Browse All : Altimeter and Surveyor and Sun

Carbon-Dioxide Frost Settling from Seasonal Outbursts on Mars (Movie)

Carbon-Dioxide Frost Settlin …

title	Carbon-Dioxide Frost Settling from Seasonal Outbursts on Mars (Movie)
Description	Carbon-Dioxide Frost Settling from Seasonal Outbursts on Mars (Movie) This movie, constructed by overlaying a time series of images taken by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), shows seasonal changes and unearthly processes that occur in Mars' south polar seasonal frost cap. More >> [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/gallery/video/index.html#CarbonDioxideFrost ]

Virtual Slice Through Icy Layered Deposits Near Mars' South Pole

Virtual Slice Through Icy La …

PIA09223

Sol (our sun)

MARSIS, MOLA

Title	Virtual Slice Through Icy Layered Deposits Near Mars' South Pole
Original Caption Released with Image	Annotated Version The upper image is a radargram from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS), showing data from the subsurface of Mars in the ice-rich layered deposits that surround the south pole. The lower image shows the position of the ground track (white line) on a topographic map of the area based on Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The images are 1,580 kilometers (980 miles) wide. The MARSIS echo trace splits into two traces near the left edge of the image, at the point where the ground track crosses from the surrounding plains onto the elevated layered deposits. The upper trace is the echo from the surface of the deposits, while the lower trace is interpreted to be the boundary between the lower surface of the deposits and the underlying material. The strength of the lower echo suggests that the intervening material is nearly pure water ice. Near the image center, several bright bands between the echo traces are likely caused by interaction of the radar waves with internal layers of the deposits. The time delay between the upper and lower traces in the banded area is 20 microseconds, corresponding to a thickness of 1.6 kilometers (1.0 miles) of ice. The total elevation difference shown in the topographic map is about 3 kilometers (2.5 miles) between the lowest surface (dark blue) and the highest (yellow). MARSIS is an instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. NASA and the Italian Space Agency jointly funded the instrument. The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter flew on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

Virtual Slice Through Icy La …

PIA09223

Sol (our sun)

MARSIS, MOLA

Title	Virtual Slice Through Icy Layered Deposits Near Mars' South Pole
Original Caption Released with Image	Annotated Version The upper image is a radargram from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS), showing data from the subsurface of Mars in the ice-rich layered deposits that surround the south pole. The lower image shows the position of the ground track (white line) on a topographic map of the area based on Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The images are 1,580 kilometers (980 miles) wide. The MARSIS echo trace splits into two traces near the left edge of the image, at the point where the ground track crosses from the surrounding plains onto the elevated layered deposits. The upper trace is the echo from the surface of the deposits, while the lower trace is interpreted to be the boundary between the lower surface of the deposits and the underlying material. The strength of the lower echo suggests that the intervening material is nearly pure water ice. Near the image center, several bright bands between the echo traces are likely caused by interaction of the radar waves with internal layers of the deposits. The time delay between the upper and lower traces in the banded area is 20 microseconds, corresponding to a thickness of 1.6 kilometers (1.0 miles) of ice. The total elevation difference shown in the topographic map is about 3 kilometers (2.5 miles) between the lowest surface (dark blue) and the highest (yellow). MARSIS is an instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. NASA and the Italian Space Agency jointly funded the instrument. The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter flew on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

Bright Lower Echo in Radargram of South Polar Layered Deposits

Bright Lower Echo in Radargr …

PIA09222

Sol (our sun)

MARSIS, MOLA

Title	Bright Lower Echo in Radargram of South Polar Layered Deposits
Original Caption Released with Image	Annotated Version The upper image is a radargram from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS), showing data from the subsurface of Mars in the ice-rich layered deposits that surround the south pole. The lower image shows the position of the ground track (white line) on a topographic map of the area based on Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The images are 1,250 kilometers (775 miles) wide. The MARSIS echo trace splits into two traces on the left side of the image, at the point where the ground track crosses from the surrounding plains onto the elevated layered deposits. The upper trace is the echo from the surface of the deposits, while the lower trace is interpreted to be the boundary between the lower surface of the deposits and the underlying material. The strength of the lower echo suggests that the intervening material is nearly pure water ice. Near the image center, the bright lower echo abruptly disappears for unknown reasons. The time delay between the two echoes reaches a maximum of 42 microseconds left of center, corresponding to a thickness of 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) of ice. The total elevation difference shown in the topographic map is about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) between the lowest surface (purple) and the highest (red). MARSIS is an instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. NASA and the Italian Space Agency jointly funded the instrument. The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter flew on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

Bright Lower Echo in Radargr …

PIA09222

Sol (our sun)

