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NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows low albedo sand dunes on the floor of a crater in southern Noachis Terra on Mars. | 10 February 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows low albedo sand dunes on the floor of a crater in southern Noachis Terra.Location near: 52.5°S, 336.9°W Image width: ~~3.0 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Southern Autumn | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Daedalia Planum as well as several windstreaks. | Context imageThis VIS image shows part of Daedalia Planum as well as several windstreaks. There is a large streak in the bottom half of the frame from a large crater off the image to the right. The "tail" of the windstreak is on the downwind side of the crater.Orbit Number: 64886 Latitude: -8.63998 Longitude: 223.484 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-07-30 13:10Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This stereo 3D scene from the Pancam on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity looks back toward part of the west rim of Endeavour Crater that the rover drove along, heading southward, during the summer of 2014. | This scene from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity looks back toward part of the west rim of Endeavour Crater that the rover drove along, heading southward, during the summer of 2014. 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.Pancam acquired the component exposures on August 15, 2014, during the 3,754th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars. The high point on the rim in the left half of the scene is the southern end of "Murray Ridge." Tracks from drives from mid-July 2014 are faintly visible near there, and tracks from subsequent drives advance to the foreground. For scale, the distance between Opportunity's parallel wheel tracks is about 3.3 feet (1 meter).The most distant visible tracks are from nearly half a mile (more than 700 meters) prior to Opportunity's arrival at the viewpoint from which this scene was recorded.A video at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/?id=1325 places the scene into context of the rover's entire route of more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) since its 2004 landing. A map indicating the rover's Sol 3754 location (as the location reached by a Sol 3752 drive) is online at http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/tm-opportunity/opportunity-sol3757.html.JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Spirit and Opportunity, visit http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov. | |
This artist's concept of the proposed NASA Mars Sample Return mission shows the entry, descent and landing sequence the lander would undergo on its way to Mars. | This artist's concept of the proposed Mars Sample Return mission shows the entry, descent and landing sequence the lander would undergo on its way to Mars. This image is part of a series designed to describe the current groundbreaking Mars Sample Return mission concept (see figure 1 below for a composite of the series), with a tentative launch date of 2013.Figure 1: series composite | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of the floor of Eberwalde Crater. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows part of the floor of Eberwalde Crater. A large delta deposit is located just to the northwest of this image. This crater once hosted a lake, and the floor is covered with layered materials. Clays have been identified, the result of the interaction of water and eroded materials from the crater floor, as well as the influx of sediments from the channel that created the delta. Eberswalde Crater is 62 km in diameter (38 miles).Orbit Number: 91862 Latitude: -24.1163 Longitude: 326.755 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-08-30 04:31Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This false color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft crosses the entire crater and demonstrates how extensive the dunes are on the floor of Rabe Crater. In this combination of filters 'blue' typically means basaltic sand. | Context image This is a false color image of Rabe Crater. In this combination of filters "blue" typically means basaltic sand. This VIS image crosses the entire crater and demonstrates how extensive the dunes are on the floor of Rabe Crater.Rabe Crater is 108 km (67 miles) across. Craters of similar size often have flat floors. Rabe Crater has some areas of flat floor, but also has a large complex pit occupying a substantial part of the floor. The interior fill of the crater is thought to be layered sediments created by wind and or water action. The pit is eroded into this material. The eroded materials appear to have stayed within the crater forming a large sand sheet with surface dune forms as well as individual dunes where the crater floor is visible. The dunes also appear to be moving from the upper floor level into the pit.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: 67013 Latitude: -43.2572 Longitude: 34.5875 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2017-01-21 18:25Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This is the first contiguous, uniform 360-degree color panorama taken by NASA's Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) during July 8-10, 1997. Different regions were imaged at different times to acquire consistent lighting and shadow conditions for all areas. | This is the first contiguous, uniform 360-degree color panorama taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) over the course of sols 8, 9, and 10. Different regions were imaged at different times over the three Martian days to acquire consistent lighting and shadow conditions for all areas of the panorama. At left is a lander petal and a metallic mast which is a portion of the low-gain antenna. On the horizon the double "Twin Peaks" are visible, about 1-2 kilometers away. The rock "Couch" is the dark, curved rock at right of Twin Peaks. Another lander petal is at left-center, showing the fully deployed forward ramp at far left, and rear ramp at right, which rover Sojourner used to descend to the surface of Mars on July 5. Immediately to the left of the rear ramp is the rock Barnacle Bill, which scientists found to be andesitic, possibly indicating that it is a volcanic rock (a true andesite) or a physical mixture of particles. Just beyond Barnacle Bill, rover tracks lead to Sojourner, shown using its Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument to study the large rock "Yogi." Yogi, low in quartz content, appears to be more primitive than Barnacle Bill, and appeared more like the common basalts found on Earth. The tracks and circular pattern in the soil leading up to Yogi were part of Sojourner's soil mechanics experiments, in which varying amounts of pressure were applied to the wheels in order to determine physical properties of the soil. During its traverse to Yogi the rover stirred the soil and exposed material from several centimeters in depth. During one of the turns to deploy Sojourner's Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer, the wheels dug particularly deeply and exposed white material. Spectra of this white material show it is virtually identical to the rock Scooby Doo, and such white material may underlie much of the site. Deflated airbags are visible at the perimeter of all three lander petals.The IMP is a stereo imaging system with color capability provided by 24 selectable filters -- twelve filters per "eye." Its red, green, and blue filters were used to take this image. The IMP, in its fully deployed configuration, stands 1.8 meters above the Martian surface, and has a resolution of two millimeters at a range of two meters.Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator.
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. | |
Sirenum Fossae is comprised of long, parallel fracture systems, some of which are seen in this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context imageSirenum Fossae is comprised of long, parallel fracture systems, some of which are seen in today's VIS image.Orbit Number: 42449 Latitude: -27.1346 Longitude: 216.777 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2011-07-10 12:27Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This low-angle self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle above the 'Buckskin' rock target, where the mission collected its seventh drilled sample. The site is in the 'Marias Pass' area of lower Mount Sharp. | This low-angle self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle above the "Buckskin" rock target, where the mission collected its seventh drilled sample. The site is in the "Marias Pass" area of lower Mount Sharp.The scene combines dozens of images taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on Aug. 5, 2015, during the 1,065th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. The 92 component images are among MAHLI Sol 1065 raw images at http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=1065&camera=MAHLI. For scale, the rover's wheels are 20 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter and about 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide. Curiosity drilled the hole at Buckskin during Sol 1060 (July 30, 2015). Two patches of pale, powdered rock material pulled from Buckskin are visible in this scene, in front of the rover. The patch closer to the rover is where the sample-handling mechanism on Curiosity's robotic arm dumped collected material that did not pass through a sieve in the mechanism. Sieved sample material was delivered to laboratory instruments inside the rover. The patch farther in front of the rover, roughly triangular in shape, shows where fresh tailings spread downhill from the drilling process. The drilled hole, 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter, is at the upper point of the tailings. The rover is facing northeast, looking out over the plains from the crest of a 20-foot (6-meter) hill that it climbed to reach the Marias Pass area. The upper levels of Mount Sharp are visible behind the rover, while Gale Crater's northern rim dominates the horizon on the left and right of the mosaic.A portion of this selfie cropped tighter around the rover is at PIA19808. Another version of the wide view, presented in a projection that shows the horizon as a circle, is at PIA19806. MAHLI is mounted at the end of the rover's robotic arm. For this self-portrait, the rover team positioned the camera lower in relation to the rover body than for any previous full self-portrait of Curiosity. This yielded a view that includes the rover's "belly," as in a partial self-portrait (PIA16137) taken about five weeks after Curiosity's August 2012 landing inside Mars' Gale Crater. Before sending Curiosity the arm-positioning commands for this Buckskin belly panorama, the team previewed the low-angle sequence of camera pointings on a test rover in California. A mosaic from that test is at PIA19810.This selfie at Buckskin does not include the rover's robotic arm beyond a portion of the upper arm held nearly vertical from the shoulder joint. Shadows from the rest of the arm and the turret of tools at the end of the arm are visible on the ground. With the wrist motions and turret rotations used in pointing the camera for the component images, the arm was positioned out of the shot in the frames or portions of frames used in this mosaic. This process was used previously in acquiring and assembling Curiosity self-portraits taken at sample-collection sites "Rocknest" (PIA16468), "John Klein" (PIA16937), "Windjana" (PIA18390) and "Mojave" (PIA19142).MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover.More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.Photojournal Note: Also available is the full resolution TIFF file PIA19807_full.tif. This file may be too large to view from a browser; it can be downloaded onto your desktop by right-clicking on the previous link and viewed with image viewing software. | |
