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Images of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from August 2005
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Mimas in View
| Description |
Mimas in View |
| Full Description |
The Cassini spacecraft zooms in on Mimas, pitted by craters and slightly out-of-round. Cassini images taken during a flyby of Mimas in August 2005 were compiled into a movie showing the moon's battered surface up close (see Flying Over Mimas). This view shows the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across). North is up and rotated 24 degrees to the left. The moon's night side is dimly lit by Saturnshine, which is sunlight reflected by the planet. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 25, 2006 at a distance of approximately 552,000 kilometers (343,000 miles) from Mimas and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 106 degrees. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 17, 2006 |
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Prime Time for Rhea
| Description |
Prime Time for Rhea |
| Full Description |
This map of the surface of Saturn's moon, Rhea, illustrates the regions that will be imaged by Cassini during the spacecraft's close flyby of the moon on Nov. 26, 2005. At closest approach, the spacecraft is expected to pass approximately 500 kilometers (310 miles) above the moon's surface. The colored lines delineate the regions that will be imaged at differing resolutions, listed in the legend at bottom. Rhea is 1,528 kilometers (949 miles) across. The new high-resolution coverage will examine details on the anti-Saturn hemisphere of Rhea, including two large impact basins there. Cassini previously imaged terrain farther to the south of this at approximately 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) per pixel in August 2005 (see Rhea: Polar View). Imaging scientists also hope to get a high-resolution view of a relatively young 50-kilometer-wide (30-mile) crater on the moon's leading hemisphere (see Great White Splat). Planetary scientists are interested in learning about the compositional makeup of Rhea, other than water ice, as well as the nature of the wispy streaks on the moon's trailing hemisphere. In December, 2004, Cassini revealed that similar bright, wispy markings on Dione are actually a system of braided tectonic fractures (see Dione's Surprise). The map was made from images obtained by both the Cassini and NASA Voyager spacecraft. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
November 17, 2005 |
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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| title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter at Nilosyrtis |
| date |
12.10.2003 |
| description |
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passes above Nilosyrtis Mensae in this illustration. NASA plans to launch this multipurpose spacecraft in August 2005 to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL |
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Mars Reconaissance Orbiter A
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| title |
Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Aerobraking |
| date |
12.10.2003 |
| description |
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter dips into the thin Martian atmosphere to adjust its orbit in this illustration. NASA plans to launch this multipurpose spacecraft in August 2005 for arrival at Mars in March 2006. The plans call for controlled use of atmospheric friction in a process called aerobraking for about six months after arrival to change the initial, very elongated orbit into a rounder shape optimal for science operations. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is designed to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL |
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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| title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter at Martian South Pole |
| date |
12.10.2003 |
| description |
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passes over the planet's south polar region in this artist's concept illustration. NASA plans to launch this multipurpose spacecraft in August 2005 to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions. The orbiter's shallow radar experiment, one of six science instruments on board, is designed to probe the internal structure of Mars' polar ice caps, as well as to gather information planet-wide about underground layers of ice, rock and, perhaps, liquid water that might be accessible from the surface. Phobos, one of Mars' two moons, appears in the upper left corner of the illustration *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL |
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Hurricane Katrina Erodes the
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| Title |
Hurricane Katrina Erodes the U.S. Gulf Coast |
| Description |
Gulf Coast cities weren't the only land surfaces to take a beating from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Barrier islands stretching from Texas to Florida were also scoured by the wind and waves of the powerful storm. Permanent changes to the shape and elevation of Timbalier Island and its northeastern companions are visible in this pair of infrared-enhanced images from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite. Timbalier Island, the largest island pictured here, sits at the interface between the Gulf of Mexico (south) and Terrebonne Bay (north) along the Louisiana coast southwest of New Orleans. Compared to the image from 2000 (bottom), a large swath of bright sand dominates the eastern side of Timbalier Island in the September 13 image, having either been piled there or exposed by waves and storm surge. To the east-northeast, two small, curving islands have disappeared completely, while farther north, the fierce seas turned two small slots in a barrier island into a single large gap. NASA images courtesy Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Hurricane Katrina Erodes the
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| Title |
Hurricane Katrina Erodes the U.S. Gulf Coast |
| Description |
Gulf Coast cities weren't the only land surfaces to take a beating from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Barrier islands stretching from Texas to Florida were also scoured by the wind and waves of the powerful storm. Permanent changes to the shape and elevation of Timbalier Island and its northeastern companions are visible in this pair of infrared-enhanced images from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite. Timbalier Island, the largest island pictured here, sits at the interface between the Gulf of Mexico (south) and Terrebonne Bay (north) along the Louisiana coast southwest of New Orleans. Compared to the image from 2000 (bottom), a large swath of bright sand dominates the eastern side of Timbalier Island in the September 13 image, having either been piled there or exposed by waves and storm surge. To the east-northeast, two small, curving islands have disappeared completely, while farther north, the fierce seas turned two small slots in a barrier island into a single large gap. NASA images courtesy Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Hurricane Katrina Erodes the
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| Title |
Hurricane Katrina Erodes the U.S. Gulf Coast |
| Description |
