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Alluvial Fans in Mojave Crater: Did It Rain on Mars? | Click on image for larger versionThis HiRISE image at up to 29 cm/pixel scale supports the alluvial fan interpretation, in particular by showing that the sizes of the largest rocks decrease away from the mouths of the fans. Aptly-named Mojave crater in the Xanthe Terra region has alluvial fans that look remarkably similar to landforms in the Mojave Desert of southeastern California and portions of Nevada and Arizona. Alluvial fans are fan-shaped deposits of water-transported material (alluvium). They typically form at the base of hills or mountains where there is a marked break, or flattening of slope. They typically deposit big rocks near their mouths (close to the mountains) and smaller rocks at greater distances. Alluvial fans form as a result of heavy desert downpours, typically thundershowers. Because deserts are poorly vegetated, heavy and short-lived downpours create a great deal of erosion and nearby deposition. There are fans inside and around the outsides of Mojave crater on Mars that perfectly match the morphology of alluvial fans on Earth, with the exception of a few small impact craters dotting this Martian landscape. Channels begin at the apex of topographic ridges, consistent with precipitation as the source of water, rather than groundwater. This remarkable landscape was first discovered from Mars Orbital Camera images. Mars researchers have suggested that impact-induced atmospheric precipitation may have created these unique landscapes.Image PSP_001415_1875 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on November 14, 2006. The complete image is centered at 7.6 degrees latitude, 327.4 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 273.5 km (170.9 miles). At this distance the image scale ranges from 27.4 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) to 109.4 cm/pixel (with 4 x 4 binning). The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 cm/pixel and north is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:29 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 52 degrees, thus the sun was about 38 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 135.4 degrees, the season on Mars is Northern Summer.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo. | |
This sealed titanium sample tube contains Perseverance's first cored sample of Mars rock. The rover's Sampling and Caching System Camera (known as CacheCam) captured this image. | Click here for animationThe first cored sample of Mars rock acquired by NASA's Perseverance rover is sealed inside its titanium container tube in this image taken by rover's Sampling and Caching System Camera (known as CacheCam). The image was taken on Sept. 6, 2021 (the 194th sol, or Martian day, of the mission), after the seal was attached and hermetically fixed in place onto the tube. The seal's item and serial numbers can be seen near the center of the disk.An additional set of images shows the tube before and after sealing. Perseverance engineers designed a visual check to confirm the hermetic seal. The distance between the two rings outside the item and serial numbers increases. 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 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 color image of a crater rim mantled with fine dust on Mars. | MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-457, 19 August 2003This June 2003 Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a crater rim mantled with fine dust near 7.6°N, 171.8°W. Occasional avalanches of dust have created dark streaks that are tapered at their source and broaden downslope. A suite of particularly large streaks are seen in the lower right quarter of the picture. The MOC narrow angle camera does not take color images; this full-resolution (1.5 m/pixel; 5 ft/pixel) picture has been "colorized" using data from a previous color image of Mars. Sunlight illuminates this scene from the lower left. | |
This lunar-like scene, imaged by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft, occurs along the southeastern rim of the Isidis Planitia basin, an ancient impact crater some 1200 km across. | (Released 03 April 2002)This lunar-like scene occurs along the southeastern rim of the Isidis Planitia basin. The Isidis basin is an ancient impact crater some 1200 km across that is found along the boundary separating the heavily-cratered southern highland terrain of Mars from the northern lowlands. Elements of both terrains are evident in this image as an island of rugged highland terrain surrounded by smoother lowland terrain. The resurfacing of the Isidis basin produced a system of wrinkle ridges, some of which are seen on the lowland terrain in the image. Wrinkle ridges are a common feature on the surface of the moon and add to the lunar-like quality of this image. Layers are visible in the large island, the most resistant of which likely are from lava flows that created the highland terrain. The process by which the global-scale highland/lowland dichotomy was created remains a mystery. | |
Eolian Features Provide a Glimpse of Candor Chasma Mineralology | This image of Candor Chasma's eastern end was taken by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) at 0655 UTC (2:55 a.m. EDT) on March 24, 2007. CRISM's image captured 544 colors covering 0.36-3.92 micrometers, and shows features as small as 100 meters (330 feet) across. The region covered is roughly 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) at its narrowest point. Designed to look for a variety of materials on the walls and floor of Candor Chasma, this CRISM observation is somewhat unique in that it is extended along an extended path across the chasma floor to capture extra territory at the expense of spatial resolution. Candor Chasma is a deep, elongated, steep-sided depression some 813 kilometers (505 miles) in length. It is one of two large chasmata that make up the northern end of the Valles Marineris system. The top image, which illustrates the long path CRISM's cameras scanned to extend the observation in the along-track direction, shows the CRISM image on top of a mosaic of images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on Mars Odyssey. The lower two false-color images offer a glimpse of the topography and mineralogy contained within this large chasma. These views were constructed by draping the CRISM images over topography, and viewing the surface in perspective from the northeast. The southern part of CRISM's swath (to the left) covers interior layered deposits along with low ridges (far left) that are an erosional remnant of the chasma wall. The northern end (to the right) reveals the older, eroded chasma wall material, as well as the chasma floor. White lines in the images represent gaps in the data due to the stretching of the image. The erosive Martian wind appears to have removed dust and debris covering monohydrated sulfate-rich mineral deposits (bright green). Wind-abraded ridges of layered sediments (image center) reveal these deposits more readily, while ridges to the north and south also appear to retain more of a cover of obscuring dust.CRISM is one of six science instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Led by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., the CRISM team includes expertise from universities, government agencies and small businesses in the United States and abroad. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars Science Laboratory for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the orbiter. | |
Exposure of Polar Layered Deposits | Image PSP_001342_2680 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on November 9, 2006. The complete image is centered at 88.0 degrees latitude, 62.5 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 318.8 km (199.3 miles). At this distance the image scale is 31.9 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~96 cm across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 cm/pixel. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 9:29 AM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 70 degrees, thus the sun was about 20 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 132.6 degrees, the season on Mars is Northern Summer.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo. | |
The dunes in this image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are located right at the edge of the polar cap. | Context imageThe dunes in this VIS image are located right at the edge of the polar cap.Orbit Number: 55188 Latitude: 83.2929 Longitude: 118.562 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-05-23 23:53Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This sharp, close-up image taken by the microscopic imager on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's instrument deployment device, or 'arm,' shows a rock target dubbed 'Robert E,' located on the rock outcrop at Meridiani Planum, Mars. | This sharp, close-up image taken by the microscopic imager on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's instrument deployment device, or "arm," shows a rock target dubbed "Robert E," located on the rock outcrop at Meridiani Planum, Mars. Scientists are studying the spherule, or small sphere, in the center of the image that appears to be protruding from the rock formation. This image measures 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) across and was taken on the 15th day of Opportunity's journey (Feb. 8, 2004). | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey released on April 23, 2004 shows craters in the Noachis Terra Region in the southern hemisphere of Mars. | Released 23 April 2004The image you see before you was taken in the Noachis Terra Region in the Southern hemisphere of Mars. The two most prominent features in this photo are the relatively large impact craters, one located towards the top of the image, and one located in the lower area. This image was chosen for this particular MSIP project because the area was in a rocky region that was in located within latitudes known to have gully formations in the walls of local craters. Therefore, the craters appeared to be likely candidates to try and determine if gully formation in crater walls are more likely to form on the pole or equator-facing wall of the crater.Our team, from the Klein High School Astronomy Club, included four students--two sophomores, a junior, and a senior, plus our club astronomer/teacher, and our sponsor. As part of the astronomy club, the team is all volunteer, and is involved in other astronomical activities in the community. We are from Klein, Texas, which is a suburb of Houston, Texas.Three returning team members are participating in our MSIP project again this year.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -30.5, Longitude 356.1 East (3.9 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.NASA and Arizona State University's Mars Education Program is offering students nationwide the opportunity to be involved in authentic Mars research by participating in the Mars Student Imaging Project (MSIP). Teams of students in grades 5 through college sophomore level have the opportunity to work with scientists, mission planners and educators on the THEMIS team at ASU's Mars Space Flight Facility, to image a site on Mars using the THEMIS visible wavelength camera. For more information go to the MSIP website: http://msip.asu.edu.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 ancient channels and valleys through which liquids once flowed. In the Aeolis region of Mars, wind erosion has exposed and inverted a plethora of ancient channels, stream beds, in a fan-shaped sedimentary rock. | 17 November 2004Mars was once a much wetter world than it is today. Locked within the martian bedrock are ancient channels and valleys through which liquids -- e.g., water -- once flowed. In the Aeolis region of Mars, wind erosion has exposed and inverted a plethora of ancient channels - stream beds -- in a fan-shaped sedimentary rock unit near 6.3°S, 208.6°W. This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an example. The smooth-looking, sinuous ridges that run left-right across the image are the inverted channels. The rugged, sharp-looking ridges that run nearly north-south (up-down) through the image are yardangs--ridges formed by wind erosion. The water (or other liquid) responsible for the original channels flowed from the left (west) to right/upper right (east/northeast). This scene covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) across, and is illuminated by sunlight from the upper left. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows dunes, located on the complex floor of Rabe Crater. | Context imageThe dunes seen in this VIS image are located on the complex floor of Rabe Crater. The sand is likely derived by erosion into the deposit that fills most of the crater floor, creating a pit which hosts the dunes. Rabe Crater is located in Noachis Terra and is 108km in diameter (67 miles).Orbit Number: 84285 Latitude: -44.1162 Longitude: 34.3444 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2020-12-14 07:25Please 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 channels carved by catastrophic floods in the Tharsis region of Mars. This area is located northwest of the volcano, Jovis Tholus, and east of the large martian volcano, Olympus Mons. | 18 July 2005This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows channels carved by catastrophic floods in the Tharsis region of Mars. This area is located northwest of the volcano, Jovis Tholus, and east of the large martian volcano, Olympus Mons. The terrain is presently mantled with fine dust.Location near: 10.5°N, 203.4°WImage width: width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season: Northern Autumn | |