Color composite of condensate clouds over Tharsis made from red and blue images with a synthesized green channel. Mars Orbiter Camera wide angle frames from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor Orbit 48. | Color composite of condensate clouds over Tharsis made from red and blue images with a synthesized green channel. Mars Orbiter Camera wide angle frames from Orbit 48.Figure caption from Science Magazine. | |
Spirit Beside 'Home Plate,' Sol 1809 | NASA Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its navigation camera to take the images assembled into this 120-degree view southward after a short drive during the 1,809th Martian day, or sol, of Spirit's mission on the surface of Mars (February 3, 2009). Spirit had driven about 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) that sol, continuing a clockwise route around a low plateau called "Home Plate." In this image, the rocks visible above the rovers' solar panels are on the slope at the northern edge of Home Plate.This view is presented as a cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction. | |
This stereo scene combines frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the 1,891st Martian day, or sol, of Spirit's mission on Mars (April 28, 2009). You will need 3-D glasses to view this image. | Left-eye view of a color stereo pair for PIA12143Right-eye view of a color stereo pair for PIA12143This stereo scene combines frames taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit during the 1,891st Martian day, or sol, of Spirit's mission on Mars (April 28, 2009). It covers a vista from south-southeast on the left to northeast on the right. The view appears three-dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses with the red lens on the left.This view is from the position Spirit reached with a drive that moved the rover only about 14 centimeters (5.5 inches) earlier on Sol 1891. Spirit's wheels had started to sink into local soil on Sol 1886 (April 23, 2009). After Sol 1891, the rover team attempted five more drives with Spirit through Sol 1899 (May 6, 2009), moving the rover only a few centimeters in all, and detecting wheel slippage in excess of 99 percent before deciding to suspend further driving by Spirit until potential maneuvers had been thoroughly evaluated with a test rover on Earth. The site from which Spirit obtained this view has been informally named "Troy." Layers of differently hued soil uncovered by the sinking wheels became the subject of intense analysis by the instruments on Spirit's robotic arm.On the horizon at the left edge of this view is a mound capped with light-toned rock and called "Von Braun," a possible destination for Spirit to investigate in the future. Between Von Braun and the center of the image is a ridge called "Tsiolkovsky." The hill on the horizon to the right is Husband Hill, where Spirit reached the summit in 2005. Tracks receding toward the north were created as Spirit drove southward toward Troy, driving backward and dragging its right-front wheel, which has been inoperable for more than three years. For scale, the distance between the parallel wheel tracks is about 1 meter (about 40 inches). This panorama combines right-eye and left-eye views presented as cylindrical-perspective projections with geometric seam correction. | |
A view from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on April 8, 2015, catches sight of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover passing through a valley called 'Artist's Drive' on the lower slope of Mount Sharp. | Unannotated ImageClick on the image for larger versionA view from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on April 8, 2015, catches sight of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover passing through a valley called "Artist's Drive" on the lower slope of Mount Sharp.The image is from the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. It shows the rover's position after a drive of about 75 feet (23 meters) during the 949th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars. North is toward the top. The rover's location, with its shadow extending toward the right, is indicated with an inscribed rectangle. The view in this image covers an area about 550 yards (500 meters) across. An unannotated version of the image is at PIA19392_fig1.jpg.Curiosity used a route through Artist's Drive on its way toward higher layers on Mount Sharp after examining exposures of the mountain's basal geological unit at "Pahrump Hills." The rover's "Logan Pass" science destination is at the bottom left of this image. A wider map of the area is at PIA19390.This image is an excerpt from HiRISE observation ESP_040770_1755. Other image products from this observation are available at ESP_040770_1755.The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project and Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a single linear depression, most likely a graben. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a single linear depression, most likely a graben. This region is located just south of Cerberus Fossae, so it may have formed at the same time. Several Cerberus Fossae graben have also been source regions for flow features.Orbit Number: 94756 Latitude: 7.92391 Longitude: 165.118 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2023-04-25 12:20Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This 360-degree stereo anaglyph of the terrain surrounding NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was taken on the rover's 189th sol on Mars. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image. | This 360-degree stereo anaglyph of the terrain surrounding NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit was taken on the rover's 189th sol on Mars (July 15, 2004). It was assembled from images taken by the rover's navigation camera at a position referred to as Site 72, which is at the base of the "West Spur" portion of the "Columbia Hills." The view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometrical seam correction.See PIA06712 for left eye view and PIA06713 for right eye view of this 3-D cylindrical-perspective projection. | |
An impact crater in Isidis Planitia observed for a fifth time by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionThis HiRISE image shows a valley filled with an assortment of linear ridges. These ridges are often referred to as transverse aeolian ridges, or TAR, and they take a variety of forms. Here they sit at right angles to the direction of the valley, because the topography funnels the wind along the trough.At this location, some of the TAR have secondary structures, likely small ripples. It is common for sand dunes to be covered in small ripples, often with different orientations that may be shaped by winds redirected by the larger dunes. Here the secondary structures have an unusual radiating/converging pattern, giving the TAR here a feathery appearance. HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows rocks and gullies are visible in the northern walls of the crater. A small patch of large, windblown ripples cover part of the crater floor. | 7 September 2006This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a crater approximately 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) in diameter located in Terra Cimmeria. Layered rocks and gullies are visible in the northern walls of the crater. A small patch of large, windblown ripples cover part of the crater floor.Location near 32.8°S, 202.8°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Southern Autumn | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a field of parallel ridges north of a dune field in a wind-eroded material named the Apollinaris Sulci on Mars. | A pair of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images (above, center and right) shows close-up views of a sand dune field that was first detected by the Viking orbiters in the late 1970s (above, left). What is surprising about the MOC images is that they reveal a dune field unlike any other thus far seen on Mars--this one has impact craters on its surface, and LOTS of them!The field of parallel ridges north of the dune field (above the white boxes in picture at the left) is a wind-eroded material named the Apollinaris Sulci. It is possible that the dune field shown here was once covered by this wind-eroded material and was later exhumed. Regardless, the dunes were somehow hardened and have been exposed as hard rock on the martian surface long enough for many impact craters smaller than a few hundred meters (few hundred yards) across to form. These dunes are therefore quite ancient -- one might say that this is a "fossil" dune field. A similar effect at a much smaller scale can be seen by examining some sandstones and siltstones on Earth -- if conditions were right, ripples formed in either water or wind are preserved in such rocks.The first MOC view, labeled M03-00006, was taken on July 1, 1999. The second view, M07-05007, was acquired September 26, 1999. Both MOC images and the Viking picture are illuminated from the left. The dune field occurs east of the Apollinaris Patera volcano and northeast of Gusev Crater at 12.5°S, 181°W.The release for image C in the caption can be found here. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its front hazard-avoidance camera to take this picture showing the rover's arm extended toward a light-toned rock, 'Tisdale 2,' during sol 2,695 (Aug. 23, 2011). Tisdale 2 is about 12 inches tall. | NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its front hazard-avoidance camera to take this picture showing the rover's arm extended toward a light-toned rock, "Tisdale 2," during the 2,695th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Aug. 23, 2011). Tisdale 2 is about 12 inches (30 centimeters) tall.The rover used two instruments on the robotic arm, the microscopic imager and the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, to examine Tisdale 2. In this image, the turret at the end of the arm is positioned so that the microscopic imager is facing the rock.Tisdale 2 and other rocks on the ground beyond it were apparently ejected by the impact that excavated a 66-foot-wide (20-meter-wide) crater, called "Odyssey," which is nearby to the left (north) of this scene. Odyssey and these rocks are on a low ridge called "Cape York," which is a segment of the western rim of Endeavour crater. Endeavour is about 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter. Portions of the interior and eastern rim of Endeavour are visible near the top of this image. | |
