The two hills in the distance, approximately one to two kilometers away, have been dubbed the "Twin Peaks" and are of great interest to Pathfinder scientists as objects of future study. The white areas on the left hill, called the "Ski Run" by scientists, may have been formed by hydrolgic processes. The image was taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) after its deployment on Sol 3. Mars Pathfinder was developed and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator.
MRPS #81094 (Sol 5) Sojourne
…
Sojourner is visible in this
…
7/8/97
Date
7/8/97
Description
Sojourner is visible in this color image, one of the first taken by the deployed Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 3. The rover has moved from this position into one that later facilitated its using the Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument on Barnacle Bill. The APXS, located at the rear of the rover, is not visible in this image. The image was taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) after its deployment on Sol 3. Mars Pathfinder was developed and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator.
Pathfinder Landing
This photo shows Mars Pathfi
…
6/14/95
Date
6/14/95
Description
This photo shows Mars Pathfinder's configuration shortly after landing on the Martian surface on July 4, 1997. The spacecraft will land four hours before sunrise and spend most of that time standing itself upright, retracting its air bags, as seen here, and opening its petals to expose the 22-pound rover. As the sun comes up on Mars, the rover will power up its solar panels and prepare to roll off onto the Martian surface for a week of exploration. Mars Pathfinder, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is scheduled for launch on Dec. 2, 1996.
MRPS #81126 (Sol 5) Portion
…
This image represents the fi
…
7/8/97
Date
7/8/97
Description
This image represents the first two tiers of a 360-degree color panoram, taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP). The metallic object at far lower left is a portion of the lander's low-gain antenna. At left, the forward ramp is visible near the larger rocks dubbed Wedge, Flat Top, and Half-Dome. The magenta and yellow strips near the center represent portions of missing data. Rover Sojourner is situated on the soil after its successful deployment on Sol 5. To its immediate left is the rock dubbed "Barnacle Bill," and in front of it lies the larger rock dubbed "Yogi." Two additional areas of deflated airbags are at the right-center and right of the panorama. The mast and windsocks at far right is the Atmospheric Structure Instrument/Meteorology Package (ASI/MET). Their upward position indicates little air movement. A shadow of the ASI/MET has been cast upon a rock just in front of it, indicating sunlight is coming from the rear right. Mars Pathfinder was developed and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. #####
Olympus Mons, 1998
title
Olympus Mons, 1998
date
04.25.1998
description
Olympus Mons is a mountain of mystery. Taller than three Mount Everests and about as wide as the entire Hawaiian Island chain, this giant volcano is nearly as flat as a pancake. That is, its flanks typically only slope 20 to 50. The Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) obtained this spectacular wide-angle view of Olympus Mons on Mars Global Surveyor's 263rd orbit, around 10:40 p.m. PDT on April 25, 1998. In the view presented here, north is to the left and east is up. The spacecraft was traveling from north to south (left to right). Although the camera looks straight down (towards the nadir) and cannot be pointed to the side, the wide angle camera has such a large field of view (it sees from horizon to horizon) that, in effect, it provides side looking views. Unlike some other MOC images, that have had to be warped to provide a view as if seen from a certain direction and altitude, this image shows what the camera saw without additional processing. It is easy to imagine that you are looking out a window at the surface of Mars from about 900 km (560 miles) up. The image was taken on a cool, crisp winter morning. The west side of the volcano (lower portion of view, above) was clear and details on the surface appear very sharp. The skies above the plains to the east of Olympus Mons (upper portion of view) were cloudy. Clouds were lapping against the lower east flanks of this 26 kilometers (16 miles) high volcano, but the summit skies were clear. When Mars Global Surveyor attains its Mapping Orbit in March 1999, the MOC wide angle camera system will be used to make daily, global maps of martian clouds and weather systems. The wide angle images will resemble weather satellite pictures of Earth, and will help the Mars science teams plan their observations and test computer-driven Mars weather prediction models. 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. Image Note: This color picture was made using MOC red wide angle image 26301 and blue wide angle image 26302. The green channel was synthesized by averaging the red and blue bands. Color is not the true color of Mars as it would appear to the human eye (the actual colors would be more pale and contrast more subdued) *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Hubble Snaps Mars
title
Hubble Snaps Mars
date
08.27.2003
description
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took this close-up of the red planet Mars when it was just 55,760,220 km (34,648,840 miles) away. The picture was taken only 11 hours before Mars made its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years. The next closest approach is in 2287. *Image Credit*: NASA
Evidence for Recent Liquid W
…
Title
Evidence for Recent Liquid Water on Mars
Full Description
