region of Mars. The previous view was featured as a MOC Picture of the Day on 20 August 2005 (PIA04162). Both images show portions of the same terrain and occur within a few hundred meters of each other. The previous release explained that the feature sporting an outline of dark spots and an interior of smaller, closely-spaced dark spots and dark-outlined polygons is a patch of windblown or wind-eroded sand that was covered by carbon dioxide frost during the previous autumn and winter. The fainter, larger polygon pattern on either side of the patch of defrosting sand is formed in the substrate upon which the sand patch is sitting. Polygonal forms such as these might indicate the presence of ice below the surface.Location near: 79.9°S, 125.9°W Image width: width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Southern Spring | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows | 11 January 2004 Looking somewhat like a martian moon that has been plunked down into a rough-textured but otherwise flat plain, this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an old, cratered hill was once part of the rim of a meteor impact crater. The crater has been both eroded away and partly filled and buried beneath the rugged plains. The hill is interpreted to be considerably older than the plains, because it has considerably more small meteor craters than the surrounding terrain. This hill is located near 23.0°N, 166.5°W. The image covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and is illuminated by sunlight from the lower left. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a dust storm between eastern Ius Chasma and western Melas Chasma on Mars. | Mars Global Surveyor's (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) captured this view of a dust storm within the Ius and Melas Chasms of the Valles Marineris trough system on May 16, 1999.The dust storm is seen in the lower 1/3 of the image. It occurs at the junction between eastern Ius Chasma and western Melas Chasma. The apparent motion of the storm is approximately from the south (bottom of image) toward the north. The dust cloud forms a sharp front along its northern margin, which is seen along the north wall of Ius and Melas Chasms--in fact, at the time the image was taken, the dust had advanced up over the north wall of Melas Chasma (upper portion of lower right third of image) and was advancing across the upland that separates this chasm from western Candor Chasma. For a clear-atmosphere view of western Candor and Melas Chasms, see "Western Melas and Candor Chasms, Valles Marineris, MOC2-105, 25 March 1999".For scale, note that the large crater south of Hebes Chasma, Perrotin, is about 95 kilometers (59 miles) across. Bluish-white clouds in the image are interpreted to consist of water ice. The pink/red clouds of the dust storm occur closer to the ground, at a lower altitude than the water ice clouds.One of the most interesting aspects of this dust storm is that Valles Marineris was observed to have a dust storm at exactly the same time of year, one Martian year ago. During its approach to Mars, MOC obtained a picture of the planet on July 2, 1997, just prior to the Mars Pathfinder landing. At the time, it was winter in the southern hemisphere, and dust clouds were observed within Valles Marineris. The picture is seen in "Mars Orbiter Camera Views Mars Pathfinder Landing Site,MOC2-1, 3 July 1997". It will be interesting to see if similar storms occur within the Valles Marineris 1 and 2 Mars years hence. The next times will be in early April 2001 and mid-February 2003.Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. | |
This 3-D cylindrical-perspective mosaic was created from navigation camera images that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured on on sol 107. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image. | This three-dimensional, cylindrical-perspective projection was assembled from images taken by the navigation camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on sol 107 (April 21, 2004) at a region dubbed "site 32." Spirit is sitting east of "Missoula Crater," no longer in the crater's ejecta field, but on outer plains. Since landing, Spirit has traveled almost exclusively over ejecta fields. This new landscape looks different with fewer angular rocks and more rounded, vesicle-filled rocks. Spirit will continue another 1,900 meters (1.18 miles) along this terrain before reaching the western base of the "Columbia Hills."See PIA05810 for left eye view and PIA05811 for right eye view of this 3-D cylindrical-perspective projection. | |
This image, acquired by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, highlights the vast plains of Meridiani Planum focusing on a sinous crack consisting of a series of deep dimples sprinkled with rocks. | This image, acquired by the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, highlights the vast plains of Meridiani Planum. The science team is currently focused on the sinuous crack, which consists of a series of deep dimples sprinkled with rocks that resemble, from a distance, those in the "Eagle Crater" outcrop. On sol 70, Opportunity drove approximately 100 meters (about 328 feet) northeast to a target area along the crack dubbed "Anatolia." In the coming sols, the rover will study the crack in greater detail. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows Gale Crater, which contains the landing site of the Mars rover, Curiosity; the rover will have to navigate sand dunes to get to Mt. Sharp. | Context imageDuring the month of April Mars will be in conjunction relative to the Earth. This means the Sun is in the line-of-sight between Earth and Mars, and communication between the two planets is almost impossible. For conjunction, the rovers and orbiting spacecraft at Mars continue to operate, but do not send the data to Earth. This recorded data will be sent to Earth when Mars moves away from the sun and the line-of-sight between Earth and Mars is reestablished. During conjunction the THEMIS image of the day will be a visual tour of Gale Crater, the location of the newest rover Curiosity. Our first image of Gale Crater contains the landing site of the rover in approximately the center of the image. The dark material is sand in the form of dunes, which the rover will have to navigate through to get to the layered central deposit. The layered deposit is called Mt. Sharp.Orbit Number: 23897 Latitude: -4.47891 Longitude: 137.465 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2007-05-04 22:01 Please 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. 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 some of the plains of Sabaea Terra. | Context imageThe THEMIS 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 some of the plains of Sabaea Terra.Orbit Number: 41618 Latitude: -23.3082 Longitude: 70.4753 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2011-05-03 02:21Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows sand dunes on the floor of an unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows sand dunes on the floor of an unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum.Orbit Number: 58736 Latitude: -61.6193 Longitude: 199.658 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-03-12 01:13Please 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 shows NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity along the eastern rim of 'Endurance Crater' before reaching the beginning of the 'Karatepe' area on Mars. | This right eye of a stereo pair of views in a cylindrical-perspective projection was created from navigation camera images that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity acquired on sol 103 (May 8, 2004). Opportunity traversed approximately 13 meters (about 43 feet) farther south along the eastern rim of "Endurance Crater" before reaching the beginning of the "Karatepe" area. Scientists believe this layered band of rock may be a good place to begin studying Endurance because it is less steep and more approachable than the rest of the crater's rocky outcrops.See PIA05907 for 3-D view and PIA05908 for left eye view of this right eye cylindrical-perspective projection. | |
The lava flows in this image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are located SE of Adams Crater. | Context imageThe lava flows in this VIS image are located SE of Adams Crater.Orbit Number: 54074 Latitude: 29.8362 Longitude: 164.73 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-02-21 07:52Please 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 was the first image to be acquired by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter after the sun rose on Inca City, marking the end to polar night. A few fans are visible emerging from the araneiforms. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionEvery winter a layer of carbon dioxide ice-or, dry ice-condenses in the Southern polar region, forming a seasonal polar cap less than 1 meter deep. Early in the spring the ice layer begins to sublimate (going directly from a solid to gas) from the top and bottom of the ice layer. Under the ice gas pressure builds up until a weak spot in the ice layer ruptures. The gas rushes out and as it escapes it erodes a bit of the surface.Fine particles are carried by the gas to the top of the ice and then fall out in fan-shaped deposits. The direction of the fan shows the direction either of the wind or down the slope. If the wind is not blowing a dark blotch settles around the spot the gas escaped.This region is known informally as Inca City, and it has a series of distinctive ridges. On the floor between the ridges are radially organized channels, known colloquially as spiders, more formally called "araneiforms." The channels have been carved in the surface over many years by the escaping pressurized gas. Every spring they widen just a bit.This was the first image to be acquired after the sun rose on Inca City, marking the end to polar night. A few fans are visible emerging from the araneiforms. HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This mosaic from the navigation camera aboard NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was compiled from images taken on the rover's 193rd and 194th sol on Mars on August 9 and 10, 2004. | This mosaic from the navigation camera aboard NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was compiled from images taken on the rover's 193rd and 194th sol on Mars (August 9 and 10, 2004). The rover's current work area near the bottom of "Endurance Crater" is featured in this image. In coming sols, Opportunity will make its way toward the interesting rock, "Wopmay," located on the far right of this image, on the crater's inner slopes just beneath "Burns Cliff." Scientists say the rock's unusual texture is unlike any others observed so far at Meridiani Planum. Wopmay measures approximately 1 meter (3.3 feet) across. This image is presented in a vertical projection, with geometric and radiometric seam correction. | |
Clouds add drama to the sky above 'Endurance Crater' in this mosaic of frames taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on Nov. 17, 2004. The view spans an arc from east on the left to the southwest on the right. | Clouds appear in the martian sky above "Endurance Crater" in this mosaic of frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity during the morning of the rover's 291st sol (Nov. 17, 2004). The view spans an arc from the east on the left to the southwest on the right.Opportunity has observed differences in cloudiness from one sol to the next, a reminder that Mars, like Earth, has daily weather as well as longer-term seasonal changes.The images that are combined to produce this view have been processed to remove geometrical distortion associated with the camera's 45-degree field of view. In addition, special image processing has been applied to the original images to enhance the clouds and make them visible across the entire mosaic. Glare from the Sun washed out the clouds on the left in the original images; this glare was removed. The left-most image in this mosaic contains some artifacts from pointing the camera toward the Sun. The rim of Endurance has been processed separately and merged back with the sky to better show the context. | |