A computer graphics model of NASA's Opportunity lander and rover are super-imposed on top of the martian terrain where Opportunity landed. | PIA05265A computer graphics model of the Opportunity lander and rover are super-imposed on top of the martian terrain where Opportunity landed. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a small part of Daedalia Planum. The lava flows originate from Arsia Mons, one of the large volcanoes in the Tharsis region. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a small part of Daedalia Planum. The lava flows originate from Arsia Mons, one of the large volcanoes in the Tharsis region. The different surface textures are created by differences in the lava viscosity and cooling rates. The lobate margins of each flow can be traced back to the start of each flow — or to the point where they are covered by younger flows. Flows in Daedalia Planum can be as long as 180 km.Orbit Number: 81888 Latitude: -22.8438 Longitude: 240.412 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2020-05-30 23:16Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows an impact crater, roughly the size of the famous Meteor Crater in northern Arizona, U.S.A., in western Elysium Planitia on Mars. | 16 January 2006This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an impact crater, roughly the size of the famous Meteor Crater in northern Arizona, U.S.A., in western Elysium Planitia. Light-toned, windblown ripples of sediment have accumulated in subtle troughs and in the lee -- the downwind side -- of the crater.Location near: 28.4°N, 247.9°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season: Northern Winter | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows dunes on the floor of an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows dunes on the floor of an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra.Orbit Number: 58960 Latitude: -48.769 Longitude: 33.7843 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-03-30 11:31Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey released on March 29, 2004 shows part of the Apsus Vallis region on Mars. The image shows a typical channel formation with island created in it. | Released 29 March 2004The Odyssey spacecraft has completed a full Mars year of observations of the red planet. For the next several weeks the Image of the Day will look back over this first mars year. It will focus on four themes: 1) the poles - with the seasonal changes seen in the retreat and expansion of the caps; 2) craters - with a variety of morphologies relating to impact materials and later alteration, both infilling and exhumation; 3) channels - the clues to liquid surface flow; and 4) volcanic flow features. While some images have helped answer questions about the history of Mars, many have raised new questions that are still being investigated as Odyssey continues collecting data as it orbits Mars.This false color image shows part of the Apsus Vallis region. It was collected February 2, 2003 during northern summer season. The local time is 5pm. The image shows a typical channel formation with island created in it.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 35.1, Longitude 135 East (225 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image acquired on January 21, 2019 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the south polar layered deposits are well illuminated to accentuate the topography. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionThe south polar layered deposits are icy layers that have been deposited over millions of years, preserving a climate history of Mars. In this image the layers are well illuminated to accentuate the topography. A prior image of this location was acquired with the layered slope facing away from the sun, placing the layers in shadow. (The top of the cutout image is at a higher elevation.)The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 49.9 centimeters [19.6 inches] per pixel [with 2 x 2 binning]; objects on the order of 150 centimeters [59.1 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a small portion of Candor Chasma on Mars. Wind and water appear to have each played a part in eroding the materials within the chasma. | Context image for PIA11860Candor ChasmaThis VIS image shows a small portion of Candor Chasma. Wind and water appear to have each played a part in eroding the materials within the chasma.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -7.2N, Longitude 292.3E. 35 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 acquired on August 7, 1998 by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows ejecta from a nameless crater on the martian surface. | The Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) onboard the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft continued to obtain high resolution images of the red planet into August 1998. At this time, each ground track (the portion of Mars available for MOC imaging on a given orbit) covers areas from about 40°N on the late afternoon side of the planet, up over the sunlit north polar cap, and down the early morning side of Mars to about 20°N latitude. Early morning and late afternoon views provide good shadowing to reveal subtle details on the martian surface. Views of Mars with such excellent lighting conditions will not be seen by MOC once MGS's Science Phasing Orbits end in mid-September 1998.The image shown here, MOC image 47903, was targeted on Friday afternoon (PDT), August 7, 1998. This picture of ejecta from a nameless 9.1 kilometer (5.7 mile)-diameter crater was designed to take full advantage of the present lighting conditions. When the image was taken (around 5:38 p.m. (PDT) on Saturday, August 8, 1998), the Sun had just risen and was only about 6° above the eastern horizon. With the Sun so low in the local sky, the contrast between sunlit and shadowed surfaces allowed new, subtle details to be revealed on the surface of the crater ejecta deposit.The crater shown here has ejecta of a type that was first identified in Mariner 9 and Viking Orbiter images as "fluidized" ejecta. Ejecta is the material that is thrown out from the crater during the explosion that results when a meteor--piece of a comet or asteroid--collides with the planet. Fluidized ejecta is characterized by its lobate appearance, and sometimes by the presence of a ridge along the margin of the ejecta deposit. In the case of the crater shown here, there are two ridges that encircle the crater ejecta--this type of ejecta deposit is sometimes called a double-lobe rampart deposit. The MOC image shows that this particular crater also has "normal" ejecta that occurs out on the plains, beyond the outermost ridge of the main, fluidized ejecta deposit.Fluidized or "rampart" ejecta deposits have long been thought by many Mars scientists to result from an impact into a surface that contains water. The water would have been underground, and could have been frozen or liquid. According to the prevailing model, when the meteor hit, this water was released--along with tons of rock and debris--and the ejecta flowed like mud. Images with resolutions higher than those presently attainable from the 11.6 hr elliptical orbit are needed to see the specific features (such as large boulders "rafted" by the dense mud) that would confirm or refute this model. Such images may be acquired once MGS is in its mapping orbit.MOC image 47903 was received and processed by the MOC team at Malin Space Science Systems on Monday afternoon (PDT), August 10, 1998. The image center is located at 27.92°N latitude and 184.66°W longitude, in the northern Tartarus Montes region. | |
This image captured NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of a landslide deposit in Melas Chasma. | Context imageThis VIS image shows part of a landslide deposit in Melas Chasma.Orbit Number: 39514 Latitude: -10.6302 Longitude: 289.645 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-11-10 20:31Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This observation from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter covers an outcrop of possible cyclic bedding within a crater in Arabia Terra. | This observation covers an outcrop of possible cyclic bedding within a crater in Arabia Terra."Cyclic bedding" refers to a pattern of layering caused by repeated fluctuations in the amount of available sediment that creates new rock layers. These fluctuations are caused by long-term changes in the region's climate, with periods on the order of millions, or possibly hundreds of millions of years. It's possible that even the wobble of the planet might be a contributing factor to cyclic bedding.An image at HiRISE resolution can help evaluate the cyclicity of the beds, as well as test possible regional stratigraphic correlations, and perhaps, indications of a wetter past environment.HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows light-toned deposits along Coprates Chasma slopes. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionValles Marineris contains kilometers-thick light-toned layered sedimentary deposits along many of its floors. In this image, similar light-toned layered deposits are observed, except these are found along steeper wallrock slopes in Coprates Chasma.Compositional data from CRISM and also stereo images -- which we use to create 3D images -- can help scientists determine how these sediments were deposited and if they are the same as the thicker deposits seen along the chasma floors.This is a stereo pair with ESP_034975_1670.HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Ariadnes Colles. The term colles means hills or knobs. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows part of Ariadnes Colles. The term colles means hills or knobs. The hills appear brighter than the surrounding lowlands, likely due to relatively less dust cover. This image was taken early in the morning and the low sun angle is casting shadows to the left side of each hill. Ariadnes Colles is located in Terra Cimmeria.Orbit Number: 88629 Latitude: -34.3807 Longitude: 171.856 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-12-07 00:12Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander shows details of features on Mars in the background. Phoenix's parachute, backshell, heatshield, and impact site can also be seen. | This view is compiled of images from Phoenix's Stereo Surface Imager (SSI) camera that were taken on sols 1 and 3. The top portion has been stretched eight fold to show details of features in the background. Phoenix's parachute, backshell, heatshield, and impact site can also be seen.The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.Photojournal Note: As planned, the Phoenix lander, which landed May 25, 2008 23:53 UTC, ended communications in November 2008, about six months after landing, when its solar panels ceased operating in the dark Martian winter. