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The round, shallow depression in this image resulted from history's first grinding of a rock on Mars. The rock abrasion tool on NASA's Spirit rover ground off the surface of a patch 1.8 inches in diameter on a rock called Adirondack. | The round, shallow depression in this image resulted from history's first grinding of a rock on Mars. The rock abrasion tool on NASA's Spirit rover ground off the surface of a patch 45.5 millimeters (1.8 inches) in diameter on a rock called Adirondack. The hole is 2.65 millimeters (0.1 inch) deep, exposing fresh interior material of the rock for close inspection with the rover's microscopic imager and two spectrometers on the robotic arm. This image was taken by Spirit's panoramic camera, providing a quick visual check of the success of the grinding. The rock abrasion tools on both Mars Exploration Rovers were supplied by Honeybee Robotics, New York, N.Y. | |
Layers of ice are easily seen in this image of the margin of the South Polar cap on Mars as seen by NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image for PIA08774 Polar MarginLayers of ice are easily seen in this image of the margin of the South Polar cap.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -78.5N, Longitude 116.4E. 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. | |
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter hovers over Jezero Crater during its second experimental flight test on April 22, 2021. The imagery was captured by the Perseverance rover's Mastcam-Z imager. | Click here for animationNASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter hovers and rotates over Jezero Crater during its second experimental flight test on April 22, 2021. The footage was captured by the Mastcam-Z imager, a pair of zoomable cameras aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover. Altimeter data from the solar-powered helicopter indicates it climbed to its prescribed maximum altitude of 16 feet (5 meters), flew downrange 7 feet (2 meters) and returned, performed several turns while in a hover, and landed. Total flight time 51.9 seconds.Flying in a controlled manner on Mars is far more difficult than flying on Earth. The Red Planet has significant gravity (about one-third that of Earth's), but an atmosphere with only about 1% of the density at Earth's surface.Stitched together from multiple images, the mosaic is not white balanced; instead, it is displayed in a preliminary calibrated version of a natural-color composite, approximately simulating the colors of the scene as it would appear on Mars.Arizona State University in Tempe leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages this technology demonstration project for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, and Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA's Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance during Ingenuity's development.A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.For more about Perseverance: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ and nasa.gov/perseverance | |
The surface of the Martian rock target in this stereo image includes small hollows with a 'swallowtail' shape characteristic of some gypsum crystals.This image was taken by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover. | Figure 1Figure 2Click on an individual image for the larger versionThe surface of the Martian rock target in this stereo image includes small hollows with a "swallowtail" shape characteristic of some gypsum crystals, most evident in the lower left quadrant. These hollows may have resulted from the original crystallizing mineral subsequently dissolving away. The view appears three-dimensional when seen through blue-red glasses with the red lens on the left.The scene spans about 2.5 inches (6.5 centimeters). This rock target, called "Funzie," is near the southern, uphill edge of "Vera Rubin Ridge" on lower Mount Sharp. The stereo view combines two images taken from slightly different angles by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, with the camera about 4 inches (10 centimeters) above the target. Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 are the separate "right-eye" and "left-eye" images, taken on Jan. 11, 2018, during the 1,932nd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars.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/. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows Mars at opposition and equinox. | Prior to the Mariner 4 flyby in 1965, all we knew about Mars came from Earth-based telescopic observations. At best, Mars is a challenging object to observe, due to its small size, low contrast, and turbulence in Earth's atmosphere. The best times to see the planet are around its closest approaches to Earth, which occur near "opposition," when the two planets are roughly in a line on one side of the Sun. This occurs about every 26 months, when Mars can appear to grow (in the night sky) to as large as about 20 arc-seconds in size. (20 arc-seconds is about the apparent size of a dime seen from 190 meters, or about the length of two football fields, away; it is about the size of a crater 40 kilometers (25 miles) in diameter on the Moon.)In 2001, Mars is at opposition on June 13-14 and makes its closest approach to Earth on June 21, when it is about 67 million kilometers (~42 million miles) away and subtends 20.8 arc-seconds in the sky. For observers in the northern hemisphere, it can be seen as a bright (magnitude -2) red object, low in the southern sky near the constellation Scorpius, in the evening. Southern hemisphere observers have a better view, as Mars is higher in the sky from that vantage. Not only is Mars at opposition June 13-14, 2001, and making its closest approach to Earth since 1988 on June 21st, on June 17-18 Mars will be at equinox, with the southern hemisphere turning to spring and the northern hemisphere begins autumn. The diagrams below illustrate the opposition and equinox configurations of Mars.The Image above is one of a series of simulated views of Mars as it would be seen from the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. To view the rest of these images please go to the June 2001: Mars Opposition and Equinox page at the Malin Space Science Systems web site.Animation of simulated Earth-based views of Mars. | |
The volcanic flows in image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are located south of Ascraeus Mons and east of Pavonis Mons. | Context imageThe volcanic flows in today's image are located south of Ascraeus Mons and east of Pavonis Mons.Orbit Number: 45555 Latitude: 4.33722 Longitude: 259.086 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-03-22 06:07Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
On Oct. 16, 2006, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity examined a section of the scalloped rim called Cape St. Mary in Victoria Crater on Mars. | As part of its investigation of "Victoria Crater," NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity examined a promontory called "Cape Verde" from the vantage point of "Cape St. Mary," the next promontory clockwise around the crater's deeply scalloped rim. This view of Cape Verde combines several exposures taken by the rover's panoramic camera into a false-color mosaic. The exposures were taken during late-morning lighting conditions.The upper portion of the crater wall contains a jumble of material tossed outward by the impact that excavated the crater. This vertical cross-section through the blanket of ejected material surrounding the crater was exposed by erosion that expanded the crater outward from its original diameter, according to scientists' interpretation of the observations. Below the jumbled material in the upper part of the wall are layers that survive relatively intact from before the crater-causing impact.The images combined into this mosaic were taken during the 1,006th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's Mars-surface mission (Nov. 22, 2006). The panoramic camera took them through the camera's 750-nanometer, 530-nanometer and 430-nanometer filters. The false color enhances subtle color differences among materials in the rocks and soils of the scene. | |
Seasonal flows on warm Martian slopes may be caused by the flow of salty water on Mars, active today when the surface is warm (above the freezing point of the solution). This observation is from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Seasonal flows on warm Martian slopes may be caused by the flow of salty water on Mars, active today when the surface is warm (above the freezing point of the solution).Palikir Crater, which sits inside the much large Newton crater, contains thousands of individual flows called "Recurring Slope Linea", or RSL. In the Southern middle latitudes, RSL form and grow every summer in certain places, fading in late summer and fall.A closeup view shows a comparison of RSL from one Mars year ago to a very recent image, over a small piece of Palikir Crater's steep northwest-facing slopes. The new image shows RSL are slightly more extensive and longer than at nearly the same time of year a Mars year ago.The older image was acquired with the MRO spacecraft pointed 6 degrees to the west of nadir (or pointing straight down), whereas for the new image MRO was pointed 17 degrees to the east of nadir. As a result, we are seeing the steeply-sloping surface from different angles, exaggerating the appearance of longer RSL in the new image, but if you carefully compare the flows to the topography, you can see that they really are more numerous and some are longer this year compared to the past Martian summer, just about 2 days later in the year.The RSL are remarkably repeatable from year to year in this location, with differences perhaps related to the weather--mainly due to variations in dust content of the air.HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
The hole that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover drilled into target rock 'John Klein' provided a view into the interior of the rock, as well as obtaining a sample of powdered material from the rock. | The hole that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover drilled into target rock "John Klein" provided a view into the interior of the rock, as well as obtaining a sample of powdered material from the rock. The rock is part of the Sheepbed mudstone deposit in the Yellowknife Bay area of Gale Crater. This image, taken by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera, reveals gray colored cuttings, rock powder and interior wall. Notice the homogeneous, fine grain size of the mudstone, and the irregular network of sulfate-filled hairline fractures. A vertical array of pits in the side of the hole resulted from using the laser-shooting Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to assess composition at those points. The MAHLI took this image during the 270th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (May 10, 2013). The diameter of hole is about 0.6 inch (1.6 centimeters). The Sheepbed mudstone is interpreted to represent an ancient lake. It preserves evidence of an environment that would have been suited to support microbes that get their energy by eating chemicals in rocks. This wet environment was characterized by neutral pH, low salinity, and variable oxidation of iron- and sulfur-containing minerals. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen and phosphorus were measured directly as key elements for supporting possible life. These results highlight the biological viability of fluvial-lacustrine environments (streams and lakes) in the history of Mars after the earliest era of the Martian past, called the Noachian Era.Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, developed, built and operates MAHLI. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project and the mission's Curiosity rover for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed and assembled at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Angustus Labyrinthus. Angustus Labyrinthus is a unique region near the south polar cap. