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NASA's Perseverance Mars rover used its PIXL instrument to analyze the Bellegarde abrasion target, revealing salt minerals. | NASA's Perseverance Mars rover used its PIXL (Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry) instrument to analyze the "Bellegarde" abrasion target – created when the rover scraped away surface area of the rock named "Rochette" – revealing salt minerals (the yellow color in the image). Salt crystals could have trapped bubbles of ancient water that, after the samples are returned to Earth, scientists could use to learn more about the environment these salts formed in. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory built and manages operations of Perseverance and Ingenuity for the agency. Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages JPL for NASA. WATSON was built by Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) in San Diego and is operated jointly by MSSS and JPL.A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.For more about Perseverance: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020 | |
This polar-projection mosaic was created from images that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit acquired May 7, 2004.The rover was on its way to the 'Columbia Hills,' which can be seen on the horizon. | This polar-projection view was created from navigation camera images that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit acquired on sol 122 (May 7, 2004). Spirit is sitting at site 43. The rover is on its way to the "Columbia Hills," which can be seen on the horizon. Spirit will spend the next 37 sols or more journeying to the base of these hills with the goal of learning more about Gusev Crater's past. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows two diamond-shaped crater on the surface of Mars. | Context image for PIA09467Ejecta ModificationThe two craters in this image are not circular, but instead are more diamond-shaped. Meteor Crater in Arizona is also more square than round. Meteor Crater formed in a limestone rock that had already been faulted in two directions. The preexisting faults controlled some of the stress induced by the impacting event, resulting in the crater not ending up perfectly round. The same thing likely occurred with the formation of the martian craters -- a preexisting fault or fracture system in the rocks.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -12.9N, Longitude 176.4E. 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 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows an unnamed channel draining from the highlands of Promethei Terra to lowlands of the Hellas Basin. | Context imageThis unnamed channel is draining from the highlands of Promethei Terra to lowlands of the Hellas Basin.Orbit Number: 59120 Latitude: -36.2289 Longitude: 100.566 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-04-12 15:39Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of eastern Terra Sabaea. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of eastern Terra Sabaea.The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the Martian surface using five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the spatial resolution and coverage of the image must be reduced to accommodate the additional data volume produced from using multiple filters. To make a color image, three of the five filter images (each in grayscale) are selected. Each is contrast enhanced and then converted to a red, green, or blue intensity image. These three images are then combined to produce a full color, single image. Because the THEMIS color filters don't span the full range of colors seen by the human eye, a color THEMIS image does not represent true color. Also, because each single-filter image is contrast enhanced before inclusion in the three-color image, the apparent color variation of the scene is exaggerated. Nevertheless, the color variation that does appear is representative of some change in color, however subtle, in the actual scene. Note that the long edges of THEMIS color images typically contain color artifacts that do not represent surface variation.Orbit Number: 89805 Latitude: 18.8055 Longitude: 76.997 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-03-13 20:29Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The rock 'Stimpy' is seen in this close-up image taken by NASA's Sojourner rover's right front camera on Sol 70 (September 13). Detailed texture on the rock, such as pits and flutes, are clearly visible. Sol 1 began on July 4, 1997. | The rock "Stimpy" is seen in this close-up image taken by the Sojourner rover's right front camera on Sol 70 (September 13). Detailed texture on the rock, such as pits and flutes, are clearly visible.This image and PIA01570 (left eye) make up a stereo pair.Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Photojournal note: Sojourner spent 83 days of a planned seven-day mission exploring the Martian terrain, acquiring images, and taking chemical, atmospheric and other measurements. The final data transmission received from Pathfinder was at 10:23 UTC on September 27, 1997. Although mission managers tried to restore full communications during the following five months, the successful mission was terminated on March 10, 1998. | |
NASA's Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) image taken near the end of daytime operations on Sol 50 shows the Sojourner rover between the rocks 'Wedge' (foreground) and 'Shark' (behind rover). Sol 1 began on July 4, 1997. | This Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) image taken near the end of daytime operations on Sol 50 shows the Sojourner rover between the rocks "Wedge" (foreground) and "Shark" (behind rover). The rover successfully deployed its Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer on Shark on Sol 52.Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator.
Photojournal note: Sojourner spent 83 days of a planned seven-day mission exploring the Martian terrain, acquiring images, and taking chemical, atmospheric and other measurements. The final data transmission received from Pathfinder was at 10:23 UTC on September 27, 1997. Although mission managers tried to restore full communications during the following five months, the successful mission was terminated on March 10, 1998. | |
Moving eastward across the southern part of Gale Crater, this image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows more dark material deposited from the large channel through the SW rim of crater; material has a sharp edge where it overlays the crater floor. | Context imageDuring the month of April Mars will be in conjunction relative to the Earth. This means the Sun is in the line-of-sight between Earth and Mars, and communication between the two planets is almost impossible. For conjunction, the rovers and orbiting spacecraft at Mars continue to operate, but do not send the data to Earth. This recorded data will be sent to Earth when Mars moves away from the sun and the line-of-sight between Earth and Mars is reestablished. During conjunction the THEMIS image of the day will be a visual tour of Gale Crater, the location of the newest rover Curiosity. As we begin to move back eastward across the southern part of Gale Crater, this image shows more of the dark material deposited from the large channel through the SW rim of the crater. In this image that material has a sharp edge (center of frame) where it overlays the crater floor.Orbit Number: 31708 Latitude: -5.79428 Longitude: 137.335 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2009-02-06 02:41Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows | 22 February 2004 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image presents a fine illustration of the difference between streaks made by dust devils and streaks made by wind gusts. Dust devils are usually solitary, spinning vortices. They resemble a tornado, or the swirling motion of a familiar, Tasmanian cartoon character. Wind gusts, on the other hand, can cover a larger area and affect more terrain at the same time. The dark, straight, and parallel features resembling scrape marks near the right/center of this image are thought to have been formed by a singular gust of wind, whereas the more haphazard dark streaks that crisscross the scene were formed by dozens of individual dust devils, acting at different times. This southern summer image is located in Noachis Terra near 67.0°S, 316.2°W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left; the picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows fractures and pits in the Utopia Plains of Mars. | Although northern plains are often called "flat" or "featureless" by people who study altimetry data, clearly this isn't true. This area has an indurated (strong or cemented) crust that has been subjected to directional stress (that's why the beaded-pitted fractures are almost all aligned the same direction) and that has been undermined (hence the pitting at both the small scale--the beaded fractures--and the large scale--the large irregular depressions.Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a group of four small hills surrounded by the larger mountains in the Cydonia region of Mars. | The recent motion picture, "Mission to Mars," takes as part of its premise that certain features in the Cydonia region of Mars were constructed as monuments by ancient Martians. This idea--widely popularized in books, magazines, tabloids and other news/infotainment media--has its origin in the chance observation (in 1976) by one of the Viking Orbiter spacecraft of a face-like hill. On April 5, 1998, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft performed a specially-planned maneuver to photograph the "Face on Mars." Having successfully imaged the "Face" on its first attempt, two additional maneuvers were used to observe other purported "artificial" features: the "City" (a cluster of small mountains west-southwest of the "Face") and the "City Square" (a group of four small hills surrounded by the larger mountains of the "City"). These special observations occurred during the Science Phasing Orbits period of the MGS mission, while the spacecraft was in a 12 hour, elliptical orbit. A year later, in March 1999, MGS attained its final, circular, polar Mapping Orbit, from which it has now subsequently observed the planet for a year. During this year of mapping, the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) has continued to make observations within the Cydonia region whenever the MGS spacecraft has flown over that area. Click on Image for larger viewThe above figure shows the location of all high resolution (narrow angle) MOC images of the Cydonia region that have been obtained to date, including the first three taken in 1998 (PIA01240, PIA01241, AND PIA01440). These images are superimposed upon a mosaic of Viking images taken during the 1970's. Images acquired during the Science Phasing Orbit period of 1998 slant from bottom left to top right; Mapping Phase images (from 1999 and 2000) slant from lower right to upper left. Owing to the nature of the orbit, and in particular to the limitations on controlling the location of the orbit, the longitudinal distribution of images (left/right in the images above) is distinctly non-uniform. An attempt to take a picture of a portion of the "Face" itself in mid-February 2000 was foiled when the MGS spacecraft experienced a sequencing error and most of that day's data were not returned to Earth. Only the first 97 lines were received; the image's planned footprint is shown as a dashed box. This image is one in a series of eight. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows some of the dunes that are located near the north polar cap. This region of dunes is part of Siton Undae. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows some of the dunes that are located near the north polar cap. This region of dunes is part of Siton Undae.Orbit Number: 54300 Latitude: 75.5168 Longitude: 300.696 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-03-11 21:50Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image is of a rock target nicknamed Quartier, which was studied by the SHERLOC instrument aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover. The white square shows the area that SHERLOC zapped with its ultraviolet laser. | Figure ANASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured this image of a rock target nicknamed "Quartier" with the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera belonging to an instrument called SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals). The rover uses a tool to abrade the surface of a rock (as with the circular portion in this image), removing dust, debris and other material that has settled on the rock's outer surface. After that's complete, instruments like SHERLOC can study the rock's composition. The white squares show areas where SHERLOC performed multiple scans with its ultraviolet laser.SHERLOC detected signals within Quartier consistent with organic, carbon-based molecules. If they are organic molecules – something that could be verified only by bringing the samples to Earth for closer study – they would have likely been formed by geological processes as opposed to ancient biological sources, but they represent the kinds of molecules Perseverance's science team are looking for.Figure A zooms in on the abraded area within both the white squares in the main image.A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.For more about Perseverance:mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ | |
This image, part of an images as art series from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey released on Feb 17, 2004 shows the martian suface strongly resembling a flock of birds flying to the west. | Released 17 February 2004Humanity is a very visual species. We rely on our eyes to tell us what is going on in the world around us. Put any image in front of a person and that person will examine the picture looking for anything familiar. Even if the examiner has no idea what he/she is looking at in a picture, he/she will still be able to make a statement about the picture, usually preceded by the words "it looks like..." The image above is part of the surface of Mars, but is presented for its artistic value rather than its scientific value. When first viewed, this image solicited a statement that "it looks like..." something seen in everyday life.Having covered water and fire, let us now progress to air with this image that strongly resembles a flock of birds, flying to the west.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. | |
A close up of NASA's Sojourner as it placed its Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) upon the surface of the rock 'Yogi.' Distortion in the background is due to parallax. | Looking southwest from the lander, soil disturbances indicating the spacecraft rolled through the landing site are visible. Arriving from the east, the lander, still encased in its protective airbags, rolled up a slight rise and then rolled back down to its final position. The inset at left shows displaced rocks near the rock "Flat Top." Dark patches of disturbed soil indicate where the rocks had originally rested Both insets show rocks that were pushed into the soil from the weight of the lander, visible from the areas of raised rims of dark, disturbed soil around several rocks. The south summit of Twin Peaks is in the background, while a lander petal, deflated airbag, and rear rover deployment ramp are in the foreground.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. The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Photojournal note: Sojourner spent 83 days of a planned seven-day mission exploring the Martian terrain, acquiring images, and taking chemical, atmospheric and other measurements. The final data transmission received from Pathfinder was at 10:23 UTC on September 27, 1997. Although mission managers tried to restore full communications during the following five months, the successful mission was terminated on March 10, 1998. | |
Northern Plains | Image PSP_001477_2470 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on November 19, 2006. The complete image is centered at 67.0 degrees latitude, 67.1 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 313.7 km (196.0 miles). At this distance the image scale is 31.4 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~94 cm across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 cm/pixel. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:12 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 59 degrees, thus the sun was about 31 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 137.8 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 image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows Lycus Sulci, a very complex region surrounding the northern and western flanks of Olympus Mons featuring some of the tectonic ridges as well as the dark slope streaks that are common in this region. | Context imageLycus Sulci is a very complex region surrounding the northern and western flanks of Olympus Mons. This VIS image shows some of the tectonic ridges found in Lycus Sulci as well as the dark slope streaks that are common in this region.Orbit Number: 72032 Latitude: 25.8579 Longitude: 222.571 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2018-03-11 07:08Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
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 Syrtis Major Planum. | Context imageThe THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Syrtis Major Planum, including several wind streaks.Orbit Number: 43303 Latitude: -0.569816 Longitude: 68.6125 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2011-09-18 19:33Please 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 anaglyph from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is of 'Victoria crater' is looking southeast from 'Duck Bay' towards the dramatic promontory called 'Cabo Frio.' 3D glasses are necessary to view this image. | This view of "Victoria crater" is looking southeast from "Duck Bay" towards the dramatic promontory called "Cabo Frio." The small crater in the right foreground, informally known as "Sputnik," is about 20 meters (about 65 feet) away from the rover, the tip of the spectacular, layered, Cabo Frio promontory itself is about 200 meters (about 650 feet) away from the rover, and the exposed rock layers are about 15 meters (about 50 feet) tall. This is a red-blue stereo anaglyph generated from images taken by the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity during the rover's 952nd sol, or Martian day, (Sept. 28, 2006) using the camera's 430-nanometer filters. | |
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. Data from different filters can be combined in many ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a unique, resistant material on the floor of an unnamed crater. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows a unique, resistant material on the floor of an unnamed crater in Terra Cimmeria.Orbit Number: 8547 Latitude: -23.784 Longitude: 135.545 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2003-11-18 02:35Please 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 Global Surveyor shows part of the boulder-strewn surface of an ejecta deposit from a meteor impact crater in Noachis Terra on Mars. | MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-449, 11 August 2003This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) high resolution image shows part of the boulder-strewn surface of an ejecta deposit from a meteor impact crater in Noachis Terra at 49.7°S, 341.6°W. The impact process ejects bouldery debris from the crater and deposits it all around the outside of the crater. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. | |
This image captured by NASA's Mars Odyssey shows layering in the south polar cap. | Context imageToday's image shows layering in the south polar cap.Orbit Number: 40273 Latitude: -84.5541 Longitude: 315.086 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2011-01-12 08:49Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a cross section of the upper elevations of Pavonis Mons, including part of the summit caldera. | Context imageThis VIS image shows a cross section of the upper elevations of Pavonis Mons, including part of the summit caldera (circular region near the center of the image). Pavonis Mons is the central volcano of the three large Tharsis volcanoes. In order from north to south the volcanoes are Ascreaus Mons, Pavonis Mons and Arsia Mons. All three volcanoes form a line located along a tectonic bulge caused by extensional forces in the region. Along this trend there are increased tectonic features and additional lava flows that arose from the flanks of the volcanoes rather than just the summit. Like the other large volcanoes in the region, Pavonis Mons is a shield volcano. Shield volcanoes are formed by lava flows originating near or at the summit, building up layers upon layers of lava. In shield volcanoes summit calderas are typically formed where the surface collapses into the void formed by an emptied magma chamber. Pavonis Mons is the smallest of the three volcanoes with a summit of only 14km (8.7 miles) and a width of 375 km (233 miles). Like most shield volcanoes the surface has a low profile. In the case of Pavonis Mons the average slope is only 4 degrees. Pavonis means peacock in Latin, making it's name peacock mountain.Orbit Number: 92650 Latitude: 0.705474 Longitude: 247.87 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-11-03 03:34Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The lava flows in image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are part of the vast flow field originating from Arsia Mons. | Context imageThe lava flows in today's VIS image are part of the vast flow field originating from Arsia Mons.Orbit Number: 48253 Latitude: -18.9354 Longitude: 243.063 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-10-30 05:48Please 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 3-D image from NASA's rover Opportunity takes a look at Matijevic Hill, an area within the 'Cape York' segment of Endeavour's rim where clay minerals have been detected from orbit. | As NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity neared the ninth anniversary of its landing on Mars, the rover was working in the 'Matijevic Hill' area seen in this stereo view from Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam). The image combines views from the left eye and right eye of the Pancam to appear three-dimensional when seen through blue-red glasses with the red lens on the left.Opportunity landed Jan. 24, 2004, PST (Jan. 25 UTC). The landing site was about 12 miles (19 kilometers), straight-line distance, or about 22 miles (35.5 kilometers) driving-route distance, from this location on the western rim of Endeavour Crater.Matijevic Hill is an area within the "Cape York" segment of Endeavour's rim where clay minerals have been detected from orbit. This view is centered northwestward, toward the crest of Cape York. It extends more than 210 degrees from left to right. The field of view encompasses most of the terrain traversed by Opportunity during a "walkabout" in October and November 2012 to scout which features to spend time examining more intensely. Two of the features investigated at Matijevic Hill are "Copper Cliff," the dark outcrop in the left center of the image, and "Whitewater Lake," the bright outcrop on the far right. Opportunity's Pancam took the component images for this mosaic during the period from the mission's 3,137th Martian day, or sol, (Nov. 19, 2012) through Sol 3150 (Dec. 3, 2012).JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows the Syrtis Major face of Mars. | 21 March 2006This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 25° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 25° occurs in mid-March 2006. The picture shows the Syrtis Major face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn.Season: Northern Spring | |