Linear duneforms are found on the sand dune sheet on the floor of Richardson Crater on Mars as seen by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image for PIA11918Richardson CraterLinear duneforms are found on the sand dune sheet on the floor of Richardson Crater.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -72.3N, Longitude 180.2E. 20 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 the margin of a lava flow near the edge of a scarp in far western Daedalia Planum on Mars. A blanket of dust covers the upland and the rugged lava flow surfaces. | MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-392, 15 June 2003This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows the margin of a lava flow near the edge of a scarp in far western Daedalia Planum. A blanket of dust covers the upland (top 1/3 of picture) and the rugged lava flow (lower 2/3 of picture) surfaces. Wind has eroded fine sediment to form triangular tails on top of the ridges of the old lava flow. This image covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide near 20.1°S, 146.6°W. The picture is illuminated from the upper left. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows an unnamed crater in Arabia Terra. | Context imageThis VIS image is located in an unnamed crater in Arabia Terra. The entire inner rim of the crater on the right side of the image contains dark slope streaks. These features are thought to form by downslope movement of material which either reveals the darker rock beneath the dust coating, or creates the darker surface by flow of a volatile just beneath the dust coating.Orbit Number: 80435 Latitude: 18.6266 Longitude: 32.6422 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2020-02-01 08:10Please 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 illustration shows a concept for a proposed NASA Sample Retrieval Lander that would carry a small rocket called the Mars Ascent Vehicle to the Martian surface. | This illustration shows a concept for a proposed NASA Sample Retrieval Lander that would carry a small rocket (about 10 feet, or 3 meters, tall) called the Mars Ascent Vehicle to the Martian surface. After being loaded with sealed tubes containing samples of Martian rocks and soil collected by NASA's Perseverance rover, the rocket would launch into Mars orbit. The samples would then be ferried to Earth for detailed analysis.The lander is part of the multi-mission Mars Sample Return program being planned by NASA and ESA (European Space Agency).For more information, visit: mars.nasa.gov/msr. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows | This image, taken previously by the Mars Orbiter Camera onboard Mars Global Surveyor, highlights the same cluster of craters captured by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit as it descends to Mars. | |
These three images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are called 'linear gullies' and were taken at different times of the year to observe changes. | These examples of one distinctive type of Martian gullies, called "linear gullies," are on a dune in Matara Crater, seen at different times of year to observe changes. The observations support a new hypothesis that chunks of frozen carbon dioxide, also known as "dry ice," may create linear gullies. In early Martian spring at some latitudes, dry-ice blocks may glide down sandy slopes on self-generated cushions of sublimating carbon-dioxide gas, plowing the grooves as they go and sometimes leaving pits where they stop sliding and sublimate away.The three images were taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, of a site at 49.4 degrees south latitude, 34.7 degrees east longitude. The top image is from Mars southern-hemisphere early summer. The middle image is from the start of spring not quite two Martian years later. The white arrow points out a frost block, which appears very bright against the defrosting dune surface. The bottom image is from later the same spring. Black arrows indicate regions where new channels and pits appeared during the intervening seasons since the top image was taken. The scale bar is 50 meters (55 yards).The three images are excerpts from HiRISE observations catalogued as ESP_013834_1300 (taken July 9, 2009); ESP_029038_1305 (taken Oct. 6, 2012) and ESP_029961_1305 (taken Dec. 17, 2012).The University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory 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 for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the orbiter. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows visible dark streaks on the slopes of hills and crater rims in Amazonis Planitia. | Context imageDark streaks are visible on the slopes of hills and crater rims in Amazonis Planitia. It is thought that the removal of dust by downslope movement reveals the darker rocks beneath.Orbit Number: 60745 Latitude: 13.62 Longitude: 191.678 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-08-24 11:59Please 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. | |
Oudemans Crater Central Uplift: A Sample of Well-Preserved Layering
Excavated from Kilometers Below | Click on image for larger versionThis HiRISE image (PSP_001602_1700) covers a portion of the central uplift of the 120-km diameter Oudemans crater.Oudemans is located at the western end of Valles Marineris and just south of the great canyon system by the Noctis Labyrinthus. Images from the Mars Orbital Camera (MOC) were the first to reveal that this large impact crater exposed layered rock in its central uplift feature.Such beautifully preserved layered rocks, although rare, are no surprise to planetary scientists. First, layered rocks exposed in the central uplifts are common in terrestrial impact structures. Secondly, there is abundant layering exposed in the nearby Valles Marineris canyon system -- a gash that exposes layering down to 7 km beneath the mean surface. This suggests that layered materials exist to great depths in the subsurface, which is supported by the Oudemans central uplift observation.Based on estimates of the depth of excavation for a crater the size of Oudemans, these layers originated from just as deep as those exposed in Valles Marineris and possibly deeper. A comparison of the layers in Valles Marineris and in the Oudemans central uplift may prove that they are similar rock types that share the same mode of origin. The fact that these layers are so well intact gives planetary scientists specific clues regarding the subsurface and history of the general area. Additionly, three other craters, Martin (21.2°S, 290.7°E), Mazamba (27.3°S, 290.2°E) and a yet unnamed crater (28.4°S, 305°E) also possess finely layered materials in their central uplift features and lie within the circum-Tharsis region. The preservation of the layering and geographical occurrence of these four craters suggests that they could be ash layers deposited from numerous episodes from the Tharsis volcanoes. Voluminous volcanic episodes could have produced large volumes of layered rock that could have been rapidly buried and protected from cratering.Observation GeometryAcquisition date: 11 November 2006Local Mars time: 3:34 PMDegrees latitude (centered): -9.9 °Degrees longitude (East): 268.2 °Range to target site: 255.7 km (159.8 miles) Original image scale range: 25.6 cm/pixel(with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~77 cm across are resolvedMap-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is upMap-projection: EQUIRECTANGULAREmission angle: 2.8 °Phase angle: 61.1 °Solar incidence angle: 59 °, with the Sun about 31 ° above the horizonSolar longitude: 142.6 °, NorthNASA'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. | |
The THEMIS 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 part of the floor of Gale Crater. | 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 the floor of Gale Crater. The Curiosity Rover is located in Gale Crater.Orbit Number: 52365 Latitude: -4.54529 Longitude: 137.352 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2013-10-03 14:54Please 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 InSight lander set its heat probe, called the Heat and Physical Properties Package (HP3), on the Martian surface on Feb. 12, 2019. | NASA's InSight lander set its heat probe, called the Heat and Physical Properties Package (HP3), on the Martian surface on Feb. 12, 2019.JPL manages InSight for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission.A number of European partners, including France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are supporting the InSight mission. CNES and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) provided the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, with significant contributions from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Switzerland, Imperial College and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and JPL. DLR provided the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) instrument, with significant contributions from the Space Research Center (CBK) of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. Spain's Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) supplied the wind sensors.For more information about the mission, go to https://mars.nasa.gov/insight. | |
Out of 'Endurance,' Heading South | NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity climbed out of "Endurance Crater" during the rover's 315th sol (Dec. 12, 2004), and used its rear hazard-avoidance camera to look out across the plains south of the crater. After Opportunity examines the nearby heat shield that protected it during its descent through Mars' atmosphere, the rover team plans to drive the rover south to a rugged region described as etched terrain. | |
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, depicted above Mars in this artist's concept illustration, began orbiting Mars on March 10, 2006. It carries three cameras, a ground-penetrating radar, a mineral-mapping spectrometer and a sounding instrument. | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, depicted above Mars in this artist's concept
illustration, began orbiting Mars on March 10, 2006. It carries three cameras, a
ground-penetrating radar, a mineral-mapping spectrometer and a sounding instrument
to examine the atmosphere. These science instruments are the High Resolution
Imaging Science Experiment, the Context Camera, the Mars Color Imager, the Shallow
Subsurface Radar, the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars and
the Mars Climate Sounder. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Terra Sabaea near Isidis Planitia. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Terra Sabaea near Isidis Planitia.Orbit Number: 77576 Latitude: 17.8943 Longitude: 76.8019 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-06-10 22:04Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image shows NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit probing its first target rock, Adirondack. At the time this picture was snapped, the rover had begun analyzing the rock with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer located on its robotic arm. | This image shows the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit probing its first target rock, Adirondack. At the time this picture was snapped, the rover had begun analyzing the rock with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer located on its robotic arm. This instrument uses alpha particles and X-rays to determine the elemental composition of martian rocks and soil. The image was taken by the rover's hazard-identification camera. | |