MARSIS, MOLA

Title	Bright Lower Echo in Radargram of South Polar Layered Deposits
Original Caption Released with Image	Annotated Version The upper image is a radargram from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS), showing data from the subsurface of Mars in the ice-rich layered deposits that surround the south pole. The lower image shows the position of the ground track (white line) on a topographic map of the area based on Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter data. The images are 1,250 kilometers (775 miles) wide. The MARSIS echo trace splits into two traces on the left side of the image, at the point where the ground track crosses from the surrounding plains onto the elevated layered deposits. The upper trace is the echo from the surface of the deposits, while the lower trace is interpreted to be the boundary between the lower surface of the deposits and the underlying material. The strength of the lower echo suggests that the intervening material is nearly pure water ice. Near the image center, the bright lower echo abruptly disappears for unknown reasons. The time delay between the two echoes reaches a maximum of 42 microseconds left of center, corresponding to a thickness of 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) of ice. The total elevation difference shown in the topographic map is about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) between the lowest surface (purple) and the highest (red). MARSIS is an instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. NASA and the Italian Space Agency jointly funded the instrument. The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter flew on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

Upper Surface of Icy Layers Covering Mars' South Polar Region

Upper Surface of Icy Layers …

PIA09226

Sol (our sun)

MARSIS, MOLA

Title	Upper Surface of Icy Layers Covering Mars' South Polar Region
Original Caption Released with Image	Annotated Version This map shows the topography of the south polar region of Mars. The data were collected by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter between 1997 and 2001. The elevation of the terrain is shown by colors, with purple and blue representing the lowest areas, and orange and red the highest. The total range of elevation shown is about 5 kilometers (3 miles). The black line shows the boundary of the south polar layered deposits, an ice-rich geologic unit that was probed by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) aboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. The radar data indicate that the deposit is more than 3.7 kilometers (2.3 miles) thick in places, and that the material consists of nearly pure water ice, with only a small component of dust. The MARSIS team also determined that the total volume of ice in the layered deposits is equivalent to a water layer 11 meters (36 feet) deep, if spread evenly across the planet. The boundary of the layered deposits was mapped by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey. The dark circle in the upper center is the area poleward of 87 degrees south latitude, where MARSIS data cannot be collected. The image covers an area 1,670 by 1,800 kilometers (1,035 by 1,115 miles). MARSIS is an instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. NASA and the Italian Space Agency jointly funded the instrument. The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter flew on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

Upper Surface of Icy Layers …

PIA09226

Sol (our sun)

MARSIS, MOLA

Title	Upper Surface of Icy Layers Covering Mars' South Polar Region
Original Caption Released with Image	Annotated Version This map shows the topography of the south polar region of Mars. The data were collected by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter between 1997 and 2001. The elevation of the terrain is shown by colors, with purple and blue representing the lowest areas, and orange and red the highest. The total range of elevation shown is about 5 kilometers (3 miles). The black line shows the boundary of the south polar layered deposits, an ice-rich geologic unit that was probed by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) aboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. The radar data indicate that the deposit is more than 3.7 kilometers (2.3 miles) thick in places, and that the material consists of nearly pure water ice, with only a small component of dust. The MARSIS team also determined that the total volume of ice in the layered deposits is equivalent to a water layer 11 meters (36 feet) deep, if spread evenly across the planet. The boundary of the layered deposits was mapped by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey. The dark circle in the upper center is the area poleward of 87 degrees south latitude, where MARSIS data cannot be collected. The image covers an area 1,670 by 1,800 kilometers (1,035 by 1,115 miles). MARSIS is an instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. NASA and the Italian Space Agency jointly funded the instrument. The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter flew on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