Candor Chasma is one of the largest canyons that make up Valles Marineris. This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of western Candor and the erosion of a large mesa. | Context image Candor Chasma is one of the largest canyons that make up Valles Marineris. It is approximately 810 km long (503 miles) and has is divided into two regions - eastern and western Candor. Candor is located south of Ophir Chasma and north of Melas Chasma. The border with Melas Chasma contains many large landslide deposits. The floor of Candor Chasma includes a variety of landforms, including layered deposits, dunes, landslide deposits and steep sided cliffs and mesas. Many forms of erosion have shaped Chandor Chasma. There is evidence of wind and water erosion, as well as significant gravity driven mass wasting (landslides). This image shows part of western Candor and the erosion of a large mesa. Layered materials are visible throughout the image and small dunes exist in several places.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: 4360 Latitude: -6.08522 Longitude: 284.85 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2002-12-08 10:51Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows the Tharsis face of Mars in mid-May 2005. | 3 May 2005This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 211° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 211° occurs in mid-May 2005. The picture shows the Tharsis face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn.Season: Northern Autumn/Southern Spring | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows connected craters that look like bugs, perhaps a bumble bee at the top and a wasp at the bottom. | Context imageDo you see what I see? The connected craters at the top and bottom of this image look like bugs, perhaps a bumble bee at the top and a wasp at the bottom. When pieces of a meteor strike the surface side by side, craters are formed that are divided by a straight wall and the ejecta tends to form "wings" along the trend of that wall.Orbit Number: 17859 Latitude: -7.80876 Longitude: 75.1543 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2005-12-23 19:03Please 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 captured this image showing the floor of western Ganges Chasma in Valles Marineris. | On October 26, 1997, MOC took this image of Mars 10 minutes after its closest approach to the planet (1:46 AM PST). The view shows the floor of western Ganges Chasma (7.8°S 51.8°W), covering an area 2.6 km (1.6 miles) wide by 45.4 km (28.2 miles) long at a resolution of 5 by 7.4 meters (16.4 by 24.3 feet) per picture element. The local time on Mars when the picture was taken was 4:35 PM.The center image (available at higher resolution as PIA01028) shows the northern portion of the area inscribed in the left image. The right image (PIA01029) shows the southern portion.Launched on November 7, 1996, Mars Global Surveyor entered Mars orbit on Thursday, September 11, 1997. The original mission plan called for using friction with the planet's atmosphere to reduce the orbital energy, leading to a two-year mapping mission from close, circular orbit (beginning in March 1998). Owing to difficulties with one of the two solar panels, aerobraking was suspended in mid-October and resumed in November 8. Many of the original objectives of the mission, and in particular those of the camera, are likely to be accomplished as the mission progresses.Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a sand sheet with surface dunes forms on the floor of an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a sand sheet with surface dunes forms on the floor of an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra.Orbit Number: 74596 Latitude: -52.0302 Longitude: 33.4965 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2018-10-08 11:42Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
These lava flows are part of Olympus Mons on Mars as seen by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image for PIA01816Lava FlowsThese lava flows are part of Olympus Mons.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 21.2N, Longitude 231.9E. 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. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey released on April 26, 2004 shows a bend in the river in Tiu Vallis on Mars. | Released 26 April 2004We began MSIP with 122 students divided into 24 teams. Each team created a proposal and, through the peer review process, seven proposals were selected. Two teams were formed to actually select a site. The Tiu Vallis site was selected by the "Water" group. In the context image there appeared to be several features that would result in deposition. The first was a "bend in the river." There also was a structure that looked like a confluence of two streams that would result in deposition. The actual THEMIS image is dominated by a channel. There also is a confluence at the bottom of the image. The channel contains three lobate flow deposits. One team went on to investigate the flows to see if they could determine their relative age.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 14.8, Longitude 326.8 East (3.9 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.NASA and Arizona State University's Mars Education Program is offering students nationwide the opportunity to be involved in authentic Mars research by participating in the Mars Student Imaging Project (MSIP). Teams of students in grades 5 through college sophomore level have the opportunity to work with scientists, mission planners and educators on the THEMIS team at ASU's Mars Space Flight Facility, to image a site on Mars using the THEMIS visible wavelength camera. For more information go to the MSIP website: http://msip.asu.edu.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
From its location at the inner edge of the small crater surrounding it, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was able to look out to the plains where its backshell and parachute landed. | From its new location at the inner edge of the small crater surrounding it, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was able to look out to the plains where its backshell (left) and parachute (right) landed. Opportunity is currently investigating a rock outcropping with its suite of robotic geologic tools. This approximate true-color image was created by combining data from the panoramic camera's red, green and blue filters. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows Padus Vallis. Located east of Mangala Valles, Padus Vallis is just one of the many small channels that empty into the Medusa Fossae Formation region. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows Padus Vallis (middle of image). Located east of Mangala Valles, Padus Vallis is just one of the many small channels that empty into the Medusa Fossae Formation region. Padus Vallis is 57 km (35 miles) long.Orbit Number: 86007 Latitude: -4.81752 Longitude: 210.081 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-05-05 02:57Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows the Tharsis face of Mars in mid-February 2005. | This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images.acquired at Ls 160° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 160° occurs in mid-February 2005. The picture shows the Tharsis face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls.0° -- the start of northern spring and southern summer. Season: Northern Summer/Southern Winter | |
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its Navigation Camera (Navcam) to capture this scene toward the west just after completing a drive that took the mission's total driving distance past 10 kilometers (6.214 miles). | NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its Navigation Camera (Navcam) to capture this scene toward the west just after completing a drive that took the mission's total driving distance past 10 kilometers (6.214 miles).The drive on April 16, 2015, during the 957th Martian day, or sol of Curiosity's work on Mars covered 208 feet (63.5 meters). It advanced the rover westward through a sandy-floored valley. The valley is on the rover's route toward a higher site on Mount Sharp than sites it has investigated previously.More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
Plains and Hills Explored by Spirit | Figure 1: Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450This view from orbit shows the region within Gusev Crater where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been working for the past 15 months. The view is a mosaic of images from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. In the left and central portion, previously released as PIA07192, tracks made by Spirit's wheels are visible from the landing site to the edge of the "Columbia Hills."Spirit's Long Journey, Sol 450 (Full Traverse) More than 15 months after landing on Mars, NASA's Spirit rover is still going strong, having traveled a total of 4,276 meters (2.66 miles) as of martian day, or sol, 450 (April 8, 2005). This elevation map shows the traverse followed by Spirit since arriving at the "Columbia Hills" in June, 2004. The areas colored blue are low in elevation and areas colored yellow are high in elevation. The blue area at the foot of the "Columbia Hills" is approximately 20 meters (66 feet) higher in elevation than the site where Spirit landed in Gusev Crater. The highest peak is on the order of 80 meters (262 feet) higher still. In other words, the hills Spirit is exploring are more than 250 feet high. The map imagery is from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows an area within Melas Chasma. | Context imageThis false color image is located within Melas Chasma. The lobate forms at the bottom of the image are the remnants of landslides that crashed from the top of the cliff sides to the bottom of the chasma, a distance of 9km (5.5 miles). This distance is equivalent to the height of Mount Everest - the tallest land based mountain in the world.The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image.Orbit Number: 62002 Latitude: -10.1885 Longitude: 289.797 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-12-06 00:12Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows dozens of layers of sedimentary rock in an unnamed western Arabia crater on Mars. | MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-342, 26 April 2003This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dozens of layers of sedimentary rock in an unnamed western Arabia crater at 8°N, 7°W. Dark, wind-blown sand and lighter-toned dunes or ripples enhance the apparent contrast in this area. Several faults, indicated by off-set layers, are present. The picture covers an area about 1.5 km (just under 1mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. | |