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey released on March 19, 2004 shows what a typical crater on Mars would look like. | Released 19 March 2004The Odyssey spacecraft has completed a full Mars year of observations of the red planet. For the next several weeks the Image of the Day will look back over this first mars year. It will focus on four themes: 1) the poles - with the seasonal changes seen in the retreat and expansion of the caps; 2) craters - with a variety of morphologies relating to impact materials and later alteration, both infilling and exhumation; 3) channels - the clues to liquid surface flow; and 4) volcanic flow features. While some images have helped answer questions about the history of Mars, many have raised new questions that are still being investigated as Odyssey continues collecting data as it orbits Mars.This daytime VIS image was collected on February 15, 2003 during the northern summer season. This image shows what a typical crater would look like.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 54.7, Longitude 190.7 East (169.3 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image shows an overhead view of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity landing site at Meridiani Planum, nicknamed 'EagleCrater.' Light and dark soil targets and an airbag bounce are seen at this spot dubbed 'Neopolitan.' | This image shows an overhead view of the Mars Exploration RoverOpportunity landing site at Meridiani Planum, nicknamed "EagleCrater." Scientists are conducting a soil survey here to see how thesoils in this crater relate to the soils near the Meridiani Planum rockoutcrop, as well as on the plains outside the crater. Scientists havestudied the soils in great detail on the north and west sides of thecrater, and plan to study five more locations before Opportunity exits thecrater. As of sol 54 of Opportunity's journey (March 18, 2004), the rover isstationed at the sol 53 stop, located in the bottom right quadrant of thisimage. Scientists are examining light and dark soil targets at this spot,dubbed "Neopolitan" because it is a triple boundary between light soil,dark soil, and an airbag bounce mark.This 3-D visualization was displayed using software developed by NASA'sAmes Research Center and images from Opportunity's panoramic camera,taken while the rover was still on the lander.Figure 1Eagle Crater Traverse MapFigure 1 shows an overhead view of the Mars Exploration RoverOpportunity landing site at Meridiani Planum, nicknamed "EagleCrater." Scientists are conducting a soil survey here to see how thesoils in this crater relate to the soils by the Meridiani Planum rockoutcrop, as well as on the plains outside the crater. They have studiedthe soils in great detail on the north and west sides of the crater.Locations within the crater where scientists have taken microscopicimages of the soil are shown in blue.Figure 2Sampling "Eagle Crater"Scientists have studied five unique target soil patches on the south and east sides of the crater using the microscopic imager and Moessbauer spectrometer. "Goal 5" is a wind-rippled spot on the upper part of the crater, which the miniature thermal emission spectrometer shows is high in hematite content compared to other soils in the crater. "Neopolitan" lies on a triple boundary of a light soil unit, a dark soil unit and an airbag bounce mark. "Mudpie" was chosen to represent typical soils on the lower part of the crater that are relatively far from the outcrop. "Meringue" is a unique rippled area near the lander that features patches of "whitish" material in between the ripples. "Black Forest" is another upper crater soil unit but is low in hematite content based on data from the miniature thermal emission spectrometer. It also differs in appearance from the lower crater soils based on panoramic and navigation camera images. Arrows point to the area where Opportunity first attempted to exit the crater and the alternate route it ultimately took to reach the plains. | |
As northern summer approaches on Mars, dunes near the pole defrost and become darker appearing as shown in this image from NASA's Mars Odyssey captured on July 8, 2010. | Context imageAs northern summer approaches on Mars, dunes near the pole defrost and become darker appearing in VIS images.Orbit Number: 37996 Latitude: 78.9699 Longitude: 158.204 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-07-08 22:07Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows the Syrtis Major face of Mars in mid-November 2005. | 15 November 2005 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 324° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 324° occurs in mid-November 2005. 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 Winter/Southern Summer | |
This view of layers around the edge of a low plateau called 'Home Plate' inside Mars' Gusev Crater includes a feature that may be what geologists call a 'bomb sag' and interpret as evidence of an explosive event, such as a volcanic eruption | This view of layers around the edge of a low plateau called "Home Plate" inside Mars' Gusev Crater includes a feature that may be what geologists call a "bomb sag" and interpret as evidence of an explosive event, such as a volcanic eruption.The layers seen here are generally straight and parallel except in the lower right, where they dip around a greyish rock that is about 4 centimeters (about 1.5 inches) in diameter. When layered deposits are struck by a falling rock while the layers are still soft, this type of pattern can be created. The rock might have been lofted by a volcanic burst or as part of the material ejected by the crater-forming impact of a meteorite. The panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit acquired the exposures for this image on Spirit's 754th Martian day (Feb. 15, 2006). This view is an approximately true-color rendering mathematically generated from separate images taken through all of the left Pancam's 432-nanometer to 753-nanometer filters. | |
The circular feature seen in blue is the extremely cold martian south polar carbon dioxide ice cap as seen by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | This picture shows both a visible and a thermal infrared image taken by the thermal emission imaging system on NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft on November 2, 2001. The images were taken as part of the ongoing calibration and testing of the camera system as the spacecraft orbited Mars on its 13th revolution of the planet.The visible wavelength image, shown on the right in black and white, was obtained using one of the instrument's five visible filters. The spacecraft was approximately 22,000 kilometers (about 13,600 miles) above Mars looking down toward the south pole when this image was acquired. It is late spring in the martian southern hemisphere.The thermal infrared image, center, shows the temperature of the surface in color. The circular feature seen in blue is the extremely cold martian south polar carbon dioxide ice cap. The instrument has measured a temperature of minus 120 degrees Celsius (minus 184 degrees Fahrenheit) on the south polar ice cap. The polar cap is more than 900 kilometers (540 miles) in diameter at this time.The visible image shows additional details along the edge of the ice cap, as well as atmospheric hazes near the cap. The view of the surface appears hazy due to dust that still remains in the martian atmosphere from the massive martian dust storms that have occurred over the past several months.The infrared image covers a length of over 6,500 kilometers (3,900 miles) spanning the planet from limb to limb, with a resolution of approximately 5.5 kilometers per picture element, or pixel, (3.4 miles per pixel) at the point directly beneath the spacecraft. The visible image has a resolution of approximately 1 kilometer per pixel (.6 miles per pixel) and covers an area roughly the size of the states of Arizona and New Mexico combined.An annotated image is available at the same resolution in tiff format. Click the image to download (note: it is a 5.2 mB file)NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington D.C. The thermal-emission imaging system was developed at Arizona State University,Tempe, with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing, Santa Barbara, Calif. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
Dunes with several different forms are found on the floor of this unnamed crater in Noachis Terra on Mars as seen by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image for PIA11929Dunes in IRDunes with several different forms are found on the floor of this unnamed crater in Noachis Terra.Image information: IR instrument. Latitude -60.9N, Longitude 15.9E. 111 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 | 15 April 2004This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a mesa left standing when erosion created the Granicus Valles system, located west of the Elysium volcanoes near 27.8°N, 224.3°W. Dark dots at the base of the mesa's slopes and on the valley floor are large boulders. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left. | |
This image of part of Chryse Chaos shows landslide deposits at the head of the canyon. Chryse Chaos is part of a huge outflow channel on Mars. NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey captured this image on May 6, 2010. | Context imageThis VIS image of part of Chryse Chaos shows landslide deposits at the head of the canyon. Chryse Chaos is part of a huge outflow channel on Mars.Orbit Number: 37241 Latitude: 10.4894 Longitude: 318.464 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-05-07 18:31Please 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 repeated layers of material, possibly a combination of dust and ice, or perhaps ancient sedimentary rock, exposed by erosion on a slope in the south polar region of Mars. | 7 June 2006This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows repeated layers of material, possibly a combination of dust and ice, or perhaps ancient sedimentary rock, exposed by erosion on a slope in the south polar region of Mars.Location near: 83.9°S, 257.8°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Southern Summer | |