Gulf Coast cities weren't the only land surfaces to take a beating from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Barrier islands stretching from Texas to Florida were also scoured by the wind and waves of the powerful storm. Permanent changes to the shape and elevation of Horn and Petit Bois Islands south of Pascagoula, Mississippi, are visible in these infrared-enhanced images captured by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite. The eastern and western tips of Horn island have been eroded so greatly that they are now below sea level, their white sandy beaches (August 7 image) now covered by blue water (September 17 image). The sound (northern) side of the island is layered with sand, which stands out in grayish-white against the red of vegetation. On Petit Bois Island, the changes appear more subtle, but there, too, the red of the island's vegetation appears softened by bright sand. NASA images courtesy Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Hurricane Katrina Erodes the
…
| Title |
Hurricane Katrina Erodes the U.S. Gulf Coast |
| Description |
Gulf Coast cities weren't the only land surfaces to take a beating from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Barrier islands stretching from Texas to Florida were also scoured by the wind and waves of the powerful storm. Permanent changes to the shape and elevation of Horn and Petit Bois Islands south of Pascagoula, Mississippi, are visible in these infrared-enhanced images captured by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite. The eastern and western tips of Horn island have been eroded so greatly that they are now below sea level, their white sandy beaches (August 7 image) now covered by blue water (September 17 image). The sound (northern) side of the island is layered with sand, which stands out in grayish-white against the red of vegetation. On Petit Bois Island, the changes appear more subtle, but there, too, the red of the island's vegetation appears softened by bright sand. NASA images courtesy Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Fires in Portugal
| Title |
Fires in Portugal |
| Description |
The devastating fires that raged across Portugal in July and August 2005 did not spare the country's largest park their fury. In central Portugal, almost the entire range of the country's highest mountains, the Serra da Estrela, are part of a national park, in which a rural economy of agriculture, including herding of goats and sheep, co-exists with scenic views, significant cultural and historical sites, and good examples of glacier-carved topography. Although small fires had started and been extinguished quickly in other parts of the Serra da Estrela in June and early July, around July 19, more fires broke out in the park. These fires exploded, spreading rapidly. Residents of towns and villas in the park had to evacuate as the flames raced through drought-stressed vegetation. The results of the blazes are captured in this image from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite from August 25, 2005. Vegetation appears in shades of red, developed areas appear white, water is blue, and burned areas are deep charcoal. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided by the NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. |
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Three Years of Saturn
| Title |
Three Years of Saturn |
| Explanation |
Using an image recorded just last month as a base, this composite illustration tracks the motion of bright Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070406.html ] as it wanders through planet Earth's night sky [ http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/viewing.cfm ]. Starting at the upper right, Saturn's position is shown about every two weeks beginning in August 2005 and projected through September 2008. Over the three year period, Saturn actually appears to reverse its general eastward (leftward) drift, tracing out three flattened curves. The periodic backwards or retrograde motion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060422.html ] with respect to the background stars is a reflection of the motion of the Earth itself. Retrograde motion [ http://www.lasalle.edu/~smithsc/Astronomy/ retrograd.html ] can be seen each time Earth overtakes and laps planets orbiting farther from the Sun, the Earth moving more rapidly through its own closer-in [ http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/retrograde/ copernican.html ] orbit. The Beehive [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060128.html ] star cluster in Cancer lies near the track at the upper right. Stars along the "backward question mark" at the head of Leo [ http://stardate.org/nightsky/constellations/leo.html ] are in the left half of the frame. Saturn's position this month [ http://skytonight.com/observing/home/April_podcast.html ] is near the right hand limit of the middle curve. Click on the picture to download and view the gif animation. |
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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| Title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Aerobraking |
| Description |
December 10, 2003 NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter dips into the thin martian atmosphere to adjust its orbit in this artist's concept illustration. NASA plans to launch this multipurpose spacecraft in August 2005 for arrival at Mars in March 2006. The plans call for controlled use of atmospheric friction in a process called aerobraking for about six months after arrival to change the initial, very elongated orbit into a rounder shape optimal for science operations. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is designed to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Office of Space Science, Washington. JPL's main industrial partner in the project, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is building the spacecraft. |
| Date |
12.10.2003 |
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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| Title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over Nilosyrtis |
| Description |
December 10, 2003 NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passes above a portion of the planet called Nilosyrtis Mensae in this artist's concept illustration. NASA plans to launch this multipurpose spacecraft in August 2005 to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Office of Space Science, Washington. JPL's main industrial partner in the project, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is building the spacecraft. |
| Date |
12.10.2003 |
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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| Title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over Pole |
| Description |
December 10, 2003 NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passes over the planet's south polar region in this artist's concept illustration. NASA plans to launch this multipurpose spacecraft in August 2005 to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions. The orbiter's shallow radar experiment, one of six science instruments on board, is designed to probe the internal structure of Mars' polar ice caps, as well as to gather information planet-wide about underground layers of ice, rock and, perhaps, liquid water that might be accessible from the surface. Phobos, one of Mars' two moons, appears in the upper left corner of the illustration NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Office of Space Science, Washington. JPL's main industrial partner in the project, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is building the spacecraft. The Italian Space Agency is providing the radar instrument. |
| Date |
12.10.2003 |
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An Atlas 5 Rocket
| title |
An Atlas 5 Rocket |
| Description |
An Atlas 5 rocket will launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in August 2005. Lockheed Martin is building the orbiter at its facility near Denver, Colorado. Lockheed Martin is also building the Atlas 5, designated AV-007, that will launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from launch complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Credit: Lockheed Martin |
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An Atlas 5 Rocket