This image taken in October 2003 by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the northern rim of one of the Valles Marineris canyon; spurs and gullies in the canyon wall disappear some distance below the top of the canyon wall. | Released 27 October 2003This image shows the northern rim of one of the Valles Marineris canyons. Careful inspection shows many interesting features here. Note that the spurs and gullies in the canyon wall disappear some distance below the top of the canyon wall, indicating the presence of some smooth material here that weathers differently from the underlying rocks. On the floor of the canyon, there are remains from a landslide that came hurtling down the canyon wall between two spurs. Riding over the topography of the canyon floor are many large sand dunes, migrating generally from the lower right to upper left.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -14.1, Longitude 306.7 East (53.3 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a region of Chryse Chaos where the isolated mesas are beginning to be formed. The interconnected channel forms erode, and mesas are created by erosion of the bounding channels. | Context image In planetary nomenclature, the descriptor term chaos means "distinctive area of broken terrain." The general morphology of chaos is steep-sided mesas in close proximity. This VIS image shows a region of Chryse Chaos where the isolated mesas are beginning to be formed. The interconnected channel forms erode, and mesas are created by erosion of the bounding channels. The bottom of the image shows some of the resultant mesas.Orbit Number: 71455 Latitude: 13.1491 Longitude: 318.592 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2018-01-22 18:16Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This mosaic of images shows the windswept vista northward (left) to northeastward (right) from the location where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is spending its fifth Martian winter, an outcrop informally named 'Greeley Haven.' | This mosaic of images taken in mid-January 2012 shows the windswept vista northward (left) to northeastward (right) from the location where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is spending its fifth Martian winter, an outcrop informally named "Greeley Haven."Opportunity's Panoramic Camera (Pancam) took the component images as part of full-circle view being assembled from Greeley Haven. The view includes sand ripples and other wind-sculpted features in the foreground and mid-field. The northern edge of the "Cape York" segment of the rim of Endeavour Crater forms an arc across the upper half of the scene.Opportunity landed on Mars on Jan. 25, 2004, Universal Time and EST (Jan. 24, PST). It has driven 21.4 miles (34.4 kilometers) as of its eighth anniversary on the planet. In late 2011, the rover team drove Opportunity up onto Greeley Haven to take advantage of the outcrop's sun-facing slope to boost output from the rover's dusty solar panels during the Martian winter.Research activities while at Greeley Haven include a radio-science investigation of the interior of Mars, inspections of mineral compositions and textures on the outcrop, and monitoring of wind-caused changes on scales from dunes to individual soil particles. The image combines exposures taken through Pancam filters centered on wavelengths of 753 nanometers (near infrared), 535 nanometers (green) and 432 nanometers (violet). The view is presented in approximate true color. This "natural color" is the rover team's best estimate of what the scene would look like if humans were there and able to see it with their own eyes.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. More information about Opportunity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows two circular features on the plains of northern Utopia on Mars. A common sight on the martian northern plains, these rings indicate the locations of buried impact craters. | 26 December 2005This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows two circular features on the plains of northern Utopia. A common sight on the martian northern plains, these rings indicate the locations of buried impact craters.Location near: 65.1°N, 261.2°W Image width: ~2 km (~1.2 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season: Northern Summer | |
Moving further east, we see more dunes. This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows more of the crater rim and the crater floor seen in the image is not as smooth as in other parts of the crater. | 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.Moving further east, we see more dunes. This image shows more of the crater rim and the crater floor seen in the image is not as smooth as in other parts of the crater.Orbit Number: 35526 Latitude: -4.59829 Longitude: 138.663 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2009-12-17 11:38 Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
Chasma Boreale Scarp | Image PSP_001374_2650 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on November 11, 2006. The complete image is centered at 85.0 degrees latitude, 339.0 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 321.0 km (200.6 miles). At this distance the image scale is 32.1 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~96 cm across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 cm/pixel. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 2:05 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 133.8 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 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft is of Lycus Sulci, located on the western side of Olympus Mons and dominated by multi-direction ridges which contains material less resistant than the ridges to the effects of wind. | Context imageThis is a VIS image of Lycus Sulci. Lycus Sulci is located on the western side of Olympus Mons and is dominated by multi-direction ridges. This image is of a part of the sulci that also contains material less resistant than the ridges to the effects of wind.Orbit Number: 45594 Latitude: 15.7395 Longitude: 215.945 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-03-25 11:05Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a portion of a small Martian valley network east of the impact basin Schiaparelli crater on Mars. The area is heavily blanketed with windblown dust and sand. | Mars Orbiter Camera image 36204 shows a small Martian valley network east of the impact basin Schiaparelli near 1.5°S, 335°W. One of the lowest resolution views taken by MOC during its first year in orbit (original scale is 16 m per picture element), it nonetheless illustrates important attributes of the valley networks. The area is heavily blanketed with windblown dust and sand (the latter seen as dunes within the valley). The upland surface shows tributaries about 1 km across, but none smaller. Since impact craters smaller than 1 km are preserved but often mantled, the smaller tributaries, if formed by surface runoff from precipitation, should be visible. Their absence suggests that groundwater processes have played a more substantive role in the formation of the valley systems than rainfall.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. | |
Frosty white water ice clouds and swirling orange dust storms above a vivid rusty landscape reveal Mars as a dynamic planet in this sharpest view ever obtained by an Earth-based telescope. Image taken by NASA's Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. | Frosty white water ice clouds and swirling orange dust storms above a vivid rusty landscape reveal Mars as a dynamic planet in this sharpest view ever obtained by an Earth-based telescope.NASA's Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope took the picture on June 26, when Mars was approximately 43 million miles (68 million km) from Earth -- the closest Mars has ever been to Earth since 1988. Hubble can see details as small as 10 miles (16 km) across. The colors have been carefully balanced to give a realistic view of Mars' hues as they might appear through a telescope.Especially striking is the large amount of seasonal dust storm activity seen in this image. One large storm system is churning high above the northern polar cap [top of image], and a smaller dust storm cloud can be seen nearby. Another large dust storm is spilling out of the giant Hellas impact basin in the Southern Hemisphere [lower right].Hubble has observed Mars before, but never in such detail. The biennial close approaches of Mars and Earth are not all the same. Mars' orbit around the Sun is markedly elliptical; the close approaches to Earth can range from 35 million to 63 million miles.Astronomers are interested in studying the changeable surface and weather conditions on Mars, in part, to help plan for a pair of NASA missions to land rovers on the planet's surface in 2004.The Mars opposition of 2001 serves as a prelude for 2003 when Mars and Earth will come within 35 million miles of each other, the closest since 1924 and not to be matched until 2287. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the western flank of Pavonis Mons. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows part of the western flank of Pavonis Mons.Orbit Number: 56138 Latitude: 1.02298 Longitude: 246.073 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-08-10 03:49Please 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. | |
Those Martian weather reports, received here daily from more than 200 million miles away, start right here at NASA's Viking 1's meteorology instrument. Mounted atop the extended boom, the meteorology sensors face away from the spacecraft. | Those Martian weather reports, received here daily from more than 200 million miles away, start right here at Viking l's meteorology instrument. Mounted atop the extended boom, the meteorology sensors face away from the spacecraft. They stand about four feet above the surface and measure atmospheric pressure, temperature, wind velocity and wind direction. The cable parallel to the boom is connected inside the spacecraft body with the electronics for operating the sensors, reading the data and preparing it for transmission to Earth. A second Mars weather station will begin operation next month when Viking 2 lands somewhere in the planet's northern latitude Viking 2 arrives at Mars and goes into orbit tomorrow (August 7). | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a large dust-raising event that occurred on July 8, 2001, as cold, raging winds blew off the frozen south polar cap and rushed toward the network of troughs known as Labyrinthus Noctis near the martian equator. | Southern spring on Mars began with a "bang" in late June 2001 with a series of large dust storms that in some regions were still occurring each day well into September. By early July, the martian atmosphere was so hazy that opportunities for high resolution imaging of the planet were very limited. This wide angle camera view obtained by the Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera shows a large dust-raising event that occurred on July 8, 2001, as cold, raging winds blew off the frozen south polar cap (bottom) and rushed toward the network of troughs known as Labyrinthus Noctis near the martian equator (center). A second, smaller dust storm can be seen near the top just left of center, northwest of the Ascraeus Mons volcano (uppermost dark elliptical feature). To give a sense of scale, Ascraeus Mons is large enough to nearly cover the state of Washington, home of the famous (and much smaller) Mount St. Helens volcano. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left, and north is toward the upper right.Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. | |
This image of the martian sunset from Sol 24 shows much more color variation than had previously been seen. This image was taken by NASA's Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP). Sol 1 began on July 4, 1997. | This image of the martian sunset from Sol 24 shows much more color variation than had previously been seen. The blue color near the Sun is not caused by clouds of water ice, but by the martian dust itself. The dust in the atmosphere absorbs blue light, giving the sky its red color, but it also scatters some of the blue light into the area just around the Sun because of its size. The blue color only becomes apparent near sunrise and sunset, when the light has to pass through the largest amount of dust. This image was taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder.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. | |