This mosaic from the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity rover shows the view looking toward the 'Glenelg' area, where three different terrain types come together. | Annotated VersionClick on the image for larger version
This mosaic from the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity rover shows the view looking toward the "Glenelg" area, where three different terrain types come together. All three types are observed from orbit with the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. By driving there, Curiosity will be able to explore them. One of the three terrain types is light-toned with well-developed layering, which likely records deposits of sedimentary materials. There are also black bands that run through the area and might constitute additional layers that alternate with the light-toned layers. The black bands are not easily seen from orbit and are on the order of about 3.3-feet (1-meter) thick. Both of these layer types are important science targets. This mosaic is composed of seven images. The Mastcam 34-millimeter camera took a series of four images; embedded within that series is a second set of three images taken with the Mastcam 100-millimeter camera. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the central part of the dune field on the floor of Russell Crater. | Context image This image shows the central part of the dune field on the floor of Russell Crater. The large ridge "bends" about 60 degrees from parallel to the right side of the image to angle towards the upper left corner. Russell Crater is located in Noachis Terra. A spectacular dune ridge and other dune forms on the crater floor have caused extensive imaging.The Odyssey spacecraft has spent over 15 years in orbit around Mars, circling the planet more than 69000 times. It holds the record for longest working spacecraft at Mars. THEMIS, the IR/VIS camera system, has collected data for the entire mission and provides images covering all seasons and lighting conditions. Over the years many features of interest have received repeated imaging, building up a suite of images covering the entire feature. From the deepest chasma to the tallest volcano, individual dunes inside craters and dune fields that encircle the north pole, channels carved by water and lava, and a variety of other feature, THEMIS has imaged them all. For the next several months the image of the day will focus on the Tharsis volcanoes, the various chasmata of Valles Marineris, and the major dunes fields. We hope you enjoy these images!Orbit Number: 34232 Latitude: -54.4921 Longitude: 12.9013 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2009-09-01 23:04Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
Brushed Target on Rock | NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this microscopic image of a target called "Bubbles" on a rock called "Champagne" after using its rock abrasion tool to brush away a coating of dust. The circular brushed area is about 5 centimeters (2 inches) across. This rock is different from rocks out on the plains of Gusev Crater but is similar to other rocks in this area of the "Columbia Hills" in that it has higher levels of phosphorus. Plagioclase, a mineral commonly found in igneous rocks, is also present in these rocks, according to analysis with the minature thermal emission spectrometer. By using the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to collect data over multiple martian days, or sols, scientists are also beginning to get measurements of trace elements in these rocks. Spirit took the images that are combined into this mosaic on sol 354 (Dec. 30, 2004). | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows linear depressions that are part of Nili Fossae. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. The linear depressions in today's false color image are part of Nili Fossae. Nili Fossae is a collection of curved faults and down-dropped blocks of crust between the faults. The "fossae," or graben, lie northeast of the large volcano Syrtis Major and northwest of the ancient impact basin Isidis Planitia. The troughs, which can be almost 500 meters (1,600 feet) deep , make concentric curves that follow the outline of Isidis Planitia. The graben likely formed as the crust sagged under the weight of lava flows filling the Isidis Planitia impact basin.The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the Martian surface using five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the spatial resolution and coverage of the image must be reduced to accommodate the additional data volume produced from using multiple filters. To make a color image, three of the five filter images (each in grayscale) are selected. Each is contrast enhanced and then converted to a red, green, or blue intensity image. These three images are then combined to produce a full color, single image. Because the THEMIS color filters don't span the full range of colors seen by the human eye, a color THEMIS image does not represent true color. Also, because each single-filter image is contrast enhanced before inclusion in the three-color image, the apparent color variation of the scene is exaggerated. Nevertheless, the color variation that does appear is representative of some change in color, however subtle, in the actual scene. Note that the long edges of THEMIS color images typically contain color artifacts that do not represent surface variation.Orbit Number: 88919 Latitude: 22.3384 Longitude: 77.6092 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-12-30 21:37Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image taken by the Mastcam-Z camera aboard NASA's Perseverance rover on Sept. 4, 2021, confirmed that the rover had retained a rock core in the sample tube held in the drill at the end of its robotic arm. | This image taken by the Mastcam-Z camera aboard NASA's Perseverance rover on Sept. 4, 2021, confirmed that the rover had retained a rock core in the sample tube held in the drill at the end of its robotic arm.After Perseverance drilled the hole called "Montdenier" in the rock nicknamed "Rochette" on Sept. 1 and acquired the rock core, which is slightly thicker than a pencil, the rover vibrated it to clear any material stuck between the coring bit and the sample tube within the bit. The rover then conducted additional imaging to double-check that it retained the rock. This image has been processed to enhance contrast.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.The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built and manages operations of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover for NASA.For more information about the mission, go to: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020Arizona State University in Tempe leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. | |
Engineers at Lockheed Martin Space, Denver, Colorado, test the robotic arm on NASA's InSight lander several months before launch. | Engineers at Lockheed Martin Space, Denver, Colorado, test the robotic arm on NASA's InSight lander several months before launch.JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the InSight Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space built and tested the spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission. InSight is part of NASA s Discovery Program, which is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.For more information about the mission, go to https://mars.nasa.gov/insight. | |
A chapter of the layered geological history of Mars is laid bare in this postcard from NASA's Curiosity rover. The image shows the base of Mount Sharp, the rover's eventual science destination. | Annotated VersionClick on the image for larger version
A chapter of the layered geological history of Mars is laid bare in this postcard from NASA's Curiosity rover. The image shows the base of Mount Sharp, the rover's eventual science destination.This image is a portion of a larger image taken by Curiosity's 100-millimeter Mast Camera on Aug. 23, 2012. See PIA16104. 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. For scale, an annotated version of the figure highlights a dark rock that is approximately the same size as Curiosity. The pointy mound in the center of the image, looming above the rover-sized rock, is about 1,000 feet (300 meters) across and 300 feet (100 meters) high. JPL manages the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.For more about NASA's Curiosity mission, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl, http://www.nasa.gov/mars, and http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows lava flows from Arsia Mons on Mars. At top, a set of dark-toned overlapping flows can be identified by the darker margins where dust/sand has been trapped against the flow margin. | This is a nighttime IR image of lava flows from Arsia Mons. Toward the top of the image a set of dark-toned overlapping flows can be identified by the darker margins where dust/sand has been trapped against the flow margin.Image information: IR instrument. Latitude -6.4, Longitude 229.6 East (130.4 West). 100 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image acquired on January 16, 2022 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows massive deposits of sediments rich in hydrated sulfates in central Valles Marineris. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionMassive deposits of sediments rich in hydrated sulfates are found in central Valles Marineris. Such deposits on Earth are soft and easily eroded, and that appears to be true on Mars as well.There are large gullies and sediment fans along the steepest slopes. Elsewhere on Mars, such slopes are actively eroding in before-and-after HiRISE images, so this would be a good location to observe again in a future year. Linear gaps in data coverage on the bright sun-facing slopes are locations where the image data is saturated.The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 52.6 centimeters [20.7 inches] per pixel [with 2 x 2 binning]; objects on the order of 158 centimeters [62.2 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 NASA 2001 Mars Odyssey image of the southwestern flank of Alba Mons shows lava flows and collapse features. | Context imageCredit: NASA/JPL/MOLAThis VIS image of the southwestern flank of Alba Mons shows lava flows and collapse features.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 35.6N, Longitude 241.8E. 22 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This false color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows windstreaks around an unnamed crater. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows windstreaks around an unnamed crater.Orbit Number: 5799 Latitude: 14.0751 Longitude: 160.397 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2003-04-05 23:33Please 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 shows the results of grinding of its first target with the rock abrasion tool. The grinding process at 'McKittrick' generated a significant amount of fine-grained, reddish dust. | This image shows the results of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's grinding of its first target with the rock abrasion tool, located on its instrument deployment device, or "arm." The target, called "McKittrick," is located on the "El Capitan" region of the rock outcrop at Meridiani Planum, Mars. The grinding process at "McKittrick" has generated a significant amount of fine-grained, reddish dust. Color and spectral properties of the dust show that it may contain some fine-grained crystalline red hematite. This image is an enhanced color composite generated from three different panoramic camera filters. | |