| title |
An Atlas 5 Rocket |
| Description |
An Atlas 5 rocket will launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in August 2005. Lockheed Martin is building the orbiter at its facility near Denver, Colorado. Lockheed Martin is also building the Atlas 5, designated AV-007, that will launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from launch complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Credit: Lockheed Martin |
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An Atlas 5 Rocket
| title |
An Atlas 5 Rocket |
| Description |
An Atlas 5 rocket will launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in August 2005. Lockheed Martin is building the orbiter at its facility near Denver, Colorado. Lockheed Martin is also building the Atlas 5, designated AV-007, that will launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from launch complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Credit: Lockheed Martin |
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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| title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Taking Shape |
| Description |
Lockheed Martin Space Systems engineer Terry Kampmann (left) and lead technician Jack Farmerie work on assembly and test of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft bus in a cleanroom at the company's Denver facility. In coming months, the orbiter's science instruments will be integrated and tested, followed by environmental testing of the completed spacecraft. Launch of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is scheduled for August 2005. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project is managed for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is prime contractor for the project. Credit: NASA/JPL/Lockheed Martin/Pat Corkery |
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Mimas in View
PIA08289
Saturn
Imaging Science Subsystem -
…
| Title |
Mimas in View |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The Cassini spacecraft zooms in on Mimas, pitted by craters and slightly out-of-round. Cassini images taken during a flyby of Mimas in August 2005 were compiled into a movie showing the moon's battered surface up close (see PIA07710 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07710 ]). This view shows the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across). North is up and rotated 24 degrees to the left. The moon's night side is dimly lit by saturnshine, which is sunlight reflected by the planet. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 25, 2006 at a distance of approximately 552,000 kilometers (343,000 miles) from Mimas and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 106 degrees. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ]. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org [ http://ciclops.org ]. |
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AIRS-Retrieved Global Tropos
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PIA09941
Sol (our sun)
Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
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| Title |
AIRS-Retrieved Global Tropospheric Methane for August 2005 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This image is the AIRS-retrieved global tropospheric methane for August 2005. This AIRS research product will aid in the identification of natural and anthropogenic sources of this greenhouse gas, its seasonal and multi-year variation and its transport around the globe at several altitudes in the troposphere. |
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Bird's Eye View of Mars
PIA05490
[NULL]
| Title |
Bird's Eye View of Mars |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This artist's concept shows NASA's future Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission over the red planet. NASA plans to launch this multipurpose spacecraft in August 2005 to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions. The orbiter's shallow radar experiment, one of six science instruments on board, is designed to probe the internal structure of Mars' polar ice caps, as well as to gather information planet-wide about underground layers of ice, rock and, perhaps, liquid water, which might be accessible from the surface. |
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Crater and Flows
PIA03074
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Crater and Flows |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
29 October 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a crater surrounded by thin flows in southeastern Kasei Valles. The flows might have been lava or mud. The picture was acquired in August 2005. "Location near": 14.2°N, 75.1°W "Image width": width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": left/lower left "Season": Northern Autumn |
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Isidis Planitia
PIA03087
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Isidis Planitia |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
3 November 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a cratered surface in Isidis Planitia, a martian lowland. Light-toned "squiggles" in this August 2005 image are large windblown ripples. "Location near": 10.6°N, 275.2°W "Image width": width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Autumn |
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Tikhonravov Layers
PIA03966
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Tikhonravov Layers |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
24 June 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a view of some of the circular pits and spectacular buttes and mesas formed in the frozen carbon dioxide of the martian south polar residual cap. The scarps that bound each pit and mesa have been observed by MOC to retreat at an average rate of about 3 meters (~3 yards) during each southern summer season that the spacecraft has been in orbit. A new summer season will start in mid-August 2005. "Location near": 86.9°S, 5.3°W"Image width": ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Spring |
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Frozen Carbon Dioxide
PIA04130
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Frozen Carbon Dioxide |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
1 August 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a south polar residual cap landscape, formed in frozen carbon dioxide. There is no place on Earth that one can go to visit a landscape covering thousands of square kilometers with frozen carbon dioxide, so mesas, pits, and other landforms of the martian south polar region are as alien as they are beautiful. The scarps of the south polar region are known from thousands of other MGS MOC images to retreat at a rate of about 3 meters (~3 yards) per martian year, indiating that slowly, over the course of the MGS mission, the amount of carbon dioxide in the martian atmosphere has probably been increasing. "Location near": 86.9°S, 25.5°W "Image width": width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Spring |
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Dunes of Herschel
PIA04133
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Dunes of Herschel |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
4 August 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dark-toned sand dunes on the floor of the large martian impact crater, Herschel, located in the Terra Cimmeria region of Mars. The winds responsible for these dunes blew from the northeast (upper right). "Location near": 15.7°S, 228.6°W "Image width": width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Spring |
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Defrosting Patterns
PIA04137
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Defrosting Patterns |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