Valles Marineris, the great canyon of Mars. This scene shows the entire canyon system, extending from Noctis Labyrinthus, the arcuate system of graben to the west, to the chaotic terrain to the east, as seen by NASA's Viking spacecraft. | A color image of Valles Marineris, the great canyon of Mars; north toward top. The scene shows the entire canyon system, over 3,000 km long and averaging 8 km deep, extending from Noctis Labyrinthus, the arcuate system of graben to the west, to the chaotic terrain to the east.This image is a composite of Viking medium-resolution images in black and white and low-resolution images in color; Mercator projection. The image extends from latitude 0 degrees to 20 degrees S. and from longitude 45 degrees to 102.5 degrees.The connected chasma or valleys of Valles Marineris may have formed from a combination of erosional collapse and structural activity. Layers of material in the eastern canyons might consist of carbonates deposited in ancient lakes. Huge ancient river channels began from Valles Marineris and from adjacent canyons and ran north. Many of the channels flowed north into Chryse Basin, which contains the site of the Viking 1 Lander and the future site of the Mars Pathfinder Lander. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the eastern end of Ius Chasma. The southern canyon wall is at the bottom of the image, with dark sand and sand dunes. | Context image This VIS image shows the eastern end of Ius Chasma. The southern canyon wall is at the bottom of the image, with dark sand and sand dunes. The presence of mobile sand indicates that winds are eroding, depositing and changing the canyon floor. The rest of the image is dominated by large landslide deposits. At the top of the image are two overlapping deposits from landslides originating on the northern chasma wall. The landslide deposit on the left side of the image originate from the southern chasma wall. A landslide is a failure of slope due to gravity. They initiate due to several reasons. A lower layer of poorly cemented/resistant material may have been eroded, undermining the wall above which then collapses; earthquake seismic waves can cause the slope to collapse; and even an impact event near the canyon wall can cause collapse. As millions of tons of material fall and slide down slope a scalloped cavity forms at the upper part where the slope failure occurred. At the material speeds downhill it will pick up more of the underlying slope, increasing the volume of material entrained into the landslide. Whereas some landslides spread across the canyon floor forming lobate deposits, very large volume slope failures will completely fill the canyon floor in a large complex region of chaotic blocks.Ius Chasma is at the western end of Valles Marineris, south of Tithonium Chasma. Valles Marineris is over 4000 kilometers long, wider than the United States. Ius Chasma is almost 850 kilometers long (528 miles), 120 kilometers wide and over 8 kilometers deep. In comparison, the Grand Canyon in Arizona is about 175 kilometers long, 30 kilometers wide, and only 2 kilometers deep. The canyons of Valles Marineris were formed by extensive fracturing and pulling apart of the crust during the uplift of the vast Tharsis plateau. Landslides have enlarged the canyon walls and created deposits on the canyon floor. Weathering of the surface and influx of dust and sand have modified the canyon floor, both creating and modifying layered materials. There are many features that indicate flowing and standing water played a part in the chasma formation.The Odyssey spacecraft has spent over 15 years in orbit around Mars, circling the planet more than 71,000 times. It holds the record for longest working spacecraft at Mars. THEMIS, the IR/VIS camera system, has collected data for the entire mission and provides images covering all seasons and lighting conditions. Over the years many features of interest have received repeated imaging, building up a suite of images covering the entire feature. From the deepest chasma to the tallest volcano, individual dunes inside craters and dune fields that encircle the north pole, channels carved by water and lava, and a variety of other feature, THEMIS has imaged them all. For the next several months the image of the day will focus on the Tharsis volcanoes, the various chasmata of Valles Marineris, and the major dunes fields. We hope you enjoy these images!Orbit Number: 36744 Latitude: -8.64709 Longitude: 282.235 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-03-27 18:32Please 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 microscopic image mosaic was created by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit after it had completed a second grind with its rock abrasion tool at the target 'New York' on the rock named 'Mazatzal.' | This microscopic image mosaic was created on sol 85 after NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit completed a second grind with its rock abrasion tool at the target "New York" on the rock named "Mazatzal." The three-hour, 23-minute grind occurred on sol 83.This grind was performed at the same location but at a slightly different angle than the first grind, which occurred on sol 82. This second drilling now reveals a full and somewhat deeper circle of underlying rock that will allow for a more complete analysis of the interior of the rock.After the First GrindThis mosaic of four images from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's microscopic imager shows a target called "New York" on the surface of "Mazatzal." The image was acquired on sol 82 of the rover's mission after the rover ground into the left half of the target. The right side of the target has been brushed but not drilled. Later, on sol 85, the rover ground the right side to complete the hole. Each image making up this mosaic is 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) across. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover capturde this 360-degree view near the ridgeline of Endeavour Crater's western rim. The center is southeastward. Rocks on the slope to the right of center are in an outcrop area targeted for the rover to study. | NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera to capture the component images for this 360-degree view near the ridgeline of Endeavour Crater's western rim.The view is centered toward southeast, from the rover's position just west of the western rim's ridgeline on the mission's 3,659th Martian day, or sol (May 10, 2014). The western rim of the crater extends northward to the left and southward to the right. Endeavour Crater is about 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter. Its distant rim is visible on the horizon at center.The outcrop on the slope to the right of center corresponds to the northern end of an area where a concentration of aluminum-containing clay has been detected in observations by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. That detection from orbit made the outcrop a favored target for investigation by Opportunity.
A stereo anaglyph of this image is available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18096.
JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about Spirit and Opportunity, visit http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov. | |
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft has been orbiting Mars for nine years. These barchan sand dunes have been imaged at least five times already, and each time, a bit more movement is revealed. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionAs of this date, MRO has been orbiting Mars for nine years. One benefit of MRO's nearly three completed extended missions is the chance to see landscapes change over time.These barchan sand dunes are a case in point: these have been imaged at least five times already, and each time, a bit more movement is revealed.The steeply-dipping slip faces (where sand slides down after it gets piled up on the dunes' crests) indicate the direction of the wind, although this particular dune field seems to show *two* converging wind directions. 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. | |
Spirit's Surroundings on 'West Spur,' Sol 305 | 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 cylindrical projection with geometric seam correction. | |
This graphic shows the route that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove in its final approach to 'Perseverance Valley' on the western rim of Endeavour Crater. | This graphic shows the route that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove in its final approach to 'Perseverance Valley' on the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The map covers an area about four-tenths of a mile (two-thirds of a kilometer) wide, with the interior of the crater on the right. Opportunity entered this mapped area from the north along the gold traverse line on March 21, 2017, approaching the southern tip of the "Cape Tribulation" segment of Endeavour's rim. It reached the top of "Perseverance Valley" with a drive on Sol 4720 (the 4,720th Martian day) of the mission, on May 4, 2017.Images showing more of the Endeavour Crater rim are at PIA21490 and PIA17758.The base image for this map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The annotated map was produced at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque. | |
This picture is a composite from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor of daily global images acquired Sept. 2005, at Ls 288° during a previous Mars year. The picture shows the Syrtis Major face of Mars. | 21 September 2005This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 288° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 288° occurred in mid-September 2005. The picture shows the Syrtis Major face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, are a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn.Season: Northern Winter/Southern Summer | |
This image taken on Sept 25, 2007 by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows a layer of light-toned rock exposed inside Victoria Crater in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars. | A layer of light-toned rock exposed inside Victoria Crater in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars appears to mark where the surface was at the time, many millions of years ago, when an impact excavated the crater. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove to this bright band as the science team's first destination for the rover during investigations inside the crater. Opportunity's left front hazard-identification camera took this image just after the rover finished a drive of 2.25 meters (7 feet, 5 inches) during the rover's 1,305th Martian day, or sol, (Sept. 25, 2007). The rocks beneath the rover and its extended robotic arm are part of the bright band. Victoria Crater has a scalloped shape of alternating alcoves and promontories around the crater's circumference. Opportunity descended into the crater two weeks earlier, within an alcove called "Duck Bay." Counterclockwise around the rim, just to the right of the arm in this image, is a promontory called "Cabo Frio." | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a section of Tader Valles located in Terra Sirenum. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a section of Tader Valles located in Terra Sirenum.Orbit Number: 58199 Latitude: -48.5206 Longitude: 206.757 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-01-26 20:05Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows spectral characteristics that indicate the occurrence of relatively-coarsely crystalline hematite over a large area near 0° latitude and 0° longitude on Mars. | Spectral characteristics indicate the occurrence of relatively-coarsely crystalline hematite over a large area near 0° latitude and 0° longitude. | |