Et-Then' is located near the rover's front left wheel, where the rover has been stationed while scooping soil at the site called 'Rocknest' in this image from NASA's Curiosity spacecraft. | The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took this image of a rock called "Et-Then" during the mission's 82nd sol, or Martian day (Oct. 29, 2012.) The rock's informal name comes from the name of an island in Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. MAHLI viewed the rock from a distance of about 15.8 inches (40 centimeters). The image covers an area about 9.5 inches by 7 inches (24 centimeters by 18 centimeters). "Et-Then" is located near the rover's front left wheel, where the rover has been stationed while scooping soil at the site called "Rocknest."This is one of three images acquired by MAHLI from slightly different positions so that a three-dimensional information could be used to plan possible future examination of the rock.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 mosaic combines four frames taken by the microscopic imager on NASA's Opportunity's robotic arm on Oct. 2, 2016 showing relatively bright outcropping of rock, dubbed 'Gasconade' on the western edge of Mars' Endeavour Crater. | Figure 1Click on the image for larger versionThis relatively bright outcropping of rock, dubbed "Gasconade," was investigated by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity while the rover was perched on "Spirit Mound" at the western edge of Mars' Endeavour Crater.This mosaic combines four frames taken by the microscopic imager on Opportunity's robotic arm on Oct. 2, 2016, during the 4,512st Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. Enhanced color information from Opportunity's panoramic camera has been added to emphasize differences in the materials visible in the target. Figure A is a version with no color information added to the microscopic imager mosaic.The view covers an area about 2 inches (5 centimeters) wide. Opportunity's inspection found Gasconade to be a wind-etched outcrop with angular bits of darker rock within a lighter matrix, which may have been formed from fallout of the impact event that excavated the crater.This location of Spirit Mound, shown at PIA20854, is the deeper on the western rim of Endeavour Crater than any site visited previously by Opportunity.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 a cross section of Nicholson Crater. The central peak of this crater is surrounded by a layered deposit that rises 3.5km (2 miles) above the crater floor. | Context imageToday's image shows a cross section of Nicholson Crater. The central peak of this crater is surrounded by a layered deposit that rises 3.5km (2 miles) above the crater floor. This central mound of material has undergone extensive wind erosion, with yardangs visible on the on most of the mound. These features are created by long term winds scouring a poor cemented surface material into linear ridges and valleys. The direction of the ridge/valley is aligned with the wind direction. The dominant wind direction in this region of the mound is along a north/south trend. However, other wind directions can occur within a localized region, as evidenced by the smaller yardangs near the north side of the mound. Located on the southern edge of Amazonis Planitia, Nicholson Crater is 102km (63 miles) in diameter.Orbit Number: 85995 Latitude: 0.290091 Longitude: 195.593 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-05-04 03:15Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its panoramic camera (Pancam) to record a 360-degree vista, dubbed the 'Everest' panorama, from the top of 'Husband Hill' in early October 2005. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image. | Click on the image for Stereo Version of Spirit's 'Everest' Panorama (QTVR)Left-eye view of a stereo pair for PIA08750Right-eye view of a stereo pair for PIA08750NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its panoramic camera (Pancam) to record a 360-degree vista, dubbed the "Everest" panorama, from the top of "Husband Hill" in early October 2005. This view is a stereo anaglyph of the Everest panorama, showing it in three dimensions to viewers using red-blue stereo glasses. The images combined into this anaglyph were taken through the Pancam's blue L7 and R1 filters during Spirit's 620th through 622nd Martian days (Oct. 1 through Oct. 3, 2005). Geometric and brightness adjustments have been applied. The view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with rover tilt removed.For additional information about the Everest panorama, see PIA03095. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey crosses Green Crater on Mars.The small dark dunes are located on the floor of Green Crater near a younger impact. | Context image for PIA11907Green CraterThis VIS image crosses Green Crater. The small dark dunes are located on the floor of Green Crater near a younger impact.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -52.4N, Longitude 351.8E. 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. | |
This mosaic is comprised of images acquired in 1980 during late northern summer on Mars by NASA's Viking Orbiter 1. The bright yellow region at top is the Arabia region of Mars. | This mosaic comprises about 50 red-, green-, and violet-filter Viking Orbiter images, mosaiced in an orthographic projection at a scale of 1 km/pixel. The images were acquired in 1980 during late northern summer on Mars. The mosaic covers the region from latitude -70 degrees to 50 degrees and longitude 260 degrees to 360 degrees. The bright white region near the bottom of the image is due to carbon dioxide frost in the Hellas impact basin, which is about 2000 km in diameter. The bright yellow region at top is the Arabia region of Mars. | |
Dust on Mars: Before and After (Spirit) | Since landing on Mars a year ago, NASA's pair of six-wheeled geologists have been constantly exposed to martian winds and dust. Both rovers have been coated by some dust falling out of the atmosphere during that time, with estimates of the dust thickness ranging from 1 to 10 micrometers, or between 1/100th and 1/10th the width of a single human hair. Of the two, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is definitely the more dust-laden. As a result, Spirit has gradually experienced a decline in power as the thin layer of dust has accumulated on the solar panels, blocking some of the sunlight that is converted to electricity. Spirit took the left image on martian day, or sol, 9 (Jan. 11, 2004), and took the right image nearly a year later, on sol 357 (Jan. 3, 2005), using the panoramic camera. The images show the camera's calibration target, which is used as a reference point for calibrating the colors on Mars. In the later image a semi-transparent layer of reddish martian dust coats the surfaces. The panoramic camera team's analysis indicates that the layer of dust on Spirit's calibration target is about 70 percent thicker than that on Opportunity's. Both images represent the panoramic camera team's best current attempt at generating true color views of what these scenes would look like if viewed by a human on Mars. They were each generated from a combination of six calibrated, left-eye Pancam images acquired through filters ranging from 430-nanometer to 750-nanometer wavelengths. The diameter of the outer ring of the calibration target is 8 centimeters (3.15 inches). | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows the central portion of Hephaestus Fossae. | Context imageThis VIS image is located in the central portion of Hephaestus Fossae. Hephaestus Fossae is a complex channel system in Utopia Planitia near Elysium Mons. It has been proposed that the channel formed by the release of melted subsurface ice during the impact event that created a large crater south of this image. Additionally, the nearby Elysium volcanic center created subsurface heating that may have played a part in creating both Hephaestus Fossae and Hebrus Valles to the north. Since many of the channels have right angle intersections, tectonic forces may also have played a part in the formation of this system. In fact, the entire feature is called a 'fossae' rather than a 'vallis', recognizing the dual forces of tectonic stresses and fluid flow. The entire system is approximately 605km long (375 miles).Orbit Number: 79446 Latitude: 19.3029 Longitude: 124.484 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-11-11 21:45Please 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 part of the interior mound of material within 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 interior mound of material within Gale Crater. The dark blue material is most likely basaltic sand. Gale Crater is the home of Curiosity Rover.Orbit Number: 44524 Latitude: -4.64054 Longitude: 137.663 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2011-12-28 07:29Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
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 a section of Tempe Fossae located in Tempe Terra. | 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 a section of Tempe Fossae located in Tempe Terra.Orbit Number: 55081 Latitude: 47.097 Longitude: 294.857 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-05-15 04:44Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image was acquired by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) in the late afternoon of the 30th Martian day of the mission, or Sol 30 (June 25, 2008). This is hours after the beginning of Martian northern summer. | This image was acquired by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) in the late afternoon of the 30th Martian day of the mission, or Sol 30 (June 25, 2008). This is hours after the beginning of Martian northern summer. SSI used its natural-color filters, therefore the color is the color you would see on Mars. The image shows shadows from the SSI (left) and from the meteorological station mast (right) stretching toward the east as the sun dropped low in the west. The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.Photojournal Note: As planned, the Phoenix lander, which landed May 25, 2008 23:53 UTC, ended communications in November 2008, about six months after landing, when its solar panels ceased operating in the dark Martian winter. | |
The grabens (fractures) that dominate this scene from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft are located northwest of a large shield volcano called Elysium Mons. Layered rock is evident along the lips of the graben as are ripples on the floors of these features. | The grabens (fractures) that dominate this scene are located northwest of a large shield volcano called Elysium Mons. Layered rock is evident along the lips of the graben as are ripples on the floors of these features. Some shallow grabens are also seen in this region.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 a portion of the martian south polar cap, which is composed of frozen, layered, carbon dioxide. | 23 May 2005These two Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images were acquired a little more than four Mars years apart. One Mars year is about 687 Earth days long. The two images show a portion of the south polar cap, which is composed of frozen, layered, carbon dioxide. Each Mars year since MGS has been observing the planet, the mesas and buttes composed of carbon dioxide have gotten a little bit smaller, and the pits and holes have become a little bit wider. The scarps formed in frozen carbon dioxide in the south polar region are retreating at an average rate of about 3 meters per Mars year. The example shown here includes an image obtained in August 1999, and a more recent picture from April 2005. Arrow "1" points to a dramatic example of the changes that have occurred; in this case a mesa shrank to a small butte in just four martian years. Arrow "2" indicates pits that developed in the cap layer of a carbon dioxide mesa that eroded during the same interval. Acquired during early southern spring, both images are illuminated by sunlight from the upper left. | |
This visible-light image, taken by the thermal emission imaging system's camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft, shows the highly fractured, faulted and deformed Acheron Fossae region of Mars. | This visible-light image, taken by the thermal emission imaging system's camera on NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, shows the highly fractured, faulted and deformed Acheron Fossae region of Mars. The scarps visible in this image are approximately one kilometer (3,300 feet) high, based on topography derived from the laser altimeter instrument on Mars Global Surveyor.Dark streaks only 50 meters (164 feet) across can be seen on some of the cliff faces. These streaks may be formed when the pervasive dust mantle covering this region gives way on steep slopes to create dust avalanches.The image also shows impact craters as small as 500 meters (1,640 feet) in diameter, as well as smooth and textured plains.Acheron Fossae is located 1,050 kilometers (650 miles) north of the large shield volcano Olympus Mons. This image covers an area about 18 by 9 kilometers (11 by 6 miles) centered at 37 degrees north, 131 degrees west. North is to the top of this image, which was acquired on February 19,2002, at about 3:15 p.m. local Martian 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 was provided by Arizona State University, Tempe. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was targeted to study knobs in Mars' northern plains, north of Scandia Crater. The knobs are clearly imaged, but what surprised scientists was a dust devil visible in the south-central part of the image. | Click on the image for larger versionOriginal release date March 17, 2010.Sometimes HiRISE finds something unexpected.This image was targeted to study knobs in Mars' northern plains, just north of Scandia Crater. The knobs are clearly imaged, but what surprised scientists was a dust devil visible in the south-central part of the image (see inset above).As on Earth, dust devils form when ground heated by sunlight warms the air above it. The hot air rises, forming an updraft accompanied by vortical motions. Because warm ground is a requirement, dust devils on Mars generally form in late spring to summer, especially at high latitudes.This image was taken in early spring (2010), at a latitude of 61 degrees North. No dust devil has been seen this far from the equator at such an early season before.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. | |