This image shows the surface of Mars, taken by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on May 30, 2014. The contrast has been enhanced in this image to better show the region where InSight landed on Nov. 26, 2018. | An annotated image of the surface of Mars, taken by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on May 30, 2014. The contrast has been enhanced in this image to better show the region where InSight landed on Nov. 26, 2018. The labels show the approximate position of NASA's InSight lander in Elysium Planitia. Overlaid on top are the direction of the vibrations detected by InSight's science instruments. The diagonal lines, faintly seen moving from upper left corner to the lower right corner of the image, show the paths of dust devils on the Martian surface. The vibrations recorded by InSight line up with the direction of the dust devil motion.The original image is at https://www.uahirise.org/ESP_036761_1845The 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.JPL manages InSight for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), provided the SEIS instrument, with significant contributions from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Switzerland, Imperial College and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and JPL.For more information about the mission, go to https://mars.nasa.gov/insight. | |
This observation from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a small portion of Mawrth Vallis, one of the many outflow channels feeding north into the Chryse Basin. This ancient valley once hosted flowing water. | This image shows a small portion of Mawrth Vallis, one of the many outflow channels feeding north into the Chryse Basin. This ancient valley once hosted flowing water. The erosive power of the flowing water rapidly cut down into the underlying layers of rock to expose a host of diverse geologic landforms visible today.A focus of geologic study (at this site on Mars as well as many locations on Earth) is deciphering the juxtaposition of various rock structures and landforms. The superposition of one landform or strata above another, fractures and faults that disrupt one layer but not another, and the depths of certain mineralogical signatures all tell a story of the geological and climatological history of the region.Intensely fractured bedrock is visible at all scales (meters to kilometers), revealing that subsurface rock has undergone a complex history of stresses and deformation, such as stretching, compression, and twisting. Wider dark ridges are also visible, crossing long distances through the fractured bedrock and between the various exposed layers. These ridges may be what geologists call "dikes," near vertical fissures in the subsurface rock that became injected with magma, and which later cooled into the is now an exposed vein of dark volcanic rock.These dikes may be related to areas of dark and rough (likely volcanic) cap rock that now covers and protects the light toned strata below. Erosion through and around this cap rock has exposed a myriad of light toned layers. These layers reveal a past ancient environment where geologic material (perhaps volcanic ash, fine sand, and dust) settled slowly from the air or at the bottom of a standing body of water. In addition, spectroscopic signatures of phyllosilicate minerals (clays) indicates a history of geochemical alteration of primary minerals which in some way involved liquid water.These geologic structures and the processes that formed them mostly predate the already ancient flood waters that carved Mawrth Vallis. However, processes continue to change and evolve the landscape into the present day. Overlying the surface are scattered dark dunes and small sand sheets. These landforms tells us that wind continues to move and shift the dark volcanic sands across the surface. In addition, lighter-toned loose soil and coatings of the ever present reddish dust (very fine grained weathered rock particles that is continuously blown around the planet) blankets much of the surface. The presence of this soil tell us that, while slow, rock continues to weather both physically and chemically, and break down into the finer soil particles. 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 of Tiu Vallis shows a landslide on Mars that crossed the entire width of the channel as seen by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image for PIA09059LandslideThis image of Tiu Vallis shows a landslide that crossed the entire width of the channel.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 4.4N, Longitude 326.9E. 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. | |
On March 25, 2014, view from the Mastcam on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover looks southward at the Kimberley waypoint. Multiple sandstone beds show systematic inclination to the south suggesting progressive build-out of delta sediments. | Figure 1Click on the image for larger versionThis view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover looks southward at the Kimberley waypoint. In the foreground, multiple sandstone beds show systematic inclination to the south suggesting progressive build-out of the sediments toward Mount Sharp. At this location, about a mile (1.6 kilometer) north of the base of Mount Sharp, these inclined beds can be traced up to about 100 yards or meters in the direction of build-out. These inclined beds are interpreted as small deltas building out into a shallow lake. As sediment-laden river water encountered a standing body of water, the river current was forced to abruptly decelerate, leading to rapid deposition of sediment at the river mouth. This deposition led to formation of a delta. Continued supply of sediment by rivers flowing from the crater rim led to deltas building out into the lake towards the south.The Mastcam's left-eye camera recorded the component frames of this mosaic on March 25, 2014, during the 580th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The color has been approximately white-balanced to resemble how the scene would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. Figure 1 is a version with a superimposed scale bar of 50 centimeters (about 20 inches) in the foreground and a scale bar of 3 meters (about 10 feet) at upper right.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the rover's Mastcam.More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft captured this image in August 2003, showing knobby terrain is in the southern highlands on Mars. | Released 4 August 2003At first glance, this THEMIS visible image appears to show chaotic terrain similar to several other areas which have been shown on this web page in recent weeks. However, this knobby terrain is in the southern highlands and nearly 100 degrees of longitude away from the equatorial chaotic terrain related to the giant outflow channels in the northern hemisphere. In addition, this knobby terrain does not seem to be inside of any kind of basin, like much of the chaotic terrain. What we may be seeing here are remnants of a rock layer that once existed but has been eroding away. It is important to note that this layer appears to have a higher albedo (visible brightness) than the surrounding terrain. This may indicate a difference in composition or grain size between the knobs and the surrounding terrain.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -37.3, Longitude 164.1 East (195.9 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This is an enhanced contrast version of the first Mars photograph released on July 15, 1965. This is man's first close-up photograph of another planet, a photographic representation of digital data radioed from Mars by the Mariner 4 spacecraft. | PIA14032 Hand Colored VersionMariner 4 Tape RecorderClick on an individual image
This archival image is an enhanced contrast version of the first Mars photograph released on July 15, 1965. This is man's first close-up photograph of another planet -- a photographic representation of digital data radioed from Mars by the Mariner 4 spacecraft. Data was either sent to Earth immediately for acquisition or stored on an onboard tape recorder for later transmission.Mariner, launched on November 28, 1964, photographed Mars beginning at 5:18:33 P.M. PDT, July 14, 1965, at a distance of about 10,500 miles. Closest approach of about 9,846 kilometers (6,118 miles) from the planet occurred at 6:01 P.M.The spacecraft carried a television camera and six other science instruments to study the Martian atmosphere and surface. The 22 photographs taken by Mariner revealed the existence of lunar type craters upon a desert-like surface. After completing its mission, Mariner 4 continued past Mars to the far side of the Sun. On December 20, 1967, all operations of the spacecraft were ended.For more information about this story see www.directedplay.com/first-tv-image-of-mars.The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, managed the Mariner 4 mission for NASA, Washington, D.C. | |
This color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey released on May 4, 2004 shows the martian surface during the southern summer season in Terra Cimmeria. | Released 5 May 2004This daytime visible color image was collected on November 18, 2003 during the Southern Summer season in Terra Cimmeria.This daytime visible color image was collected on September 4, 2002 during the Northern Spring season in Vastitas Borealis. 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 -23.7, Longitude 135.6 East (224.4 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 taken at Meridiani Planum in 2004 shows NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's arm in its extended position. | This image taken by the front hazard-identification camera onboard the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows the rover's arm in its extended position. The arm, or instrument deployment device, was deployed on the ninth martian day, or sol, of the mission. The rover, now sitting 1 meter (3 feet) away from the lander, can be seen in the foreground. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity captured this image as the rover ascended 'Murray Ridge' above 'Solander Point' on the western rim of Endeavour Crater. | After driving uphill about 139 feet (42.5 meters) during the 3,485th Martian day, or sol, of its work on Mars (Nov. 12, 2013), NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity captured this image with its navigation camera. The climb ascended "Murray Ridge" above "Solander Point" on the western rim of Endeavour Crater.The view is toward the north-northeast. The distance between the two parallel tracks is about 3.3 feet (1 meter). This sol's drive brought Opportunity's cumulative driving distance to 24.01 miles (38.64 kilometers). | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a gully formed in the wall of a north middle-latitude crater. Similar gullies are common at the middle and polar latitudes of Mars, and might have formed by the action of liquid water. | 28 September 2005This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a gully formed in the wall of a north middle-latitude crater. Similar gullies are common at the middle and polar latitudes of Mars, and might have formed by the action of liquid water. Others have argued for carbon dioxide or dry mass movement for the genesis of such landforms. This particular image was acquired during northern autumn, when the sky over the terrain of the martian northern mid-latitudes is typically hazy.Location near: 50.0°N, 356.9°W Image width: width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season: Northern Autumn | |