The region of hills and mesas at the top of this image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are part of Hydaspis Chaos. | Context image The region of hills and mesas at the top of this VIS image are part of Hydaspis Chaos.Orbit Number: 65406 Latitude: 1.42739 Longitude: 334.12 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-09-11 09:15Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Meridiani Planum. | Context imageThis VIS image shows part of Meridiani Planum.The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image.Orbit Number: 61051 Latitude: 2.87225 Longitude: 5.49283 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-09-18 16:40Please 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 released on Oct 12, 2004 from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey shows Tyrrhena Patera and its surroundings. Tyrrhena Patera is one of several moderate sized volcanoes located in the Martian southern highlands. | This week we will be examining images of Tyrrhena Patera and its surroundings. Tyrrhena Patera is one of several moderate sized volcanoes located in the Martian southern highlands. While the volcanic edifice is only moderate in size (when compared to the larger Tharsis volcanoes), the surrounding volcanic materials cover an extensive area. Deep eroded channels on the slope of the volcano indicate that the volcano itself is likely composed of pyroclastic materials rather than flow materials.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -21.5, Longitude 106.9 East (253.1 West). 70 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 part of the eastern flank of Ascraeus Mons, one of the large Tharsis Volcanoes. The circular pits all aligned in a row mark the collapse of the roof of a lava tube. | Context imageThis VIS image shows part of the eastern flank of Ascraeus Mons, one of the large Tharsis Volcanoes. The circular pits all aligned in a row mark the collapse of the roof of a lava tube.Orbit Number: 41099 Latitude: 12.5609 Longitude: 258.812 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2011-03-21 10:32Please 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, taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, shows a geological feature dubbed 'Robert E.' Light from the top is illuminating the feature, which is located within the rock outcrop at Meridiani Planum, Mars. | This image, taken by the microscopic imager on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, shows a geological feature dubbed "Robert E." Light from the top is illuminating the feature, which is located within the rock outcrop at Meridiani Planum, Mars. Several images, each showing a different part of "Robert E" in good focus, were merged to produce this view. The area in this image, taken on Sol 15 of the Opportunity mission, is 2.2 centimeters (0.8 inches) across. | |
You Are Here' | Click on image for larger viewThis map shows the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity and its lander on the surface of Mars. The robotic geologist landed inside a small crater at Meridiani Planum on Jan. 24, 2004, PST. The white spot is the lander, and the small black spot northeast of it is believed to be the rover (see inset). The image was taken by the camera onboard the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. | |
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 shows Mars' south polar region, where spots appear on the ice. The dark material of the spots is apparently mobile with the wind able to lengthen the spots into streaks. | Context image for PIA11329Polar SpotsAs the sun continues to warm the south polar region, spots appear on the ice. The dark material of the spots is apparently mobile with the wind able to lengthen the spots into streaks.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -86.6N, Longitude 99.1E. 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. | |
Dunes cover all but the highest hill of this image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. These dunes are part of Olympia Undae, a huge dune field located near the north pole. | Context imageDunes cover all but the highest hill of this image. These dunes are part of Olympia Undae, a huge dune field located near the north pole.Orbit Number: 54773 Latitude: 79.9626 Longitude: 192.456 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-04-19 20:12Please 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 Curiosity Mars rover has used the drill on its robotic arm to take 32 rock samples to date. The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), a camera on the end of the robotic arm, provided the images in this mosaic. | NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has used the drill on its robotic arm to take 32 rock samples to date. The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), a camera on the end of the robotic arm, provided the images in this mosaic.MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Curiosity rover for the NASA Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL designed and built Curiosity.More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
This meteoroid impact crater on Mars was discovered using the black-and-white Context Camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The Context Camera took these before-and-after images of the impact in a region of Mars called Amazonis Planitia. | Figure AFigure BClick on images for larger versionsThis meteoroid impact crater on Mars was discovered using the black-and-white Context Camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The Context Camera took this image showing the impact, which occurred Dec. 24, 2021, in a region called Amazonis Planitia.Relying on data from the Mars Color Imager camera, also aboard MRO, along with seismic data from NASA's InSight lander, scientists were able to determine when this particular crater formed.Looking closely at the crater's rim, white specks could be detected that suggested the presence of water ice (which was later confirmed by MRO's High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera). Debris thrown during the impact can be seen reaching as far as 23 miles (37 kilometers) away. The disturbance seen in the surface suggests the meteoroid was traveling towards the northeast when it hit the ground, throwing the longest streaks of debris in that direction.Figure A shows an annotated version of the image.Figure B shows a before-and-after comparison of this location on Mars.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates the Context Camera. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a small part of the south polar cap. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a small part of the south polar cap.Orbit Number: 56419 Latitude: -86.7159 Longitude: 160.247 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-09-02 06:34Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from one of the rear Hazcams, aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, shows a smoke plume from the crashed descent stage that lowered the rover to the Martian surface. | This image from one of the rear Hazard Cameras, or Hazcams, aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, shows a smoke plume from the crashed descent stage that lowered the rover to the Martian surface. This image was taken within a minute or two after the rover landed on February 18, 2021.JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.For more information about the mission, go to: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020 | |
Mars Pathfinder's forward rover ramp can be seen successfully unfurled in this color image, taken by NASA's Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on July 7, 1997. | Mars Pathfinder's forward rover ramp can be seen successfully unfurled in this color image, taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 3. This ramp was not used for the deployment of the microrover Sojourner, which occurred at the end of Sol 2. When this image was taken, Sojourner was still latched to one of the lander's petals, waiting for the command sequence that would execute its descent off of the lander's petal. The image helped Pathfinder scientists determine whether to deploy the rover using the forward or backward ramps and the nature of the first rover traverse. The metallic object at the lower part of the image is the lander's low-gain antenna. The square at the end of the ramp is one of the spacecraft's magnetic targets. Dust that accumulates on the magnetic targets will later be examined by Sojourner's Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer instrument for chemical analysis. At center, a lander petal is visible.spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. | |
Deep Hole in 'Clovis' | Figure 1At a rock called "Clovis," the rock abrasion tool on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit cut a 9-millimeter (0.35-inch) hole during the rover's 216th martian day, or sol (Aug. 11, 2004). The hole is the deepest drilled in a rock on Mars so far. This approximately true-color view was made from images taken by Spirit's panoramic camera on sol 226 (Aug. 21, 2004) at around 12:50 p.m. local true solar time -- early afternoon in Gusev Crater on Mars. To the right is a "brush flower" of circles produced by scrubbing the surface of the rock with the abrasion tool's wire brush. Scientists used rover's Moessbauer spectrometer and alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to look for iron-bearing minerals and determine the elemental chemical composition of the rock. This composite combines images taken with the camera's 750-, 530-, and 430-nanometer filters. The grayish-blue hue in this image suggests that the interior of the rock contains iron minerals that are less oxidized than minerals on the surface. The diameter of the hole cut into the rock is 4.5 centimeters (1.8 inches).Data on the graph (Figure 1) from the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer instrument on the robotic arm of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit reveal the elemental chemistry of two rocks, "Ebenezer" and "Clovis," (see PIA06914) in the "Columbia Hills." Scientists found, through comparison of the rocks' chemistry, that Ebenezer and Clovis have very different compositions from the rocks on the Gusev plains. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a section of Shalbatana Vallis. Shalbatana Vallis is one of many channels that empty into Chryse Planitia. | Context imageThis VIS image shows a section of Shalbatana Vallis. Shalbatana Vallis is one of many channels that empty into Chryse Planitia.Orbit Number: 71904 Latitude: 8.70914 Longitude: 319.411 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2018-02-28 17:58Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey released on Jan 7, 2004 shows some of the far-western areas of Gusev Crater. | Released 7 January 2004Long before the MER landers were named or launched, the two orbiters at Mars were asked to examine landing sites. Both the Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft have been collecting landing site data for the past two years. The MGS and ODY data were used as part of the decision making process in the final selection of the two landing sites. The types of data collected by the two orbiters included not only images of the surface but also thermal data about the surface composition, atmospheric data about the climate at each location, and the tracking of major dust storms in the region prior to landing. The presence of, and data collected by, the MGS and ODY orbiters have proven invaluable in MER mission planning.This image shows some of the far-western areas of Gusev Crater, and was captured on 27 June 2003, while Spirit was en-route to Mars.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -14, Longitude 174.8 East (185.2 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image was taken by a camera aboard NASA's Sojourner rover on July 8, 1997. The large rock 'Yogi' can be seen at the upper right portion of this image on Mars. | The image was taken by a camera aboard the Sojourner rover on Sol 4. The large rock "Yogi" can be seen at the upper right portion of the image. Sojourner's Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer instrument is currently studying the sand around Yogi, and may study Yogi itself later on.Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator.