This illustration portrays some of the reasons why finding organic chemicals on Mars is challenging. Whatever organic chemicals may be produced on Mars or delivered to Mars face several possible modes of being transformed or destroyed. | This illustration portrays some of the reasons why finding organic chemicals on Mars is challenging. Whatever organic chemicals may be produced on Mars or delivered to Mars face several possible modes of being transformed or destroyed.Organic chemicals are molecular building block of life, although they can be made without the presence of life. Whether or not organic chemicals are produced by processes on Mars, some are delivered to the planet aboard meteorites and dust from asteroids and comets. Cosmic rays that can penetrate rock surfaces can trigger breakdown of organic compounds. So can oxidation reactions induced by ultraviolet light, such as a process called Fenton's reaction, which breaks down organic chemicals in the presence of iron minerals and peroxide. Fenton's reaction is sometimes used for environmental cleanup projects where organic-chemical pollutants are a concern on Earth. Perchlorates in Martian soil and rock may also oxidize organic chemicals, directly converting them to carbon dioxide. Despite the possible pathways for breakdown of organic chemicals on Mars, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has definitively detected Martian organics in powder the rover's drill collected from a mudstone target called "Cumberland." That target is close to an eroding scarp, where it had been covered by overlying layers of rock, reducing exposure to cosmic rays, for most of the approximately three billion years since the rock formed.NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess ancient habitable environments and major changes in Martian environmental conditions. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, built and operates SAM.More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's first views of the martian soil were in shadows after its successful landing at Meridiani Planum on Mars. | This image shows one of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's first views of the martian soil after its successful landing at Meridiani Planum on Mars. Opportunity landed Saturday night at approximately 9:05 PST. The image was taken by the rover's panoramic camera. | |
This image captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows ancient highland channels in Eridania Valley. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionThe ancient highland channels in this image empty into the Eridania Basin (not visible), a large topographically low enclosure with smooth-appearing terrains that may have once contained a large paleolake or ancient sea.Water in these channels flowed to the east into Ariadnes Basin, a smaller basin located within the confines of Eridiana. Light-toned knobs are exposed in the northern channel, while the other channels are partially filled with smooth appearing lobe-shaped surface flows that are extensively fractured when viewed at high-resolution.Although the origin of these knobs is not known, interpretations include fumarolic mounds, erosional remnants, pingos, mud volcanoes and spring mounds. The movement of the once ice-rich, channel-filling flows over the knobby terrains likely created radial tension stresses producing the cracks that we see on the surface of these deposits.As the material slowly thinned, it eventually led to the formation of an elephant skin-like texture. This texture is different from the surrounding eroding mantling deposit that has become pitted as the ice sublimated causing the overlying surface to collapse. The combination of such knobby terrain and smooth, channel-filling deposits are seen only in a few places on Mars. One such example is the Navua Valles channels northeast of the Hellas Basin that may have also hosted a large, ice-covered lake in the past. Their morphological similarities, particularly in their surface materials, suggest that they formed under similar paleoclimatic conditions.For more information on the Ariadnes basin, see this link to a geologic map of this region (PDF.The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This image of Tithonium Chasma captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the canyon wall at the top of the frame, a series of landslide deposits in the middle, and an eroded mound of materials at the bottom. | Context image This VIS image of Tithonium Chasma shows the canyon wall at the top of the frame, a series of landslide deposits in the middle, and an eroded mound of materials at the bottom. The mound has been eroded, most likely by wind action.Tithonium Chasma has numerous large landslide deposits. The resistant material of the plateau surface forms the linear ridges of the canyon wall. Large landslides have changed the walls and floor of the canyon. 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.Tithonium Chasma is at the western end of Valles Marineris. Valles Marineris is over 4000 kilometers long, wider than the United States. Tithonium Chasma is almost 810 kilometers long (499 miles), 50 kilometers wide and over 6 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.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: 25964 Latitude: -4.26209 Longitude: 270.721 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2007-10-22 02:44Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
A view from NASA's Spirit rover shows a trench excavated by the rover's left front wheel within the 'Laguna Hollow' area. The trench, dubbed 'Road Cut,' is 3 inches deep. Spirit's tracks are observed on the martian soil. | A view from the front hazard avoidance camera of NASA's Spirit rover on its 47th sol shows a trench excavated by the rover's left front wheel within the "Laguna Hollow" area. The trench, dubbed "Road Cut," is 7 centimeters (3 inches) deep. The soil at this location is more cohesive than the material where Spirit's twin, Opportunity, dug its first trench at Meridiani. Spirit made 11 back-and-forth passes to dig this trench, and still did not produce as deep a hole as Opportunity dug in 6 passes. Scientists and engineers plan to begin up-close inspection of the soil in this trench on sol 48 by placing the microscopic imager on the floor and the walls before conducting Moessbauer and alpha particle x-ray spectrometer readings on some of the same points. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows four pictures of pits formed in frozen carbon dioxide in Mars' polar cap. | Compare each image on the left with their counterparts on the right. Small hills vanished and pit walls expanded between 1999 and 2001. The pits are formed in frozen carbon dioxide, and the carbon dioxide is subliming away a little more each Martian year. Sunlight illuminates each of the four different scenes from the upper left.CLICK HERE for animation of all 4 of these panels (6.2 MBytes).One of the most profound benefits of being able to continue photographing Mars in the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Extended Mission is the opportunity to go back and re-image a site that was seen in the previous martian year. New MGS Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images have provided a startling observation: The residual martian south polar cap is changing. The fact that it is changing suggests that Mars may have major, global climate changes that are occurring on the same time scales as Earth's most recent climate shifts, including the last Ice Age.MOC images of the south polar cap taken in 1999 were compared with images of the same locations taken in 2001, and it was discovered that pits had enlarged, mesas had shrunk, and small buttes had vanished. In all, the scarps that enclose the pits and bound the mesas and buttes retreated about 3 meters (3.3 yards) in 1 martian year (687 Earth days). This rapid retreat of polar scarps can only occur if the ice is frozen carbon dioxide (also known as "dryice"). Retreat of scarps made of water ice is much slower and would not have been measurable from one martian year to the next.The portion of the martian south polar cap that persists through summer is called the residual polar cap. The two sets of four pictures shown here are from four places on the residual south polar cap. The pictures from 1999 were taken in October of that year, the corresponding pictures from 2001 were acquired in August, approximately 1 Mars year after the 1999 images were obtained. In each case, the pictures are illuminated by sunlight from the upper left, and each shows an area about 250 meters (273 yards) across. The polarcap is layered, and the layers have eroded to form pits, troughs, mesas, and buttes. The pits form as sunlight warms frozen carbon dioxide during southern spring and summer, and the ice sublimes away. There is so much carbon dioxide that it does not all go away in one summer--in fact, it may take hundreds to thousands of years to disappear.These new observations indicate that the south polar residual cap is not permanent. It is disappearing, a little bit more each southern spring and summer season. At the present rate, a layer 3 m thick can be completely eroded away in a few tens of martian years. Since each layer is equivalent to about 1% of the mass of the present atmosphere (which is 95% carbon dioxide), if sufficient carbon dioxide is buried in the south polar cap, the mass of the atmosphere could double in a few hundred to a thousand Mars years. That could lead to profound changes in the environment. For example, it would change how much and where wind erosion would occur, and where and for how long liquid water could survive at or near the surface.It also means that Mars may have been very different in the recent past (perhaps only a few thousands of years ago). On today's Mars, the ice is eroding, but in the past that material had to have been deposited. The martian climate was probably colder, and there was more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. For some reason, large amounts of carbon dioxide froze at the south pole--one might say that there was a "Martian Ice Age"--and this freezing occurred on a time scale similar to that of the most recent Ice Age on Earth.Mars is changing, and it is changing on a time scale that we can measure and observe. If all of the carbon dioxide that is being released into the atmosphere from the south polar cap is not freezing out somewhere else, and if it is not being adsorbed into the martian soil, then it must be causing the atmospheric pressure to increase. If this so, and if one were to assume that the entire known volume of the polar cap is made of carbon dioxide that sublimes at the same rate we see today, then it could increase the martian atmospheric pressure by as much as 10 times, to about 1/10th the density of Earth's atmosphere, in just the next few thousand years. Although this atmosphere would not be breathable, carbon dioxide is a "greenhouse gas" that would cause the global temperature to increase considerably and make it easier for liquid water to persist elsewhere on the planet. Perhaps, just perhaps, a thickening martian atmosphere would eventually make it easier for people to live on Mars. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a portion of Her Desher Vallis. | Context imageThis VIS image shows a portion of Her Desher Vallis.Orbit Number: 47439 Latitude: -25.5941 Longitude: 312.605 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-08-24 06:00Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This video clip was obtained by the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's black-and-white navigation camera during its 14th flight, on October 24, 2021. | Click here for animationThis video clip was obtained by the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's black-and-white navigation camera during its 14th flight, on Oct. 24, 2021. During the flight, the rotorcraft reached a peak altitude of 16 feet (5 meters) with a small sideways translation of 7 feet (2 meters) to avoid a nearby sand ripple, before setting down again.Flight 14 was only 23 seconds in length. As a result, enough onboard memory was available to obtain black-and-white navigation camera imagery at the high-rate of 7.4 frames a second.The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages the technology demonstration project for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA's Science, Aeronautics Research, and Space Technology mission directorates. NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, and NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance during Ingenuity's development. AeroVironment Inc., Qualcomm, and SolAero also provided design assistance and major vehicle components. Lockheed Martin Space designed and manufactured the Mars Helicopter Delivery System. | |