8 August 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows bright (and a few dark) wind streaks formed in the defrosting carbon dioxide of the south polar seasonal frost cap. Unknown is whether the streaks form when wind picks up, moves, and deposits ice particles, or whether wind erodes down into the ice to form the streak pattern. "Location near": 86.7°S, 295.5°W "Image width": width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Spring |
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Mars at Ls 269°: Acidalia/Ma
…
PIA04138
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 269°: Acidalia/Mare Erythraeum |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
9 August 2005 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 269° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 269° occurs in mid-August 2005. The picture shows the Acidalia/Mare Erythraeum face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. "Season": last days of Northern Autumn/Southern Spring |
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Mid-latitude Dunes
PIA04136
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mid-latitude Dunes |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
7 August 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows dark sand dunes on the floor of a southern mid-latitude impact crater. Craters are commonly the site of sand dunes, as sand may become trapped in these topographic depressions. In this case, the winds responsible for the dunes generally blew from the south/southeast (bottom/lower right), "Location near": 51.8°S, 105.5°W"Image width": width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Spring |
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Mars at Ls 269°: Tharsis
PIA04131
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 269°: Tharsis |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
2 August 2005 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 269° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 269° occurs in mid-August 2005. The picture shows the Tharsis face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. "Season": last days of Northern Autumn/Southern Spring |
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Windblown Dunes
PIA04135
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Windblown Dunes |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
6 August 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows shows a suite of small, dark sand dunes on the floor of a crater in western Arabia Terra. The winds responsible for these dunes generally blow from the east/southeast (right/lower right). "Location near": 6.3°N, 349.6°W "Image width": width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Northern Summer |
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Wind-Eroded Terrain
PIA04132
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Wind-Eroded Terrain |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
3 August 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows yardangs, a ridge-and-groove landform produced by wind erosion of a granular, sand-rich bedrock. These are located west-southwest of the volcano, Olympus Mons. Yardangs are common on Mars, especially in the regions west and southwest of Olympus Mons, in southern Amazonis Planitia. "Location near": 14.8°N, 146.6°W "Image width": width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": lower left "Season": Northern Autumn |
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Mars at Ls 269°: Syrtis Majo
…
PIA04149
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 269°: Syrtis Major |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
16 August 2005 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 269° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 269° occurs in mid-August 2005. The picture shows the Syrtis Major face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. "Season": last days of Northern Autumn/Southern Spring |
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Mars at Ls 269°: South Polar
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PIA04177
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 269°: South Polar Region |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
30 August 2005 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 269° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 269° occurred in mid-August 2005. The picture shows the south polar region of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. "Season": last days of Northern Autumn/Southern Spring |
|
Mars at Ls 269°: Elysium/Mar
…
PIA04165
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
Mars at Ls 269°: Elysium/Mare Cimmerium |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
23 August 2005 This picture is a composite of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) daily global images acquired at Ls 269° during a previous Mars year. This month, Mars looks similar, as Ls 269° occurred in mid-August 2005. The picture shows the Elysium/Mare Cimmerium face of Mars. Over the course of the month, additional faces of Mars as it appears at this time of year are being posted for MOC Picture of the Day. Ls, solar longitude, is a measure of the time of year on Mars. Mars travels 360° around the Sun in 1 Mars year. The year begins at Ls 0°, the start of northern spring and southern autumn. "Season": last days of Northern Autumn/Southern Spring |
|
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
…
PIA04918
| Title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over Pole |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
December 10, 2003 NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passes over the planet's south polar region in this artist's concept illustration. NASA plans to launch this multipurpose spacecraft in August 2005 to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions. The orbiter's shallow radar experiment, one of six science instruments on board, is designed to probe the internal structure of Mars' polar ice caps, as well as to gather information planet-wide about underground layers of ice, rock and, perhaps, liquid water that might be accessible from the surface. Phobos, one of Mars' two moons, appears in the upper left corner of the illustration NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Office of Space Science, Washington. JPL's main industrial partner in the project, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is building the spacecraft. The Italian Space Agency is providing the radar instrument. |
|
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
…
PIA04916
| Title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over Nilosyrtis |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
December 10, 2003 NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passes above a portion of the planet called Nilosyrtis Mensae in this artist's concept illustration. NASA plans to launch this multipurpose spacecraft in August 2005 to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Office of Space Science, Washington. JPL's main industrial partner in the project, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is building the spacecraft. |
|
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
…
PIA04917
| Title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Aerobraking |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
December 10, 2003 NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter dips into the thin martian atmosphere to adjust its orbit in this artist's concept illustration. NASA plans to launch this multipurpose spacecraft in August 2005 for arrival at Mars in March 2006. The plans call for controlled use of atmospheric friction in a process called aerobraking for about six months after arrival to change the initial, very elongated orbit into a rounder shape optimal for science operations. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is designed to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for the NASA Office of Space Science, Washington. JPL's main industrial partner in the project, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is building the spacecraft. |