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Angustus Labyrinthus. Angustus Labyrinthus is a unique region near the south polar cap. In the center of this image squares formed by intersecting ridges are visible. The feature earned the informal name of the Inca City when it was discovered in Mariner 9 images in 1972.The linear ridges are believed to have formed by volcanic and tectonic forces, where magma filled fractures in the subsurface and then erosion revealed the magmatic material.The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the Martian surface using five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the spatial resolution and coverage of the image must be reduced to accommodate the additional data volume produced from using multiple filters. To make a color image, three of the five filter images (each in grayscale) are selected. Each is contrast enhanced and then converted to a red, green, or blue intensity image. These three images are then combined to produce a full color, single image. Because the THEMIS color filters don't span the full range of colors seen by the human eye, a color THEMIS image does not represent true color. Also, because each single-filter image is contrast enhanced before inclusion in the three-color image, the apparent color variation of the scene is exaggerated. Nevertheless, the color variation that does appear is representative of some change in color, however subtle, in the actual scene. Note that the long edges of THEMIS color images typically contain color artifacts that do not represent surface variation.Orbit Number: 85049 Latitude: -81.1305 Longitude: 295.000 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-02-15 05:19Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The rounded hills in this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are located in Arcadia Planitia. Broad linear ridges and groups of hills in this region are part of Phlegra Dorsa and Phlegra Montes. | Context image The rounded hills in this VIS image are located in Arcadia Planitia. Broad linear ridges and groups of hills in this region are part of Phlegra Dorsa (ridges) and Phlegra Montes (hills).Orbit Number: 71248 Latitude: 30.6712 Longitude: 171.018 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2018-01-05 17:05Please 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. | |
Oxia Planum is an ancient (Noachian epoch) terrain situated to the east of Chryse Planitia at about 18 degrees north. This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is of a proposed ExoMars Landing Site. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionOxia Planum is an ancient (Noachian epoch) terrain situated to the east of Chryse Planitia at about 18 degrees north. The OMEGA infrared spectrometer on board Mars Express, and CRISM onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, have identified iron-magnesium rich clays like smectite over hundreds of square kilometers.This image uses HiRISE to show what the surface looks like and whether it is feasible to land a rover on it. In this instance the image was taken with the ExoMars rover in mind (Oxia Planum is one of the leading candidate sites for that mission) but the Mars 2020 mission is another possibility. The image shows that the landscape is flat in this area.The origin of the clays-perhaps due to alteration of volcanic sediments-is of keen interest to researchers looking for a terrain where traces of life have been preserved and could be studied by a rover. Another issue that rover planners have to be aware of is the presence of dunes which could block the traverses of rovers, but this part of Oxia Planum appears benign in that respect as well.Note: "Oxia Planum" is an informal name and not an official one.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. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this panoramic camera image of the southeast rim of Gusev Crater capturing the crater wall as it descends into the mouth of the Ma'adim Vallis channel. The martian skies were dusty obscuring the crater rim. | NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this panoramic camera image of the southeast rim of Gusev Crater on sol 68. Like the more recent image acquired on sol 91, it captures the crater wall as it descends into the mouth of the Ma'adim Vallis channel. The martian skies were dustier when this image was taken, making the crater rim more difficult to see. The sky appears "noisier" than in the sol 91 image because the panoramic camera was operating at a higher temperature.The same modifications were applied to this image as were applied to the sol 91 image to make the crater rim more visible. | |
This graph compares the elemental composition of typical soils at three landing regions on Mars: Gusev Crater, from Spirit; Meridiani Planum, from Opportunity; and now Gale Crater, where NASA's newest Curiosity rover is currently investigating. | This graph compares the elemental composition of typical soils at three landing regions on Mars: Gusev Crater, where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit traveled; Meridiani Planum, where Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity still roams; and now Gale Crater, where NASA's newest Curiosity rover is currently investigating. The data from the Mars Exploration Rovers are from several batches of soil, while the Curiosity data are from soil taken inside a wheel scuff mark called "Portage" and examined with its Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). These early results indicate that the samples investigated by Curiosity are very similar to those at previous landing sites.Error bars indicate the variations for the given number of soils measured for the Mars Exploration Rovers along the traverse. Note that concentrations of silicon dioxide and iron oxide were divided by 10, and nickel, zinc and bromine levels were multiplied by 100. JPL manages the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.For more about NASA's Curiosity mission, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl, http://www.nasa.gov/mars, and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl. | |
This image from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows effects of using the rover's wire-bristled Dust Removal Tool (DRT) on a rock target called 'Christmas Cove'. | This image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows effects of using the rover's wire-bristled Dust Removal Tool (DRT) on a rock target called "Christmas Cove."The tool brushed an area about 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) across on Sept. 16, 2017, during the 1,118th Martian day, or sol of Curiosity's work on Mars. MAHLI took this image later the same sol. Both DRT and MAHLI are on the turret of tools at the end of Curiosity's arm. The site is partway up "Vera Rubin Ridge" on lower Mount Sharp, in an area where reconnaissance imaging (see PIA22065) with science filters revealed variability in indications of the mineral hematite. Removing dust from part of the Christmas Cove target was part of an experiment to check whether dust is subduing the apparent indications of hematite in some of the area's bedrock. The brushed area's purplish tint in this MAHLI image, accentuated even more when observed with science filters (see PIA22066) of the rover's Mast Camera, is characteristic of fine-grained hematite.Brushing of this target also exposed details in the fine layering and bright veins within the bedrock of this part of Vera Rubin Ridge. The image is oriented so that sunlight comes from upper left. Layers are lower (older) toward lower right.MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover.More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows Ross Crater in Aonia Terra. | Context image This VIS image shows Ross Crater in Aonia Terra. The crater rim is dissected by gullies, however these gullies are much smaller than those in yesterday's image.Orbit Number: 66831 Latitude: -57.6184 Longitude: 251.468 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2017-01-06 18:28Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows its 'hand,' or the tip of the instrument deployment device, poised in front of the rock nicknamed Adirondack. A stainless steel brush located on its rock abrasion tool is seen here at the end of the yellow arrow. | Click on image for larger view This image shows the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's "hand," or the tip of the instrument deployment device, poised in front of the rock nicknamed Adirondack, the rover's first science target since developing communication problems over two weeks ago. In preparation for grinding into Adirondack, Spirit cleaned off a portion of the rock's surface with a stainless steel brush located on its rock abrasion tool and seen here at the end of the yellow arrow. The image was taken by the rover's panoramic camera. | |
This image was taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity showing 'Panoramic Position 2' on the southeast side of the rim of 'Endurance' Crater on Mars. | Scientists are investigating the ripples and textures seen in this image, taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The highlighted strip just right of center was taken by the microscopic imager located on the rover's instrument deployment device or "robotic arm." The images were taken from "Panoramic Position 2" on the southeast side of the rim of "Endurance" Crater. This rock target, nicknamed "Pyrrho," shows interesting braided patterns that were investigated in close detail using the microscopic imager. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a portion of the ancient Auqakuh Vallis and many eroded remnants of the ancient cratered terrain. | Click here to see a higher resolution version of MOC2_129a and MOC2_129bMars Orbiter Camera (MOC) narrow angle images provide high resolution views of the Martian surface that rival the quality of aerial photographs used to study the geology of Earth. Over the past year and a half, MOC images have helped to highlight the fact that much of the almost Moon-like heavily cratered terrains of Mars consist of layered materials.Eastern Arabia Terra is a region that was known from the Viking orbiter missions(1976-1980) to show vast tracts of eroded terrain. The image on the left, above, shows a regional view from Viking. Eastern Arabia is distinct for its rough-textured cratered terrain, and for the presence of the ancient, perhaps water-carved valley, Auqakuh Vallis. The center image (above) includes a high-resolution view from the Viking 1 orbiter, with a more recent image from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) MOC shown as an inset.The third image (above, right) is a MOC high resolution view that shows a portion of the ancient Auqakuh Vallis (just above center) and many eroded remnants of the ancient cratered terrain. The MOC image reveals dunes on the floor of Auqakuh Vallis, and shows a plethora of small, straight and curved ridges running across the terrain. The geological term for these ridges is "dike." Dikes most commonly form on Earth in volcanic terrain, when molten rock (magma) is injected into a crack in the subsurface. The magma cools, hardens, and later erosion removes the surrounding rock to leave behind the more resistant volcanic rock as a ridge. Shiprock in the northwest corner of New Mexico, U.S.A., is an example of a place on Earth where dike ridges are found. This MOC image is one of many that are being examined by the MOC Science Team in order to decipher the ancient geological history of the red planet.