In this image captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the terrain is covered with a seasonal layer of dry ice. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionGas under pressure will choose an easy escape route. In this image, the terrain is covered with a seasonal layer of dry ice.The weak spots, for gas sublimating from the bottom of the seasonal ice layer to escape, appear to be around craters, where the surface was broken and pulverized by an impact. Fans of surface material deposited on top of the seasonal ice layer show where the escape vents are.The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This 180-degree view from the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was its first look inside 'Endurance Crater.' | This 180-degree view from the right navigation camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is the first look inside "Endurance Crater." The view is a cylindrical-perspective projection constructed from four images. The crater is about 130 meters (about 430 feet) in diameter.See PIA05860 for 3-D view and PIA05861 for left eye view of this right eye cylindrical-perspective projection. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey shows part of one of the many mesas that comprise Deuteronilus Mensae as well as the surrounding debris slope and plains surface. | Context image for PIA09044DeuteronilusThis image shows part of one of the many mesas that comprise Deuteronilus Mensae as well as the surrounding debris slope and plains surface. The surface texture/patterns indicate that subsurface volitiles may exist in this region.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 44.2N, Longitude 25.3E. 19 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey captured this region of Mars which has been eroded by the wind. Linear hills called yardangs indicate the wind direction, which varies in this area of Medusae Fossae. | Context imageThis region of Mars has been eroded by the wind. Linear hills called yardangs indicate the wind direction, which varies in this area of Medusae Fossae.Orbit Number: 36984 Latitude: -3.8357 Longitude: 199.426 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-04-16 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. | |
This image acquired on December 4, 2020 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows gullies along the poleward-facing slope of a 10-kilometer diameter crater in the southern highlands of Mars. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionGullies along the poleward-facing slope of this 10-kilometer diameter crater in the southern highlands of Mars originate at various elevations along the rim. The eastern gullies (right) originate at or near the crater rim while the more western gullies erode into or undercut rubbly layers along the mid-elevation slopes.Most of the mid-slope region below these layers is composed of terrain that forms a polygonal fracture pattern. The lower part is cut by a series of fractures trending perpendicular across the slope. These features suggest that the mid-slope region once contained significant subsurface ice reserves that may have been removed during gully formation.Mars' past climate may have permitted certain processes where water initially froze and melted seasonally, allowing for the formation of polygonal terrain and gully systems. More recent gully activity has resulted from dry flows, perhaps from the loss of sediment support by subsurface ice sublimation or simply due to gravity. The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 25.3 centimeters [10.0 inches] per pixel [with 1 x 1 binning]; objects on the order of 76 centimeters [29.9 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.This is a stereo pair with ESP_067708_1435.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 photograph shows orange-colored carbonate mineral globules found in a meteorite, called ALH84001, believed to have once been a part of Mars. | This photograph shows orange-colored carbonate mineral globules found in a meteorite, called ALH84001, believed to have once been a part of Mars. These carbonate minerals in the meteorite are believed to have been formed on Mars more than 3.6 billion years ago. Their structure and chemistry suggest that they may have been formed with the assistance of primitive, bacteria-like living organisms. A two-year investigation by a NASA research team found organic molecules, mineral features characteristic of biological activity and possible microscopic fossils inside of carbonate minerals such as these in the meteorite.A NASA research team of scientists at the Johnson Space Center and at Stanford University has found evidence that strongly suggests primitive life may have existed on Mars more than 3.6 billion years ago. The NASA-funded team found the first organic molecules thought to be of Martian origin; several mineral features characteristic of biological activity; and possible microscopic fossils of primitive, bacteria-like organisms inside of an ancient Martian rock that fell to Earth as a meteorite. This array of indirect evidence of past life will be reported in the Aug. 16 issue of the journal Science, presenting the investigation to the scientific community at large to reach a future consensus that will either confirm or deny the team's conclusion. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a landslide deposit in Ganges Chasma. | Context imageThis VIS image shows a landslide deposit in Ganges Chasma.Orbit Number: 49624 Latitude: -7.71118 Longitude: 315.758 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2013-02-20 01:41 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. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey image shows a small portion of the southern flank of Alba Mons. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a small portion of the southern flank of Alba Mons.Orbit Number: 37094 Latitude: 34.2002 Longitude: 242.644 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-04-25 15:54Please 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 Mars Global Surveyor shows the Tharsis face of Mars. | 4 January 2004This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 145° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 145° occurs in mid-January 2005.This picture shows the Tharsis 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 summer. In January 2005, it is northern summer and southern winter. The seasons on Mars occur according to Ls, described in the following table:LsSeason0° - 90°northern spring, southern autumn90° - 180°northern summer, southern winter180° - 270°northern autumn, southern spring270° - 360°northern winter, southern summer | |
Recurring Slope Lineae (called 'RSL') are seasonally-repeating dark flows that are active at the warmest times of the year as shown in this image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionRecurring Slope Lineae (called "RSL") are seasonally-repeating dark flows that are active at the warmest times of the year. Some of these grow from the top of the steep slope downwards as expected for liquid or granular flows.Others show different darkening patterns, which suggests different processes. Although HiRISE has acquired many images to monitor RSL sites, it still is not certain how these features form.The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 25.8 centimeters (10.2 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 51.7 centimeters (20.4 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey released on Dec 1, 2003 shows dark transverse and linear dunes located in the floor of a crater in the southern highlands on Mars. Dunes appear to follow the flow of winds that circle around the crater floor. | Released 1 December 2003These dark transverse and linear dunes are located in the floor of a crater in the southern highlands. The dunes appear to follow the flow of winds that circle around the crater floor, creating a swirling pattern. Rather than swirling winds, however, the apparent arc may simply be caused by a north to south shift in the relative strengths of two winds that influence these dunes.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -58.1, Longitude 168.8 East (191.2 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
Islands of older high-standing terrain rise above a sea of relatively young, platy lava flows between two of the largest volcanoes in the solar system in this image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Islands of older high-standing terrain rise above a sea of relatively young, platy lava flows between two of the largest volcanoes in the solar system.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 10.6, Longitude 158.5 East (201.5 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution. | |
Barnacle Bill is a small rock immediately west-northwest of NASA's Mars Pathfinder lander and was the first rock visited by the Sojourner Rover's alpha proton X-ray spectrometer (APXS) instrument. Sol 1 began on July 4, 1997. | Barnacle Bill is a small rock immediately west-northwest of the Mars Pathfinder lander and was the first rock visited by the Sojourner Rover's alpha proton X-ray spectrometer (APXS) instrument. This image and PIA00819 show super resolution techniques applied to the first APXS target rock, which was never imaged with the rover's forward cameras. Super resolution was applied to help to address questions about the texture of this rock and what it might tell us about its mode of origin.These views of Barnacle Bill were produced by combining the "Insurance Pan" frames taken while the IMP camera was still in its stowed position on sol2. The composite color frame consists of 5 frames from the right eye, taken with different color filters that were enlarged by 500% and then co-added using Adobe Photoshop to produce, in effect, a super-resolution panchromatic frame that is sharper than an individual frame would be. This panchromatic frame was then colorized with the red, green, and blue filtered images from the same sequence. The color balance was adjusted to approximate the true color of Mars.Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Photojournal note: Sojourner spent 83 days of a planned seven-day mission exploring the Martian terrain, acquiring images, and taking chemical, atmospheric and other measurements. The final data transmission received from Pathfinder was at 10:23 UTC on September 27, 1997. Although mission managers tried to restore full communications during the following five months, the successful mission was terminated on March 10, 1998. | |