Gullies eroded into the wall of a meteor impact crater in Noachis Terra. This high resolution view (top left) from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) shows channels and associated aprons of debris that are interpreted to have formed by groundwater seepage, surface runoff, and debris flow. The lack of small craters superimposed on the channels and apron deposits indicates that these features are geologically young. It is possible that these gullies indicate that liquid water is present within the martian subsurface today. The MOC image was acquired on September 28, 1999. The scene covers an area approximately 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) wide by 6.7 km (4.1 mi) high (note, the aspect ratio is 1.5 to 1.0). Sunlight illuminates this area from the upper left. The image is located near 54.8S, 342.5W. The context image (above) shows the location of the MOC image on the south-facing wall of an impact crater approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter. The context picture was obtained by the Viking 1 orbiter in 1980 and is illuminated from the upper left. The large mound on the floor of the crater in the context view is a sand dune field. The Mars Orbiter Camera high resolution images are taken black-and-white (grayscale), the color seen here has been synthesized from the colors of Mars observed by the MOC wide angle cameras and by the Viking Orbiters in the late 1970s. A brief description of how the color was generated: The MOC narrow angle camera only takes grayscale (black and white) pictures. To create the color versions seen here, we have taken much lower resolution red and blue images acquired by the MOC's wide angle cameras, and by the Viking Orbiter cameras in the 1970s, synthesized a green image by averaging red and blue, and created a pallete of colors that represent the range of colors on Mars. We then use a relationship that correlates color and brightness to assign a color to each gray level. This is only a crude approximation of martian color. It is likely Mars would not look like this to a human observer at Mars.
Date
06/22/2000
NASA Center
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Mars, Three-color Composite
Title
Mars, Three-color Composite
Close-Up of Sol 24 Sunset
title
Close-Up of Sol 24 Sunset
description
This is a close-up of the sunset on Sol 24 as seen by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder. The red sky in the background and the blue around the Sun are approximately as they would appear to the human eye. The color of the Sun itself is not correct -- the Sun was overexposed in each of the 3 color images that were used to make this picture. The true color of the Sun itself may be near white or slightly bluish. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. *Image Credit*: NASA
Gusev Crater
title
Gusev Crater
description
On January 3, Spirit, NASA's 400-pound rover, is scheduled to land on what may be a dried-up lake bed on Mars. "There's not much doubt: this site contained a body of liquid water, at least for some amount of time," says Jim Garvin, NASA's Lead Scientist for Mars Exploration. The site is Gusev Crater, a 90-mile wide hole in the ground that probably formed three to four billion years ago when an asteroid crashed just south of Mars' equator. There's a channel system that drains into it, which probably carried liquid water, or water and ice, into the crater. "It's hard to imagine the landscape looking this way unless water was somehow involved," says Garvin. This image was taken by NASA's Viking orbiter. Right now, inside the crater, researchers expect to find sediments, which may be nearly 3,000 feet thick. These sediments, which, researchers hope were deposited by water, may have been covered by dust and sand that's blown into the crater over the past two billion years. But if there was once water in Gusev, its signature should still be there. *Image Credit*: NASA
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
…
title
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Takes Its First Look
date
03.24.2006
description
This view shows a full-resolution portion of the first image of Mars taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The spacecraft, launched Aug. 12, 2005, began orbiting Mars on March 10, 2006. The image is of an area in Mars' mid-latitude southern highlands. HiRISE took this first test image from orbit on March 24, 2006, from an altitude of 2,489 kilometers (1,547 miles), achieving a resolution of 2.49 meters (98 inches) per pixel, or picture element. The smallest objects of discernable shape are about three pixels across. An image acquired at this latitude during the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's main science phase, beginning in fall 2006, would be taken from an altitude of about 280 kilometers (174 miles) and have a resolution of 28 centimeters (11 inches) per pixel. This view covers an area about 4.5 by 2.1 kilometers (1.6 by 1.3 miles), a subset of the broader image. The quality of this test image is spectacular, with no hint to the eye of any smear or blurring. A high signal-to-noise ratio reveals fine details even in the shadows. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Scientists Track "Perfect St
…
Title
Scientists Track "Perfect Storm" on Mars
General Information
What is a Space Science Update? Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media. Back to top [ #top ]
Evidence for Recent Liquid W
…
Title
Evidence for Recent Liquid Water on Mars
Full Description