Photojournal note: Sojourner spent 83 days of a planned seven-day mission exploring the Martian terrain, acquiring images, and taking chemical, atmospheric and other measurements. The final data transmission received from Pathfinder was at 10:23 UTC on September 27, 1997. Although mission managers tried to restore full communications during the following five months, the successful mission was terminated on March 10, 1998. | |
This image comes from observations of a well-preserved crater on Terra Cimmeria by the HiRISE camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Click on the image for the movieThis series of images shows warm-season features that might be evidence of salty liquid water active on Mars today. Evidence for that possible interpretation is presented in a report by McEwen et al. in the Aug. 5, 2011, edition of Science.These images come from observations of a well-preserved crater in the Terra Sirenum region of Mars, at 48.1 degrees south latitude, 242.4 degrees east longitude, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. In time, the series spans from mid-spring to mid-summer within one Mars year. The images taken from oblique angles have been adjusted so that all steps in the sequence show the scene as if viewed from directly overhead.The features that extend down the slope during warm seasons are called recurring slope lineae. They are narrow (one-half to five yards or meters wide), relatively dark markings on steep (25 to 40 degree) slopes at several southern hemisphere locations. Repeat imaging by HiRISE shows the features appear and incrementally grow during warm seasons and fade in cold seasons. They extend downslope from bedrock outcrops, often associated with small channels, and hundreds of them form in rare locations. They appear and lengthen in the southern spring and summer from 48 degrees to 32 degrees south latitudes favoring equator-facing slopes. These times and places have peak surface temperatures from about 10 degrees below zero Fahrenheit to 80 degree above zero Fahrenheit (about 250 to 300 Kelvin). Liquid brines near the surface might explain this activity, but the exact mechanism and source of the water are not understood.The series is timed to dwell two seconds on the first and last frames and one second on intermediate frames, though network or computer performance may cause this to vary. The legend on each image gives the exact HiRISE observation number so that additional image products from the observation and information about the observation can be found on the HiRISE website (e.g., the first image of the series is from ESP_020947_1315, at http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_020947_1315). The legend also marks the Mars year and seasonal identifier (Ls) for each image. The Mars years begin with the first years of Mars exploration by robot spacecraft. All of the images in this sequence are from Mars Year 30. Ls stands for longitude of the sun, dividing the year into 360 degrees to mark the seasons. Ls = 180 is the beginning of southern spring, Ls = 270 is the beginning of southern summer, and Ls = 360 (or 0) is the beginning of southern autumn.Other imagery related to these new findings from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/gallery/gallery-index.html.HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Ophir Chasma. | 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 VIS image shows part of Ophir Chasma.Orbit Number: 60112 Latitude: -4.48512 Longitude: 288.129 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-07-03 07:57Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows the northwest flanks of the broad, northern Tharsis volcano, Alba Patera on Mars. A plethora of what appeared to be branching valley networks running down the volcano slopes. | 24 October 2004The northwest flanks of the broad, northern Tharsis volcano, Alba Patera, have been known since the 1970s to exhibit a plethora of what appeared to be branching valley networks running down the volcano slopes. Some investigators suggested that these valleys were evidence for precipitation and runoff of liquid water on the volcano flanks. It was hoped that high resolution images from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) would provide new details that would confirm or refute the hypothesis. The problem is, MGS MOC images instead showed a surface largely covered by an eroded, rough-textured mantle that obscured the valley floors. The images, such as the one shown here, also showed that the valleys are discontinuous and indistinct when viewed at high resolution (although, when shrunk to fit within the reduced-scale view on this web page, they may seem continuous -- click on the image to view the full-scale picture). The valleys in the lower quarter of this image have been cut by a fault. This image is located on Alba Patera near 45.8°N, 111.8°W. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left. | |
This global map of Mars, based on data from NASA's Mars Odyssey, shows estimates for amounts of high-energy-particle cosmic radiation reaching the surface, a serious health concern for any future human exploration of the planet. | One of the benefits of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) Extended Mission is the opportunity to observe how the planet's weather changes during a second full martian year. This picture of Arsia Mons was taken June 19, 2001; southern spring equinox occurred the same day. Arsia Mons is a volcano nearly large enough to cover the state of New Mexico. On this particular day (the first day of Spring), the MOC wide angle cameras documented an unusual spiral-shaped cloud within the 110 km (68 mi) diameter caldera--the summit crater--of the giant volcano. Because the cloud is bright both in the red and blue images acquired by the wide angle cameras, it probably consisted mostly of fine dust grains. The cloud's spin may have been induced by winds off the inner slopes of the volcano's caldera walls resulting from the temperature differences between the walls and the caldera floor, or by a vortex as winds blew up and over the caldera. Similar spiral clouds were seen inside the caldera for several days; we don't know if this was a single cloud that persisted throughout that time or one that regenerated each afternoon. Sunlight illuminates this scene from the left/upper left.Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. | |
This diagram illustrates the positions of Mars, Earth and the sun during a period that occurs approximately every 26 months, when Mars passes almost directly behind the sun from Earth's perspective. | This diagram illustrates the positions of Mars, Earth and the sun during a period that occurs approximately every 26 months, when Mars passes almost directly behind the sun from Earth's perspective. This arrangement, and the period during which it occurs, is called Mars solar conjunction. Radio transmissions between the two planets during conjunction are at risk of being corrupted by the sun's interference, so NASA Mars missions have a moratorium on sending commands to spacecraft on the surface of Mars or in orbit around Mars. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows an arcuate ridge in Terra Meridiani.The ridge is most likely a former streambed, now exposed in inverted relief. | This image shows an arcuate ridge in Terra Meridiani. The ridge is most likely a former streambed, now exposed in inverted relief; the wandering path is not expected for an exhumed fault or volcanic dyke. The stream that formed this ridge must have been ancient as the ridge is buried by brighter rocks, which are themselves very old, having been thickly deposited and then heavily eroded.The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity landed in the same region of Mars, and the rocks it has examined are likely part of a sequence similar to that exposed here. The rocks exposed at the Opportunity landing site are mostly aeolian (wind-deposited) sandstone, but show evidence of past water, reaching the surface at times. Opportunity has access to only a few meters of a stack of sediments that is hundreds of meters thick.Since water was present at times at the Opportunity landing site, surface water elsewhere in the sequence of sediments is perhaps not too surprising. However, evidence like this may indicate that sediments were deposited by a broader range of processes than just those inferred at the Opportunity site. This is important for unraveling the entire history of the region.A stream channel could become inverted in several ways. Chemicals precipitating from the water could bind the streambed together, lava could fill the channel, or the bed could contain large boulders. In each case, the relatively resistant material of the stream channel could remain as the surrounding rock eroded. Here, the ridge is distant from any volcanic vent, and appears fractured, particularly in the southern portion. This indicates that the ridge material is consolidated and has some strength. Thus, the most likely mechanism for formation of this ridge is deposition of a chemical "cement" which hardened the streambed rock.The plains surrounding the ridge are also fractured, indicating some degree of consolidation. These cracks could form by desiccation (water loss) from wet sediment or tensile fracturing as the weight of overlying rocks was removed. Cracks like this can also form in permafrost due to seasonal temperature changes; ground ice is unlikely this close to the equator, but it is possible that the cracks are a remnant of different climate conditions from the past.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.Originally released August 1, 2007 | |
This image from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, shows its microscopic imager (circular device) in the middle against the red-hued martian landscape. The microscopic imager is located on the rover's instrument deployment device, or arm. | The microscopic imager (circular device in center) is in clear view above the surface at Meridiani Planum, Mars, in this approximate true-color image taken by the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The image was taken on the 9th sol of the rover's journey. The microscopic imager is located on the rover's instrument deployment device, or arm. The arrow is pointing to the lens of the instrument. Note the dust cover, which flips out to the left of the lens, is open. This approximated color image was created using the camera's violet and infrared filters as blue and red. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows windstreaks located in Syrtis Major Planum on Mars. | Context imageCredit: NASA/JPL/MOLAThe windstreaks in this VIS image are located in Syrtis Major Planum.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 9.3N, Longitude 65.2E. 46 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This mosaic is composed of about 100 red- and violet- filter Viking Orbiter images, digitally mosaiced in an orthographic projection at a scale of 1 km/pixel. | This mosaic is composed of about 100 red- and violet- filter Viking Orbiter images, digitally mosaiced in an orthographic projection at a scale of 1 km/pixel. The images were acquired in 1980 during mid northern summer on Mars (Ls = 89 degrees). The center of the image is near the impact crater Schiaparelli (latitude -3 degrees, longitude 343 degrees). The limits of this mosaic are approximately latitude -60 to 60 degrees and longitude 280 to 30 degrees. The color variations have been enhanced by a factor of two, and the large-scale brightness variations (mostly due to sun-angle variations) have been normalized by large-scale filtering. The large circular area with a bright yellow color (in this rendition) is known as Arabia. The boundary between the ancient, heavily-cratered southern highlands and the younger northern plains occurs far to the north (latitude 40 degrees) on this side of the planet, just north of Arabia. The dark streaks with bright margins emanating from craters in the Oxia Palus region (to the left of Arabia) are caused by erosion and/or deposition by the wind. The dark blue area on the far right, called Syrtis Major Planum, is a low-relief volcanic shield of probable basaltic composition. Bright white areas to the south, including the Hellas impact basin at the lower right, are covered by carbon dioxide frost. | |