NASA's Spirit rover took this image from the summit of 'Husband Hill,' where three dust devils are clearly visible in the plains of Gusev Crater. | In this time of year when Mars is most likely to be covered by global dust storms, NASA's Spirit rover has been experiencing relative calm. In fact, the martian winds have been quite beneficial, clearing dust from the rover's solar panels and increasing the solar energy available for driving to new places and conducting scientific experiments.Another thing the martian wind has done is send hundreds of dust devils spinning across the surface of the planet. From Spirit's high perch approximately 90 meters (295 feet) above the surrounding plains, as shown in this image taken from the summit of "Husband Hill," three dust devils are clearly visible in the plains of Gusev Crater. Planetary Scientist Ron Greeley of Arizona State University, Tempe, describes the whirling vortices of wind and dust as "vacuum cleaners" that were first seen in images from the Viking Orbiter in 1985, though their existence was predicted as early as 1964.The most prominent dust devil in this image, visible on the left side of the 360-degree panorama, is one of the closest seen by Spirit. It is about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away from the rover, about 90 meters (295 feet) in diameter at its widest point, and 275 meters (902 feet) tall. Its flux is about 1 kilogram per second, meaning it is picking up about 2 pounds of sediment each second and moving it around.The smaller dust devil just to the right of the largest one is 2.5 to 3 kilometers (1.6 to 1.9 miles) away and is churning up about 0.5 kilograms (1 pound) per second. Both are north of the rover's position and are moving in an east-southeast direction. On the right side of the mosaic shown here is a third dust devil.Greeley has calculated that if the number and frequency of dust devils Spirit has encountered are similarly spaced throughout Gusev Crater, the crater probably experiences about 90,000 dust devils per martian day, or sol. Collectively, the whirlwinds lift and redeposit an estimated 4.5 million kilograms (9.9 million U.S. pounds) of sediment per sol.Spirit took this mosaic of images with its navigation camera on sol 581 (Aug. 22). Straight ahead, just east of the rover, is the summit of "Husband Hill." The 360-degree field of view is presented in a cylindrical projection with geometrical seam correction. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a typical southern mid-latitude surface on Mars at very high resolution. The smooth-surfaced material erodes and breaks down into the knobby terrain. | MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-355, 9 May 2003This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a typical southern mid-latitude surface at very high resolution. The smooth-surfaced material (mostly on the left and lower left sides of the image) erodes and breaks down into the knobby terrain (seen at the top and right). The exact cause of this degradation of smooth-surfaced material at middle latitudes is unknown. One speculation is that the materials are a mixture of water ice, dust, and silt; when the ice sublimes away, it leaves behind the knobby terrain. The image is located near 37.0°S, 84.0°W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. | |
NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft takes a look at THEMIS image as art. Many science-fiction writers have postulated many life forms on Mars. It's cold on Mars, perhaps a snowman? | Welcome to another brief interval of THEMIS Images as Art. For two weeks, we will be showcasing images for their aesthetic value rather than their science content. Portions of these images resemble things in our everyday lives, from animals to letters of the alphabet. We hope you enjoy our fanciful look at Mars!I know it's cold on Mars. But...a snowman?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. | |
Proposed MSL Site in Nilo Syrtis | Click on image for larger versionHiRISE image (PSP_003231_2095) of proposed landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) in Nilo Syrtis.Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 4 April 2007Local Mars time: 3:28 PMDegrees latitude (centered): 29.3°Degrees longitude (East): 73.3°Range to target site: 290.3 km (181.4 miles)Original image scale range: 29.0 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~87 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is upMap-projection: EQUIRECTANGULAREmission angle: 8.0°Phase angle: 73.5°Solar incidence angle: 66°, with the Sun about 24° above the horizonSolar longitude: 213.3°, Northern AutumnNASA'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 image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the western end of Ius Chasma. Both the north and south canyon walls are visible in this image. At the top of the frame paired faults have created a graben. | Context image The VIS image shows part of the western end of Ius Chasma. Both the north and south canyon walls are visible in this image. At the top of the frame paired faults have created a graben. On the southern face of the canyon, several linear faults parallel the graben. These faults are part of the tectonic formation of Valles Marineris. Landslides on both walls created deposits on the crater floor. The easiest to identify is the lobate margin at the right side of the images. Lobate margins and radial surface grooves are common features in low volume landslides.A landslide is a failure of slope due to gravity. They initiate due to several reasons. A lower layer of poorly cemented/resistant material may have been eroded, undermining the wall above which then collapses; earth quake seismic waves can cause the slope to collapse; and even an impact event near the canyon wall can cause collapse. As millions of tons of material fall and slide down slope a scalloped cavity forms at the upper part where the slope failure occurred. At the material speeds downhill it will pick up more of the underlying slope, increasing the volume of material entrained into the landslide. Whereas some landslides spread across the canyon floor forming lobate deposits, very large volume slope failures will completely fill the canyon floor in a large complex region of chaotic blocks.Ius Chasma is at the western end of Valles Marineris, south of Tithonium Chasma. Valles Marineris is over 4000 kilometers long, wider than the United States. Ius Chasma is almost 850 kilometers long (528 miles), 120 kilometers wide and over 8 kilometers deep. In comparison, the Grand Canyon in Arizona is about 175 kilometers long, 30 kilometers wide, and only 2 kilometers deep. The canyons of Valles Marineris were formed by extensive fracturing and pulling apart of the crust during the uplift of the vast Tharsis plateau. Landslides have enlarged the canyon walls and created deposits on the canyon floor. Weathering of the surface and influx of dust and sand have modified the canyon floor, both creating and modifying layered materials. There are many features that indicate flowing and standing water played a part in the chasma formation.The Odyssey spacecraft has spent over 15 years in orbit around Mars, circling the planet more than 71,000 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: 8792 Latitude: -6.69222 Longitude: 270.88 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2003-12-08 06:35Please 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 complexly eroded region, part of Aeolis Planum. | Context imageThis complexly eroded region is part of Aeolis Planum. The image has portions that appear to be layered material that has been eroded by wind action.Orbit Number: 88767 Latitude: -4.08573 Longitude: 146.342 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-12-18 09:05Please 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. | |
The ancient, catastrophic floods on Mars, whose origins remain a mystery, produced a channeled and scoured landscape like this one, which is called Tiu Valles and was imaged by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | The ancient, catastrophic floods on Mars, whose origins remain a mystery, produced a channeled and scoured landscape like this one which is called Tiu Valles.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. | |
The Mastcam-Z imager on NASA's Perseverance rover captured a series of images on July 6 that were stitched together to show a field of boulders deposited in Jezero Crater by a fast-moving ancient river. | This composite image captured by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover shows boulders that decorate the top of the Jezero Crater fan deposit. Rover tracks across the middle of the image give a sense of scale. These boulders were transported by water that was either deeper or flowed faster than the ancient waterway that deposited the smaller pebbles that also populate the area. Because these boulders are sitting on top of the pebbles, scientists believe they arrived later, possibly much later.Perseverance's Mastcam-Z camera system took the series of images that make up this composite on July 6, 2023, the 845th day, or sol, of the rover's mission to Mars.Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras, and in collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen on the design, fabrication, and testing of the calibration targets.A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.For more about Perseverance:mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Acheron Fossae. | Context imageThis VIS image shows part of Acheron Fossae. Acheron Fossae is the highly fractured, faulted and deformed terrain located 1,050 kilometers (650 miles) north of the large shield volcano Olympus Mons. Lava flows from Olympus Mons at the base of Acheron Fossae show that the fossae predate the flows.Orbit Number: 87741 Latitude: 38.8782 Longitude: 220.025 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-09-24 21:46Please 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. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows | 21 December 2003Dust storms are a common occurrence on the extremely arid planet, Mars. However, very rarely do we get to see the actual process of dust being lifted off the martian surface to feed these dust storms. This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image captures some of the dust-raising process in action. The picture shows a shallow trough with large, ripple-like dunes on its floor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. Puffy, billowy clouds of dust obscure some of the surface from view. Closer inspection shows streamers of dust, streaking from left/upper left toward right/lower right, down near the surface of the planet. It is in these streamers that dust is being lifted from the ground. This image is located near 29.6°S, 73.1°W, and covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. | |