The Geodesy Campaign

PIA02023

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	The Geodesy Campaign
Original Caption Released with Image	Every day, Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) circles the red planet just over twelve times, and from their vantage point at 400 km altitude, the fisheye lenses of the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)Wide Angle (WA) cameras can see the entire surface. During typical operations, highly-summed two-color image strips are transmitted for each orbit and assembled into daily global weather maps, with a resolution of about 7.5 km (4.6 miles) per pixel. The small size and low resolution of these strips leaves most of the data bandwidth available for higher-priority Narrow Angle images. During May 1999, however, the Wide Angle cameras are being used instead to map the whole planet at the intrinsic resolution of the WA camera -- 230 meters (750 feet) per pixel. While the blue WA camera continues to capture the global map so that daily weather can still be monitored, the other WA camera (with the red filter) is building up swaths of full-resolution coverage. The Deep Space Network is tracking the spacecraft 24 hours a day during this geodesy campaign, and imaging data are being returned for about two-thirds of the time at 69 kbits/sec(somewhat faster than a 56K modem). During the other third of the time, the spacecraft is transmitting back to Earth one day's worth of recorded data from the other science instruments. Geodesy is the measurement of a planet's shape and the location of features on its surface. The intent of the geodesy campaign is to acquire, during a short period of time, simultaneous measurements by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), the Radio Science (RS)investigation, and the MOC. MOLA observations provide precise, absolute measurements of a set of profiles around the planet, but their spacing is quite large relative to their resolution. RS measurements provide detailed information about the position of the spacecraft, critical to processing both the MOC and MOLA data. MOC provides both a higher resolution base map on which the other data can be overlain and, using stereoscopic measurements, provides the potential for a ten-fold improvement in the spatial resolution of the topography. Owing to the nature of the MGS orbit, the groundtrack returns to within about 30 km of a given orbit 88 orbits (about one week) later. Thus, it takes a week to build up global coverage at full resolution. Figure MOC2-127a [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02022 ], shows the planning map of coverage during the first week of the campaign (top), and the resulting actual coverage (bottom). Gaps caused by recorder playbacks must be filled in a second week of imaging by moving the times of the playbacks. Also in the second week, stereo coverage is acquired by re-imaging areas from adjacent orbits at aside-looking angle. Figure MOC2-127b shows an example of such stereo from the Mare Tyrrhenum region, centered at 27.3°S, 227.0°W (NOTE: Red-blue glasses are needed to view the stereo effect). The crater that dominates the center of Figure MOC2-127b is about 50 kilometers (31 miles) across. Stereo coverage will be completed in the third and fourth weeks. The remaining data volume will be used to fill in gaps created by data losses, and to acquire a somewhat lower resolution global color image through the blue wide angle camera. The resulting dataset will provide global color and stereo coverage at about 300 m/pixel. Although similar coverage was obtained by the Viking mission in the late 1970s, Viking took over three years to cover the planet, and there are significant variations in lighting, weather, and surface features in the Viking images. A substantial improvement in the longitude/latitude grid is expected, which will have important benefits to future Mars exploration. 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.

The Geodesy Campaign

PIA02022

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	The Geodesy Campaign
Original Caption Released with Image	Figure MOC2-127b [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02023 ] is about 50 kilometers (31 miles) across. Stereo coverage will be completed in the third and fourth weeks. The remaining data volume will be used to fill in gaps created by data losses, and to acquire a somewhat lower resolution global color image through the blue wide angle camera. The resulting dataset will provide global color and stereo coverage at about 300 m/pixel. Although similar coverage was obtained by the Viking mission in the late 1970s, Viking took over three years to cover the planet, and there are significant variations in lighting, weather, and surface features in the Viking images. A substantial improvement in the longitude/latitude grid is expected, which will have important benefits to future Mars exploration. 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., Every day, Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) circles the red planet just over twelve times, and from their vantage point at 400 km altitude, the fisheye lenses of the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)Wide Angle (WA) cameras can see the entire surface. During typical operations, highly-summed two-color image strips are transmitted for each orbit and assembled into daily global weather maps, with a resolution of about 7.5 km (4.6 miles) per pixel. The small size and low resolution of these strips leaves most of the data bandwidth available for higher-priority narrow Angle images. During May 1999, however, the Wide Angle cameras are being used instead to map the whole planet at the intrinsic resolution of the WA camera -- 230 meters (750 feet) per pixel. While the blue WA camera continues to capture the global map so that daily weather can still be monitored, the other WA camera (with the red filter) is building up swaths of full-resolution coverage. The Deep Space Network is tracking the spacecraft 24 hours a day during this geodesy campaign, and imaging data are being returned for about two-thirds of the time at 69 kbits/sec (somewhat faster than a 56K modem). During the other third of the time, the spacecraft is transmitting back to Earth one day's worth of recorded data from the other science instruments. Geodesy is the measurement of a planet's shape and the location of features on its surface. The intent of the geodesy campaign is to acquire, during a short period of time, simultaneous measurements by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), the Radio Science (RS)investigation, and the MOC. MOLA observations provide precise, absolute measurements of a set of profiles around the planet, but their spacing is quite large relative to their resolution. RS measurements provide detailed information about the position of the spacecraft, critical to processing both the MOC and MOLA data. MOC provides both a higher resolution base map on which the other data can be overlain and, using stereoscopic measurements, provides the potential for a ten-fold improvement in the spatial resolution of the topography. Owing to the nature of the MGS orbit, the groundtrack returns to within about 30 km of a given orbit 88 orbits (about one week) later. Thus, it takes a week to build up global coverage at full resolution. Figure MOC2-127a shows the planning map of coverage during the first week of the campaign (top), and the resulting actual coverage (bottom). Gaps caused by recorder playbacks must be filled in a second week of imaging by moving the times of the playbacks. Also in the second week, stereo coverage is acquired by re-imaging areas from adjacent orbits at aside-looking angle. Figure MOC2-127b [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02023 ] shows an example of such stereo from the Mare Tyrrhenum region, centered at 27.3°S, 227.0°W (NOTE: Red-blue glasses are needed to view the stereo effect). The crater that dominates the center of