Spirit's View on Sol 148 | This 360-degree view of the terrain surrounding NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on the 148th martian day of the rover's mission inside Gusev Crater, on June 2, 2004, was assembled from images taken by Spirit's navigation camera. The rover's position is Site A61. The view is presented in a cylindrical projection with geometrical seam correction. | |
This image, taken by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, shows multiple craters with windstreak 'tails.' | Context imageCredit: NASA/JPL/MOLAThis VIS image shows multiple craters with windstreak 'tails.' The arcuate fracture at the bottom part of the frame is the rim of Meroe Patera.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 7.6N, Longitude 68.7E. 21 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 two channels, visible at the top of this image, that are tributaries of Indus Vallis. | Context imageThe two channels visible at the top of this image are tributaries of Indus Vallis. Ejecta from an unnamed crater south of this image fills the bottom half of the VIS image. Indus Vallis is located in Terra Sabaea.Orbit Number: 78850 Latitude: 18.178 Longitude: 39.5506 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-09-23 19:54Please 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. | |
This illustration shows the locations of the various magnets on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover, which are: its front side, or chest; its back, near the color calibration target; and on its rock abrasion tool. | This illustration shows the locations of the various magnets on the Mars Exploration Rover, which are: its front side, or chest; its back, near the color calibration target; and on its rock abrasion tool. Scientists will use these tools to collect dust for detailed studies. The origins of martian dust are a mystery, although it is believed to come from at least one of three sources: volcanic ash, pulverized rocks or mineral precipitates from liqiud water. By studying the dust with the rover's two spectrometers, scientists hope to find an answer. | |
This stereo view combining images taken on Feb. 10, 2014, by the Navigation Camera (Navcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover looks back to where the rover crossed a dune at 'Dingo Gap' four days earlier. You need 3D glasses to view this image. | This stereo scene looking back at where Curiosity crossed a dune at "Dingo Gap" combines several exposures taken by the Navigation Camera (Navcam) high on the rover's mast. It appears three dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left.The panorama is centered toward the east and spans about 225 degrees, from north-northwest at the left to west-southwest at the right. For scale, the distance between Curiosity's parallel wheel tracks is about 9 feet (2.7 meters). The panorama is presented here as a cylindrical-perspective projection.The component images were taken during the 539th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Feb. 10, 2014) from a location reached by a drive the preceding sol. Curiosity crossed the dune at Dingo Gap, near the middle of the horizon of this scene, on Sol 535 (Feb. 6, 2014). The dune is about 3 feet (1 meter) tall.The high-mounted cylinder on the rear part of the vehicle is the rover's UHF (ultrahigh frequency) antenna. The set of disks mounted below it is part of the calibration target for Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument. The ball-on-a-stick device in the foreground is the calibration target, including a sundial, for Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam). To the right of the UHF antenna in this image are the radiator fins for Curiosity's power supply, a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. 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/. | |
This image acquired on November 29, 2021 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows an extensive surface brightness (albedo) boundary on this part of Mars. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionOn this part of Mars there is an extensive surface brightness (albedo) boundary. One hypothesis is that this boundary marks a shoreline, from a time long ago when liquid water could have been stable on the surface of Mars.With the resolution of HiRISE we can see that the reason one side of the boundary is darker than the other is due to the many boulders strewn across the darker side.The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 64.8 centimeters [25.5 inches] per pixel [with 2 x 2 binning]; objects on the order of 194 centimeters [76.4 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.This is a stereo pair with ESP_071699_2260.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. | |
An Olivine-Rich Crater in Tyrrhena Terra | This image of the ejecta of a crater in the Tyrrhena Terra region was taken by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) at 0328 UTC on February 23, 2007 (10:28 p.m. EST on February 22, 2007), near 13 degrees south latitude, 67 degrees east longitude. CRISM's image was taken in 544 colors covering 0.36-3.92 micrometers, and shows features as small as 18 meters (60 feet) across. The region covered is roughly 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) wide at its narrowest point.Named for a classic albedo feature, Tyrrhena Terra is an extensive, heavily-cratered part of Mars' southern highlands, some 2,300 kilometers (1,430 miles) at its broadest extent. It is located to the northeast of the Hellas basin. The region imaged by CRISM is to the north of Hellas Planitia and just east of the crater Huygens in Tyrrhena Terra_x0092_s western end.The uppermost image in the montage above reveals the location of the CRISM image on a mosaic taken by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft_x0092_s Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS). The CRISM image is located inside a large, flat-floored crater measuring about 52 kilometers (32 miles) across. The image includes a small crater and its ejecta blanket, an apron of material thrown out during a crater_x0092_s formation, both located inside the larger crater.The lower left image is an infrared false-color image that reveals the extent of the ejecta blanket. It also includes ejecta from another small crater located just east of the CRISM image.The lower right image shows the strengths of mineral absorptions, and reveals the composition of the ejecta and surrounding material. The ejecta surrounding the small impact crater is thickest at the crater_x0092_s rim, and becomes thinner to discontinuous at the blanket_x0092_s outer edge. This small crater_x0092_s ejecta blanket shows an enhanced spectral signature of the mineral olivine, as does the ejecta from the small crater just out of view to the east. In contrast the surrounding material is rich in the volcanic mineral pyroxene. This relationship demonstrates the layered characteristic of rocks forming the southern highlands: olivine-rich rock was buried by pyroxene-rich materials on the larger crater's floor, probably volcanic lavas. Later, the small crater penetrated the pyroxene-rich rock, excavated the underlying olivine-bearing unit, and deposited it as ejecta.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. | |
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. Data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the rim and ejecta of an unnamed crater in Xanthe Terra. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of the rim and ejecta of an unnamed crater in Xanthe Terra.Orbit Number: 7917 Latitude: -4.89396 Longitude: 306.034 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2003-09-27 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. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows landforms on the floor of Antoniadi Crater on Mars. The circular features were once meteor impact craters that have been almost completely eroded away. | 16 February 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows landforms on the floor of Antoniadi Crater. The circular features were once meteor impact craters that have been almost completely eroded away.Location near: 21.6°N, 297.4°W Image width: ~3.0 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Northern Summer | |
The fractures in this image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are part of Labeatis Fossae. The large impact crater was formed after the fractures. | Context imageThe fractures in this VIS image are part of Labeatis Fossae. The large impact crater was formed after the fractures.Orbit Number: 53283 Latitude: 32.1022 Longitude: 289.185 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2013-12-18 05:39Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows martian south polar residual ice cap is mostly made of frozen carbon dioxide. | 19 March 2004The martian south polar residual ice cap is mostly made of frozen carbon dioxide. There is no place on Earth that a person can go to see the landforms that would be produced by erosion and sublimation of hundreds or thousands of cubic kilometers of carbon dioxide. Thus, the south polar cap of Mars is as alien as alien can get. This image, acquired in February 2004 by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC), shows how the cap appears in summer as carbon dioxide is subliming away, creating a wild pattern of pits, mesas, and buttes. Darker surfaces may be areas where the ice contains impurities, such as dust, or where the surface has been roughened by the removal of ice. This image is located near 86.3°S, 0.8°W. This picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the top/upper left. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows tectonic graben, channel-like features. These graben are called Sirenum Fossae. | Context imageThe channel-like features in this VIS image are tectonic graben. These graben are called Sirenum Fossae. Graben are created in regions of extensional tectonic stress, where the bedrock is faulted and pulled apart, allowing linear sections of the surface to drop downward along paired faults. The Sirenum Fossae graben are 2735km (1700 miles) long.Orbit Number: 84903 Latitude: -30.8518 Longitude: 208.42 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-02-03 04:32Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of the main channel of Ares Vallis, as well as a small side tributary. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of the main channel of Ares Vallis, as well as a small side tributary. Located in Margaritifer Terra, Ares Vallis is part of a large system of channels that arise in Valles Marineris and flow northward into Chryse Planitia.Orbit Number: 79239 Latitude: 7.64196 Longitude: 338.056 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-10-25 20:37Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The lava flows in this image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are located on the eastern flank of Olympus Mons. | Context imageThe lava flows in this VIS image are located on the eastern flank of Olympus Mons.Orbit Number: 56126 Latitude: 16.5299 Longitude: 230.021 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-08-09 04:12Please 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 Mars Global Surveyor shows | 20 February 2004 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a fairly young meteor impact crater on Mars that is about the same size (~ 1 kilometer; 0.62 miles) as the famous Meteor Crater in northern Arizona, U.S.A. Like the Arizona crater, boulders of ejected bedrock can be seen on the crater's ejecta blanket and in the crater itself. This crater is located in the Aethiopis region of Mars near 4.7°N, 224.1°W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left. | |