This artist's concept of the proposed NASA Mars Sample Return mission shows the orbiter and lander, just after the orbiter would release the lander to descend through the martian atmosphere. | This artist's concept of the proposed Mars Sample Return mission shows the orbiter and lander, just after the orbiter would release the lander to descend through the martian atmosphere. This image is part of a series designed to describe the current groundbreaking Mars Sample Return mission concept (see figure 1 below for a composite of the series), with a tentative launch date of 2013.Figure 1: series composite | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit looked up at the 'Columbia Hills' from its location on the 265th martian day, or sol, of its mission (Sept. 30, 2004) and captured this 3-D view. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image. | Figure 1Figure 2NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit looked up at the "Columbia Hills" from its location on the 265th martian day, or sol, of its mission (Sept. 30, 2004) and captured this 3-D view. This cropped mosaic image, presented here in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction, was taken by the rover's navigation camera.Figure 1 is the left-eye view of a stereo pair and Figure 2 is the right-eye view of a stereo pair. | |
(Almost) Silent Rolling Stones in Kasei Valles | Click on image for larger versionThis HiRISE scene (PSP_001640_2125) shows the very steep side of a plateau, part of the northern limit of the Kasei Valles system, which is one of the largest outflow channel systems on Mars.The difference in elevation here between the mostly flat channel's floor (bottom right) and the top of the plateau (top left) is over 1,300 m (0.8 miles), comparable in height to the Grand Canyon walls. The Kasei Valles system is much wider than the Grand Canyon, though, getting to be in places 500 km (300 miles) wide. (The Grand Canyon's maximum width is 30 km, or 18 miles).The image's subset (400 x 250 m or 440 x 270 yards) shows numerous paths with the appearance of dotted lines, criss-crossing the steep side of the plateau. The carving agents can be found at the end of some of these paths: rocky blocks such as the ones in this subset, up to 2 m (2.2 yards) across (4 m or 4.4 yards across elsewhere in the image). Some of these blocks traveled downhill several hundred meters (yards) as they rolled and bounced leaving behind a trail of indentations or poke marks in the surface's fine-grained, light-toned soils. The raised borders in some of these poke marks indicate they are relatively recent features, unaffected by wind erosion, or that this soil has cohesive properties, such as if it was cemented.The sound of these blocks falling did not travel very far, though. According to computer simulations sound in Mars travels only 1.5% the distance it would travel on Earth. (No Martian sound has ever been recorded.) Hence, the same sound which would travel 1 km (0.6 miles) on Earth would travel only 15 m (16 yards) on Mars. This is due to the lower Martian atmospheric pressure, which is approximately 1% of that of Earth.Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 12 December 2006Local Mars time: 3:25 PMDegrees latitude (centered): 32.2°Degrees longitude (East): 306.0°Range to target site: 292.4 km (182.8 miles)Original image scale range: from 29.3 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) to 58.5 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning)Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is upMap-projection: EQUIRECTANGULAREmission angle: 5.2°Phase angle: 55.0°Solar incidence angle: 50°, with the Sun about 40° above the horizonSolar longitude: 144.1°, Northern SummerNASA'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. | |
More Than 60 Sites Considered for Next Mars Rover Landing | This map of Mars shows all of the more than 60 landing sites proposed for the Mars Science Laboratory (red dots) and the four final candidate sites (blue dots). Discussion by more than 150 scientists over more than five years led to the selection of the four final candidate sites: Eberswalde crater, Gale crater, Holden crater, and Mawrth Vallis. Gale eventually was selected as the landing site. The white shaded areas are more than 30 degrees north and south of the equator and off limits to MSL because of seasonally harsh (cold) conditions expected there. The black areas are too high in elevation to be considered for landing. | |
This image released on Nov 19, 2004 from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey shows collapse pits are found in graben located in Tractus Catena on Mars. These features are related to subsidence after magma chamber evacuation of Alba Patera. | We will be looking at collapse pits for the next two weeks. Collapse pits on Mars are formed in several ways. In volcanic areas, channelized lava flows can form roofs which insulate the flowing lava. These features are termed lava tubes on Earth and are common features in basaltic flows. After the lava has drained, parts of the roof of the tube will collapse under its own weight. These collapse pits will only be as deep as the bottom of the original lava tube. Another type of collapse feature associated with volcanic areas arises when very large eruptions completely evacuate the magma chamber beneath the volcano. The weight of the volcano will cause the entire edifice to subside into the void space below it. Structural features including fractures and graben will form during the subsidence. Many times collapse pits will form within the graben. In addition to volcanic collapse pits, Mars has many collapse pits formed when volatiles (such as subsurface ice) are released from the surface layers. As the volatiles leave, the weight of the surrounding rock causes collapse pits to form.These collapse pits are found in graben located in Tractus Catena. These features are related to subsidence after magma chamber evacuation of Alba Patera.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 35.8, Longitude 241.7 East (118.3 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image shows the hole drilled by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's rock abrasion tool into the rock dubbed 'Bounce.' The tool drilled about 7 mm into the rock and generated small piles of 'tailings' or rock dust around the central hole. | This panoramic camera image shows the hole drilled by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's rock abrasion tool into the rock dubbed "Bounce" on Sol 65 of the rover's journey. The tool drilled about 7 millimeters (0.3 inches) into the rock and generated small piles of "tailings" or rock dust around the central hole, which is about 4.5 centimeters (1.7 inches) across. The image from sol 66 of the mission was acquired using the panoramic camera's 430 nanometer filter. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a dark sand dune on the floor of a crater on Mars. Recent dust devils have disrupted a thin coating of dust on the otherwise dark dune. | MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-474, 5 September 2003This August 2003 Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) picture shows a dark sand dune on the floor of a crater at 54.9°S, 342.5°W. Recent dust devils have disrupted a thin coating of dust on the otherwise dark dune; these wind phenomena created the plethora of markings and streaks on the dune. The image covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) across and is illuminated by sunlight from the upper left. | |
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover can be seen in this image taken from space on May 31, 2019, by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Annotated ImageClick on the image for larger versionNASA's Curiosity Mars rover can be seen in this image taken from space on May 31, 2019, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). In the image, Curiosity appears as a bluish speck.The image shows Curiosity at a location called "Woodland Bay." It's just one of many stops the rover has made in an area referred to as the "clay-bearing unit" on the side of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain inside of Gale Crater. Look carefully at the inset image, and you can make out what it is likely Curiosity's "head," technically known as the remote sensing mast. A bright spot appears in the upper-left corner of the rover. At the time this image was acquired, the rover was facing 65 degrees counterclockwise from north, which would put the mast in about the right location to produce this bright spot.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. | |
Track of Right-Wheel Drag (Vertical) | This 360-degree panorama combines several frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the rover's 313th martian day (Nov. 19, 2004). The site, labeled Spirit site 93, is in the "Columbia Hills" inside Gusev Crater. The rover tracks point westward. Spirit had driven eastward, in reverse and dragging its right front wheel, for about 30 meters (100 feet) on the day the picture was taken. Driving backwards while dragging that wheel is a precautionary strategy to extend the usefulness of the wheel for when it is most needed, because it has developed more friction than the other wheels. The right-hand track in this look backwards shows how the dragging disturbed the soil. This view is presented in a vertical projection with geometric seam correction. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows ight-toned, layered, sedimentary rock outcrops in an unnamed crater on Mars. Dark, windblown sand enhances the contrast in this view. | 20 November 2005This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows light-toned, layered, sedimentary rock outcrops in an unnamed crater located at 8°N, 7°W. Dark, windblown sand enhances the contrast in this view. Hundreds of layers of repeated thickness and physical properties suggest that a cyclic or at least episodic process acted over a considerable period of time to deposit these materials in the crater. At the time the sediments were deposited, the crater might have hosted a lake.Location near: 6.1°N, 10.7°W Image width: width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)Illumination from: lower left Season: Northern Autumn | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a rugged region near the northern end of Gordii Dorsum. | Context imageThis VIS image shows a rugged region near the northern end of Gordii Dorsum. This is in the area where extensive wind action has scoured a poorly cemented surface. Wind erosion will have occurred in this region of hills as well.Orbit Number: 81090 Latitude: 9.47534 Longitude: 217.697 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2020-03-26 06:29Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover looks down the ramp at the northeastern end of 'Hidden Valley' and across the sandy-floored valley to lower slopes of Mount Sharp on the horizon. | This image from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover looks down the ramp at the northeastern end of "Hidden Valley" and across the sandy-floored valley to lower slopes of Mount Sharp on the horizon. Curiosity used its Navigation Camera (Navcam) to capture this southward view during the 717th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Aug. 12, 2014). By that date, Curiosity had entered and exited the valley via this ramp. The rover subsequently descended the ramp partway to approach a pale outcrop bearing a candidate rock for drilling. The drilling candidate, called "Bonanza King," is just outside of this view, closer to the rover than the foreground of the scene. For scale, the distance between parallel pairs of Curiosity's wheel tracks is about 9 feet (2.7 meters). A map showing Hidden Valley is at PIA18408. 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 and the rover's Navcam.More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows landforms, including large, windblown ripples, on the floor of the ancient, giant Argyre impact basin on Mars. | 28 February 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows landforms, including large, windblown ripples, on the floor of the ancient, giant Argyre impact basin.Location near: 48.0°S, 42.2°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Southern Winter | |