Derived Topographic Model from Mars Global Surveyor Instruments

Derived Topographic Model fr …

PIA03874

Sol (our sun)

MOLA, Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Derived Topographic Model from Mars Global Surveyor Instruments
Original Caption Released with Image	A 50-cm contour map of part of Mars' south polar ice cap. The region shown is roughly a kilometer on a side. The shaded relief model is shown with a tenfold vertical exaggeration. This high resolution Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) topographic model of the surface of Mars is created by combining Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA)gridded topographic data base with information from Mars Orbiter Camera(MOC) Narrow Angle (NA) high resolution images. The top image is a shaded relief model derived from the MGS MOLA gridded topography for a small part of the cap near 87&#176S 348&#176W, the area covered is about 3x3 km and the MOLA resolution about 230 meters/pixel. The bottom image is an enhanced shaded relief model of the same area derived by adding high-resolution topographic information from a MOC NA image data to the MOLA topography model. This yields a 3-D model that has a horizontal resolution of 2.75 meters, both models are shown with a 10x vertical exaggeration. Using shape-from-shading or photoclinometry techniques, MOCNA image m0906496 was used to derive high resolution (meter-scale)topography. The photometric properties of the surface, including albedo variations, and scattering of the atmosphere were carefully modeled by constraining the low-frequencies of the MOC NA photoclinometry model to match the high-quality MOLA data.

Derived Topographic Model fr …

PIA03873

Sol (our sun)

MOLA, Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Derived Topographic Model from Mars Global Surveyor Instruments
Original Caption Released with Image	This high resolution Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) topographic model of the surface of Mars is created by combining Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) gridded topographic data base with information from Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) Narrow Angle (NA) high resolution images. The top image is a shaded relief model derived from the MGS MOLA gridded topography for a small part of the cap near 87&#176S 348&#176W, the area covered is about 3x3 km and the MOLA resolution about 230 meters/pixel. The bottom image is an enhanced shaded relief model of the same area derived by adding high-resolution topographic information from a MOC NA image data to the MOLA topography model. This yields a 3-D model that has a horizontal resolution of 2.75 meters, both models are shown with a 10x vertical exaggeration. Using shape-from-shading or photoclinometry techniques, MOC NA image m0906496 was used to derive high resolution (meter-scale) topography. The photometric properties of the surface, including albedo variations, and scattering of the atmosphere were carefully modeled by constraining the low-frequencies of the MOC NA photoclinometry model to match the high-quality MOLA data.

Small Dusty Volcano

PIA03979

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Small Dusty Volcano
Original Caption Released with Image	3 July 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a small, dust-covered, volcano in the Jovis Fossae region of Mars. While Mars is known for its extremely large volcanoes, such as Olympus Mons, many small volcanoes also occur on the red planet, particularly in the Tharsis region. This small volcano is a good example of those. It was originally found by members of the MGS Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) team during the MGS primary mission. The volcano is old, and cratered. Its surface is mantled by dust, and its caldera (summit depression) has some dust-covered wind ripples on its floor. "Location near": 20.7°N, 111.3°W "Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season" Northern Autumn

Charitum Montes

PIA07040

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Charitum Montes
Original Caption Released with Image	10 November 2004 This is a perspective view of the Charitum Montes, the mountain range that bounds southern Argyre Planitia, created by combining red and blue Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) wide angle images with topography from the MGS Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). Carbon dioxide frost coats some of the hills, craters, and mountainsides in this southern springtime image. The picture is located near 57°S, 43°W. North is toward the top, south toward the bottom. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The area shown is about 355 km (220 miles) wide. A smaller portion of this image was previously released in July 2003 as "Frosty Mountains [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04606 ]."

Mars Gravity Anomoly Map

PIA02817

Sol (our sun)

Title	Mars Gravity Anomoly Map
Original Caption Released with Image	This is a vertical gravity map of Mars color-coded in mgals based on radio tracking. Note correlations and lack of correlations with the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) global topography. This map was created using MGS data under the direction of Bill Sjogren, a member of the MGS Radio Science Team. The Radio Science Team is led by G. Leonard Tyler of Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA.

Distributory Fan Near Holden …

PIA04869

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.

Distributory Fan Near Holden …

PIA04869

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.

Distributory Fan Near Holden …

PIA04869

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.

Distributory Fan Near Holden …

PIA04869

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.