One of the Navcam imagers aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on Feb. 26, 2023, the 719th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. | Figure AOne of the Navcam imagers aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on Feb. 26, 2023, the 719th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The helicopter is visible in the upper left of image. Ingenuity had landed there, at "Airfield Theta," on the previous sol at the conclusion of its 46th flight on Mars. At the time this enhanced image was taken, the helicopter was approximately 490 feet (150 meters) from the rover.Figure A is the same enhanced image annotated to indicate the location of the Mars Helicopter in the distance.A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.For more about Perseverance: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020 | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a field of defrosting sand dunes in Chasma Boreale in the martian north polar region. | MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-354, 8 May 2003In this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image, wind has streaked a field of defrosting sand dunes in Chasma Boreale in the martian north polar region. Dune slip faces--the steep slope formed by avalanching sand on each dune--and the dark streaks indicate that wind transports sediment from the lower left toward the upper right. The picture covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide near 84.6°N, 358.5°W. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows sand dunes within Proctor Crater. These dunes are composed of basaltic sand that has collected in the bottom of the crater. | Context imageThis VIS image displays sand dunes within Proctor Crater. These dunes are composed of basaltic sand that has collected in the bottom of the crater. The topographic depression of the crater forms a sand trap that prevents the sand from escaping. Dune fields are common in the bottoms of craters on Mars and appear as dark splotches that often lean up against the downwind walls of the craters. Dunes are useful for studying both the geology and meteorology of Mars. The sand forms by erosion of larger rocks, but it is unclear when and where this erosion took place on Mars or how such large volumes of sand could be formed. The dunes also indicate the local wind directions by their morphology. In this case, there are few clear slipfaces that would indicate the downwind direction. The crests of the dunes also typically run north-south in the image. This dune form indicates that there are probably two prevailing wind directions that run east and west (left to right and right to left). Proctor Crater is located in Noachis Terra and is 168 km (104 miles) in diameter.Orbit Number: 90069 Latitude: -47.5035 Longitude: 30.2656 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-04-04 13:50Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The jumbled, chaotic terrain in this NASA Mars Odyssey image may represent a source region for the Reull Vallis, one of the larger channel systems in the southern hemisphere of Mars. | (Released 1 July 2002)The jumbled, chaotic terrain in this THEMIS image may represent a source region for the Reull Vallis, one of the larger channel systems in the southern hemisphere of Mars. Such regions of chaos are thought to form by the catastrophic release of groundwater. If this was the case, then the water would have flowed down gradient to the south and may have contributed to the formation of the Reull Vallis. The top of the image shows two short segments of channels that are interrupted by the chaos, demonstrating that there was a channel system in place before the ground foundered to produce the chaos. One of the more intriguing features seen among the jumbled blocks are narrow ledges that vaguely resemble bath tub rings in the way they conform to the topography. Two good examples are seen running roughly left-right across the image about a fourth of the way down. At first they appear to be layers protruding from the cliff faces, but upon closer inspection a more ledge-like character is evident. Note how they appear different between the south-facing and north facing cliffs. The occurrence of one of these features on the south-facing interior rim of the largest crater in the image but nowhere else around the rim argues against the idea that the ledges are due to a layer of rock cropping out throughout the landscape. Instead, they appear more like the edges of a layer of sediment that drapes the topography. It is possible that the sediment is mixed with ice and is best preserved in the shadowed portions of the terrain. There is no easy explanation for these unusual features. They represent one more Martian enigma. | |
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 plains northwest of Argyre Plainitia. | Context imageThe THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows plains northwest of Argyre Plainitia.Orbit Number: 42471 Latitude: -39.056 Longitude: 300.134 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2011-07-12 07:59Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows eroded materials on the floor of Candor Chasma. | Context imageThis VIS image shows eroded materials on the floor of Candor Chasma.Orbit Number: 56486 Latitude: -7.26134 Longitude: 289.891 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-09-07 19:24Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This pair of images released on June 16, 2004 from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey shows a comparison of daytime and nighttime of part of Lomonosov Crater on Mars. | Released 16 June 2004This pair of images shows part of Lomonosov Crater.Day/Night Infrared PairsThe image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top. Infrared image interpretationDaytime:Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark. Nighttime:Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images.Image information: IR instrument. Latitude 64.9, Longitude 350.7 East (9.3 West). 100 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows the margin between Terra Cimmeria and Elysium Planitia. This boundary region is typified by tectonic fractures forming long, linear depressions. | Context imageThis image is located along the margin between Terra Cimmeria and Elysium Planitia. This boundary region is typified by tectonic fractures forming long, linear depressions. The crater in the lower half of the image has a hexagon shape rather than the normal circular outline. The regional surface/subsurface fracture system deflected the impact generated pressure waves along the tectonic network, causing the linear sides we see in the image. Meteor Crater in northern Arizona has a similar flat sided shape, in that case a square rather than a hexagon. The Arizona crater impacted into sandstone and limestone that had a right angle fracture system.Orbit Number: 78210 Latitude: -7.13006 Longitude: 147.811 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-08-02 02:56Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey released on Dec 8, 2003 shows remarkable layered deposits covering older, cratered surfaces near Mars' south pole. The margin of these layered deposits appears to be eroding poleward. | December 8, 2003Remarkable layered deposits covering older, cratered surfaces near Mars' south pole dominate this mosaic of images taken by the camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft between Nov. 8 and Nov. 26, 2003. The margin of these layered deposits appears to be eroding poleward, exposing a series of layers in the retreating cliff.The mosaic, stitched from eight visible-wavelength images from Odyssey's thermal emission imaging system, covers an area more than 325 kilometers (200 miles) long and 100 kilometers (62 miles) wide. The pictured area lies between 78 degrees and 82 degrees south latitude and between 90 degrees and 104 degrees east longitude. Click on image for larger view A zoom shows details in an area about 75 kilometers (47 miles) by 100 kilometers (62 miles), centered at about 80 degrees south latitude and 99 degrees east longitude. An older impact crater in the left part of the scene is filled with younger deposits from the layered terrain. Click on image for larger view A further zoom emphasizes a small, fresh crater about 350 meters (1,150 feet) in diameter near the center of the scene. The adjacent cliff contains numerous individual layers. An unusual set of small mesas, seen in the lower right part of the image, is being eroded from the polar layered material. The images making up this mosaic have a spatial resolution of 36 meters (118 feet) per pixel, allowing detection of features as small as 75 to 100 meters (246 to 328 feet) across.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for the NASA Office of Space Science, Washington. The thermal emission imaging system on Odyssey was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, 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 June 5, 2022 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows two overlapping impact craters. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionThis image covers two overlapping impact craters, one approximately 4 kilometers in diameter and a second that is about 3 kilometers wide. The smaller crater has a sharply defined rim that interrupts the rim of the larger one, indicating that the smaller crater formed more recently.Rocks of several different colors are exposed in this crater's walls; they are undergoing erosion into finer-grained debris that travels downwards and accumulates in small fans on the crater floor. The rocks exposed on the eastern crater wall appear bluer in enhanced color than the redder rocks of the southern wall.These craters are in the Terra Cimmeria region of Mars' Southern Highlands, where they provide windows into the diverse compositions of the ancient bedrock.The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 25.9 centimeters [10.2 inches] per pixel [with 1 x 1 binning]; objects on the order of 78 centimeters [30.7 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. | |
In this NASA Mars Odyssey image of eastern Arabia Terra, remnants of a once vast layered terrain are evident as isolated buttes, mesas, and deeply-filled craters. | In eastern Arabia Terra, remnants of a once vast layered terrain are evident as isolated buttes, mesas, and deeply-filled craters. The origin of the presumed sediments that created the layers is unknown, but those same sediments, now eroded, may be the source of the thick mantle of dust that covers much of Arabia Terra today.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 20.5, Longitude 50 East (310 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution. | |
The Nili Fossae region, located on the northwest rim of Isidis impact basin, is one of the most colorful regions of Mars, as seen here by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionThe Nili Fossae region, located on the northwest rim of Isidis impact basin, is one of the most colorful regions of Mars.The colors over many regions of Mars are homogenized by the dust and regolith, but here the bedrock is very well exposed, except where there are sand dunes. The rocks also have diverse compositions, which produce different colors in HiRISE infrared-red-blue color images.This region is ancient and has had a complicated geologic history, leading to interesting structures like layered bedrock, as well as other compositions. This is a stereo pair with ESP_044095_2010.The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This daytime infrared image shows part of the dunes and deposit in Richardson Crater on Mars as seen by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image for PIA11922Richardson CraterThis daytime infrared image shows part of the dunes and deposit in Richardson Crater. The bright tone is due to the warm temperature of the dunes during the daytime.Image information: IR instrument. Latitude -72.8N, Longitude 177.7E. 112 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. | |