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 captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows that the seasonal change in weather is not constrained to just the polar region. | Context imageThe clouds in today's image are at a lower latitude than the previous polar cloud image. This shows that the seasonal change in weather is not constrained to just the polar region.Orbit Number: 44865 Latitude: 69.535 Longitude: 7.20184 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-01-25 10:40Please 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 from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a small portion of Olympia Undae, the vast dune field near the north pole. | Context imageThis VIS image shows a small portion of Olympia Undae, the vast dune field near the north pole.Orbit Number: 53013 Latitude: 81.1248 Longitude: 175.596 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2013-11-26 00:08Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows 'Adirondack,' the rover's first target rock. Spirit traversed the sandy martian terrain at Gusev Crater to arrive in front of the football-sized rock on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2004. | This 3-D perspective image taken by the panoramic camera onboard the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows "Adirondack," the rover's first target rock. Spirit traversed the sandy martian terrain at Gusev Crater to arrive in front of the football-sized rock on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2004, just three days after it successfully rolled off the lander. The rock was selected as Spirit's first target because it has a flat surface and is relatively free of dust - ideal conditions for grinding into the rock to expose fresh rock underneath. Clean surfaces also are better for examining a rock's top coating.Scientists named the angular rock after the Adirondack mountain range in New York. The word Adirondack is Native American and means "They of the great rocks." Data from the panoramic camera's red, green and blue filters were combined to create this approximate true color image. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows rugged terrain in the Nestus Valles portion of northern Memnonia on Mars. Wind erosion has scoured the landscape. Dust mantles the scene. | 15 August 2005This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows rugged terrain in the Nestus Valles portion of northern Memnonia. Wind erosion has scoured the landscape. Dust, deposited after the wind erosion occurred, mantles the scene. Dark streaks have formed by avalanching of the fine, dry dust on some of the slopes in the region.Location near: 6.8°S, 158.5°W Image width: width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season: Southern Spring | |
This image of the southern flank of Ascraeus Mons, taken by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, shows a small sample of collapse features that are common in the area. | Context imageCredit: NASA/JPL/MOLAThis VIS image of the southern flank of Ascraeus Mons shows a small sample of collapse features that are common in the area.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 8.4N, Longitude 253.5E. 21 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows part of Firsoff Crater, located north of Meridiani Planum. | Context imageToday's false color image shows part of Firsoff Crater, located north of Meridiani Planum. Dark blue tones in the false color filter combination are basaltic sands.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: 63185 Latitude: 2.88676 Longitude: 351.048 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-03-12 10:38Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows examples of what Mars looks like in late northern summer, which is also late southern winter. At this time of year, the south polar cap is very large. | Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) orbits around the red planet 12 times a day. Each orbit goes from pole to pole. Over the course of a single day, the wide angle cameras of the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) system take 24 pictures--12 red and 12 blue--that are assembled to create a daily global map. Such global views are used to monitor the martian weather and observe changes in the patterns of frost and dust distribution on the surface. These two pictures are examples of what Mars looks like in late northern summer, which is also late southern winter. At this time of year, the south polar cap (bottom, white feature in each image) is very large, extending from the south pole northward to 60°S. Also at this time of year, clouds of water ice crystals are common over the four largest volcanoes in Tharsis. The picture on the right shows Tharsis, with the four volcanoes forming a triangle resembling the pattern of holes on a bowling ball. The image on the left is centered on Syrtis Major, a dark, windswept volcanic plain so large that it has been known to science since the first telescopes were turned toward Mars in the 1600s. The elliptical bright feature at lower-center in the left image is the Hellas Basin, the largest unequivocal impact basin (formed by an asteroid or comet) on the planet. Hellas is approximately 2200 km (1,370 mi) across. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows | 6 April 2004This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows gullies in the wall of a large impact crater in Newton Basin near 41.9°S, 158.1°W. Such gullies may have formed by downslope movement of wet debris--i.e., water. Unfortunately, because the responsible fluid (if there was one) is no longer present today, only the geomorphology of the channels and debris aprons can be used to deduce that water might have been involved. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) across. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows patchy frost lingers late into martian spring in this image of Planum Australe from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor from November 25, 1999. Circular features are old craters formed by meteor impact. | Planum Australe--the Plains of the South. Patchy frost lingers late into Martian spring in this Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) wide angle view from November 25, 1999. Spring would give way to summer in only 1 month, on December 25, 1999. The surfaces underneath the frost have different properties--some get warmer while others stay cold--thus causing frost to linger on colder surfaces and sublime away from warmer surfaces, leaving the dazzling, almost psychedelic pattern seen at the center of this image. Circular features in this view are old craters formed by meteor impact. The brightest patches within most of these circles are fields of sand dunes covered by frost. The center of this scene is near 78°S, 135°W; north is toward the upper right. Illumination is from the upper left. The image covers an area 110 km (68 mi) across by 590 km (367 mi) down. This is a color composite of MOC wide angle camera images M09-06029 (red) and M09-06030 (blue). To see what the raw MOC image data look like, visit the newest data releases (for Mission Subphases M07 - M12, covering September 1999 through February 2000) in the MOC GALLERY. | |
The complex channels in this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are part of Granicus Valles, located on the western margin of the Elysium volcanic region. | Context imageThe complex channels in today's VIS image are part of Granicus Valles, located on the western margin of the Elysium volcanic region.Orbit Number: 45472 Latitude: 26.6792 Longitude: 135.789 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-03-15 10:01Please 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 pits and scarps in Mar's frozen south polar carbon dioxide ice cap. | MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-422, 15 July 2003Have you ever stared up at the clouds in the sky and seen the shapes of animals, people, or objects? Sometimes when the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) team is looking at newly-returned pictures from Mars, the same thing happens. This is a picture of pits and scarps in the frozen south polar carbon dioxide ice cap. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper right. At the bottom of the picture is a feature that resembles a long, thin poodle; its head faces to the left, the tail to the right. This picture is located near 86.9°S, 55.8°W. | |
On Feb. 19, 2005, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity had completed a drive of 124 meters (407 feet) across the rippled flatland of the Meridiani Planum region. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image. | Figure 1Figure 2NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera to take the images combined into this 360-degree view of the rover's surroundings on the 397th martian day, or sol, of its surface mission (March 6, 2005). Opportunity had completed a drive of 124 meters (407 feet) across the rippled flatland of the Meridiani Planum region on the previous sol, but did not drive on this sol. This location is catalogued as Opportunity's site 48. This three-dimensional view is presented as a cylindrical-perspective projection with geometric and brightness seam correction.Figure 1 is the left-eye view of a stereo pair and Figure 2 is the right-eye view of a stereo pair. | |
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 dunes in an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows dunes in an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra.Orbit Number: 58443 Latitude: -55.3606 Longitude: 9.89672 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-02-15 22:14Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a landslide located on the inner rim of Montevallo Crater. | Context image for PIA10050Crater LandslideThis landslide is located on the inner rim of Montevallo Crater.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 15.8N, Longitude 305.9E. 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 chart graphs measurements made by the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity against the distance the rover has driven, in meters. | This chart graphs measurements made by the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity against the distance the rover has driven, in meters. In active mode, DAN shoots neutrons into the ground and senses how they are reflected. Neutrons that collide with hydrogen atoms bounce off with a characteristic decrease in energy. By measuring the energies of the reflected neutrons, DAN can detect the fraction that was slowed in these collisions, and therefore the amount of hydrogen. In the passive mode, DAN does not shoot neutrons into the ground, but relies on galactic cosmic rays as a source of neutrons that are reflected by subsurface hydrogen and detected by DAN.JPL manages the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.For more about NASA's Curiosity mission, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl, http://www.nasa.gov/mars, and http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl. | |
This image shows NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander robotic arm work area with an overlay. The pink area was available for digging. | This image shows NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Robotic Arm work area with an overlay. The pink area is available for digging, the green area is reserved for placing the Thermal and Electrical Conductivity Probe (TECP) instrument. Soil can be dumped in the violet area.Images were displayed using NASA Ames "Viz" visualization software.The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.Photojournal Note: As planned, the Phoenix lander, which landed May 25, 2008 23:53 UTC, ended communications in November 2008, about six months after landing, when its solar panels ceased operating in the dark Martian winter. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the highest elevation of layered deposit occurs at the top, but just south of the center of the image is a peak that does not appear to be layered and is eroding differently than the rest of Mt. Sharp. | Context imageDuring the month of April Mars will be in conjunction relative to the Earth. This means the Sun is in the line-of-sight between Earth and Mars, and communication between the two planets is almost impossible. For conjunction, the rovers and orbiting spacecraft at Mars continue to operate, but do not send the data to Earth. This recorded data will be sent to Earth when Mars moves away from the sun and the line-of-sight between Earth and Mars is reestablished. During conjunction the THEMIS image of the day will be a visual tour of Gale Crater, the location of the newest rover Curiosity. We've moved slightly westward of yesterday's image and see one of the unusual features of Mt. Sharp. The highest elevation of the layered deposit occurs at the top of this image, but just south of the center of the image is a peak that does not appear to be layered and is eroding in a different manner than the rest of Mt. Sharp. This location and appearance of this rugged peak point to it being the remnent of a central peak formed at the time Gale Crater was created.Orbit Number: 1132 Latitude: -5.29355 Longitude: 137.84 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2002-03-17 17:34Please 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. | |