Distributory Fan Near Holden …

PIA04869

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.

Distributory Fan Near Holden …

PIA04869

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.

Distributory Fan Near Holden …

PIA04869

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.

Distributory Fan Near Holden …

PIA04869

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.

Distributory Fan Near Holden …

PIA04869

Sol (our sun)

Mars Orbiter Camera

Title	Distributory Fan Near Holden Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger view A region near the center of the fan has a loop, the inverted floor of a former meandering stream that was cut off as the channel adjusted its course. Meanders and cut-off meanders are the prime evidence for persistent flow of water through this area sometime early in martian history.Click on image for larger view A region near the southeast edge of the fan shows inverted channels at different levels within the sedimentary deposit, indicating a long and complex history of water-related processes. One ridge crosses over another just left of the center of this frame. The top of the lower ridge is the former floor of a channel that was transporting water and sediment toward the lower right. The top of the upper ridge was once the floor of a channel that moved material toward the right or upper right. The lower ridge is the older channel. It was completely filled and buried beneath the surface when the upper channel formed.Click on image for larger view A regional context image shows the location of the fan with a white box. West of the fan are several valleys that fed water and sediment to the crater holding the fan (labeled "Holden NE" Crater). This map is a mosaic of daytime infrared images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. The contours are topography relative to Mars' zero-elevation level, derived from observations by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on Mars Global Surveyor. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left. The 10-kilometer scale bar is about 6.2 miles across.Click on image for larger view Additional information about Mars Global Surveyor is online at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ]. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built and operates the spacecraft., November 13, 2003 Details in a fan-shaped deposit discovered by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter provide evidence that some ancient rivers on Mars flowed for a long time, not just in brief, intense floods. The apron of debris filling the middle of this picture from the spacecraft's Mars Orbiter Camera is a hardened and eroded distributory fan, a type of geological feature that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sediments transported through valleys by water on early Mars formed the 13-kilometer-long (8-mile) deposit in the distant past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian surface. Mars Orbiter Camera team members published discovery of this feature in the online edition of the journal Science. What is important about it? First, it provides unequivocal evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced persistent flow over considerable periods of time, as rivers do on Earth. Second, because the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary rocks on Mars were deposited in a liquid environment. Third, the fan's general shape, the pattern of its channels, and its low slopes provide circumstantial evidence that the feature was an actual delta -- that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters a body of water. If so, this landform is a strong indicator that some craters and basins on Mars once held lakes. Hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter craters and basins have been imaged by the Mars Orbiter Camera, but none has shown landforms like those presented here. The picture is a mosaic of images acquired between August 2000 and September 2003. The area covered 14 kilometer (8.7 miles) by 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). North is up. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left. The spacecraft's narrow-angle camera takes grayscale images, the color added is based on information from a camera on Mars Odyssey. The fan is in an unnamed crater that is 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter, at 24.3 degrees south latitude, 33.5 degrees west longitude. The crater lies northeast of a larger one named Holden Crater. The fan is a fossil landform. That is, it is an eroded remnant of a somewhat larger and thicker deposit. The originally loose sediment was turned to rock and then eroded over time to present the features seen today. The channels through which sediment was transported are no longer present. Instead, only their floors remain, and these have been elevated by erosion so that former channels now stand as ridges. The floors of former channels became inverted in this way because they were more resistant to the forces of erosion, indicating they either were more strongly cemented than surrounding materials, or they have more coarse grains (which are harder to remove), or both. Closer looks at two portions of the fan show observations critical to the story. White boxes overlaid on the image show the locations of those two areas.

Thickness of Mars' South Polar Layered Deposits

Thickness of Mars' South Pol …

PIA09224

Sol (our sun)

MARSIS, MOLA

Title	Thickness of Mars' South Polar Layered Deposits
Original Caption Released with Image	Annotated Version This map shows the thickness of the south polar layered deposits of Mars, an ice-rich geologic unit that was probed by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS). The MARSIS radar is an instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. The thickness of the layered deposits was determined by measuring the time delay between radar echoes from the surface and those from the lower boundary, or "bed", of the deposits. The radar data indicate that the deposit, larger than Texas in area, is more than 3.7 kilometers (2.3 miles) thick in places, and that the material consists of nearly pure water ice with only a small component of dust. The map was generated by comparing the elevation of the bed as determined by MARSIS with the high-resolution map of surface topography obtained by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. The thickness of the layered deposits is shown by colors, with purple representing the thinnest areas, and red the thickest. The total volume of ice in the layered deposits is equivalent to a water layer 11 meters (36 feet) deep, if spread evenly across the planet. The boundary of the layered deposits was mapped by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey. The dark circle in the upper center is the area poleward of 87 degrees south latitude, where MARSIS data cannot be collected. The map covers an area 1,670 by 1,800 kilometers (1,035 by 1,115 miles). MARSIS is an instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. NASA and the Italian Space Agency jointly funded the instrument. The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter flew on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