Starburst Channels | Figure 1Translucent carbon dioxide ice covers the polar regions of Mars seasonally. It is warmed and sublimates (evaporates) from below, and escaping gas carves a numerous channel morphologies.In this example (figure 1) the channels form a "starburst" pattern, radiating out into feathery extensions. The center of the pattern is being buried with dust and new darker dust fans ring the outer edges. This may be an example of an expanding morphology, where new channels are formed as the older ones fill and are no longer efficiently channeling the subliming gas out. Observation GeometryImage PSP_003443_0980 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on 21-Apr-2007. The complete image is centered at -81.8 degrees latitude, 76.2 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 247.1 km (154.4 miles). At this distance the image scale is 24.7 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~74 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 04:52 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 71 degrees, thus the sun was about 19 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 223.4 degrees, the season on Mars is Northern Autumn.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 image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a portion of Nanedi Valles. This channel is over 500 km long (310 miles) and is located in Xanthe Terra. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a portion of Nanedi Valles. This channel is over 500 km long (310 miles) and is located in Xanthe Terra.Orbit Number: 79240 Latitude: 4.57002 Longitude: 309.592 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-10-25 22:34Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows two views of Mars derived from MGS Thermal Emission Spectrometer measurements of global broadband (0.3 - ~3.0 microns) visible and near-infrared reflectance, also known as albedo. | These two views of Mars are derived from the MGS Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) measurements of global broadband (0.3 - ~3.0 microns) visible and near-infrared reflectance, also known as albedo. The range of colors are in dimensionless units. The values are the ratio of the amount of electromagnetic energy reflected by the surface to the amount of energy incident upon it from the sun (larger values are brighter surfaces).The TES instrument was built by Santa Barbara Remote Sensing and is operated by Philip R. Christensen, of Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. | |
This unnamed crater is noticeably younger than the other craters in this image. Note the easily identifiable ejecta blanket. This crater is located in the Phlegra Montes on Mars as seen by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image for PIA09134 Young CraterThis unnamed crater is noticeably younger than the other craters in this image. Note the easily identifiable ejecta blanket. This crater is located in the Phlegra Montes.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 39.3N, Longitude 160.6E. 19 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a crater located in near Sirenum Fossae and some of the modification of the crater may be related to the tectonic activity that created the fossae system. | Context image for PIA10054Crater ModificationThis crater is located in near Sirenum Fossae and some of the modification of the crater may be related to the tectonic activity that created the fossae system. The floor of this unnamed crater has be changed drastically from its original appearance.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -38.9N, Longitude 181.7E. 17 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 Pathfinder was taken near local noon on Sol 10, 1997. The color of the Pathfinder's landing site is yellowish brown with only subtle variations. | The true color of Mars based upon three filters with the sky set to aluminance of 60. The color of the Pathfinder landing site is yellowish brown with only subtle variations. These colors are identical to the measured colors of the Viking landing sites reported by Huck et al. [1977]. This image was taken near local noon on Sol 10. A description of the techniques used to generate this color image from IMP data can be found in Maki et al., 1999. Note: a calibrated output device is required accurately reproduce the correct colors.Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator.
Photojournal note: Sojourner spent 83 days of a planned seven-day mission exploring the Martian terrain, acquiring images, and taking chemical, atmospheric and other measurements. The final data transmission received from Pathfinder was at 10:23 UTC on September 27, 1997. Although mission managers tried to restore full communications during the following five months, the successful mission was terminated on March 10, 1998. | |
Located south of Alba Mons, Olympica Fossae is a complex system of tectonic and volcanic features. The linear features in this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are graben, but the curved feature may be a lava channel. | Context imageLocated south of Alba Mons, Olympica Fossae is a complex system of tectonic and volcanic features. The linear features in this VIS image are graben, but the curved feature may be a lava channel.Orbit Number: 62153 Latitude: 25.8608 Longitude: 247.738 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-12-18 10:52Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This illustration shows the proposed Capture, Containment, and Return System, a NASA payload on the European Space Agency's Earth Return Orbiter. | This illustration shows the proposed Capture, Containment, and Return System, a NASA payload on the European Space Agency's Earth Return Orbiter. As part of the Mars Sample Return Campaign, samples collected by NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover would be launched into Mars orbit within sealed tubes inside an Orbiting Sample container. The Earth Return Orbiter would then rendezvous with this container, and the Capture, Containment, and Return System would be tasked with capturing the Orbiting Sample container, orienting it, sterilizing its exterior, and transferring it into a clean zone for secondary containment, toward safe return to Earth.The Capture, Containment, and Return System is part of the multi-mission Mars Sample Return program being planned by NASA and European Space Agency (ESA).For more information, visit: mars.nasa.gov/msr. | |
Distal Rampart of Crater in Chryse Planitia | Impact craters on Mars are kind of neat. Many of them look very different than impact craters seen on Earth's moon or Mercury. Fresh lunar and Mercurian craters have ejecta blankets that look a bit rough near the crater rims; around larger craters, long rays or chains of secondary craters radiate away from the crater rims. Some Martian craters are similar to these craters, but Mars also has a high proportion of craters with forms not found on the moon or Mercury: rampart craters.Rampart craters, also called fluidized-ejecta craters, have ejecta blankets that appear lobate, or rounded, in plan view, and end in low ridges or ramparts. An example of a such a rampart is the ridge in this image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Here you see the rampart at the edge of an ejecta blanket that comes from an approximately 16-kilometer diameter (10-mile-diameter) crater, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) to the east. For years there has been a debate about whether these lobes and ramparts were formed by ejecta interacting with the thin Martian atmosphere, or whether they formed because volatiles (such as water or ice) in the subsurface were incorporated into the ejecta material excavated by the impact. The common consensus is now in favor of the volatile hypothesis. Because of this, rampart craters can be used to indicate the past presence of water or ice in the Martian crust.This image covers a swath of ground about 6 kilometers (4 miles) wide, centered at 17.2 degrees north latitude, 311.6 degrees east longitude. It is one product from HiRISE observation ESP_14417_1975, made on Aug. 23, 2009. Other image products from this observation are available at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_014417_1975.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows Olympia Undae at the middle of north polar spring. | Context imageThis VIS image of Olympia Undae was collected at the middle of north polar spring. As the season changes towards summertime, the dune crests are just starting to lose the winter frosts, revealing the darker sand beneath. 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.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.Orbit Number: 86013 Latitude: 80.6153 Longitude: 226.709 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-05-05 15:23Please 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. | |
Spirit's Surroundings on 'West Spur,' Sol 305 (Polar) | This 360-degree panorama shows the terrain surrounding NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit as of the rover's 305th martian day, or sol, (Nov. 11, 2004). At that point, Spirit was climbing the "West Spur" of the "Columbia Hills." The rover had just finished inspecting a rock called "Lutefisk" and was heading uphill toward an area called "Machu Picchu." Spirit used its navigational camera to take the images combined into this mosaic. The rover's location when the images were taken is catalogued as the mission's site 89, position 205. The view is presented here as a polar projection with geometric seam correction. | |
This false color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft covers the region from Nili Patera at the top of the frame to the dunes near Meroe Patera. The paterae are calderas on the volcanic complex called Syrtis Major Planum. | Context image This false color image covers the region from Nili Patera at the top of the frame to the dunes near Meroe Patera (which is off the bottom of the image). High resolution imaging by other spacecraft has revealed that the dunes in this region are moving. Winds are blowing the dunes across a rough surface of regional volcanic lava flows. The paterae are calderas on the volcanic complex called Syrtis Major Planum. Dunes are found in both Nili and Meroe Paterae and in the region between the two calderas.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.The Odyssey spacecraft has spent over 15 years in orbit around Mars, circling the planet more than 69000 times. It holds the record for longest working spacecraft at Mars. THEMIS, the IR/VIS camera system, has collected data for the entire mission and provides images covering all seasons and lighting conditions. Over the years many features of interest have received repeated imaging, building up a suite of images covering the entire feature. From the deepest chasma to the tallest volcano, individual dunes inside craters and dune fields that encircle the north pole, channels carved by water and lava, and a variety of other feature, THEMIS has imaged them all. For the next several months the image of the day will focus on the Tharsis volcanoes, the various chasmata of Valles Marineris, and the major dunes fields. We hope you enjoy these images!Orbit Number: 61810 Latitude: 8.37503 Longitude: 67.4659 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-11-20 04:48Please 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 the lower flank of Olympus Mons. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows part of the lower flank of Olympus Mons. The bright band in the image is an escarpment, where there is a large elevation change over a very short linear range – a cliff. This escarpment is called Olympus Rupes. In 2-D images it is very difficult to interpret the height component. In this case, the elevation change from the highest point (bottom of image) to the lowest point (top of image) is 7757m (25,449 feet). Olympus Mons is 21.9km (13.6 miles, 72,000 feet) tall. For comparison, Mt Everest is only 29,032 feet tall.Orbit Number: 94579 Latitude: 22.7256 Longitude: 229.336 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2023-04-10 22:38Please 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. | |