|
Positioning a Camera for Mar
…
PIA07208
HiRISE
| Title |
Positioning a Camera for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Workers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, position a telescopic camera for installation onto NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on Dec. 11, 2004. Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo., built this camera, called the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, for the University of Arizona, Tucson, to supply for the mission. The orbiter is scheduled for launch in August 2005 carrying six science instruments. |
|
Hoisting a Camera for Mars R
…
PIA07207
HiRISE
| Title |
Hoisting a Camera for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Workers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, hoist a telescopic camera for installation onto NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on Dec. 11, 2004. Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo., built this camera, called the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, for the University of Arizona, Tucson, to supply for the mission. The orbiter is scheduled for launch in August 2005 carrying six science instruments. |
|
Camera Ready to Install on M
…
PIA07206
HiRISE
| Title |
Camera Ready to Install on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
A telescopic camera called the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, (right) was installed onto the main structure of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (left) on Dec. 11, 2004 at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. The orbiter is scheduled for launch in August 2005 carrying six science instruments. Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo., built this camera for the University of Arizona, Tucson, to supply for the mission. |
|
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
…
PIA07212
| Title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in High Bay |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Engineers and technicians at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, are building the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA. Assembly and testing of the spacecraft are underway in preparation for launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in August 2005 aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle. In late October 2004, the spacecraft was moved from the High Bay clean room (shown here) into the Reverberant Acoustic Lab, where system environmental testing will continue through March 2005. The testing includes modal survey (which involves measuring spacecraft modes and frequencies), electronic compatibility testing, acoustic testing (which simulates sound vibrations that the spacecraft will experience during launch), shock and deployment tests, and thermal vacuum testing. |
|
Installing a Camera on Mars
…
PIA07209
HiRISE
| Title |
Installing a Camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Workers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, install a telescopic camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on Dec. 11, 2004. Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo., built this camera, called the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, for the University of Arizona, Tucson, to supply for the mission. The orbiter is scheduled for launch in August 2005 carrying six science instruments. |
|
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
…
PIA07210
HiRISE
| Title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter After Camera Installation |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
A telescopic camera called the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, was installed onto the main structure of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Dec. 11, 2004 at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo. HiRISE is at the top of the spacecraft in this image. Some other large components, including solar panels and the high-gain antenna, had not yet been installed. The orbiter is scheduled for launch in August 2005 carrying six science instruments. Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo., built HiRISE for the University of Arizona, Tucson, to supply for the mission. |
|
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
…
PIA06756
| Title |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Taking Shape |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Lockheed Martin Space Systems engineer Terry Kampmann (left) and lead technician Jack Farmerie work on assembly and test of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft bus in a cleanroom at the company's Denver facility. In coming months, the orbiter's science instruments will be integrated and tested, followed by environmental testing of the completed spacecraft. Launch of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is scheduled for August 2005. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project is managed for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is prime contractor for the project. |
|
Prime Time for Rhea
PIA07756
Saturn
Imaging Science Subsystem
| Title |
Prime Time for Rhea |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This map of the surface of Saturn's moon, Rhea, illustrates the regions that will be imaged by Cassini during the spacecraft's close flyby of the moon on Nov. 26, 2005. At closest approach, the spacecraft is expected to pass approximately 500 kilometers (310 miles) above the moon's surface. The colored lines delineate the regions that will be imaged at differing resolutions, listed in the legend at bottom. Rhea is 1,528 kilometers (949 miles) across. The new high-resolution coverage will examine details on the anti-Saturn hemisphere of Rhea, including two large impact basins there. Cassini previously imaged terrain farther to the south of this at approximately 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) per pixel in August 2005 (see PIA07566 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07566 ]). Imaging scientists also hope to get a high-resolution view of a relatively young 50-kilometer-wide (30-mile) crater on the moon's leading hemisphere (see PIA06648 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06648 ]). Planetary scientists are interested in learning about the compositional makeup of Rhea, other than water ice, as well as the nature of the wispy streaks on the moon's trailing hemisphere. In December, 2004, Cassini revealed that similar bright, wispy markings on Dione are actually a system of braided tectonic fractures (see PIA06162 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06162 ]). The map was made from images obtained by both the Cassini and NASA Voyager spacecraft. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ]. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org [ http://ciclops.org ]. |
|
New Gully Deposit in a Crate
…
PIA09027
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