An overhead look at the martian rock dubbed Adirondack captured by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit where the rover's microscopic imager began its first close-up inspection. | This overhead look at the martian rock dubbed Adirondack was captured by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic camera. It shows the approximate region where the rover's microscopic imager began its first close-up inspection. | |
A rock in the Sheepbed mudstone deposit in the Yellowknife Bay area inside Gale Crater is the first rock on Mars ever to be dated by laboratory analysis of its ingredients. | A rock in the Sheepbed mudstone deposit in the Yellowknife Bay area inside Gale Crater is the first rock on Mars ever to be dated by laboratory analysis of its ingredients. The analysis using measurements of the rock's potassium and argon content by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover yielded an estimate that it is 3.86 billion to 4.56 billion years old. The mudstone is a sedimentary rock formed by particles that had started in rocks at higher elevations -- labelled on this image as "sediment sources" -- and washed downslope before being deposited at Yellowknife Bay. The age measured for the rock is not the depositional age of the mudstone. Researchers calculate that it is a mixture of the ages of the mineral components delivered to the mudstone via stream transport from the crater rim and the highlands beyond, as indicated by the yellow symbols. Estimates of age based on the density of impact craters on different areas of Mars put the Gale impact and surrounding highlands in the range 3.6 billion to 4.1 billion years old, a good match to the new age estimate from laboratory analysis.An unannotated version of the underlying image is available at PIA16475. This image combines elevation data from the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, image data from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and color information from Viking Orbiter imagery.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project and the mission's Curiosity rover for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed and assembled at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/. | |
This color view of the parachute and back shell that helped deliver NASA's Curiosity rover to the surface of the Red Planet was taken by the High-HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | This color view of the parachute and back shell that helped deliver NASA's Curiosity rover to the surface of the Red Planet was taken by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The area where the back shell impacted the surface is darker because lighter-colored material on the surface was kicked up and displaced.The full image for these observations can be seen at http://uahirise.org/releases/msl-tracks.php.HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. | |
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Ophir Chasma. | Context image The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Ophir Chasma.Orbit Number: 45867 Latitude: -4.55075 Longitude: 289.252 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-04-16 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 July 26, 1998 by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a spring time view of Mars' north polar sand dunes. | Spring has come to the martian northern hemisphere. The northern spring season began in mid-July 1998. With the arrival of spring comes the annual shrinkage of the north polar frost cap. Sunlight is now falling on the north polar cap, and all of the carbon dioxide frost and snow that accumulated during winter has been sublimating--going directly from solid to gas--and the surface beneath the frost is being revealed.The MOC image shown above, 45205, was obtained during the 452nd orbit of Mars Global Surveyor at 3:10 p.m. PDT on July 26, 1998. The image is located near latitude 76.87°N, longitude 253.81°W, and it shows a close-up view of martian sand dunes. These dunes were not visible to MOC until the last week of July. Just a few months earlier, the dunes were likely covered with frost, obscured by thick clouds, and cloaked by the darkness of the martian polar winter. Indeed, small patches of bright frost were still present when the picture was taken (e.g., the bright patches on the west (left) side of each crescentic dune in (left image).As the above picture illustrates, the camera on board Mars Global Surveyor (MOC) continued to take exciting new views of the martian surface throughout July 1998. As the month progressed, the ground track-- the area visible to the camera--migrated farther north. Simultaneously, sunlight began falling on the north polar regions, making it possible to take some pictures at far northern latitudes. However, these regions have been tricky to photograph because of thick clouds and hazes. The image shown here, for example, is relatively bland gray (has relatively low contrast) because of clouds.As first seen by the Viking 2 Orbiter in 1976, a vast "sea" of sand dunes surrounds the north polar cap. The dunes imaged by MOC (above) are classic forms known as barchan dunes--the small, crescent-shaped hills (see left image above)-- and transverse dunes--ridges that resemble coalesced barchans (shown in right image above). These dunes are similar in size and shape to familiar sand dunes found in desert regions on Earth. These two varieties form from winds that persistently come from a single direction (in this case, from the southwest).Over the next several months, the sky above these dunes will clear. Northern Summer will arrive near the end of January 1999, and Mars Global Surveyor should have an excellent view of this region when it begins its mapping mission in late March 1999. Because it is in a polar orbit, Mars Global Surveyor will have many opportunities to revisit the north polar dunes in 1999. The images in 1999 will have resolutions around 1.5 meters (5 feet) per pixel--a substantial improvement even over the pictures shown here. | |
North Polar Layered Deposits | This image shows an exposure of the north polar layered deposits (dark) and adjacent residual ice cap (bright) in an area that has not been well observed by previous Mars orbiters. It is one of a stereo pair of images that can be used to accurately measure the topography of this exposure of polar layered deposits and the residual ice. Topographic information is needed to measure the slopes and thickness of individual layers, which are thought to record Martian climate variations, similar to ice ages on Earth. Topographic information can also be used to determine whether the bright and dark banding that highlights the layers in places is caused by various amounts of water frost. Detailed comparison of this image with its stereo pair (taken one Mars day later, PSP_001379_2680) will show whether there were any rapid changes in frost distribution. Spacecraft orbits around Mars are often designed to be "sun synchronous," so that targets on the surface are always visible at the same time of day. A sun-synchronous orbit does not quite pass over the Martian poles, so that the areas within 3 degrees (latitude) of each pole cannot be observed without rolling the entire spacecraft to one side. The Mars Global Surveyor and 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft typically keep their instruments pointing straight down at Mars, so that there is a gap in image and topographic data within 180 km (110 miles) of each pole. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is designed to be able to frequently roll off nadir, making it easier to observe high-latitude targets such as the one shown in this image. The HiRISE team has therefore initiated a campaign to image specific targets near the north pole in stereo. Image PSP_001365_2720 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on November 10, 2006. The complete image is centered at 88.1 degrees latitude, 135.6 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 319.4 km (199.6 miles). At this distance the image scale is 63.9 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~192 cm across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 50 cm/pixel. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 8:11 AM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 71 degrees, thus the sun was about 19 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 133.5 degrees, the season on Mars is Northern Summer. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows layering of surface materials in Meridiani Planum. | Context imageThis VIS image shows layering of surface materials in Meridiani Planum. TES (Thermal Emission Spectrometer) initially detected hematite in a surface layer, which was confimed by THEMIS (THrmal EMision Imaging System). These findings supported a water rich origin of the hematite and led to the selection of the site for the Opportunity MER (Mars Exploration Rover).Orbit Number: 80848 Latitude: 1.85739 Longitude: 0.251223 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2020-03-06 08:13Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The northern margins of Arabia Terra and Terra Sabaea contain many unnamed channels. This channel is located in Terra Sabaea. The channel flow is toward the top of this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image The northern margins of Arabia Terra and Terra Sabaea contain many unnamed channels. This channel is located in Terra Sabaea. The channel flow is toward the top of the image. This channel has been covered by craters at the top of the image, showing that the channel flow occurred prior to the impacts that created the craters.Orbit Number: 71240 Latitude: 37.1087 Longitude: 40.9077 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2018-01-05 01:18Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The shadow of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter can be seen in these images taken by its black-and-white navigation camera during its third flight on April 25, 2021. | Click here for animationThe shadow of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter can be seen in this animated GIF composed of images taken by its black-and-white navigation camera during the rotocraft's third flight, on April 25, 2021. The camera, which tracks surface features below the helicopter, takes images at a rate at which the helicopter's blades appear frozen in place, despite making 21 full rotations in-between each image. At full speed, the blades spin at 2,537 rpm. The images are aligned entirely using Ingenuity's on-board position tracking system highlighting the stability and accuracy of the navigation algorithm.The GIF has been cropped to fill the frame, and the contrast has been increased so it's easier to see; the frame rate has also been sped up. An uncropped version is included to show what the view from the camera normally looks like. An additional visualization shows how the star shape of the images in the original video is created by the fisheye lens on the navigation camera.The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages this technology demonstration project for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, and Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA's Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance during Ingenuity's development. AeroVironment Inc., Qualcomm, Snapdragon, and SolAero also provided design assistance and major vehicle components. The Mars Helicopter Delivery System was designed and manufactured by Lockheed Space Systems in Denver. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows high altitude ice clouds. | 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 high altitude ice clouds. The blue and yellow bands in this image are not image artifacts, but are the traces of ice rich clouds. Each framelet of the image is collected at slightly different times. For the unchanging surface, this works fine. Optically thick dust clouds are usually close to the surface so any motion of the clouds is not dramatic as seen from the altitude of the Odyssey spacecraft. Transparent, and high altitude clouds are harder to discern in single band images – but are easy to discern in false color images – the clouds are in slightly different positions as each filter is collected. The clouds in this image are in the Tharsis region. Clouds are common there in the northern spring season. As clouds are a transient process, they can not be targeted, but are a 'surprise' when they are captured in an image. The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the Martian surface using five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the spatial resolution and coverage of the image must be reduced to accommodate the additional data volume produced from using multiple filters. To make a color image, three of the five filter images (each in grayscale) are selected. Each is contrast enhanced and then converted to a red, green, or blue intensity image. These three images are then combined to produce a full color, single image. Because the THEMIS color filters don't span the full range of colors seen by the human eye, a color THEMIS image does not represent true color. Also, because each single-filter image is contrast enhanced before inclusion in the three-color image, the apparent color variation of the scene is exaggerated. Nevertheless, the color variation that does appear is representative of some change in color, however subtle, in the actual scene. Note that the long edges of THEMIS color images typically contain color artifacts that do not represent surface variation.Orbit Number: 94128 Latitude: 14.3145 Longitude: 281.365 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2023-03-04 19:22Please 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 several craters and plains of Terra Cimmeria. | The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows several craters and plains of Terra Cimmeria.Orbit Number: 59979 Latitude: -39.2993 Longitude: 159.815 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-06-22 09:17Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The THEMIS 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 part part of Acidalia Planitia. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Acidalia Planitia.Orbit Number: 11833 Latitude: 45.9694 Longitude: 5.75958 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2004-08-14 17:19Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity carries five cylindrical blocks of organic check material for use in a control experiment if the rover's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) laboratory detects any organic compounds in samples of Martian soil or powdered rock. | NASA's Mars rover Curiosity carries five cylindrical blocks of organic check material for use in a control experiment if the rover's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) laboratory detects any organic compounds in samples of Martian soil or powdered rock. The blocks are carried on the front of the rover, within reach of the sample-collecting drill on the rover's arm, and are sealed under foil until needed. This image centered on the foil that covers one of the bricks was taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the 34th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Sept. 9, 2012). The image has been rotated to compensate for the tilted orientation of the camera when it was taken. The diameter of the covering is about 2.5 inches (6.5 centimeters). The rover's UHF radio antenna, mounted on the rear of the deck, is the feature in the background resembling a miniature water tower. The Sol 34 imaging was part of characterization testing of the rover's arm. This image checks the precision of the arm's positioning as if preparing to collect a sample of the check material. The darker, oval-shaped feature to the right of the foil covering and a rounder dark feature to the left are touch points for the rover's drill to use when the drill collects a powdered sample of the organic check material later in the mission.If SAM does detect organics, one challenge will be to confirm that these molecules are truly Martian, not stowaways from Earth carried to Mars on Curiosity. The organic check material is a silicon-dioxide ceramic laced with small amounts of synthetic fluorinated organic chemicals not found in nature on Earth and not expected on Mars. The basic control experiment will collect a powdered sample from an organic check block with the same drilling, processing and delivery system used for collecting samples from Martian rocks, and then will analyze the sample with SAM. If SAM finds any organics other than the fluorine-containing markers, they will be stowaway suspects. If only the markers are detected, that would verify that organic-detection is working and that the sample-acquisition and handling pathway has passed a test of being clean of organic stowaways. That control experiment can assess characteristics of organic contamination at five different times during the mission, using the five bricks of check material.The main purpose of Curiosity's MAHLI camera is to acquire close-up, high-resolution views of rocks and soil at the rover's Gale Crater field site. The camera is capable of focusing on any target at distances of about 0.8 inch (2.1 centimeters) to infinity, providing versatility for other uses. | |
As rivers age they can meander and occasionally these meanders get so pronounced that the river cuts off these curving loops at their narrow end leaving them as isolated as oxbow lakes. Image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | As rivers age they can meander and occasionally these meanders get so pronounced that the river cuts off these curving loops at their narrow end leaving them as isolated as oxbow lakes.The objective of this observation is to check for the presence of these features. At HiRISE resolution, we should be able to test for traces of former meandering river channels in what looks like an oxbow feature in images from lower-resolution cameras.HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the orbiter's HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows v-shaped troughs in the Hephaestus Fossae region of Mars. Light-toned, windblown ripples reside in the very lowest parts of the troughs, as well as on the cratered upland outside the troughs. | 25 June 2006This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows v-shaped troughs in the Hephaestus Fossae region of Mars. Light-toned, windblown ripples reside in the very lowest parts of the troughs, as well as on the cratered upland outside the troughs. Boulders and other types of debris, which were derived from the layered rock exposed near the top of the troughs, are seen resting on the trough floors and perched on the sloping trough walls.Location near: 21.1°N, 236.7°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season: Northern Spring | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey released on May 12, 2004 shows the martian landscape during the southern spring season near the south polar cap edge. | Released 12 May 2004This daytime visible color image was collected on June 6, 2003 during the Southern Spring season near the South Polar Cap Edge.The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the martian surface using its five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the spatial resolution and coverage of the image must be reduced to accommodate the additional data volume produced from the use of multiple filters. To make a color image, three of the five filter images (each in grayscale) are selected. Each is contrast enhanced and then converted to a red, green, or blue intensity image. These three images are then combined to produce a full color, single image. Because the THEMIS color filters don't span the full range of colors seen by the human eye, a color THEMIS image does not represent true color. Also, because each single-filter image is contrast enhanced before inclusion in the three-color image, the apparent color variation of the scene is exaggerated. Nevertheless, the color variation that does appear is representative of some change in color, however subtle, in the actual scene. Note that the long edges of THEMIS color images typically contain color artifacts that do not represent surface variation.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -77.8, Longitude 195 East (165 West). 38 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows the upper slopes of Olympus Mons. Numerous thin lava flows are visible. | Context imageToday's VIS image is located on the upper slopes of Olympus Mons. Numerous thin lava flows are visible. The small raised channel is one mode of lava emplacement where the flow builds up cooling levees along both sides of the channel. Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the solar system, reaching heights of over 40 km (25 miles) tall from base to summit, with the base covering an area as large as the state of Arizona. For comparison, Mauna Loa is 9 km (5.5 miles) tall measured from its base on the sea floor.Orbit Number: 87404 Latitude: 19.745 Longitude: 225.085 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-08-28 03:42Please 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. | |
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 the floor of Trouvelot Crater. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of the floor of Trouvelot Crater. The dark bluish features are small sand dunes.Orbit Number: 5830 Latitude: 15.5535 Longitude: 346.584 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2003-04-08 12:47Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The unnamed channels in this image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are located in Terra Cimmeria. | Context imageThe unnamed channels in this VIS image are located in Terra Cimmeria.Orbit Number: 56453 Latitude: -40.8943 Longitude: 166.72 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2014-09-05 02:01Please 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. | |
An arc of dunes covers part of the floor of this unnamed crater in Aonia Terra, as shown in this image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context imageAn arc of dunes covers part of the floor of this unnamed crater in Aonia Terra.Orbit Number: 49601 Latitude: -55.8859 Longitude: 250.72 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2013-02-18 04:31 Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This group of channels are all part of Ares Vallis on Mars as seen by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image for PIA08442Ares VallisThis group of channels are all part of Ares Vallis.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 13.6N, Longitude 331.0E. 18 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images. Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