This false-color image released on May 20, 2004 from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey of a rampart crater on Mars was acquired Dec. 6, 2002, during northern summer. | Released 20 May 2004This image of a rampart crater was acquired Dec. 6, 2002, during northern summer.The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the martian surface using its five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the spatial resolution and coverage of the image must be reduced to accommodate the additional data volume produced from the use of multiple filters. To make a color image, three of the five filter images (each in grayscale) are selected. Each is contrast enhanced and then converted to a red, green, or blue intensity image. These three images are then combined to produce a full color, single image. Because the THEMIS color filters don't span the full range of colors seen by the human eye, a color THEMIS image does not represent true color. Also, because each single-filter image is contrast enhanced before inclusion in the three-color image, the apparent color variation of the scene is exaggerated. Nevertheless, the color variation that does appear is representative of some change in color, however subtle, in the actual scene. Note that the long edges of THEMIS color images typically contain color artifacts that do not represent surface variation.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 28.4, Longitude 319.2 East (40.8 West). 38 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 view of an inverted crater in the Arabia Terra region of Mars is among the images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in early 2010 as the spacecraft approached the 100-terabit milestone in total data returned. | This view of an inverted crater in the Arabia Terra region of Mars is among the images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in early 2010 as the spacecraft approached the 100-terabit milestone in total data returned.The orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera recorded this image on Jan. 29, 2010, and the spacecraft surpassed 100 terabits about three weeks later. That is more than three times as much data as the combined total from all other NASA missions that have flown farther from Earth than the orbit of Earth's moon. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reached Mars in 2006 and completed its primary science phase in 2008.The inverted crater seen here spans about 250 meters (about 800 feet) in diameter. Sand in the dark dunes around the crater was probably derived from basalt, a black volcanic rock that is common on Mars. Most craters are depressions, but this one sticks up above the surrounding plains. Such "inverted topography" is found on Mars and Earth where erosion has stripped away surrounding topography. In this case, the crater was filled with sediment, and then subsequent erosion stripped away the terrain around the filled crater. This image covers a swath of ground about 600 meters (about 2,000 feet) wide at about 3 degrees north latitude, 5 degrees east longitude. It is one product from HiRISE observation ESP_016459_1830, which was taken during Mars' northern-hemisphere spring. Other image products from this observation are available at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_016459_1830. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the spacecraft development and integration contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows | 28 January 2004 This southern summer Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a remnant of layered sedimentary material that was once much more extensive, covering a vast intercrater area near 69.1°S, 207.5°W. These layers have been protected from being completely removed by erosion, in part, because of the ancient meteor impact crater located at the lower left. The dark lines that squiggle and streak across this scene were most likely formed by passing dust devils that disrupted or removed some of the thin layer of dust coating this terrain. The picture covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) wide; sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. | |
This image shows part of the south polar region on Mars as seen by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image for PIA08592Martian Color #8This image shows part of the south polar region.This color treatment is the result of a collaboration between THEMIS team members at Cornell University and space artist Don Davis, who is an expert on true-color renderings of planetary and astronomical objects. Davis began with calibrated and co-registered THEMIS VIS multi-band radiance files produced by the Cornell group. Using as a guide true-color imaging from spacecraft and his own personal experience at Mt. Wilson and other observatories, he performed a manual color balance to display the spectral capabilities of the THEMIS imager within the context of other Mars observations. He also did some manual smoothing along with other image processing to minimize the effects of residual scattered light in the images.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -84.2N, Longitude 242.4E. 34 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images. Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The THEMIS 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 part of Terra Sirenum. | Context imageThe THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Terra Sirenum.Orbit Number: 35086 Latitude: -36.2708 Longitude: 223.726 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2009-11-11 06:24Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image of a Martian vista in Jezero Crater, made from smaller individual images, was taken by NASA's Perseverance rover on July 3, 2021. | This image of a Martian vista in Jezero Crater, made from smaller individual images, was taken by NASA's Perseverance rover on July 3, 2021 (the 131th sol, or Martian day, of its mission). The rover's tracks from its autonomous drive that day are visible on the right. The images that compose the larger mosaic came from the rover's Navigation Cameras and were processed to enhance the contrast.Perseverance has been exploring the floor of Jezero since it landed on Feb. 18, 2021.A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built and manages operations of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover for NASA.For more information about the mission, go to: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020 | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a small patch of dark, windblown sand in the martian south polar region of Mars. | 1 April 2004This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a small patch of dark, windblown sand in the martian south polar region. Throughout the south high latitudes, dark sand has been trapped by wind in craters, pits, and depressions. This example is located near 64.5°S, 9.5°W. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows several seemingly active gullies and their associated fans near the Argyre region. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionAs gullies form on slopes, sediment can become deposited to form lobe-shaped fans. Gullies can form with flowing water, but don't have to: sometimes they can be formed by the dry flow of sand and dust grains. This HiRISE image shows several seemingly active gullies and their associated fans.These particular gullies have many fine channels that are resolved nicely with a high resolution image. 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. | |
Aram Chaos contains several layers of fill material on Mars as seen by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image for PIA08760Aram ChaosAram Chaos contains several layers of fill material.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 3.8N, Longitude 339.0E. 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. | |
This streamlined island is located within Maja Valles was captured by NASA's Mars Odyssey on July 1, 2010. | Context imageThis streamlined island is located within Maja Valles.Orbit Number: 37903 Latitude: 1.16574 Longitude: 299.384 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-07-01 06:04Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows detailed, pitted nature of the martian north polar residual ice cap. As water ice sublimes away a little bit each summer, dark-floored pits have formed, trapping dust and other debris. | This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image illustrates very well the detailed, pitted nature of the north polar residual ice cap. As water ice sublimes away a little bit each summer, dark-floored pits have formed, trapping dust and other debris. Location near: 85.1°N, 284.6°W 200 m scale bar = ~219 yards Illumination from: lower left Season: Northern Summer | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows more north polar dunes. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows more north polar dunes.Orbit Number: 54804 Latitude: 78.9247 Longitude: 165.546 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-04-22 09:19Please 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 global map of Mars was acquired on Oct. 28, 2008, by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA's MRO. One global map is generated each day to forecast weather conditions for the entry, descent and landing of NASA's Curiosity rover. | This global map of Mars was acquired on Oct. 28, 2008, by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It was acquired during the same season that NASA's Curiosity rover will land in, but two Mars years earlier. It is remarkably free of water ice clouds when compared with the maps acquired this year in the days leading up to Curiosity's landing. In 2008, during this season, the planet was dustier than usual. Larger amounts of dust cause sunlight to warm the atmosphere and make it less dense, which means less stopping power for a landing rover. What's more, dusty conditions can lead to an increased chance for small, intense dust storms, another challenge for rover landings. So far, the weather forecast for Curiosity calls for a clearer atmosphere; nonetheless, the spacecraft has been designed to land safely under conditions similar to those observed in 2008.The map is a rectangular projection of Mars (from 90 degrees latitude to minus 90 degrees latitude, and minus 180 degrees longitude to 180 degrees east longitude). The landing site is located on the right side of the map, near 137 degrees east longitude and 4.5 degrees south latitude. Along the northern (top) and southern (bottom) parts of the map there are patches of orange clouds, indicating dust lofted into the atmosphere. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Angustus Labyrinthus. Angustus Labyrinthus is a unique region near the south polar cap. | 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 Angustus Labyrinthus. Angustus Labyrinthus is a unique region near the south polar cap. In the center of this image squares formed by intersecting ridges are visible. The feature earned the informal name of the Inca City when it was discovered in Mariner 9 images in 1972.The linear ridges are believed to have formed by volcanic and tectonic forces, where magma filled fractures in the subsurface and then erosion revealed the magmatic material.The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the Martian surface using five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the spatial resolution and coverage of the image must be reduced to accommodate the additional data volume produced from using multiple filters. To make a color image, three of the five filter images (each in grayscale) are selected. Each is contrast enhanced and then converted to a red, green, or blue intensity image. These three images are then combined to produce a full color, single image. Because the THEMIS color filters don't span the full range of colors seen by the human eye, a color THEMIS image does not represent true color. Also, because each single-filter image is contrast enhanced before inclusion in the three-color image, the apparent color variation of the scene is exaggerated. Nevertheless, the color variation that does appear is representative of some change in color, however subtle, in the actual scene. Note that the long edges of THEMIS color images typically contain color artifacts that do not represent surface variation.Orbit Number: 85024 Latitude: -81.1964 Longitude: 296.058 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-02-13 03:55Please 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. | |
These IMP spectra show the characteristics of Mars' rock surface measured by NASA's Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (blue), the soil trapped in pits on the rock surface (red), and the deposit of bright drift on the top of the rock. | These IMP spectra show the characteristics of the rock surface measured by the Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (blue), the soil trapped in pits on the rock surface (red), and the deposit of bright drift on the top of the rock. The area measured by the APXS has the properties expected for nearly unweathered igneous rock, and the soil trapped in the pits is intermediate to the unweathered rock and the highly weathered drift material.