Before moving on to explore more of Mars, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit looked back at the long and winding trail of twin wheel tracks the rover created to get to the top of 'Husband Hill.' 3D glasses are necessary to view this image. | Left-eye view of a stereo pair for PIA03058Right-eye view of a stereo pair for PIA03058Before moving on to explore more of Mars, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit looked back at the long and winding trail of twin wheel tracks the rover created to get to the top of "Husband Hill." Spirit spent several days in October 2005 at this location, perched on a lofty, rock-strewn incline next to a precarious outcrop nicknamed "Hillary." Researchers helped the rover make several wheel adjustments to get solid footing before conducting scientific analysis of the rock outcrop. The rock turned out to be similar in appearance and composition to a rock target called "Jibsheet" PIA07979 that the rover had studied several months earlier and hundreds of meters away.To the west are the slopes of the "Columbia Hills," so named for the astronauts of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Beyond the hills are the flat plains and rim of Gusev Crater.Spirit took this 360-degree panorama of images with its navigation camera on the 627th Martian day, or sol, (Oct. 7, 2005) of its exploration of Gusev Crater on Mars. This stereo view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric seam correction. | |
This panorama taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity includes an outcrop informally called 'Cambridge Bay.' Opportunity examined this outcrop in August 2010. | This panorama taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity includes an outcrop informally called "Cambridge Bay." Opportunity examined this outcrop in August 2010. The outcrop includes an apparent contact between two bedrock units which have different textures and perhaps compositions. Opportunity used its navigation camera during the 2,335th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Aug. 18, 2010) to take these images. Science instruments on the robotic arm were used to measure the chemistry and texture of the outcrop from Sol 2340 (Aug. 24, 2010) to Sol 2346 (Aug. 30, 2010). Opportunity has since resumed its journey toward the long-term destination of Endeavour Crater. Portions of Endeavour Crater's rim are visible on the horizon. | |
Dunes forms top this sand sheet in the plains of Aonia Terra in this image captured by NASA's Mars Odyssey. | Context imageDunes forms top this sand sheet in the plains of Aonia Terra.Orbit Number: 39888 Latitude: -49.8514 Longitude: 293.853 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-12-11 15:04Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows the northern lowlands, complex surfaces with craters of all sizes, layering, dust devil tracks and other erosional features. | Context imageIt is often said that the northern lowlands of Mars are bland when compared to the interesting surfaces in the southern highlands and large volcanic complexes. As this VIS image shows, the northern lowlands are complex surfaces with craters of all sizes, layering, dust devil tracks and other erosional features.Orbit Number: 88157 Latitude: 46.7474 Longitude: 97.2523 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-10-29 03:53Please 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 image taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of the caldera at the summit of Olympus Mons, a huge volcano on Mars. The arcuate (curved) fractures seen on the right side of the caldera floor were likely formed when later eruptions occurred. | This VIS image shows part of the caldera at the summit of Olympus Mons -- a huge volcano. The arcuate (curved) fractures seen on the right side of the caldera floor were likely formed when later eruptions occurred -- note the smoother, younger section to the left.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 18.2, Longitude 226.9 East (133.1 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 November 13, 2020 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows lobate debris aprons (LDA), commonly found surrounding dissected plateaus in the Deuteronilus Mensae region of Mars. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionLobate debris aprons (LDA) are commonly found surrounding dissected plateaus in the Deuteronilus Mensae region of Mars. They have been interpreted as debris-covered glaciers and radar data have shown their interiors to be composed of pure ice.The mound in this image is slightly removed from most of the other plateaus, and the LDA surrounding it is highly degraded. The sharp scarps on the western and eastern sides of the mound indicate that a great deal of the ice once found in these landforms has since sublimated away, leaving behind these collapsed debris cliffs.The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 30.1 centimeters [11.9 inches] per pixel [with 1 x 1 binning]; objects on the order of 90 centimeters [35.4 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 vertical-projection mosaic was assembled from images taken by the navigation camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on April 24, 2004 at a region dubbed 'site 35.' Spirit is sitting 100 feet away from the northeast rim of 'Missoula' crater. | This vertical projection was assembled from images taken by the navigation camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on sol 110 (April 24, 2004) at a region dubbed "site 35." Spirit is sitting approximately 33 meters (100 feet) away from the northeast rim of "Missoula" crater. | |
Layered Deposits in Terby | Terby Crater is a large (diameter ~165 km), Noachian-aged crater located on the northern rim of the Hellas impact basin (28ºS, 74.1ºE).Terby hosts a very impressive sequence of predominantly light-toned layered deposits, up to 2.5 km thick that are banked along its northern rim and extend toward the center of the crater.This image shows a stack of layered rocks as they are exposed westward facing scarp. The layered sequence consists of many beds that are repetitive, relatively horizontal and laterally continuous on a kilometer scale. Many beds are strongly jointed and fractured and exhibit evidence of small-scale wind scour.The light-toned layers are typically at least partially covered with dark mantling material that obscures the layers as well as debris and numerous, meter-scale boulders that have cascaded down slope. The processes responsible for formation of these layers remain a mystery, but could include deposition in water, by the wind, or even volcanic activity.This HiRISE image is a proposed landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) in Terby Crater.Observation GeometryImage PSP_001662_1520 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on 03-Dec-2006. The complete image is centered at -27.6 degrees latitude, 74.2 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 258.1 km (161.3 miles). At this distance the image scale is 25.8 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~77 cm across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 cm/pixel and north is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 03:40 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 68 degrees, thus the sun was about 22 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 144.9 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. | |
Simultaneous infrared and visible images taken byNASA's Mars Odyssey show the Martian south polar cap in late summer. The black areas are at a temperature near -125 degrees Celsius (-193 degrees Fahrenheit) and correspond to solid carbon dioxide ice. | Simultaneous infrared and visible images taken by the camera system on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft show the martian south polar cap in late summer. The black areas in the infrared image are at a temperature near -125 degrees Celsius (-193 degrees Fahrenheit) and correspond to solid carbon dioxide ice. The purple regions are areas of exposed water ice at a temperature near -95 degrees Celsius (-139degrees Fahrenheit). The warmest (red) areas are classic "dark lanes" of frost-free soil at a temperature near -55 degrees Celsius(-67 degrees Fahrenheit). The right panel shows the same infrared image with a visible image superimposed. The infrared image is approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide.The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science in Washington, D.C. Investigators at Arizona State University in Tempe, the University of Arizona in Tucson and NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, operate the science instruments. Additional science partners are located at the Russian Aviation and Space Agency and at Los Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico. 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. | |
The robotic arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander enlarged a trench beside a rock called 'Headless' on Sept. 20, 2008 in preparation for sliding the rock into the trench. The lander took this image later that afternoon, showing the enlarged trench. | The robotic arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander enlarged a trench beside a rock called "Headless" during the mission's 115th Martian day (Sept. 20, 2008) in preparation for sliding the rock into the trench. The lander's Surface Stereo Imager took this image later that afternoon, showing the enlarged trench and the rock.The robotic arm successfully moved the rock two days later.The Phoenix science team sought to move the rock in order to study the soil and the depth to subsurface ice underneath where the rock had been.Headless is about the size and shape of a VHS videotape. The trench, called "Neverland," was excavated to about 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) deep near the rock. The ground surface between the rock and the lip of the trench slopes downward about 3 degrees toward the trench.This image was taken at about 4:35 p.m., local solar time on Mars. The view is to the north northeast of the lander.The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by JPL, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development was 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. | |
Northern Plains | Image PSP_001404_2490 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on November 13, 2006. The complete image is centered at 69.0 degrees latitude, 254.0 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 315.7 km (197.3 miles). At this distance the image scale is 31.6 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~95 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 2:54 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 58 degrees, thus the sun was about 32 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 135.0 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. |
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