Mars is characterized by similar color variations. The surface near NASA's Mars Pathfinder's egress from the lander contains bright red drift, dark gray rocks, soil intermediate in color to the rocks and drift, and dark red soil on and around the rock. | The surface near the rover's egress from the lander contains mainly bright red drift (#1), dark gray rocks such as Cradle (# 3), soil intermediate in color to the rocks and drift (#2), and dark red soil on and around the rock Lamb (#4). Globally, Mars is characterized by similar color variations. The spectra, measured using the full 13-color capability of the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP), provide evidence for the mineralogy of the unweathered rocks and highly weathered red soils. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Photojournal note: Sojourner spent 83 days of a planned seven-day mission exploring the Martian terrain, acquiring images, and taking chemical, atmospheric and other measurements. The final data transmission received from Pathfinder was at 10:23 UTC on September 27, 1997. Although mission managers tried to restore full communications during the following five months, the successful mission was terminated on March 10, 1998. | |
The fractures in this image taken by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are part of Cerberus Fossae. | Context imageThe fractures in this VIS image are part of Cerberus Fossae.Orbit Number: 36036 Latitude: 10.0756 Longitude: 160.301 Instrument: VISPlease see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's shows peak-like formations on the martian terrain at Gusev Crater. Seen are particles made of dust, sand and coarse sand, with their sizes approximating flour, sugar, and ball bearings, respectively. | This false-color image from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic camera shows peak-like formations on the martian terrain at Gusev Crater. Scientists have been analyzing these formations, which have coarse particles accumulating on their tops, or crests. This characteristic classifies them as ripples instead of dunes, which have a more uniform distribution of particle sizes. Scientists are looking further into such formations, which can give insight to the wind direction and velocity on Mars, as well as the material that is being moved by the wind. This image was taken on the 40th martian day, or sol, of Spirit's mission.Click on image for larger view[Image credit: NASA/JPL/ASU]This diagram illustrates how windblown sediments travel. There are three basic types of particles that undergo different motions depending on their size. These particles are dust, sand and coarse sand, and their sizes approximate flour, sugar, and ball bearings, respectively. Sand particles move along the "saltation" path, hitting the surface downwind. When the sand hits the surface, it sends dust into the atmosphere and gives coarse sand a little shove. Mars Exploration Rover scientists are studying the distribution of material on the surface of Mars to better understand how winds shaped the landscape. | |
This image was taken after the first flight of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, and the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. It was captured by Mastcam-Z, a pair of zoomable cameras aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, on April 19, 2021. | This image was taken after the first flight of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter — and the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. It was captured by Mastcam-Z, a pair of zoomable cameras aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, on April 19, 2021. Flying in a controlled manner on Mars is far more difficult than flying on Earth. The Red Planet has significant gravity (about one-third that of Earth's), but its atmosphere is just 1% as dense as Earth's at the surface.Stitched together from multiple images, the mosaic is not white balanced; instead, it is displayed in a preliminary calibrated version of a natural color composite, approximately simulating the colors of the scene that we would see if we were there viewing it ourselves.Arizona State University in Tempe leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.For more about Perseverance: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ and nasa.gov/perseverance | |
Marie Curie' sits on the lander petal prior to deployment during the pre-launch Operations Readiness Test (ORT) 6. NASA's Pathfinder, a low-cost Discovery mission, is the first of a new fleet of spacecraft that are planned to explore Mars. | "Marie Curie" sits on the lander petal prior to deployment during the pre launch Operations Readiness Test (ORT) 6.Pathfinder, a low-cost Discovery mission, is the first of a new fleet of spacecraft that are planned to explore Mars over thenext ten years. Mars Global Surveyor, already en route, arrives at Mars on September 11 to begin a two year orbital reconnaissance of the planet's composition, topography, and climate. Additional orbiters and landers will follow every 26 months.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. | |
These plots, or spectra, show that a rock dubbed 'McKittrick' near NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site at Meridiani Planum, Mars, has higher concentrations of sulfur and bromine than a nearby patch of soil nicknamed 'Tarmac.' | These plots, or spectra, show that a rock dubbed "McKittrick" near the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site at Meridiani Planum, Mars, has higher concentrations of sulfur and bromine than a nearby patch of soil nicknamed "Tarmac." These data were taken by Opportunity's alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, which uses curium-244 to assess the elemental composition of rocks and soil. Only portions of the targets' full spectra are shown to highlight the significant differences in elemental concentrations between "McKittrick" and "Tarmac." Intensities are plotted on a logarithmic scale.A nearby rock named Guadalupe similarly has extremely high concentrations of sulfur, but very little bromine. This "element fractionation" typically occurs when a watery brine slowly evaporates and various salt compounds are precipitated in sequence. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows Arsia Mons, located on the southern flank of the volcano adjacent to the NE trending feature. There has been a significant amount of collapse features formed in this region. | The final VIS image of Arsia Mons is located on the southern flank of the volcano adjacent to the NE trending feature. There has been a significant amount of collapse features formed in this region. Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -11.1, Longitude 238.6 East (121.4 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. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows Biblis Patera, the summit caldera of the volcano Biblis Tholus. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows Biblis Patera, the summit caldera of the volcano Biblis Tholus. This volcano is located west of Pavonis Mons and is just one of the numerous volcanoes found in the Tharsis region.Orbit Number: 77870 Latitude: 2.21414 Longitude: 236.308 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-07-05 03:02Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows a variety of textures observed on a dust-covered plain in the Marte Valles region of Mars. | 26 May 2006This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a variety of textures observed on a dust-covered plain in the Marte Valles region of Mars. Textural variations across the scene include: areas that are littered with small impact craters, a channel-like feature that is dominated by mounds of a variety of sizes, small ripples and/or ridges, and relatively smooth, unremarkable terrain. The contact between the cratered plain and the area dominated by mounds marks one of the banks along the edge of one of the shallow valleys of the Marte Valles system.Location near: 17.7°N, 175.0°W Image width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: lower left Season: Northern Spring | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was on its way from 'Endurance Crater' toward the spacecraft's jettisoned heat shield in this anaglyph. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image. | Figure 1Figure 2NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was on its way from "Endurance Crater" toward the spacecraft's jettisoned heat shield when the navigation camera took the images combined into this 360-degree panorama. Opportunity drove 60 meters (197 feet) on its 321st martian day, or sol (Dec. 18, 2004). These images were taken later that sol and on the following sol. The rover had spent 181 sols inside the crater. This view is presented in a cylindrical-perspective projection without seam correction.Figure 1 is the left-eye view of a stereo pair and Figure 2 is the right-eye view of a stereo pair. | |
The rock 'Ithaca' is shown here with a rougher lower texture and smoother texture on top, and appears to be a piece of the local sedimentary bedrock protruding from the surrounding soil in Gale Crater as seen by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. | Unannotated VersionClick on the image for larger versionThe rock "Ithaca" shown here, with a rougher lower texture and smoother texture on top, appears to be a piece of the local sedimentary bedrock protruding from the surrounding soil in Gale Crater. NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to take this image during the 439th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Oct. 30, 2013). The black-outline rectangle indicates the area where the rover's Chemistry and Camera instrument (ChemCam) used its laser and remote micro-imager to inspect Ithaca. That inspection included the 100,000th laser shot fired by ChemCam on Mars. The 0.1 meter scale bar at lower left is about 4 inches.Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates Mastcam. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission and the mission's Curiosity rover for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.For more about NASA's Curiosity mission, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl, http://www.nasa.gov/mars, and http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows linear depressions called Mareotis Fossae. They are part of a huge region of graben that comprise Tempe Terra. | Context imageThe linear depressions in this VIS image are called Mareotis Fossae. They are part of a huge region of graben that comprise Tempe Terra. The graben of Mareotis Fossae trend to the northeast, parallel to the fossae of Alba Mons located just to the west of Tempe Terra.Orbit Number: 79840 Latitude: 38.1019 Longitude: 274.833 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-12-14 08:28Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The small dune forms seen in this image by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are located on the floor of Briault Crater. | Context imageThese small dune forms are located on the floor of Briault Crater.Orbit Number: 42778 Latitude: -10.0474 Longitude: 89.6182 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2011-08-06 14:24Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This small, unnamed channel is located in Arabia Terra on Mars as seen by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context image for PIA08086Winding ChannelThis small, unnamed channel is located in Arabia Terra.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 28.7N, Longitude 349.6E. 19 meter/pixel resolution.Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images. Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