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. | |
On March 20, 2004, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used a wheel to dig a trench revealing subsurface material beside the lander hardware that carried the rover to the surface of Mars 55 Martian days earlier. | On March 20, 2004, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used a wheel to dig a trench revealing subsurface material beside the lander hardware that carried the rover to the surface of Mars 55 Martian days, or sols, earlier.This scene is an approximate true color rendering combining images from Opportunity's navigation camera (Navcam) and panoramic camera (Pancam). The trench was dug to explore the nature of small wind ripples near the center of Eagle Crater, close to the Opportunity lander. The trench cross-cuts the rover's first "footprint" wheel tracks. The white material at the top is the fabric ramp that the rover drove down to leave the lander. The soil at the end of the ramp was compressed and disturbed by the weight of the rover as it drove down the ramp. The robotic arm instruments, glistening in the Martian sunlight, were subsequently used to make measurements inside the trench.A Pancam view back into Eagle Crater from the crater's edge, at PIA05636, shows where this trench was dug beside the lander platform. JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Spirit and Opportunity, visit http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows lava flows originating at Arsia Mons, one of the large Tharsis volcanoes on Mars. | Context image for PIA10318Arsia Mons LavaThe lava flows in this VIS image originated at Arsia Mons, one of the large Tharsis volcanoes.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -18.7N, Longitude 233.3E. 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 Curiosity rover captured its highest-resolution panorama of the Martian surface between Nov. 24 and Dec. 1, 2019. | Figure 1Click on the image for larger versionClick here for highest resolution version (2.43 GB)Click here for the 82 MB resolution versionClick here for the 74.7 MB resolution versionNASA's Curiosity rover captured its highest-resolution panorama yet of the Martian surface between Nov. 24 and Dec. 1, 2019. A version without the rover contains nearly 1.8 billion pixels; a version with the rover contains nearly 650 million pixels. Both versions are composed of more than 1,000 images that were carefully assembled over the following months.The rover's Mast Camera, or Mastcam, used its telephoto lens to produce the panorama and relied on its medium-angle lens to produce a lower-resolution panorama that includes the rover's deck and robotic arm.Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam. A division of Caltech, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington and built the Curiosity rover.For more information about Curiosity, visit http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl or https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html. | |
Gale Crater, the Selected Landing Site for Curiosity | An area inside Gale crater was selected as the landing site for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission. The landing of the mission's rover, Curiosity, will occur on an alluvial fan near the northern wall of the crater, and the rover will traverse to a thick stack of layered rocks to the south. The left panel shows the regional context of the Gale target landing ellipse with colors representing the elevation of the surface features (purple lowest and red highest). The yellow box indicates the location of the feature shown in the center panel. The white box indicates the location of the feature shown in the right panel. The scale bars in each panel indicate distance in kilometers. The middle panel shows an example of a high priority science target for exploration near the ellipse, and the right column shows science targets within the ellipse. Gale and each of the three other finalist landing sites display a variety of very interesting targets for exploration within and outside of the proposed landing ellipse. The images in the middle and right panels are from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the High Resolution Science Imaging Experiment. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Science Laboratory and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. | |
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the plains of Arabia Terra. | Context imageThe THEMIS 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 plains of Arabia Terra near the margin of Terra Meridiani.Orbit Number: 19458 Latitude: 1.40553 Longitude: 1.88038 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2006-05-04 12:35Please 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. | |
Like the previous image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, this one shows one of the many unnamed channels on the northern margin of Arabia Terra. | Context imageLike the previous VIS image, this one shows one of the many unnamed channels on the northern margin of Arabia Terra.Orbit Number: 54617 Latitude: 32.8763 Longitude: 350.048 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-04-07 00:21Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image captured by NASA's Mars Odyssey shows one edge of the complex caldera at the summit of Olympus Mons. | Context imageThis VIS image shows one edge of the complex caldera at the summit of Olympus Mons.Orbit Number: 39690 Latitude: 18.1212 Longitude: 227.2 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-11-25 10:08Please 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. | |
Two dark, rimless pits are located to the northwest of Ascraeus Mons in the Tharsis volcanic region of Mars in this image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They are situated in the midst of a wispy, dark, boomerang-shaped deposit. | Figure AFigure BClick on an individual image for full resolution imageTwo dark, rimless pits are located to the northwest of Ascraeus Mons in the Tharsis volcanic region of Mars. These pits are approximately 180 meters (591 feet) and 310 meters (1,017 feet) in diameter. They are situated in the midst of a wispy, dark, boomerang-shaped deposit.The pits are aligned with what appear to be larger, degraded depressions. The wispy deposit may consist of dark material blown out of the pits or from some other source.Figure A and Figure B are close-ups of the two pits. These images have been highly processed to reveal the surface details within each pit. The eastern and smaller of the two pits (A) contains boulders and sediment along its walls and brighter, wind-shaped dune sediments on its floor. The larger, western pit (B) contains sediment and boulders with faint dune-like patterns visible on the deepest part of the floor. Both pits have steep eastern walls and more gently sloped western walls that transition gradually into the pit floor. Steep, resistant ledges containing boulders that overhang and obscure the pit floors form the eastern walls.Careful study of the walls and floors of the pits, as well as of the surrounding terrain, will help unravel the complicated series of processes that must have been responsible for their formation and subsequent modification.This image covers an area about 6 kilometers (4 miles) wide. It is one product from a Nov. 1, 2010, HiRISE observation catalogued as ESP_019997_1975, of an area centered at 17.2 degrees north latitude, 247.6 degrees east longitude. Other image products from this observation are available at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_019997_1975. 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. | |
This cylindrical projection image from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows tracks from the drive extend northward across dark-toned sand ripples and light-toned patches of exposed bedrock in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars. | NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera to take the images combined into this full-circle view of the rover's surroundings just after driving 111 meters (364 feet) on the 1,797th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's surface mission (Feb. 12, 2009). North is at the center; south at both ends.Tracks from the drive recede northward across dark-toned sand ripples in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars. Patches of lighter-toned bedrock are visible on the left and right sides of the image. For scale, the distance between the parallel wheel tracks is about 1 meter (about 40 inches).This view is presented as a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a small portion of Samara Vallis on Mars. This portion of Samara Vallis has numerous tributaries. | Context image for PIA09425Samara VallisThis THEMIS VIS image shows a small portion of Samara Vallis. This portion of Samara Vallis has numerous tributaries.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -24.9N, Longitude 341.1E. 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 captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the escarpment that encircles Olympus Mons. This image is located on the southeastern flank of the volcano. | Context imageThis VIS image shows part of the escarpment that encircles Olympus Mons. This image is located on the southeastern flank of the volcano.Orbit Number: 53285 Latitude: 14.2544 Longitude: 228.927 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2013-12-18 09:42Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
Opportunity Tracks Seen from Orbit | Figure 1NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity landed on the red planet a year ago. This enhanced-resolution image from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter is the only picture obtained thus far (by Jan. 24, 2005) that shows the tracks made by Opportunity. The image was acquired on April 26, 2004, during Opportunity's 91st martian day, or sol. That was the first day of Opportunity's extended mission, and the rover had recently completed exploration of small "Fram Crater" on the route from its landing site toward "Endurance Crater," where it would eventually spend six months. The rover itself can be seen in this image -- an amazing accomplishment, considering that the orbiter was nearly 400 kilometers (nearly 250 miles) away at the time! Also visible and labeled on this image are the spacecraft's lander, backshell, parachute and heat shield, plus effects of its landing rockets. The camera captured this image with use of a technique called compensated pitch and roll targeted observation. In this method, the entire spacecraft rolls as it passes over the target area so the camera can scan in a way that sees details at three times higher resolution than the camera's normal high-resolution capability. The tracks made by Opportunity on the sandy surface of Meridiani Planum are not quite as visible from orbit as are the tracks made in Gusev Crater by the other Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit. A dustier surface at the Spirit site increases contrast between the tracks and the surrounding surfaces. Indeed, some parts of the track made by Opportunity are not visible in this image. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. North is toward the top of the image. The 100-meter scale bar is 109 yards long. | |
Hills abound in this portion of Mars imaged by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft and located in the Vastitas Borealis region of the high northern plains. These hills are part of Scandia Colles. | Hills abound in this portion of Mars located in the Vastitas Borealis region of the high northern plains. These hills are part of Scandia Colles. Note that some of the hills have aprons surrounding them. The northern part of Milankovic crater is visible in the lower portion of this image.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. | |