The volcanic flows in this image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft are at the far southwestern margin of Daedalia Planum on Mars. | Context imageThe volcanic flows in this image are at the far southwestern margin of Daedalia Planum. Notice the different appearance of this dunes compared to yesterday's image.Orbit Number: 50651 Latitude: -35.6702 Longitude: 222.955 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2013-05-15 14:12Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows numerous dark slope streaks marking the inner rim of this small impact crater within Tikhonravov Crater. Just to the north of the small crater are several small sand dunes. | Context image for PIA11312Dark Slope StreaksNumerous dark slope streaks mark the inner rim of this small impact crater within Tikhonravov Crater. Just to the north of the small crater are several small sand dunes.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 12.9N, Longitude 37.3E. 18 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the beginning of Ares Vallis at the edge of Iani Chaos. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows the beginning of Ares Vallis at the edge of Iani Chaos.Orbit Number: 10960 Latitude: 0.305279 Longitude: 342.409 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2004-06-03 20:31Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image acquired on March 21, 2021 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the very steep outer scarp of the north polar layered deposits. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionThis image shows the very steep outer scarp of the north polar layered deposits. Every year there is a lot of slope activity in the springtime when sunlight warms these slopes.In this image we can see many dark streaks extending down the slope, but no sign yet of larger avalanches that were common in past years.The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 63.8 centimeters [25.1 inches] per pixel [with 2 x 2 binning]; objects on the order of 191 centimeters [75.2 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. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows lava flows on the middle west flank of the large martian volcano, Ascraeus Mons on Mras. | 29 May 2004This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows lava flows on the middle west flank of the large martian volcano, Ascraeus Mons. The flows ran downslope from the lower right (southeast) toward upper left (northwest). These flows are located near 11.9°N, 105.5°W. This December 2003 image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across; sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left. | |
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This false color image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of of Ares Vallis. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Ares Vallis.Orbit Number: 2510 Latitude: 14.2746 Longitude: 329.887 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2002-07-09 05:55Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows western parts of Ophir Chasma and Candor Chasma. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows western parts of Ophir Chasma (top of image) and Candor Chasma (bottom of image). Both are part of Valles Marineris. Candor Chasma is approximately 810 km long (503 miles) and is divided into two regions – eastern and western Candor. Ophir Chasma is approximately 317km long (197 miles). The floors of both chasmata include a variety of landforms, including layered deposits, dunes, landslide deposits and steep sided cliffs and mesas. Many forms of erosion have shaped both chasmata. There is evidence of wind and water erosion, as well as significant gravity driven mass wasting (landslides).Orbit Number: 93311 Latitude: -4.15087 Longitude: 286.533 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2022-12-27 11:51Please 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 raised-rimmed, circular features sometimes described as boulder rings. These are located on the vast martian northern plains and are, basically, somewhat filled and somewhat buried meteor impact craters. | 2 October 2004This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows raised-rimmed, circular features sometimes described as "boulder rings." These are located on the vast martian northern plains, and they are, basically, somewhat filled and somewhat buried meteor impact craters. The small, dark dots on these rings are boulders derived from the craters' ejecta and perhaps from erosion of the rock in which the craters formed. This image is located near 70.4°N, 310.4°W, and covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left. | |
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover will follow the proposed route to Jezero Crater's delta shown in this animation. The delta is one the most important locations the rover will visit as it seeks signs of ancient life on Mars. | Click here for animationNASA's Perseverance Mars rover will follow the proposed route to Jezero Crater's delta shown in this annotated animated GIF. The delta is one the most important locations the rover will visit as it seeks signs of ancient life on Mars.This map includes data from the HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.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, and leads NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado.For more about Perseverance:mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/nasa.gov/perseverance | |
This image acquired on January 13, 2019 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a cluster of dust devil tracks on the flat ground below the south polar layered deposits, but none on the layers themselves. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionDust devils on Mars often create long, dark markings where they pull a thin coat of dust off the surface. This image shows a cluster of these tracks on the flat ground below the south polar layered deposits, but none on the layers themselves. This tells us that either dust devils do not cross the layers, or they do not leave a track there. There are several possible reasons for this. For instance, the dust might be thick enough that the vortex of the dust devil doesn't expose darker material from underneath the surface. The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 49.9 centimeters (19.6 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 150 centimeters (59.0 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has witnessed many surface changes over the past ten years, including hundreds of new craters formed by ongoing impacts. This particular crater is east of NASA's Spirit rover's final resting spot in Gusev Crater. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionMars is a dynamic planet. HiRISE has witnessed many surface changes over the past ten years, including hundreds of new craters formed by ongoing impacts. Most of these impacts are likely caused by asteroids that have strayed into collision courses with Mars. The planet's much thinner atmosphere compared to Earth makes small asteroids less likely to burn up prior to hitting the Martian surface.This new crater, which formed explosively at the point of impact, has a diameter of roughly 8 meters (about 25 feet), but its surrounding blast zone and ejecta extend over a kilometer (about one mile) beyond the crater itself. The materials exposed nearest the crater have distinctive yellowish and lighter grey appearances, while more distant ejected materials range from dark brown to bright bluish in an enhanced-color view. These varied materials may have originated from different layers penetrated by the impact.This new impact was discovered using the lower-resolution Context Camera (CTX), also on board Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. An older CTX image of this region from May 2012 shows a uniformly dust-covered surface, while a newer CTX image from September 2016 reveals the crater's dark blast zone. New craters on Mars are easiest to locate in such dust-coated terrains, where they provide opportunistic "road cuts"? that allow scientists to see beneath the dust blanket and determine the underlying rock compositions and textures.This particular crater formed about 300 kilometers (roughly 200 miles) east of the Spirit rover's final resting spot in Gusev Crater.
The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 26.2 centimeters (10.3 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 79 centimeters (31 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.
The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
The lava flows from Arsia Mons are some of the youngest flows in the region, as seen in this image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The flows are long, fairly narrow, overlapping, and with various surface features and textures. | The lava flows from Arsia Mons are some of the youngest flows in the region. The region of flows south of the volcano have had little modification and appear very similar in appearance to Hawaiian lava flows. This VIS image shows typical flows for the region. The flows are long, fairly narrow, overlapping, and with various surface features and textures.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -19.5, Longitude 240.1 East (119.9 West). 17 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) caught this image of the rover as it was digging in the 'compressible' material near the rock Casper to determine the soil's mechanical properties on Sol 23. Sol 1 began on July 4, 1997. | The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) caught this image of the rover as it was digging in the "compressible" material near the rock Casper to determine the soil's mechanical properties on Sol 23. Shaggy is the large rock behind the Rover.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. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows two views of the topography of a major volcano in the Alba Patera region on Mars. | Two views of Alba Patera with topography draped over a Viking image mosaic. MOLA data have clarified the relationship between fault location and topography on and surrounding the Alba construct, providing insight into the volcanological and geophysical processes that shaped the edifice. The vertical exaggeration is 10:1. | |
Opportunity Traverse Map, Sol 383 | Figure 1NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove a total of 2,801 meters (1.74 miles) between its landing in January 2004 and its 383rd martian day, or sol (Feb. 20, 2005). This map on an image taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows the course the rover drove during that period. Recently, Opportunity has been making rapid progress from "Endurance Crater" toward exploration targets farther south. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Hydraotes Chaos. Hydraotes Chaos lies in a valley leading northeast out of Ganges Chasma at the east end of Valles Marineris. | Context imageThis VIS image shows part of Hydraotes Chaos. Hydraotes Chaos measures about 300 kilometers (190 miles) wide by roughly 350 km (220 mi) north-south, and it lies in a valley leading northeast out of Ganges Chasma at the east end of Valles Marineris. Tiu Valles flows northward from Hydraotes Chaos to empty into Chryse Planitia.Orbit Number: 80949 Latitude: 1.53809 Longitude: 326.515 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2020-03-14 15:48Please 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. |
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