New Gully Deposit in a Crater in Terra Sirenum |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Has liquid water flowed on Mars in this decade? In June 2000, we reported the discovery, using the Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera, of very youthful-looking gullies found on slopes at middle and high latitudes on Mars. Since that time, tens of thousands of gullies have been imaged by all of the Mars orbiting spacecraft: Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. During the years since the original June 2000 report, the Mars Global Surveyor's camera was used to test the hypothesis that the gullies may be so young that some of them could still be active today. The test was very simple: re-image gullies previously seen by the camera and see if anything has changed. In two cases, something changed. One of those cases is presented here. A gully on the wall of an unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum, at 36.6 degrees south, 161.8 degrees west, was initially imaged by the camera on Dec. 22, 2001 (Figure A, left). It showed nothing noteworthy at the location where a change would later be observed, but a group of nearby gullies exhibited an unusual patch of light-toned material. As part of our routine campaign to re-image gully sites using the camera, another image of this location was acquired on April 24, 2005. A new light-toned deposit had appeared in what was otherwise a nondescript gully (Figure A, right). This deposit was imaged again by the camera on Aug. 26, 2005, at a time when the sun angle and season were the same as in the original December 2001 image, to confirm that indeed the light-toned feature was something new, not just a trick of differing lighting conditions. In August 2005, the feature was still present. Figure A: This set of images shows a comparison of the gully site as it appeared on Dec. 22, 2001 (left), with a mosaic of two images acquired after the change occurred (the two images are from Aug. 26, 2005, and Sept. 25, 2005). Sunlight illuminates each scene from the northwest (top left). The 150-meter scale bar represents 164 yards. Figure B: This is a mosaic of images that cover the entire unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum. The location of the light-toned gully deposits, old and new, is indicated. This is a mosaic of images acquired by the camera in 2005 and 2006. The 500-meter scale bar equals approximately 547 yards. Figure C: This image shows an enlargement of a portion of another image from August 2005, showing details of the new, light-toned gully deposit. The new material covers the entire gully floor, from the point at which the gully emerged from beneath a mantled slope, down to the spot at which the channel meets the crater floor. At this break in slope, the gully material, as it was emplaced, spread out into five or six different fingers (this is called a "digitate" termination as in finger digits). The 75-meter scale bar represents a distance of about 82 yards. Figure D: To confirm that the new, light-toned gully deposit is not just a trick of changing, Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]., illumination conditions as the sun rises to different levels in the sky each season, the Mars Orbiter Camera team repeatedly imaged this site throughout 2005 and 2006. Four examples are shown here, acquired in April 2005, August 2005, February 2006 and April 2006. The "i=" indicates solar-incidence angle, or the height of the sun in the local sky, relative to a case where the sun would be directly overhead (i=0 degrees). Thus, the higher the incidence angle, the lower the sun would appear in the sky to an observer on the ground. These images show that a material flowed down through a gully channel, once between December 2001 and April 2005. After the flow stopped, it left behind evidence -- the light-toned deposit. The deposit is thin enough that its thickness cannot be measured in the camera's 1.5-meters-per-pixel images. However, it does exhibit a digitate termination, suggesting that the material flowed in a fluid-like manner down the approximately 25 degree slope before splaying out into multiple small lobes at the point where the crater wall meets the crater floor and the slope suddenly drops to near zero. This deposit, and a similar one in a crater in the Centauri Montes, together suggests that the materials involved were low-volume debris flows containing a mixture of sediment and a liquid that had the physical properties of liquid water. In this case, we propose that the water came from below the surface, emerged somewhere beneath the mantle covering the original crater wall, and then ran down through a previously existing gully channel. No new gully was formed, but an old one was re-activated. The light tone of the new gully deposit, and that of the older, neighboring gullies, is intriguing. We cannot know from these images whether the light tone indicates that ice is still present in and on the surface of the deposit. Indeed, ice may not be likely: under present conditions on the surface of Mars, ice would be expected to have sublimed, or vaporized, away fairly shortly after the new deposit formed. However, the light-toned material could be frost that forms and re-forms frequently as trapped water-ice sublimes and "exhales" from within the deposit. Alternatively, the light-tone may result if the deposit consists of significantly finer grains (for example, fine silt) than the surrounding surfaces, or if the deposit's surface is covered with minerals such as salts formed as water evaporated from the material. Do these images prove that water has flowed on Mars? No, they cannot. However, they provide the first very tantalizing evidence that this may have occurred. While the surface environment on Mars is extremely dry, drier than the most arid deserts on Earth, liquid water from beneath the Martian surface may have come out of the ground and flowed across this little portion of the red planet in this decade. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion |
|
New Gully Deposit in a Crate
…
PIA09027
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
New Gully Deposit in a Crater in Terra Sirenum |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Has liquid water flowed on Mars in this decade? In June 2000, we reported the discovery, using the Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera, of very youthful-looking gullies found on slopes at middle and high latitudes on Mars. Since that time, tens of thousands of gullies have been imaged by all of the Mars orbiting spacecraft: Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. During the years since the original June 2000 report, the Mars Global Surveyor's camera was used to test the hypothesis that the gullies may be so young that some of them could still be active today. The test was very simple: re-image gullies previously seen by the camera and see if anything has changed. In two cases, something changed. One of those cases is presented here. A gully on the wall of an unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum, at 36.6 degrees south, 161.8 degrees west, was initially imaged by the camera on Dec. 22, 2001 (Figure A, left). It showed nothing noteworthy at the location where a change would later be observed, but a group of nearby gullies exhibited an unusual patch of light-toned material. As part of our routine campaign to re-image gully sites using the camera, another image of this location was acquired on April 24, 2005. A new light-toned deposit had appeared in what was otherwise a nondescript gully (Figure A, right). This deposit was imaged again by the camera on Aug. 26, 2005, at a time when the sun angle and season were the same as in the original December 2001 image, to confirm that indeed the light-toned feature was something new, not just a trick of differing lighting conditions. In August 2005, the feature was still present. Figure A: This set of images shows a comparison of the gully site as it appeared on Dec. 22, 2001 (left), with a mosaic of two images acquired after the change occurred (the two images are from Aug. 26, 2005, and Sept. 25, 2005). Sunlight illuminates each scene from the northwest (top left). The 150-meter scale bar represents 164 yards. Figure B: This is a mosaic of images that cover the entire unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum. The location of the light-toned gully deposits, old and new, is indicated. This is a mosaic of images acquired by the camera in 2005 and 2006. The 500-meter scale bar equals approximately 547 yards. Figure C: This image shows an enlargement of a portion