NASA's InSight lander deployed its Wind and Thermal Shield on Feb. 2, 2019 (sol 66). The shield covers InSight's seismometer, which was set down onto the Martian surface on Dec. 19, 2018. | Click here for animationNASA's InSight lander deployed its Wind and Thermal Shield on Feb. 2, 2019 (sol 66). The shield covers InSight's seismometer, which was set down onto the Martian surface on Dec. 19, 2018.This image was taken by the Instrument Deployment Camera on the lander's robotic arm.JPL manages InSight for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the InSight spacecraft, including its cruise stage and lander, and supports spacecraft operations for the mission.A number of European partners, including France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are supporting the InSight mission. CNES and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) provided the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, with significant contributions from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH) in Switzerland, Imperial College and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and JPL. DLR provided the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) instrument, with significant contributions from the Space Research Center (CBK) of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Astronika in Poland. Spain's Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) supplied the wind sensors.For more information about the mission, go to https://mars.nasa.gov/insight. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft is located near Memnonia Sulci, on the edge of Lucus Planum. | Context imageToday's VIS image is located near Memnonia Sulci, on the edge of Lucus Planum. The material at the top and left side of the image has been eroded by the wind to form features called yardangs. Yardangs form in a poorly cemented material where the wind cuts linear valleys, removing some of the material and leaving parallel ridges behind. The direction of the ridge/valley is aligned with the wind direction.Orbit Number: 63540 Latitude: -7.94852 Longitude: 187.928 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2016-04-10 16:20Please 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 image shows the view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit after it successfully completed a 115 degree turn to face northwest, the direction it will roll off the lander. | This image shows the view from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit after it successfully completed a 115 degree turn to face northwest, the direction it will roll off the lander. The image was taken by the rover's navigation camera. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity features a cross section through the structure and thermal protection system of the its heat shield. Six separation fittings were used to join and separate the heat shield from the backshell. | This image from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity features a cross section through the structure and thermal protection system of the rover's heat shield. Shown is one of six separation fittings used to join and separate the heat shield from the backshell during atmospheric entry, descent, and landing. Upon impact, this separation fitting punched through the structure.This is an approximately true-color rendering of the scene acquired around 1:21 p.m. local solar time on Opportunity's sol 340 (Jan. 7, 2005) using panoramic camera filters at wavelengths of 750, 530, and 430 nanometers. | |
This image taken by NASA's Mars Pathfinder 1997 mission is of so-called wind drifts seen at the Viking 1 landing site. | This image is of so-called wind drifts seen at the Viking 1 landing site. These are somewhat different from the features seen at the Pathfinder site in two important ways. 1) These landforms have no apparent slip-or avalanche-face as do both terrestrial dunes and the Pathfinder features, and may represent deposits of sediment falling from the air, as opposed to dune sand, which "hops" or saltates along the ground; 2) these features may indicate erosion on one side, because of the layering and apparent scouring on their right sides. They may, therefore have been deposited by a wind moving left to right, partly or weakly cemented or solidified by surface processes at some later time, then eroded by a second wind (right to left), exposing their internal structure.Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Photojournal note: Sojourner spent 83 days of a planned seven-day mission exploring the Martian terrain, acquiring images, and taking chemical, atmospheric and other measurements. The final data transmission received from Pathfinder was at 10:23 UTC on September 27, 1997. Although mission managers tried to restore full communications during the following five months, the successful mission was terminated on March 10, 1998. | |
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover provided this nighttime view of a hole produced by the rover's drill and, inside the hole, a line of scars produced by the rover's rock-zapping laser. | NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) instrument on its robotic arm to illuminate and record this nighttime view of the sandstone rock target "Windjana." The rover had previously drilled a hole to collect sample material from the interior of the rock and then zapped a series of target points inside the hole with the laser of the rover's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument. The hole is 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter.The precision pointing of the laser that is mounted atop the rover's remote-sensing mast is evident in the column of scars within the hole. That instrument provides information about the target's composition by analysis of the sparks of plasma generated by the energy of the laser beam striking the target. Additional ChemCam laser scars are visible at upper right, on the surface of the rock.This view combines eight separate MAHLI exposures, taken at different focus settings to show the entire scene in focus. The exposures were taken after dark on the 628th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (May 13, 2014). The rover drilled this hole on Sol 621 (May 5, 2014).MAHLI includes light-emitting diodes as well as a color camera. Using the instrument's own lighting yields an image of the hole's interior with less shadowing than would be seen in a sunlit image. The camera's inspection of the interior of the hole provides documentation about what the drill bit passed through as it penetrated the rock -- for example, to see if it cut through any mineral veins or visible layering.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/. | |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's shows the windblown waves of soil that characterize the rocky surface of Gusev Crater, Mars. Ripples are shaped by gentle winds that deposit coarse grains on the tops or crests of the waves. | This approximate true-color image taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic camera shows the windblown waves of soil that characterize the rocky surface of Gusev Crater, Mars. Scientists were puzzled about whether these geologic features were "ripples" or "dunes." Ripples are shaped by gentle winds that deposit coarse grains on the tops or crests of the waves. Dunes are carved by faster winds and contain a more uniform distribution of material. Images taken of these features by the rover's microscopic imager on the 41st martian sol, or day, of the rover's mission revealed their identity to be ripples. This information helps scientists better understand the winds that shape the landscape of Mars. This image was taken early in Spirit's mission. Click on image for larger view[Image credit: NASA/JPL/ASU]This diagram illustrates how windblown sediments travel. There are three basic types of particles that undergo different motions depending on their size. These particles are dust, sand and coarse sand, and their sizes approximate flour, sugar, and ball bearings, respectively. Sand particles move along the "saltation" path, hitting the surface downwind. When the sand hits the surface, it sends dust into the atmosphere and gives coarse sand a little shove. Mars Exploration Rover scientists are studying the distribution of material on the surface of Mars to better understand how winds shaped the landscape. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the floor of an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra. The floor contains a sand sheet with dune forms. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows part of the floor of an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra. The floor contains a sand sheet with dune forms.Orbit Number: 59110 Latitude: -51.6718 Longitude: 26.1336 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-04-11 19:58Please 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. | |
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this panorama of a hill nicknamed Bolívar and adjacent sand ridges on Aug. 23, the 3,572nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. | NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this panorama of a hill nicknamed "Bolívar" and adjacent sand ridges on Aug. 23, 2022, the 3,572nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This panorama was stitched together from 23 images once they were sent back to Earth. The color has been adjusted to match the lighting conditions as the human eye would perceive them on Earth.Curiosity was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam.For more about Curiosity, visit http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl or https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html. | |
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows an impact crater in western Daedalia Planum on Mars, with a wind streak around it. | 20 July 2005This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an impact crater in western Daedalia Planum, around which has developed a wind streak that runs off to the west (left) of the image. The winds responsible for the streak came from the east (right).Location near: 11.2°S, 139.5°W Image width: width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) Illumination from: upper left Season: Southern Spring | |
The THEMIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of Newton Crater in Terra Sirenum. | Context image The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. THe data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Newton Crater in Terra Sirenum.Orbit Number: 59753 Latitude: -38.4654 Longitude: 199.631 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-06-03 18:38Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The Medusae Fossae Formation, shown in this image from NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft, is a large region of material that is easily eroded by the wind. The work of the wind has produced a variety of surface textures. | Context image for PIA08073Medusae FossaeThe Medusae Fossae Formation is a large region of material that is easily eroded by the wind. The work of the wind has produced a variety of surface textures.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -2.2N, Longitude 205.2E. 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 acquired on February 7, 2019 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows Mawrth Vallis, a place on Mars that has fascinated scientists because of the clays and other hydrated minerals detected from orbit. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on image for larger versionMawrth Vallis is a place on Mars that has fascinated scientists because of the clays and other hydrated minerals detected from orbit. In this image, the enhanced black colors are most likely basaltic sands and rocks, while the green, yellow, and blue colors correspond to the different hydrated minerals.This particular image was taken of a location in Mawrth Vallis that has a mineral called jarosite. Jarosite on Earth forms under wet, oxidizing, and acidic conditions. Another place on Mars where the Opportunity rover landed and explored also has jarosite.The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 59.8 centimeters (23.5 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 180 centimeters (70.9 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.This is a stereo pair with ESP_058749_2060.The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | |
This set of images shows NASA's Mars Pathfinder lander in a cleanroom at JPL in 1996 on the left, and on Mars in 1997. | This set of images shows the Mars Pathfinder lander in a cleanroom at JPL in 1996 on the left, and on Mars in 1997 (see PIA01238).Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal investigator.