This color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey released on May 13, 2004 shows the martian landscape during the norther summer season near the south polar cap edge. | Released 13 May 2004This nighttime visible color image was collected on November 26, 2002 during the Northern Summer season near the North Polar Cap Edge.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 80, Longitude 43.2 East (316.8 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 image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows multiple gullies dissecting the rim of an unnamed crater located in Terra Sirenum. | Context imageMultiple gullies dissect the rim of an unnamed crater located in Terra Sirenum. Towards the bottom of the image several small gullies are visible located on the rim of an older crater.Orbit Number: 75238 Latitude: -45.5986 Longitude: 225.72 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2018-11-30 08:47Please 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 spacecraft shows fractures within the volcanic plains south of Elysium Mons. | Fractures within the volcanic plains south of Elysium Mons.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 shows a close-up of the backshell and parachute NASA's Mars Exploration rover Spirit dropped while landing at Gusev Crater on Mars on Jan. 3, 2004. The backshell is the smaller white mark to the left of the parachute. | This image shows, on the left, a close-up of the backshell and parachute Spirit dropped while landing at Gusev Crater on Mars on Jan. 3, 2004. The backshell is the smaller white mark to the left of the parachute. On the right is a close-up of the location believed to be where the heat shield impacted, leaving a visible dark streak. Both images were taken on Jan. 19, 2004, by the camera on board Mars Global Surveyor. | |
This image is from a test series used to chacterize the 100-millimeter Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity rover. It was taken on Aug. 23, 2012, and looks south-southwest from the rover's landing site. | Figure 1Figure 2Click on an individual image for full resolution image
This image is from a test series used to characterize the 100-millimeter Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity rover. It was taken on Aug. 23, 2012, and looks south-southwest from the rover's landing site.The 100-millimeter Mastcam has three times better resolution than Curiosity's 34-millimeter Mastcam, though it has a narrower field of view. For comparison, see PIA16103. The gravelly area around Curiosity's landing site is visible in the foreground. Farther away, about a third of the way up from the bottom of the image, the terrain falls off into a depression (a swale). Beyond the swale, in the middle of the image, is the boulder-strewn, red-brown rim of a moderately-sized impact crater. Farther off in the distance, there are dark dunes and then the layered rock at the base of Mount Sharp. Some haze obscures the view, but the top ridge, depicted in this image, is 10 miles (16.2 kilometers) away.Scientists enhanced the color in one version to show the Martian scene under the lighting conditions we have on Earth, which helps in analyzing the terrain. A raw version is also available.An annotated version of the image indicates the distances to different features. They were calculated using a computer program that analyzes data from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.To see a close-up of the layered buttes of Mount Sharp, see PIA16105.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. | |
A ridge called 'Rocheport' on the western rim of Mars' Endeavour Crater spans this mosaic of images from the Pancam on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. Enhanced color to make differences in surface materials more easily visible. | A ridge called "Rocheport" on the western rim of Mars' Endeavour Crater spans this mosaic of images from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. In this version of the scene the landscape is presented in enhanced color to make differences in surface materials more easily visible.The view extends from south-southeast on the left to north on the right. Rocheport is near the southern end of an Endeavour rim segment called "Cape Tribulation." The Pancam took the component images for this panorama on Feb. 25, 2017, during the 4,654th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars. Opportunity began exploring the western rim of Endeavour Crater in 2011 and reached the north end of Cape Tribulation in 2014.This ridge bears some grooves on its side, such as between the two dark shoulders angling down near the left edge of the scene. For scale, those shoulders are about 10 to 16 feet (3 to 5 meters) long. The grooves might have been carved long ago by water or ice or wind. The Rocheport name comes from a riverbank town in Missouri along the route of Lewis and Clark's "Corps of Discovery" Expedition. The view merges exposures taken through three of the Pancam's color filters, centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near-infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.For more information about Opportunity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov.Photojournal Note: Also available is the full resolution TIFF file PIA21942_full.tif. This file may be too large to view from a browser; it can be downloaded onto your desktop by right-clicking on the previous link and viewed with image viewing software. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the dune field on the floor of Rabe Crater on Mars. | Context image This VIS image was collected simultaneously with yesterday's IR image. It shows part of the dune field on the floor of Rabe Crater.Orbit Number: 67144 Latitude: -43.5507 Longitude: 34.5952 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2017-02-01 12:57Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft was collected at the height of summer. It is during this season that winds are able to move sand sized particles, slowly modifying the dunes. | Context image This VIS image was collected at the height of summer. It is during this season that winds are able to move sand sized particles, slowly modifying the dunes.Olympia Undae is a vast dune field in the north polar region of Mars. It consists of a broad sand sea or erg that partly rings the north polar cap from about 120° to 240°E longitude and 78° to 83°N latitude. The dune field covers an area of approximately 470,000 km2 (bigger than California, smaller than Texas). Olympia Undae is the largest continuous dune field on Mars. Olympia Undae is not the only dune field near the north polar cap, several other smaller fields exist in the same latitude, but in other ranges of longitude, e.g. Abolos and Siton Undae. Barchan and transverse dune forms are the most common. In regions with limited available sand individual barchan dunes will form, the surface beneath and between the dunes is visible. In regions with large sand supplies, the sand sheet covers the underlying surface, and dune forms are found modifying the surface of the sand sheet. In this case transverse dunes are more common. Barchan dunes "point" down wind, transverse dunes are more linear and form parallel to the wind direction. The "square" shaped transverse dunes in Olympia Undae are due to two prevailing wind directions. The density of dunes and the alignments of the dune crests varies with location, controlled by the amount of available sand and the predominant winds over time.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: 13475 Latitude: 80.7459 Longitude: 177.171 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2004-12-27 21:44Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
Gullies dissect the rim of this unnamed crater on the northern margin of Argyre Planitia in this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context imageGullies dissect the rim of this unnamed crater on the northern margin of Argyre Planitia.Orbit Number: 42770 Latitude: -36.4248 Longitude: 316.348 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2011-08-05 22:44Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows the margin of a lava flow on a plain northwest of Jovis Tholus, a volcanic construct located in the Tharsis region of Mars. | 5 April 2006This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows the margin of a lava flow on a plain northwest of Jovis Tholus, a volcanic construct located in the Tharsis region of Mars. To the north (top) of the lava flow, islands of a material that was once more laterally extensive are present, suggesting that at some time in the past, a great deal of this material was removed by erosion -- perhaps a catastrophic flood of water and debris. The lava flow at the south (bottom) came in later, long after the erosional events occurred.Location near: 20.9°N, 118.9°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season: Northern Winter | |
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 an unnamed crater in Terra Sabaea. | 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 images shows an unnamed crater in Terra Sabaea.Orbit Number: 34817 Latitude: -1.21275 Longitude: 68.3927 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2009-10-20 02:42Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows the Syrtis Major face in mid-September 2006. | 19 September 2006This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 107° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 107° occurs in mid-September 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 Summer/Southern Winter | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows different levels of downcutting giving a stepped appearance to the mesas in this region of Hydroates Chaos on Mars. | Context image for PIA10153Hydraotes ChaosDifferent levels of downcutting give a stepped appearance to the mesas in this region of Hydroates Chaos.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 1.2N, Longitude 325.5E. 18 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Cerulli Crater. Located in northern Arabia Terra, Cerulli Crater is 114km (71 miles) in diameter. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows part of Cerulli Crater. Located in northern Arabia Terra, Cerulli Crater is 114km (71 miles) in diameter. The crater rim is dissected by numerous small channels.Orbit Number: 93806 Latitude: 31.6009 Longitude: 22.4003 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2023-02-06 07:48Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of an unnamed channel located on the plains between Margaritifer Terra and Arabia Terra. | Context imageThis VIS image shows part of an unnamed channel located on the plains between Margaritifer Terra and Arabia Terra.Orbit Number: 79950 Latitude: -8.16437 Longitude: 347.988 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-12-23 09:35Please 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. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity highlights a portion of a puzzling reddish hue rock outcropping thought to be either volcanic ash deposits or sediments carried by water or wind. | Click on the image for annotated version ofA Geologist's Treasure TroveClick on the image for In the Far East (QTVR)This high-resolution image captured by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's panoramic camera highlights the puzzling rock outcropping that scientists are eagerly planning to investigate. Presently, Opportunity is on its lander facing northeast; the outcropping lies to the northwest. These layered rocks measure only 10 centimeters (4 inches) tall and are thought to be either volcanic ash deposits or sediments carried by water or wind. Data from the panoramic camera's near-infrared, blue and green filters were combined to create this approximate, true-color image.The Outcrop in a NutshellFigure 1 highlights various rock targets within the outcrop lining the inner edge of the small crater where the rover landed. Opportunity recently finished examining the rock dubbed "Last Chance," then rolled over to "Wave Ripple," a section of rock in the region nicknamed "The Dells." Tomorrow, March 6, 2004, Sol 41, the rover will take a series of "touch-and-go" microscopic images at "Wave Ripple," before heading to another rock region with targets named "Slick Rock" and "Berry Bowl." |
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