of another image from August 2005, showing details of the new, light-toned gully deposit. The new material covers the entire gully floor, from the point at which the gully emerged from beneath a mantled slope, down to the spot at which the channel meets the crater floor. At this break in slope, the gully material, as it was emplaced, spread out into five or six different fingers (this is called a "digitate" termination as in finger digits). The 75-meter scale bar represents a distance of about 82 yards. Figure D: To confirm that the new, light-toned gully deposit is not just a trick of changing, Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]., illumination conditions as the sun rises to different levels in the sky each season, the Mars Orbiter Camera team repeatedly imaged this site throughout 2005 and 2006. Four examples are shown here, acquired in April 2005, August 2005, February 2006 and April 2006. The "i=" indicates solar-incidence angle, or the height of the sun in the local sky, relative to a case where the sun would be directly overhead (i=0 degrees). Thus, the higher the incidence angle, the lower the sun would appear in the sky to an observer on the ground. These images show that a material flowed down through a gully channel, once between December 2001 and April 2005. After the flow stopped, it left behind evidence -- the light-toned deposit. The deposit is thin enough that its thickness cannot be measured in the camera's 1.5-meters-per-pixel images. However, it does exhibit a digitate termination, suggesting that the material flowed in a fluid-like manner down the approximately 25 degree slope before splaying out into multiple small lobes at the point where the crater wall meets the crater floor and the slope suddenly drops to near zero. This deposit, and a similar one in a crater in the Centauri Montes, together suggests that the materials involved were low-volume debris flows containing a mixture of sediment and a liquid that had the physical properties of liquid water. In this case, we propose that the water came from below the surface, emerged somewhere beneath the mantle covering the original crater wall, and then ran down through a previously existing gully channel. No new gully was formed, but an old one was re-activated. The light tone of the new gully deposit, and that of the older, neighboring gullies, is intriguing. We cannot know from these images whether the light tone indicates that ice is still present in and on the surface of the deposit. Indeed, ice may not be likely: under present conditions on the surface of Mars, ice would be expected to have sublimed, or vaporized, away fairly shortly after the new deposit formed. However, the light-toned material could be frost that forms and re-forms frequently as trapped water-ice sublimes and "exhales" from within the deposit. Alternatively, the light-tone may result if the deposit consists of significantly finer grains (for example, fine silt) than the surrounding surfaces, or if the deposit's surface is covered with minerals such as salts formed as water evaporated from the material. Do these images prove that water has flowed on Mars? No, they cannot. However, they provide the first very tantalizing evidence that this may have occurred. While the surface environment on Mars is extremely dry, drier than the most arid deserts on Earth, liquid water from beneath the Martian surface may have come out of the ground and flowed across this little portion of the red planet in this decade. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion |
|
New Gully Deposit in a Crate
…
PIA09027
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
New Gully Deposit in a Crater in Terra Sirenum |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Has liquid water flowed on Mars in this decade? In June 2000, we reported the discovery, using the Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera, of very youthful-looking gullies found on slopes at middle and high latitudes on Mars. Since that time, tens of thousands of gullies have been imaged by all of the Mars orbiting spacecraft: Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. During the years since the original June 2000 report, the Mars Global Surveyor's camera was used to test the hypothesis that the gullies may be so young that some of them could still be active today. The test was very simple: re-image gullies previously seen by the camera and see if anything has changed. In two cases, something changed. One of those cases is presented here. A gully on the wall of an unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum, at 36.6 degrees south, 161.8 degrees west, was initially imaged by the camera on Dec. 22, 2001 (Figure A, left). It showed nothing noteworthy at the location where a change would later be observed, but a group of nearby gullies exhibited an unusual patch of light-toned material. As part of our routine campaign to re-image gully sites using the camera, another image of this location was acquired on April 24, 2005. A new light-toned deposit had appeared in what was otherwise a nondescript gully (Figure A, right). This deposit was imaged again by the camera on Aug. 26, 2005, at a time when the sun angle and season were the same as in the original December 2001 image, to confirm that indeed the light-toned feature was something new, not just a trick of differing lighting conditions. In August 2005, the feature was still present. Figure A: This set of images shows a comparison of the gully site as it appeared on Dec. 22, 2001 (left), with a mosaic of two images acquired after the change occurred (the two images are from Aug. 26, 2005, and Sept. 25, 2005). Sunlight illuminates each scene from the northwest (top left). The 150-meter scale bar represents 164 yards. Figure B: This is a mosaic of images that cover the entire unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum. The location of the light-toned gully deposits, old and new, is indicated. This is a mosaic of images acquired by the camera in 2005 and 2006. The 500-meter scale bar equals approximately 547 yards. Figure C: This image shows an enlargement of a portion of another image from August 2005, showing details of the new, light-toned gully deposit. The new material covers the entire gully floor, from the point at which the gully emerged from beneath a mantled slope, down to the spot at which the channel meets the crater floor. At this break in slope, the gully material, as it was emplaced, spread out into five or six different fingers (this is called a "digitate" termination as in finger digits). The 75-meter scale bar represents a distance of about 82 yards. Figure D: To confirm that the new, light-toned gully deposit is not just a trick of changing, Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]., illumination conditions as the sun rises to different levels in the sky each season, the Mars Orbiter Camera team repeatedly imaged this site throughout 2005 and 2006. Four examples are shown here, acquired in April 2005, August 2005, February 2006 and April 2006. The "i=" indicates solar-incidence angle, or the height of the sun in the local sky, relative to a case where the sun would be directly overhead (i=0 degrees). Thus, the higher the incidence angle, the lower the sun would appear in the sky to an observer on the ground. These images show that a material flowed down through a gully channel, once between December 2001 and April 2005. After the flow stopped, it left behind evidence -- the light-toned deposit. The deposit is thin enough that its thickness cannot be measured in the camera's 1.5-meters-per-pixel images. However, it does exhibit a digitate termination, suggesting that the material flowed in a fluid-like manner down the approximately 25 degree slope before splaying out into multiple small lobes at the point where the crater wall meets the crater floor and the slope suddenly drops to near zero. This deposit, and a