This image, acquired by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) in May 2000 shows numerous examples of martian gullies that all start--or head--in a specific layer roughly a hundred meters beneath the surface of Mars. These features are located on the south-facing wall of a trough in the Gorgonum Chaos region, an area found to have many examples of gullies proposed to have formed by seepage and runoff of liquid water in recent martian times. The layer from which the gullies emanate has recessed backward to form an overhang beneath a harder layer of rock. The larger gullies have formed an alcove--an area above the overhang from which debris has collapsed to leave a dark-toned scar. Below the layer of seepage is found a dark, narrow channel that runs down the slope to an apron of debris. The small, bright, parallel features at the base of the cliff at the center-right of the picture is a series of large windblown ripples. Although the dark tone of the alcoves and channels in this image is not likely to be the result of wet ground (the contrast in this image has been enhanced), it does suggest that water has seeped out of the ground and moved down the slope quite recently. Sharp contrasts between dark and light areas are hard to maintain on Mars for very long periods of time because dust tends to coat surfaces and reduce brightness differences. To keep dust from settling on a surface, it has to have undergone some process of erosion (wind, landslides, water runoff) relatively recently. There is no way to know how recent this activity was, but educated guesses center between a few to tens of years, and it is entirely possible that the area shown in this image has water seeping out of the ground today. Centered near 37.9S, 170.2W, sunlight illuminates the MOC image from the upper left, north is toward the upper right. The context view above is from the Viking 1 orbiter and was acquired in 1977. The Viking picture is illuminated from the upper right, north is up. The small white box in the context frame shows the location of the high resolution MOC view.
Date
06/22/2000
NASA Center
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
'Yardangs' on Mars
title
'Yardangs' on Mars
description
These images of 'yardangs', features sculpted by wind-blown sand seen here near Olympus Mons on Mars, were obtained by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board the ESA Mars Express spacecraft. This image was taken during orbit 143 with a resolution of 20 metres per pixel. This scene shows a structure south of Olympus Mons at 60 N latitude and 2200 E longitude, which was probably formed by the action of the wind. Loose sand fragments were transported by wind, and impacted on the bedrock, slowly removing parts of the surface, like a sand-blaster. If the winds blow in the same direction for a long enough period, 'wind-lanes', as shown in the picture, can occur. On Earth, the remnants of these features which have not been eroded away are called 'yardangs'. Where the surface consists of more resistant material, the force of the wind may not be strong enough to cause this sand-blasting. This might be the reason for the three flat regions (the first in the foreground on the left, and the others top right), which measure about 17 by 9 kilometres. *Image Credit*: European Space Agency
Icy Mars
title
Icy Mars
date
05.18.1979
description
This high resolution photo of the surface of Mars was taken by Viking Lander 2 at its Utopia Planitia landing site on May 18, 1979, and relayed to Earth by Orbiter 1 on June 7th. It shows a thin coating of water ice on the rocks and soil. The time of the frost appearance corresponds almost exactly with the build up of frost one Martian year (23 Earth Months) ago. *Image Credit*: NASA
NASA's Hubble Space Telescop
…
Title
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope To Monitor Changes On Mars
Pathfinder Panorama
title
Pathfinder Panorama
description
This is a more recent 'geometrically improved, color enhanced' version of the 360-degree 'Gallery Pan', the first contiguous, uniform panorama taken by the Imager for Mars (IMP) over the course of Sols 8, 9, and 10. Different regions were imaged at different times over the three Martian days to acquire consistent lighting and shadow conditions for all areas of the panorama. In this version of the panorama, much of the discontinuity that was due to parallax has been corrected, particularly along thelower tiers of the mosaic containing the Lander features. Distortiondue to a 2.5 degree tilt in the IMP camera mast has been removed. The IMP is a stereo imaging system that, in its fully deployed configuration, stands 1.8 meters above the Martian surface, and has a resolution of two millimeters at a range of two meters. The IMP has color capability provided by 24 selectable filters -- twelve filters per 'eye'. Its red, green, and blue filters were used to take this panorama. The three color images were first digitally balanced according to the transmittance capabilities of a specific high-definition TV device at JPL, and then enhanced via changes to saturation and intensity while retaining the hue. A threshold was applied to avoid changes to the sky. An MTF filter was applied to sharpen feature edges. At left is a Lander petal and a metallic mast which is a portion of the low-gain antenna. On the horizon the double 'Twin Peaks' are visible, about 1-2 kilometers away. The rock 'Couch' is the dark, curved rock at right of Twin Peaks. Another Lander petal is at left-center, showing the fully deployed forward ramp at far left, and rear ramp at right, which rover Sojourner used to descend to the surface of Mars on July 5. Immediately to the left of the rear ramp is the rock 'Barnacle Bill', which scientistsfound be andesitic, possibly indicating that it is a volcanic rock (a true andesite) or a physical mixture of particles. Just beyond Barnacle Bill, rover tracks lead to Sojourner, shown using its Alpha ProtonX-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument to study the large rock 'Yogi'. Yogi, low