The dunes in this image are located on the floor of an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra on Mars as seen by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context imageThe dunes in this VIS image are located on the floor of an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra.Orbit Number: 51232 Latitude: -52.1373 Longitude: 30.6046 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2013-07-02 09:42Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows | 13 January 2004 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows troughs eroded into the south polar residual cap. The residual cap is made largely of frozen carbon dioxide, which freezes on Mars at a temperature around 148 Kelvin (about -125°C, -193°F). When this picture was acquired in early summer during October 2003, the temperature at the surface probably was very close to 148 Kelvin (brrrr!). Sunlight illuminates this image from the upper left; it is located near 86.9°S, 15.7°W. The 200 meter scale bar is approximately 656 feet across. | |
This image of the vicinity of the Viking Lander 1 was captured by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor's MOC camera. site. 3D glasses are necessary to identify surface detail. | Two MOC images of the vicinity of the Viking Lander 1 (MOC 23503 and 25403), acquired separately on 12 April 1998 at 08:32 PDT and 21 April 1998 at 13:54 PDT (respectively), are combined here in a stereoscopic anaglyph. The more recent, slightly better quality image is in the red channel, while the earlier image is shown in the blue and green channels. Only the overlap portion of the images is included in the composite.Image 23503 was taken at a viewing angle of 31.6° from vertical; 25403 was taken at an angle of 22.4°, for a difference of 9.4°. Although this is not as large a difference as is typically used in stereo mapping, it is sufficient to provide some indication of relief, at least in locations of high relief.The image shows the raised rims and deep interiors of the larger impact craters in the area (the largest crater is about 650 m/2100 feet across). It shows that the relief on the ridges is very subtle, and that, in general, the Viking landing site is very flat. This result is, of course, expected: the VL-1 site was chosen specifically because it was likely to have low to very low slopes that represented potential hazards to the spacecraft.Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of the extensive lava flows that comprise Daedalia Planum. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows part of the extensive lava flows that comprise Daedalia Planum. These flows originate at Arsia Mons, the southernmost of the three large aligned volcanoes in the Tharsis region of Mars. The different surface textures relate to properties like viscosity and temperature of the molten lava as it flowed and then cooled into solid rock.Orbit Number: 81052 Latitude: -21.9464 Longitude: 238.195 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2020-03-23 03:13Please 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 an unnamed region of fractures and graben, located south of Solis Planum, between Claitas Fossae and Coracis Fossae. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows an unnamed region of fractures and graben. Located south of Solis Planum, between Claitas Fossae and Coracis Fossae, this region of fossae has the same appearance and graben orientation of the bordering named Fossae. Fossae are long linear depressions called graben and are formed by extension of the crust and faulting. When large amounts of pressure or tension are applied to rocks on timescales that are fast enough that the rock cannot respond by deforming, the rock breaks along faults. In the case of a graben, two parallel faults are formed by extension of the crust and the rock in between the faults drops downward into the space created by the extension.Orbit Number: 91764 Latitude: -36.7342 Longitude: 272.1 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-08-22 02:55Please 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 especially strong martian magnetic fields in the southern highlands near the Terra Cimmeria and Terra Sirenum regions, centered around 180 degrees longitude from the equator to the pole. | The radial magnetic field measured is color coded on a global perspective view that shows measurements derived from spacecraft tracks below 200 km overlain on a monochrome shaded relief map of the topography.This image shows especially strong Martian magnetic fields in the southern highlands near the Terra Cimmeria and Terra Sirenum regions, centered around 180 degrees longitude from the equator to the pole. It is where magnetic stripes possibly resulting from crustal movement are most prominent. The bands are oriented approximately east - west and are about 100 miles wide and 600 miles long, although the longest band stretches more than 1200 miles.The false blue and red colors represent invisible magnetic fields in the Martian crust that point in opposite directions. The magnetic fields appear to be organized in bands, with adjacent bands pointing in opposite directions, giving these stripes a striking similarity to patterns seen in the Earth's crust at the mid-oceanic ridges.These data were compiled by the MGS Magnetometer Team led by Mario Acuna at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. | |
Spirit View of 'Wishstone' (False Color) | Figure 1Scientists working with NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit decided to examine this rock, dubbed "Wishstone," based on data from the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. That instrument's data indicated that the mineralogy of the rocks in this area is different from that of rocks encountered either on the plains of Gusev Crater or in bedrock outcrops examined so far in the "Columbia Hills" inside the crater. Spirit used its rock abrasion tool first to scour a patch of the rock's surface with a wire brush, then to grind away the surface to reveal interior material. Placement of the rover's alpha particle X-ray spectrometer on the exposed circle of interior material revealed that the rock is rich in phosphorus. Spirit used its panoramic camera during the rover's 342nd martian day, or sol, (Dec. 18, 2004) to take the three individual images that were combined to produce this false-color view emphasizing the freshly ground dust around the hole cut by the rock abrasion tool.Unusually Rich in PhosophorusThe graph in figure 1 compares the elemental makeup of a rock dubbed "Wishstone" with the average composition of rocks that Spirit examined on the western spur of the "Columbia Hills." Wishstone lies farther into the hills than that spur. It is richer in phosphorus than any other Mars rock ever examined. Scientists plan to examine other rocks near Wishstone to help explain the significance of the high phosphorus concentration. The vertical scale is the ratio of the concentration of an element in the hills rocks to the concentration of the same element in a typical volcanic rock from the plains that Spirit crossed to reach the hills. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a landscape of Mars' south polar residual cap dominated by layered, frozen carbon dioxide ('dry ice') that has been eroded into a variety of pits, troughs, buttes, and mesas. | The portion of the martian south polar cap that persists through each southern hemisphere summer is known as the residual cap. This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a 2.9 by 4.8 km (1.8 by 3 mi) area of the south polar residual cap as it appeared in mid-summer on 23 February 2000. The landscape of the south polar residual cap is dominated by layered, frozen carbon dioxide ("dry ice") that has been eroded into a variety of pits, troughs, buttes, and mesas. Commonly, the pits are circular and the mesa scarps are arcuate. In summer, as carbon dioxide is subliming away, the scarps bounding the pits and mesas darken. The darkened slopes may indicate that small amounts of dust are present, mixed-in with the ice. The ice is layered, indicating many cycles of deposition preceded the present period of sublimation and erosion. Recent MGS MOC images acquired in 2001 have indicated that the scarps are retreating an average of 3 meters (3.3 yards) per martian year. As more carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere each southern spring and summer, the atmospheric pressure of Mars may increase such that it could double in a few hundred to a thousand Mars years (687 Earth days = 1 Mars year). The picture shown here is from MOC image M12-02295 and is illuminated by sunlight from the lower right.A version of this picture appears on the cover of the December 7, 2001, issue ofScience and accompanies a paper regarding the MGS MOC discovery of evidence for martian climate change. | |
Layer upon layer of volcanic flows make up Daedalia Planum as shown in this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context imageLayer upon layer of volcanic flows make up Daedalia Planum.Orbit Number: 47866 Latitude: -19.709 Longitude: 241.323 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-09-28 09:24Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows the eastern third of an impact crater located in Acidalia Planitia on Mars featuring the walls, raised rim, and ejecta material thrown out of the crater during this blast. | Click here to view a full res version of MOC2_163a.This pair of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images shows the eastern third of a 4 kilometer-diameter impact crater located in Acidalia Planitia. The picture on the left is a MOC red wide angle camera context frame. It was taken at the same time as the narrow angle (i.e., high-resolution) camera image (right). Impact craters form by the sudden release of energy when an asteroid slams into a planet's surface at many miles per second. The high resolution MOC view (right) shows the walls, raised rim, and ejecta material thrown out of the crater during this blast. Similar features are seen at the famous Meteor Crater in northern Arizona, U.S.A.--except that this martian example is about 4 times larger than the one in North America. In this example, faint radial and concentric ridges and cracks in the crater ejecta are believed to arise from the motion of ejected material in a manner similar to thick pancake batter flowing across the surface.The wide angle view (left) shows that many of the craters in Acidalia Planitia have a bright streak formed by wind transport of dust or sand. The narrow angle image (right) covers the full field of view of the MOC narrow angle camera -- i.e., an area that is 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) wide. Both images are illuminated from the left/lower left. The images were acquired on July 15, 1999. The crater is located at 34.3°N latitude, 42.9°W longitude.Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. | |
Spirit's Trip to the Hills | Figure 1Figure 2
Spirit Total Traverse Map (sol 190, July 16, 2004)
In figure 1, the yellow line on this map illustrates the total path traveled by
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during its mission. Spirit landed at the
starting point at Gusev Crater on Jan. 3, 2004, and has since traveled about
3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) to reach "West Spur" at the "Columbia Hills." Also
seen on the map are "Bonneville" and "Missoula" craters. The blue dotted
line illustrates the energy-efficient path planned for Spirit to reach intriguing
rock outcrops atop "West Spur."
