Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Planetary Photo Journal Collection
Title:
Targeting a Hematite-rich Terrain
Original Caption Released with Image:
This image shows the abundance and location of the mineral grey hematite at the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site, Meridiani Planum, Mars. Opportunity is targeted to land somewhere inside the oval, approximately 71 kilometers (45 miles) long, on January 24, 2004 Pacific Standard Time. The background surface image of Meridiani Planum is a mosaic of daytime infrared images acquired by the thermal emission imaging system instrument on NASA's Mars Odyssey Orbiter. Superimposed on this image mosaic is a rainbow-colored map showing the abundance and location of grey hematite, as mapped by the thermal emission spectrometer on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. Red and yellow indicates higher concentrations, whereas green and blue areas denote lower levels. On Earth, grey hematite is an iron oxide mineral that typically forms in the presence of liquid water. The rover Opportunity will study the martian terrain to determine whether liquid water was present in the past when rocks were being formed, and ultimately will address whether that past environment was favorable for life.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/ASU
Produced By:
Arizona State University
Mission:
2001 Mars Odyssey
Mission:
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS)
Mission:
Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
Spacecraft:
Opportunity
Spacecraft:
Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter
Spacecraft:
2001 Mars Odyssey
Target Name:
Mars
Is a satellite of:
Sol (our sun)
Instrument:
Thermal Emission Imaging System
Instrument:
Thermal Emission Spectrometer
Product Size:
640 samples x 480 lines
facet_what:
Sun
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
Spectrometer
facet_what:
Mars
facet_what:
Opportunity
facet_what:
2001 Mars Odyssey
facet_what:
Surveyor
facet_what:
Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS)
facet_what:
Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter (MGS)
facet_what:
Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES)
facet_what:
Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
facet_where:
Mars
facet_where:
Arizona
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_when:
January 24, 2004
facet_when_year:
2004
Image #:
PIA05154
UID:
SPD-PHOTJ-PIA05154
orignial url:

Targeting a Hematite-rich Terrain