Photojournal note: Sojourner spent 83 days of a planned seven-day mission exploring the Martian terrain, acquiring images, and taking chemical, atmospheric and other measurements. The final data transmission received from Pathfinder was at 10:23 UTC on September 27, 1997. Although mission managers tried to restore full communications during the following five months, the successful mission was terminated on March 10, 1998. | |
This image released on Nov 18, 2004 from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey shows Mars' Alba Patera region has both lava tube collapse pits (running generally east/west) and subsidence related collapse within structural grabens. | We will be looking at collapse pits for the next two weeks. Collapse pits on Mars are formed in several ways. In volcanic areas, channelized lava flows can form roofs which insulate the flowing lava. These features are termed lava tubes on Earth and are common features in basaltic flows. After the lava has drained, parts of the roof of the tube will collapse under its own weight. These collapse pits will only be as deep as the bottom of the original lava tube. Another type of collapse feature associated with volcanic areas arises when very large eruptions completely evacuate the magma chamber beneath the volcano. The weight of the volcano will cause the entire edifice to subside into the void space below it. Structural features including fractures and graben will form during the subsidence. Many times collapse pits will form within the graben. In addition to volcanic collapse pits, Mars has many collapse pits formed when volatiles (such as subsurface ice) are released from the surface layers. As the volatiles leave, the weight of the surrounding rock causes collapse pits to form.This image of the Alba Patera region has both lava tube collapse pits (running generally east/west) and subsidence related collapse within structural grabens.Image information: IR instrument. Latitude 26.9, Longitude 256.5 East (103.5 West). 100 meter/pixel resolution.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a large sand sheet with surface dune forms on the floor of an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra. | Context imageThis VIS image shows a large sand sheet with surface dune forms on the floor of an unnamed crater in Noachis Terra.Orbit Number: 58336 Latitude: -48.6161 Longitude: 34.0534 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-02-07 02:22Please 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. | |
Pavonis Mons is a giant shield volcano similar to (although larger than) those on the Big Island of Hawaii. This image is from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. | Map Projected Browse ImageClick on the image for larger versionPavonis Mons is a giant shield volcano similar to (although larger than) those on the Big Island of Hawaii. These volcanoes are mostly made of stacks of overlapping lava flows. These images and digital terrain model (DTM) show a collapse feature on Pavonis Mons. The walls of this conical pit are steep (about as steep as it is possible to get before loose material rolls downhill). The material that used to be here has drained downward through the opening seen in the center into a subterranean void and formed a debris pile. The top of this debris pile can be seen through the opening about 28 meters (92 feet) further down.From this DTM we can measure how much material drained out of the conical pit and so estimate how tall the debris pile is. These estimates are enormous: the debris pile itself is at least 62 meters (203 feet) tall. Given that the top of this pile is 28 meters below the rim of the central hole, this tells us that the empty cavity was once 90 meters (295 feet) deep, prior to the collapse and infilling! Only a handful of caves on the Earth reach or exceed this size and they all formed by having liquid water dissolve underground limestone, neither of which are readily available on Mars.Sometimes the tops of lava flows freeze on the surface even while the lava continues to move underground in a lava tube. If these tubes drain, then lava tube caves can be left behind. Sections of the roof may later collapse, creating roof openings, and these openings can be imaged from orbit. Could this be a view into a lava tube? If so, it would dwarf all lava tubes on the Earth! It's also possible that this collapse is above some more substantial part of the volcano's internal plumbing system and collapses deep with the mountain are allowing voids to open up near the surface. It would no doubt be very exciting for future astronauts to explore this mammoth cave and figure out its origin.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. | |
The linear feature in this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft is part of Granicus Valles. The linear nature, and uniform width is indicative of a fault bounded graben. | Context imageThe linear feature in this VIS image is part of Granicus Valles. The linear nature, and uniform width is indicative of a fault bounded graben. The plains surrounding this feature are volcanic, and many parts of Granicus Valles appear to by channels carved by flow of a liquid (perhaps lava).Orbit Number: 62082 Latitude: 26.3518 Longitude: 136.439 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2015-12-12 14:32Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows Olympia Undae during north polar spring. | Context imageThis VIS image of Olympia Undae was collected during north polar spring. The dunes are still partially covered by the winter frosts; as the region heats up the frost will dissipate to reveal the dark sand beneath. The density of dunes and the alignments of the dune crests varies with location, controlled by the amount of available sand and the predominant winds over time.Olympia Undae is a vast dune field in the north polar region of Mars. It consists of a broad sand sea or erg that partly rings the north polar cap from about 120° to 240°E longitude and 78° to 83°N latitude. The dune field covers an area of approximately 470,000 km2 (bigger than California, smaller than Texas). Olympia Undae is the largest continuous dune field on Mars. Olympia Undae is not the only dune field near the north polar cap, several other smaller fields exist in the same latitude, but in other ranges of longitude, e.g. Abolos and Siton Undae. Barchan and transverse dune forms are the most common. In regions with limited available sand individual barchan dunes will form, the surface beneath and between the dunes is visible. In regions with large sand supplies, the sand sheet covers the underlying surface, and dune forms are found modifying the surface of the sand sheet. In this case transverse dunes are more common. Barchan dunes "point" down wind, transverse dunes are more linear and form parallel to the wind direction. The "square" shaped transverse dunes in Olympia Undae are due to two prevailing wind directions.Orbit Number: 94624 Latitude: 80.6784 Longitude: 204.452 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2023-04-14 15:59Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's Mars Odyssey shows a large volcanic crater, known as a caldera, located at the summit of all of the Tharsis volcanoes. | Context imageA large volcanic crater known as a caldera is located at the summit of all of the Tharsis volcanoes. These calderas are produced by massive volcanic explosions and collapse.Today's VIS image shows the summit caldera of Arsia Mons. Several small volcanic vents are visible on the caldera floor. It is not uncommon for calderas to have "flat" floors after the final explosive eruption the empties the subsurface magma chamber. There may still be some magma or superheated rock left after the collapse that will fill in part of the depression. Additionally, over time erosion will work to level the topography. Within the Arsia Mons caldera there was renewed activity from several small vents that occurred along the alignment of the NE/SW trend of the three large volcanoes. This ongoing, low volume activity is similar to the lava lake in Kilauea in Hawaii. Arsia Mons is the southernmost of the Tharsis volcanoes. It is 450 km (270 miles) in diameter, almost 20 km (12 miles) high, and the summit caldera is 120 km (72 miles) wide. For comparison, the largest volcano on Earth is Mauna Loa. From its base on the sea floor, Mauna Loa measures only 6.3 miles high and 75 miles in diameter.The Arsia Mons summit caldera is larger than many volcanoes on Earth.Orbit Number: 79230 Latitude: -9.4441 Longitude: 239.984 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2019-10-25 02:43Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
The lava channels and collapse features in this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are located near the summit of Arsia Mons. The fracture in the lower right part of the image marks the boundary of the summit caldera. | Context imageThe lava channels and collapse features in this VIS image are located near the summit of Arsia Mons. The fracture in the lower right part of the image marks the boundary of the summit caldera.Orbit Number: 47092 Latitude: -8.41595 Longitude: 240.592 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-07-26 16:31Please 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 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. | This global map of Mars 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.The estimates are based on cosmic-radiation measurements made on the way to Mars by the Mars radiation environment experiment, an instrument on NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, plus information about Mars' surface elevations from the laser altimeter instrument on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. The areas of Mars expected to have least radiation are where elevation is lowest, because those areas have more atmosphere above them to block out some of the radiation. Earth's thick atmosphere shields us from most cosmic radiation, but Mars has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth does.Colors in the map refer to the estimated average number of times per year each cell nucleus in a human there would be hit by a high-energy cosmic ray particle. The range is generally from two hits (color-coded green), a moderate risk level, to eight hits (coded red), a high risk level.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor missions for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington D.C. The Mars radiation environment experiment was developed by NASA's Johnson Space Center. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for Odyssey, 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 Australe Mensa, part of the south polar ice cap. | Context imageThe THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Australe Mensa, part of the south polar ice cap. The round depressions have given rise to the informal name Swiss cheese. The depressions are seen only in the top layer of the ice.Orbit Number: 73802 Latitude: -86.9527 Longitude: 353.712 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2018-08-04 01:51Please 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. | |
This image captured by NASA's Mars Odyssey on July 27, 2010, shows some of the dunes located on the floor of Moreaux Crater. | Context imageThis VIS image shows some of the dunes located on the floor of Moreaux Crater.Orbit Number: 38224 Latitude: 41.9432 Longitude: 44.6959 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2010-07-27 16:05Please 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. | |
Mars' south polar cap is comprised of many layers of ice, as seen in this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context imageThe south polar cap is comprised of many layers of ice, as seen in this VIS image.Orbit Number: 47937 Latitude: -84.5402 Longitude: 315.36 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-10-04 06:00Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows a portion of Nanedi Valles. | Context imageToday's VIS image shows a portion of Nanedi Valles.Orbit Number: 52870 Latitude: 6.3594 Longitude: 311.818 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2013-11-14 06:08Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This image shows a portion of the dunes on the floor of Rabe Crater captured by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. | Context imageThis VIS image shows a portion of the dunes on the floor of Rabe Crater.Orbit Number: 43641 Latitude: -43.5516 Longitude: 34.2324 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2011-10-16 15:29Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. | |
This crater and its interesting floor features is located south of Meridiani Terra on Mars as seen by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey. | Context image for PIA02032Crater FloorThis crater and its interesting floor features is located south of Meridiani Terra.Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -5.1N, Longitude 354.8E. 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. | |
Making Tracks on Mars (polar) | NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been making tracks on Mars for seven months now, well beyond its original 90-day mission. The rover traveled more than 3 kilometers (2 miles) to reach the "Columbia Hills" pictured here. In this 360-degree view of the rolling martian terrain, its wheel tracks can be seen approaching from the northwest (right side of image). Spirit's navigation camera took the images that make up this mosaic on sols 210 and 213 (Aug. 5 and Aug. 8, 2004). The rover is now conducting scientific studies of the local geology on the "Clovis" outcrop of the "West Spur" region of the "Columbia Hills." The view is presented in a polar projection with geometrical seam correction. Scientists plan for Spirit to take a color panoramic image from this location. |
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