in quartz content, appears to be more primitive than Barnacle Bill, and appears more like the common basalts found on Earth. The tracks and circular pattern in the soil leading up to Yogi werepart of Sojourner's soil mechanics experiments, in which varying amounts of pressure were applied to the wheels in order to determine physical properties of the soil. During its traverse to Yogi the roverstirred the soil and exposed material from several centimeters indepth. During one of the turns to deploy Sojourner's Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer, the wheels dug particularly deeply and exposed white material. Spectra of this white material show it is virtually identical to the rock 'Scooby Doo', and such white material may underlie much of the site. Deflated airbags are visible at the perimeter of all three Lander petals. Mars Pathfinder was the second in NASA's Discovery, program of low-costspacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet PropulsionLaboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfindermission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is anoperating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).The IMP was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and PlanetaryLaboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. *Image Credit*: NASA
Mars Odyssey Science Cover I
…
Title
Mars Odyssey Science Cover Image
Abstract
This still was created to for the cover of the journal Science (5 July 2002 issue). It shows epithermal neutron data represented by the colors overlayed on Mars topography. The blue colors represent high concentrations of hydrogen, indicating the strong possibility that water ice exists in those regions. The vertical exaggeration is 5x normal and the shading exaggeration is 50x normal.
Completed
2002-06-19
Mars Gravity Anomoly Map
title
Mars Gravity Anomoly Map
Description
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.
Mars Thermal Inertia
title
Mars Thermal Inertia
Description
This image shows the global thermal inertia of the Martian surface as measured by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor. The data were acquired during the first 5000 orbits of the MGS mapping mission. The pattern of inertia variations observed by TES agrees well with the thermal inertia maps made by the Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper experiment, but the TES data shown here are at significantly higher spatial resolution (15 km versus 60 km). The TES instrument was built by Santa Barbara Remote Sensing and is operated by Philip R. Christensen, of Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.
Spider Web Pattern
title
Spider Web Pattern
Description
A delicate pattern, like that of a spider web, appears on top of the Mars residual polar cap, after the seasonal carbon-dioxide ice slab has disappeared. Next spring, these will likely mark the sites of vents when the carbon-dioxide ice cap returns. This Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Orbiter Camera image is about 3-kilometers wide (2-miles). Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Clouds Over Tharsis on Mars
Title
Clouds Over Tharsis on Mars
Explanation
When and where do clouds form on Mars [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/mars.html ]? The Mars Global Surveyor [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/overvu/overview.html ] spacecraft currently orbiting Mars [ http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/mars.htm ] is finding out. Photographs [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/marsnews/img/march13.html ] released [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/marsnews/img/87586.txt ] last week showed clouds [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA00812 ] forming above Tharsis [ http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/glossary.htm#Tharsis ], a huge bulge on Mars about 4000 kilometers across and 7 kilometers high containing several large volcanoes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970915.html ]. These clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971013.html ] temporarily disappeared as a large dust storm emerged from the South [ http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/279/5357/1681 ], the first developing dust storm [ ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1998/98-045.txt ] to be tracked by an orbiting spacecraft. Mars Global Surveyor continues to aerobrake [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/status/upcoming/newplan_press.html ] during on its ongoing mission to survey the planet Mars.
Gusev-plain
title
Gusev-plain
Description
The designated landing site for the first Mars Exploration Rover mission is Gusev Crater, seen here in its geological context from NASA Viking images.
Meridiani-plain
title
Meridiani-plain
Description
The designated landing site for the second Mars Exploration Rover mission is Meridiani Planum, seen here in its geological context from NASA Viking images.
Mars Albedo
title
Mars Albedo
Description
These two views of Mars are derived from the MGS Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) measurements of global broadband (0.3 - ~3.0 microns) visible and near-infrared reflectance, also known as albedo. The range of colors are in dimensionless units. The values are the ratio of the amount of electromagnetic energy reflected by the surface to the amount of energy incident upon it from the sun (larger values are brighter surfaces). The TES instrument was built by Santa Barbara Remote Sensing and is operated by Philip R. Christensen, of Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.
he third figure shows before
…
title
he third figure shows before-and-after narrow-angle camera views of the impact site.