similar one in a crater in the Centauri Montes, together suggests that the materials involved were low-volume debris flows containing a mixture of sediment and a liquid that had the physical properties of liquid water. In this case, we propose that the water came from below the surface, emerged somewhere beneath the mantle covering the original crater wall, and then ran down through a previously existing gully channel. No new gully was formed, but an old one was re-activated. The light tone of the new gully deposit, and that of the older, neighboring gullies, is intriguing. We cannot know from these images whether the light tone indicates that ice is still present in and on the surface of the deposit. Indeed, ice may not be likely: under present conditions on the surface of Mars, ice would be expected to have sublimed, or vaporized, away fairly shortly after the new deposit formed. However, the light-toned material could be frost that forms and re-forms frequently as trapped water-ice sublimes and "exhales" from within the deposit. Alternatively, the light-tone may result if the deposit consists of significantly finer grains (for example, fine silt) than the surrounding surfaces, or if the deposit's surface is covered with minerals such as salts formed as water evaporated from the material. Do these images prove that water has flowed on Mars? No, they cannot. However, they provide the first very tantalizing evidence that this may have occurred. While the surface environment on Mars is extremely dry, drier than the most arid deserts on Earth, liquid water from beneath the Martian surface may have come out of the ground and flowed across this little portion of the red planet in this decade. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion |
|
New Gully Deposit in a Crate
…
PIA09027
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
| Title |
New Gully Deposit in a Crater in Terra Sirenum |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Has liquid water flowed on Mars in this decade? In June 2000, we reported the discovery, using the Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera, of very youthful-looking gullies found on slopes at middle and high latitudes on Mars. Since that time, tens of thousands of gullies have been imaged by all of the Mars orbiting spacecraft: Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. During the years since the original June 2000 report, the Mars Global Surveyor's camera was used to test the hypothesis that the gullies may be so young that some of them could still be active today. The test was very simple: re-image gullies previously seen by the camera and see if anything has changed. In two cases, something changed. One of those cases is presented here. A gully on the wall of an unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum, at 36.6 degrees south, 161.8 degrees west, was initially imaged by the camera on Dec. 22, 2001 (Figure A, left). It showed nothing noteworthy at the location where a change would later be observed, but a group of nearby gullies exhibited an unusual patch of light-toned material. As part of our routine campaign to re-image gully sites using the camera, another image of this location was acquired on April 24, 2005. A new light-toned deposit had appeared in what was otherwise a nondescript gully (Figure A, right). This deposit was imaged again by the camera on Aug. 26, 2005, at a time when the sun angle and season were the same as in the original December 2001 image, to confirm that indeed the light-toned feature was something new, not just a trick of differing lighting conditions. In August 2005, the feature was still present. Figure A: This set of images shows a comparison of the gully site as it appeared on Dec. 22, 2001 (left), with a mosaic of two images acquired after the change occurred (the two images are from Aug. 26, 2005, and Sept. 25, 2005). Sunlight illuminates each scene from the northwest (top left). The 150-meter scale bar represents 164 yards. Figure B: This is a mosaic of images that cover the entire unnamed crater in Terra Sirenum. The location of the light-toned gully deposits, old and new, is indicated. This is a mosaic of images acquired by the camera in 2005 and 2006. The 500-meter scale bar equals approximately 547 yards. Figure C: This image shows an enlargement of a portion of another image from August 2005, showing details of the new, light-toned gully deposit. The new material covers the entire gully floor, from the point at which the gully emerged from beneath a mantled slope, down to the spot at which the channel meets the crater floor. At this break in slope, the gully material, as it was emplaced, spread out into five or six different fingers (this is called a "digitate" termination as in finger digits). The 75-meter scale bar represents a distance of about 82 yards. Figure D: To confirm that the new, light-toned gully deposit is not just a trick of changing, Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]., illumination conditions as the sun rises to different levels in the sky each season, the Mars Orbiter Camera team repeatedly imaged this site throughout 2005 and 2006. Four examples are shown here, acquired in April 2005, August 2005, February 2006 and April 2006. The "i=" indicates solar-incidence angle, or the height of the sun in the local sky, relative to a case where the sun would be directly overhead (i=0 degrees). Thus, the higher the incidence angle, the lower the sun would appear in the sky to an observer on the ground. These images show that a material flowed down through a gully channel, once between December 2001 and April 2005. After the flow stopped, it left behind evidence -- the light-toned deposit. The deposit is thin enough that its thickness cannot be measured in the camera's 1.5-meters-per-pixel images. However, it does exhibit a digitate termination, suggesting that the material flowed in a fluid-like manner down the approximately 25 degree slope before splaying out into multiple small lobes at the point where the crater wall meets the crater floor and the slope suddenly drops to near zero. This deposit, and a similar one in a crater in the Centauri Montes, together suggests that the materials involved were low-volume debris flows containing a mixture of sediment and a liquid that had the physical properties of liquid water. In this case, we propose that the water came from below the surface, emerged somewhere beneath the mantle covering the original crater wall, and then ran down through a previously existing gully channel. No new gully was formed, but an old one was re-activated. The light tone of the new gully deposit, and that of the older, neighboring gullies, is intriguing. We cannot know from these images whether the light tone indicates that ice is still present in and on the surface of the deposit. Indeed, ice may not be likely: under present conditions on the surface of Mars, ice would be expected to have sublimed, or vaporized, away fairly shortly after the new deposit formed. However, the light-toned material could be frost that forms and re-forms frequently as trapped water-ice sublimes and "exhales" from within the deposit. Alternatively, the light-tone may result if the deposit consists of significantly finer grains (for example, fine silt) than the surrounding surfaces, or if the deposit's surface is covered with minerals such as salts formed as water evaporated from the material. Do these images prove that water has flowed on Mars? No, they cannot. However, they provide the first very tantalizing evidence that this may have occurred. While the surface environment on Mars is extremely dry, drier than the most arid deserts on Earth, liquid water from beneath the Martian surface may have come out of the ground and flowed across this little portion of the red planet in this decade. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion |
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