Thickness of Mars' South Pol …

PIA09224

Sol (our sun)

MARSIS, MOLA

Title	Thickness of Mars' South Polar Layered Deposits
Original Caption Released with Image	Annotated Version This map shows the thickness of the south polar layered deposits of Mars, an ice-rich geologic unit that was probed by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS). The MARSIS radar is an instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. The thickness of the layered deposits was determined by measuring the time delay between radar echoes from the surface and those from the lower boundary, or "bed", of the deposits. The radar data indicate that the deposit, larger than Texas in area, is more than 3.7 kilometers (2.3 miles) thick in places, and that the material consists of nearly pure water ice with only a small component of dust. The map was generated by comparing the elevation of the bed as determined by MARSIS with the high-resolution map of surface topography obtained by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. The thickness of the layered deposits is shown by colors, with purple representing the thinnest areas, and red the thickest. The total volume of ice in the layered deposits is equivalent to a water layer 11 meters (36 feet) deep, if spread evenly across the planet. The boundary of the layered deposits was mapped by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey. The dark circle in the upper center is the area poleward of 87 degrees south latitude, where MARSIS data cannot be collected. The map covers an area 1,670 by 1,800 kilometers (1,035 by 1,115 miles). MARSIS is an instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. NASA and the Italian Space Agency jointly funded the instrument. The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter flew on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

Lower Boundary of Icy Layers Covering Mars' South Polar Region

Lower Boundary of Icy Layers …

PIA09225

Sol (our sun)

MARSIS, MOLA

Title	Lower Boundary of Icy Layers Covering Mars' South Polar Region
Original Caption Released with Image	Annotated Version This map shows the topography of the south polar region of Mars, including topography buried by thick deposits of icy material. The map is a combination of surface elevation data acquired by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter, and subsurface elevation data acquired by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) aboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. The black line shows the boundary of the south polar layered deposits, an ice-rich geologic unit that was probed by MARSIS. Elevation values within the black outline, as measured by MARSIS, show the topography at the boundary between the layered deposits and the underlying material, an interface known as the "bed" of the deposits. The elevation of the terrain is shown by colors, with purple and blue representing the lowest areas, and orange and red the highest. The total range of elevation shown is about 5 kilometers (3 miles). The radar data reveal previously undetected features of topography of the bed, including depressions as deep as 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) shown in purple in the near-polar region. The boundary of the layered deposits was mapped by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey. The dark circle in the upper center is the area poleward of 87 degrees south latitude, where MARSIS data cannot be collected. The map covers an area 1,670 by 1,800 kilometers (1,035 by 1,115 miles). MARSIS is an instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. NASA and the Italian Space Agency jointly funded the instrument. The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter flew on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

Lower Boundary of Icy Layers …

PIA09225

Sol (our sun)

MARSIS, MOLA

Title	Lower Boundary of Icy Layers Covering Mars' South Polar Region
Original Caption Released with Image	Annotated Version This map shows the topography of the south polar region of Mars, including topography buried by thick deposits of icy material. The map is a combination of surface elevation data acquired by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter, and subsurface elevation data acquired by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) aboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. The black line shows the boundary of the south polar layered deposits, an ice-rich geologic unit that was probed by MARSIS. Elevation values within the black outline, as measured by MARSIS, show the topography at the boundary between the layered deposits and the underlying material, an interface known as the "bed" of the deposits. The elevation of the terrain is shown by colors, with purple and blue representing the lowest areas, and orange and red the highest. The total range of elevation shown is about 5 kilometers (3 miles). The radar data reveal previously undetected features of topography of the bed, including depressions as deep as 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) shown in purple in the near-polar region. The boundary of the layered deposits was mapped by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey. The dark circle in the upper center is the area poleward of 87 degrees south latitude, where MARSIS data cannot be collected. The map covers an area 1,670 by 1,800 kilometers (1,035 by 1,115 miles). MARSIS is an instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. NASA and the Italian Space Agency jointly funded the instrument. The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter flew on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

Mars Topography

PIA02820

Sol (our sun)

MOLA

Title	Mars Topography
Original Caption Released with Image	These maps are global false-color topographic views of Mars at different orientations from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). The maps are orthographic projections that contain over 200,000,000 points and about 5,000,000 altimetric crossovers. The spatial resolution is about 15 kilometers at the equator and less at higher latitudes. The vertical accuracy is less than 5 meters. The right hand image view features the Hellas impact basin (in purple, with red annulus of high standing material). The left hand features the Tharsis topographic rise (in red and white). Note also the subtle textures associated with resurfacing of the northern hemisphere lowlands in the vicinity of the Utopia impact basin. These data were compiled by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Team led by David Smith at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.