In figure 2, the map illustrates the NASA Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's
position at the base of the "Columbia Hills" from sols 183 to 187 (July 9 to
13, 2004). The dotted blue line indicates the rover's planned energy-efficient
path to climb the hill and reach the intriguing rock outcrops at the top of
"West Spur."
The maps were created using data from the camera on NASA's Mars Global
Surveyor orbiter.
Image credit for figures 1 and 2: NASA/JPL/MSSS/ASU/New Mexico
Museum of Natural History and Science | |
This image acquired on April 9, 2023 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows that while surface ice deposits are mostly limited to the polar caps, patterns of slow, viscous flow abound in many non-polar regions of Mars. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionThe surface of Mars is littered with examples of glacier-like landforms. While surface ice deposits are mostly limited to the polar caps, patterns of slow, viscous flow abound in many non-polar regions of Mars.Streamlines that appear as linear ridges in the surface soils and rocky debris are often exposed on top of infilling deposits that coat crater and valley floors. We see such patterns on the surfaces of Earth's icy glaciers and debris-covered "rock glaciers." As ice flows downhill, rock and soil are plucked from the surrounding landscape and ferried along the flowing ice surface and within the icy subsurface. While this process is gradual, taking perhaps thousands of years or longer, it creates a network of linear patterns that reveal the history of ice flow.Later and under warmer conditions, the ice may be lost through melting or sublimation. (Sublimation is the evaporation of ice directly from solid to gas without the presence of liquid.) Rock and minerals concentrated in these long ridges are then left behind, draped over the preexisting landscape.The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 29.7 centimeters [11.7 inches] per pixel [with 1 x 1 binning]; objects on the order of 89 centimeters [35.0 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. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows dust devils, spinning, columnar vortices of wind that move across the landscape, pick up dust, and look somewhat like miniature tornadoes in Amazonis Planitia on Mars. | One objective for the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) in the Extended Mission is to continue looking for changes and dynamic events taking place on the red planet. The feature shown here elicited gasps of excitement among the MOC Operations Staff when it was received in early April 2001.The feature is a dust devil. Dust devils are spinning, columnar vortices of wind that move across the landscape, pick up dust, and look somewhat like miniature tornadoes. Dust devils are a common occurrence in dry and desert landscapes on Earth as well as Mars. When this dust devil was spied in Amazonis Planitia on April 10th, the MOC was looking straight down. Usually when the camera is looking down the dust devil will appear as a circular, fuzzy patch with a straight shadow indicating its columnar shape. In this case, however, the dust devil is somewhat curved and kinked--its shape is best seen in the shadow it casts to the right. A thin, light-toned track has been left by the dust devil as it moved eastward across the landscape. Usually, such tracks are darker than the surroundings, in this case the light tone might indicate that the dust being removed by the passing dust devil is darker than the surface underneath the thin veneer of dust.Dust devils most typically form when the ground heats up during the day, warming the air immediately above the surface. As the warmed air nearest the surface begins to rise, it spins. The spinning column begins to move across the surface and picks up loose dust (if any is present). The dust makes the vortex visible and gives it the "dust devil" or tornado-like appearance. This dust devil occurred at an optimal time for dust devils whether on Earth or Mars--around 2 p.m. local time in the middle of Northern Hemisphere Summer. North is up, sunlight illuminates the scene from the left (west), and 500 meters is about 547 yards. The shadow cast by the dust devil goes off the edge of the image, but the length shown here (about 1.5 km) indicates that the dust devil was a bit more than 1 km (0.62 mi) in height. | |
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover took this 360-degree panorama at a drill site nicknamed Avanavero on June 20, 2022. In its decade on the Red Planet, the rover has used the drill on its robotic arm to collect 41 rock and soil samples for analysis. | NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to take this 360-degree panorama of at the "Avanavero" drill site. The panorama is made up of 127 individual images taken on June 20, 2022, the 3,509th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, and stitched together back on Earth. The color has been adjusted to match the lighting conditions as the human eye would perceive them on Earth.At this location, Curiosity used the drill on its robotic arm to collect a rock sample for analysis by laboratory instruments inside the vehicle. It has collected more than three dozen such samples in its decade on the Red Planet.In the center of the panorama is a gap between two hills – nicknamed "Paraitepuy Pass" – that Curiosity is currently driving through; beyond it is a layered sulfate-bearing region, which represents a drier, saltier era in the history of Mount Sharp, the 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain the rover has been ascending since 2014.Curiosity was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which leads the mission on behalf of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam.For more about Curiosity, visit http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl or https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html. | |
This view of the undisturbed surface of a Martian sand dune called 'High Dune' visited by NASA's Curiosity rover shows coarse grains remaining on the surface after wind removal of smaller particles. | This view of the undisturbed surface of a Martian sand dune called "High Dune" visited by NASA's Curiosity rover shows coarse grains remaining on the surface after wind removal of smaller particles. The image covers an area 1.4 inches by 1.1 inches (3.6 by 2.7 centimeters). It was taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the rover's arm on Dec. 5, 2015, during the 1,184th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The imaged location is near the base of the dune. High Dune, in the Bagnold Dunes field skirting the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp, is the first sand dune studied in place anywhere except Earth. What distinguishes actual dunes from windblown ripples of sand or dust, like those found at several sites visited previously by Mars rovers, is that dunes form a downwind face steep enough for sand to slide down.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 acquired on January 2, 2014 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows dune fields located among canyon wall slopes. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionThis image was acquired on January 2, 2014 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Dune fields located among canyon wall slopes are also known as "wall dune fields" and are further identified as either climbing or falling. Falling dunes are defined as large bedforms with lee faces on the downhill side-indicating that this is the direction of their migration-and on moderate slopes greater than 10 to 12 degrees. (A lee face is the the down-wind side of a dune.)On Earth and Mars, these types of dunes are largely controlled by what is called "microtopography." Physical obstacles can accelerate and decelerate airflow, create turbulence, potentially enhancing erosion, deposition, and/or transport of dune sediment. This class of dune morphology is relatively rare across Mars. However, falling dunes (like these) and climbing fields are frequently located among the spur-and-gully walls in the Melas and Coprates chasmata (see the paper here). Here is one example, of active falling dunes on this large massif in east Coprates Chasma.Additional information: ESP_053739_1650, Digital terrain mapThe map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 27.7 centimeters (10.9 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 83 centimeters (32.7 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.This is a stereo pair with ESP_035278_1655.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. | |
The smaller crater within the larger crater is called Gasa Crater, as shown in this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image The smaller crater within the larger crater is called Gasa Crater (the larger crater is unnamed). Gullies dissect the inner rims of both craters.Orbit Number: 65538 Latitude: -35.6842 Longitude: 129.44 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-09-22 06:02Please 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 Global Surveyor shows some of the complex flow and channel features of the Olympica Fossae region on Mars in northern Tharsis. | MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-500, 1 October 2003This 500th Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) captioned release shows some of the complex flow and channel features of the Olympica Fossae region in northern Tharsis. The story of the Olympica Fossae is still emerging and continues to be puzzling. There is evidence in the Olympica Fossae channels that a fluid with the physical properties of water may have been involved in creating some of the erosional forms, but there are also flow features suggestive of lava or mud in the region. Regardless, the Olympica Fossae almost always yield a very pretty and interesting MOC high resolution image. This picture is located near 24.5°N, 115.4°W. The area shown is 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and illuminated by sunlight from the lower left. | |
This is a close-up view of the zones where the soil at Curiosity's landing site was blown away by the thrusters on the rover's descent stage. The excavation of the soil reveals probable bedrock outcrop. | This is a close-up view of the zones where the soil at Curiosity's landing site was blown away by the thrusters on the rover's descent stage. The excavation of the soil reveals probable bedrock outcrop. This is important because it shows the shallow depth of the soil in this area. The area surrounding the zones of excavation shows abundant small rocks that may form a pavement-like layer above harder bedrock.This full-resolution image was taken by the rover's Navigation camera.