Possible Landing Ellipses fo …

PIA09946

Sol (our sun)

Context Camera (CTX)

Title	Possible Landing Ellipses for Phoenix
Original Caption Released with Image	Annotated Version Launch date makes a difference in the orientation of ellipses marking where NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will have a high probability of landing, given the planned targeting for the spring 2008 landing site. This map shows possible landing ellipses for the Aug. 3, 2007, opening of the launch period (the ellipse oriented northwest to southeast) and for launch dates at the middle and end of the three-week period of launch opportunities. The map also shows a color-coded interpretation of geomorphic units -- categories based on the surface textures and contours. The yellow-coded area surrounding a crater informally named "Heimdall" appears to have even fewer boulders on the surface than other units. The geomorphic mapping is overlaid on a shaded relief map based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. The red box indicates the location of an image PIA09947 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09947 ] from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Possible Landing Ellipses fo …

PIA09946

Sol (our sun)

Context Camera (CTX)

Title	Possible Landing Ellipses for Phoenix
Original Caption Released with Image	Annotated Version Launch date makes a difference in the orientation of ellipses marking where NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will have a high probability of landing, given the planned targeting for the spring 2008 landing site. This map shows possible landing ellipses for the Aug. 3, 2007, opening of the launch period (the ellipse oriented northwest to southeast) and for launch dates at the middle and end of the three-week period of launch opportunities. The map also shows a color-coded interpretation of geomorphic units -- categories based on the surface textures and contours. The yellow-coded area surrounding a crater informally named "Heimdall" appears to have even fewer boulders on the surface than other units. The geomorphic mapping is overlaid on a shaded relief map based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. The red box indicates the location of an image PIA09947 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09947 ] from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Far-Northern Destination for Phoenix Mars Lander

Far-Northern Destination for …

PIA09944

Sol (our sun)

MOLA

Title	Far-Northern Destination for Phoenix Mars Lander
Original Caption Released with Image	The planned landing site for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander lies at a latitude on Mars equivalent to northern Alaska on Earth. It is within the region designated "D" on this global image. This is an orthographic projection with color-coded elevation contours and shaded relief based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter. Total vertical relief is about 28 kilometers (17 miles) from the top of the highest volcano (red) to the northern lowlands (blue). North pole is where the longitude lines converge.

Topographical Context of Phoenix Landing Region

Topographical Context of Pho …

PIA09945

Sol (our sun)

MOLA

Title	Topographical Context of Phoenix Landing Region
Original Caption Released with Image	Color coding indicates the topography in this map of the region of Mars from 65 to 72 degrees north latitude and from 230 to 250 degrees east longitude. This area was designated "Region D" in the process of evaluating potential landing sites for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander. The location chosen for safe landing sites is within the box bordered with a heavy black line along the western boundary of this region. Elevation in the region varies from about 3,600 meters (11,800 feet) to 4,400 meters (14,400 feet) below the zero reference point for Martian surface elevation. The topographical information is from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cr …

PIA09190

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration
Original Caption Released with Image	This enhanced-color image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape of sand dunes and buttes among a background of light-toned (tan-colored) bands and dark-toned (blue-colored) bands in the Candor Chasma region of Mars' Valles Marineris canyon system. The scene includes examples of thin dark lines bordered by light-toned bedrock [Figures 2A, 2B, and 2C]. The dark lines are interpreted as fractures, called joints, that were formerly underground but have been exposed at the surface by erosion of overlying material. The light-toned material along the joints is interpreted as features called halos, resulting from mineral alteration (bleaching, cementation or both) of the walls of the fractures by fluid moving through the fractures. The image was acquired on Sept. 30, 2006, during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere, at a local Mars time of 3:29 p.m. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light. The scene is illuminated from the west (left) with a solar incidence angle of 58.5 degrees. The image scale is 26 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel, the scale of the red bandpass image. The other bandpasses were acquired with two-by-two pixel binning to 52 centimeters (20 inches) per pixel. The image, in the camera's catalogue as TRA_000836_1740, is centered at 5.7 degrees south latitude, 284.6 degrees east longitude. A locator map [Supplement 2] based on elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor indicates this location in the context of the Candor Chasma region. A full resolution file of this image is available for download by clicking here (82 MB). A subframe of the full image [Figure 1] shows the locations of smaller pull-outs selected for showing details of interest. Supplement 3 shows light-toned and dark-toned layers. Meter-scale dune forms are commonly observed within the dark layers. Also shown are joints and surrounding halos. In contrast to Figure 2, the halos along these joints are laterally more extensive and less localized along the trace of the joint. Supplement 4 shows two streamlined mesas of layered bedrock. The windward slopes of these mesas appear smooth, consistent with wind erosion. Boulders are common along the northwest slopes of the mesas. The horizontal spacing of joints appears to control the lateral dimensions of many of the largest boulders. Supplement 5, shows a high-density population of joints. 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.

MGS Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) - Mars/Earth Relief Comparison

MGS Mars Orbiter Laser Altim …

PIA00960

Sol (our sun)

MOLA

Title	MGS Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) - Mars/Earth Relief Comparison
Original Caption Released with Image	Comparison of the cross-sectional relief of the deepest portion of the Grand Canyon (Arizona) on Earth versus a Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) view of a common type of chasm on Mars in the western Elysium region. The MOLA profile was collected during the Mars Global Surveyor Capture Orbit Calibration Pass on September 15, 1997. The Grand Canyon topography is shown as a trace with a measurement every 295 feet (90 meters) along track, while that from MOLA reflects measurements about every 970 feet (400 meters) along track. The slopes of the steep inner canyon wall of the Martian feature exceed the angle of repose, suggesting relative youth and the potential for landslides. The inner wall slopes of the Grand Canyon are less than those of the Martian chasm, reflecting the long period of erosion necessary to form its mile-deep character on Earth.

Elevation Measurement Profil …

PIA01338

Sol (our sun)

MOLA

Title	Elevation Measurement Profile of Mars
Original Caption Released with Image	The elevation measurements were collected by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) aboard Global Surveyor during the spring and summer of 1998, as the spacecraft orbited Mars in an interim elliptical orbit. MOLA sends laser pulses toward the planet and measures the precise amount of time before the reflected signals are received back at the instrument. From this data, scientists can infer surface and cloud heights. During its mapping of the north polar cap, the MOLA instrument also made the first direct measurement of cloud heights on the red planet. Reflections from the atmosphere were obtained at altitudes from just above the surface to more than nine miles (approximately 15 kilometers) on about 80 percent of the laser profiles. Most clouds were observed at high latitudes, at the boundary of the ice cap and surrounding terrain. Clouds observed over the polar cap are likely composed of carbon dioxide that condenses out of the atmosphere during northern hemisphere winter. Many clouds exhibit dynamic structure probably caused by winds interacting with surface topography, much as occurs on Earth when winds collide with mountains to produce turbulence. The principal investigator for MOLA is Dr. David E. Smith of Goddard. The MOLA instrument was designed and built by the Laser Remote Sensing Branch of Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics at Goddard. The Mars Global Surveyor Mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for the NASA Office of Space Science.

MGS Mars Orbiter Laser Altim …

PIA00959

Sol (our sun)

MOLA

Title	MGS Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter Topographic Profile of Impact Crater
Original Caption Released with Image	Among the myriad of interesting landforms sampled by MOLA on its first traverse across the Red Planet on 15 September 1997 is this 13-mile (21-kilometer) diameter impact crater located at ~ 48°N. The figure shows the topography, the computed position of the spacecraft groundtrack (solid line) and the track adjusted to correct for image location error (dashed line). The topographic profile provides some of the first indications of how landscape modification has operated in Martian geologic history. The relief of the crater rim, in combination with the steepness (over 20°) of the inner crater wall, are intriguing in that most craters of this size are much more subdued. The shape of the outer ejecta blanket of the crater likely indicates impact into an H2O rich crust. Issues concerning how craters such as this can be used to understand the properties of the uppermost crust of Mars in regions where the role of water and other volatiles may be important can be addressed with the high spatial and vertical resolution topographic profiles that will be acquired by MOLA once it starts its detailed mapping of the Red Planet in March of 1998.

MGS Mars Orbiter Laser (MOLA) Surface Topography of Northern Hemisphere

MGS Mars Orbiter Laser (MOLA …

PIA00957

Sol (our sun)

MOLA

Title	MGS Mars Orbiter Laser (MOLA) Surface Topography of Northern Hemisphere
Original Caption Released with Image	A "picket fence" rendition of surface topography in the northern hemisphere of Mars from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). The profile was obtained during the Mars Global Surveyor Capture Orbit Calibration Pass on September 15, 1997. The profile runs from 73°N to 10°S latitude and passes through the topographically subdued northern plains, the western part of the Elysium volcanic province, which shows 3 miles (5 kilometers) of relief, and the chaotic "dichotomy" boundary between the northern plains and ancient southern highlands. The MOLA profile is approximately 3000 miles (5000 kilometers) long and has a resolution on the surface of 1000 feet (330 meters) and a vertical resolution of approximately 3 feet (1 meter).

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