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 acquired on July 21, 2019 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the mid-latitudes of Mars, draped with deposits of water ice and dust on the order of tens of meters thick. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionThe mid-latitudes of Mars are draped with deposits of water ice and dust on the order of tens of meters thick. The deposits are preserved to varying degrees, depending on latitude and the degree of dust cover that insulates and protects the ice from subliming away. These mantling deposits are thought to have been mobilized from the polar caps and redeposited from the atmosphere millions of years ago during periods when Mars' axial tilt was higher than it is today.The floor of this crater appears filled with such deposits, as evidenced by surface textures such as pits, hollows, grooves, and other small filled craters. The material has undergone viscous flow, resulting in many curved ridges. Much of the original ice may have been lost to sublimation, but it is likely that a significant amount of ice remains.The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 29.6 centimeters [11.7 inches] per pixel [with 1 x 1 binning]; objects on the order of 89 centimeters [35.0 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 360-degree three dimensional anaglyph view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit highlights Gusev crater on sol 142. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image. | This 360-degree stereo anaglyph of the terrain surrounding NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on the 142nd martian day of the rover's mission inside Gusev Crater, on May 27, 2004, was assembled from images taken by Spirit's navigation camera. The rover's position is Site A55. The view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometrical seam correction.See PIA06027 for left eye view and PIA06028 for right eye view of this 3-D cylindrical-perspective projection. | |
This mantle observed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is thought to be deposited as snow during periods when the angle of the tilt of Mars' rotational axis-called obliquity-is much higher, which last happened around 10 million years ago. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionThe mid-latitudes of Mars (approximately 30 to 60 degrees, north and south) are covered in ice-rich mantling deposits in varying states of degradation.This mantle is thought to be deposited as snow during periods when the angle of the tilt of Mars' rotational axis-called obliquity-is much higher, which last happened around 10 million years ago.This HiRISE image shows terrain typical of these mantling deposits in the Southern Hemisphere, east of Reull Vallis. The pitted texture suggests that ice is sublimating out from the deposits as the region is warmed under current lower obliquity conditions.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. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took this 360-degree panorama in 2005 after Opportunity had driven 64 meters (209 feet) on sol 381 to arrive at this location close to a small crater dubbed 'Alvin.' This image is a polar projection. | NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera on the rover's 381st and 382nd martian days, or sols, (Feb. 18 and 19, 2005) to take the images combined into this 360-degree panorama. Opportunity had driven 64 meters (209 feet) on sol 381 to arrive at this location close to a small crater dubbed "Alvin." The location is catalogued as Opportunity's Site 43. This view is presented in a polar projection with geometric seam correction. | |
Image of NASA's Pathfinder Lander on Mars taken from Sojourner Rover left front camera on sol 33. The IMP (on the lattice mast) is looking at the rover. Airbags are prominent, and the meteorology mast is shown to the right. Sol 1 began on July 4, 1997. | Image of Pathfinder Lander on Mars taken from Sojourner Rover left front camera on sol 33. The IMP (on the lattice mast) is looking at the rover. Airbags are prominent, and the meteorology mast is shown to the right. Lowermost rock is "Ender," with "Hassock" behind it and "Yogi" on the other side of the lander.NOTE: original caption as published in Science magazine.
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. | |
In the foreground of this image from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit are two rocks dubbed 'Sashimi' and 'Sushi.' | This image from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit hazard identification camera shows the rover's perspective just before its first post-egress drive on Mars. On Sunday, the 15th martian day, or sol, of Spirit's journey, engineers drove Spirit approximately 3 meters (10 feet) toward its first rock target, a football-sized, mountain-shaped rock called Adirondack (not pictured). In the foreground of this image are "Sashimi" and "Sushi" - two rocks that scientists considered investigating first. Ultimately, these rocks were not chosen because their rough and dusty surfaces are ill-suited for grinding. | |
A portion of the rim and interior of the large impact crater Schiaparelli is seen at different resolutions in images acquired October 18, 1997 by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. | A portion of the rim and interior of the large impact crater Schiaparelli is seen at high resolution in this image acquired October 18, 1997 by the Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter Camera (MOC). The area covered is very small--3.9 X 10.2 km (2.4 X 6.33 mi)--but is seen at 63 times higher resolution than the Viking image. The subdued relief and bright surface are attributed to blanketing by dust; many small craters have been completely filled in, and only the most recent (and very small) craters appear sharp and bowl-shaped. Some of the small craters are only 10-12 m (30-35 feet) across. Occasional dark streaks on steeper slopes are small debris slides that have probably occurred in the past few decades. The two prominent, narrow ridges in the center of the image may be related to the adjustment of the crater floor to age or the weight of the material filling the basin.Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows dark spots formed in carbon dioxide frost that covers the surfaces of patches of sand in Mars' south polar region. | 19 June 2005This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dark spots formed in carbon dioxide frost that covers the surfaces of patches of sand in the south polar region. As spring arrived this year in the martian southern hemisphere, so began the annual defrosting process. The fact that sand dunes begin to defrost earlier than other surfaces, and that the defrosting process involves the formation of spots like these, has been known since the earliest days of the MGS mission.Location near: 66.8°S, 15.7°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Southern Spring | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a linear feature, a tectonic graben, part of Sirenum Fossae. | Context imageThe linear feature in this VIS image is part of Sirenum Fossae. The linear feature is a tectonic graben. Graben are formed by extension of the crust and faulting. When large amounts of pressure or tension are applied to rocks on timescales that are fast enough that the rock cannot respond by deforming, the rock breaks along faults. In the case of a graben, two parallel faults are formed by extension of the crust and the rock in between the faults drops downward into the space created by the extension. The graben in this THEMIS image is aligned trending from north-northeast to south-southwest. Because the faults defining the graben are formed perpendicular to the direction of the applied stress, we know that extensional forces were pulling the crust apart in the west-northwest/east-southeast direction. The Sirenum Fossae graben are 2735km (1700 miles) long and stretch from eastern Terra Sirenum into western Daedalia Planum.Orbit Number: 91854 Latitude: -35.8913 Longitude: 195.821 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-08-29 12:46Please 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. | |
These yardangs are being formed by wind erosion of the Memnonia Sulci deposits on Mars as seen by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey. | Context image for PIA02172Memnonia SulciThese yardangs are being formed by wind erosion of the Memnonia Sulci deposits.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -7.4N, Longitude 187.9E. 17 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. |
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