Description
Figure C - Image credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems Browse Image | Large - annotated (120 Kb) | Large (120 Kb) Taken together, the Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor data indicate that this impact occurred some time between June 30, 2002, and May 7, 2003. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion 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 ].
Dust Storm Over Northern Mar
…
Title
Dust Storm Over Northern Mars
Explanation
Almost on cue [ http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_998_1.asp ], as Mars nears its closest approach to planet Earth in recorded history, ominous seasonal [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/06/28/ index.html ] dust storms are beginning to kick up. Observers [ http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/online.bks/mars/ chap15.htm ] worry that the activity may presage the development of a planet wide dust storm [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011017.html ], frustrating attempts to view Mars in the coming months, a situation similar to the Red Planet's uncooperative behavior [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010727.html ] in 2001. In this example [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/05/28/ index.html ], recorded in mid-May by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft camera, a dust storm the size of a continent sweeps north and east (toward the upper right) across Mars' northern Acidalia Planitia. Meanwhile [ http://humbabe.arc.nasa.gov/mgcm/fun/mars_chro.html ], interplanetary robotic explorers Mars Express [ http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/ index.cfm?fareaid=9 ]/ Beagle 2 [ http://www.beagle2.com/index.htm ], Nozomi [ http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/enterp/missions/nozomi/ index.html ], and the twin Mars Exploration Rovers [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/ ] Opportunity and Spirit, are all bound for Mars and should arrive by early January 2004.
Unusual Gullies and Channels
…
Title
Unusual Gullies and Channels on Mars
Explanation
What could have formed these unusual channels? Inside Newton Basin on Mars [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/mars.html ], numerous narrow channels run from the top down to the floor. The above picture [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/e7_e12_captioned_rel/index.html ] covers a region spanning about 1500 meters across. These and other gullies [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021024.html ] have been found on Mars in recent high-resolution pictures [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/june2000/index.html ] taken by the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/overvu/overview.html ] robot spacecraft. Similar channels on Earth [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/june2000/labeled/index.html ] are formed by flowing water, but on Mars the temperature is normally too cold and the atmosphere [ http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/mars/lower_atmosphere.html ] too thin to sustain liquid water [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981007.html ]. Nevertheless, many scientists hypothesize that liquid groundwater can sometimes surface on Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/mars.html ], erode gullies and channels, and pool at the bottom before freezing and evaporating. If so, life-sustaining ice and water [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980530.html ] might exist even today below the Martian surface [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000514.html ] -- water that could potentially support a human mission to Mars [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/99/marsoxygen.html ]. Research into this exciting possibility [ http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000E2998-F791-1CF3-93F6809EC5880000 ] is sure to continue!
Martian Dust Devil Trails
Title
Martian Dust Devil Trails
Explanation
Who's [ http://www.gargaro.com/marvin.html ] been marking up Mars? This portion of a recent high-resolution picture [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/lpsc2000/3_00_dustdevil/ index.html ] from the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft shows twisting dark trails criss-crossing a relatively flat rippled region about 3 kilometers wide on the martian surface. Newly formed [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/7_30_98_devil_rel/ ] trails like these presented researchers with a tantalizing martian mystery but have now been identified as likely the work of miniature wind vortices [ http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/honors/student/tornado/spouts.htm ] known to occur on the red planet [ http://marsweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] - martian dust devils [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/7_1_99_devils/ ]. Another example of wind [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000202.html ] processes on [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/science/atmospheric.html ] an active Mars, dust devils [ http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~lemmon/impMPF/ ] had been detected passing near the Viking and Mars Pathfinder [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/default.html ] landers. Such spinning columns of rising air heated by the warm surface are common in dry and desert areas on planet Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000303.html ]. Typically lasting only a few minutes, they becoming visible as they pick up loose dust. On Mars [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chronology_mars.html ], dust devils [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/8_10_99_releases/moc2_171/ index.html ] can be up to 8 kilometers high [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/8_10_99_releases/moc2_171/ moc2_171d_msss.jpg ] and leave dark trails as they disturb the bright, reflective surface dust.
Sand Dunes on Mars
Title
Sand Dunes on Mars
Explanation
Sand dunes on Mars can appear exotic. The dark dunes above [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/01_31_01_releases/sharks/index.html ] might be compared to shark's teeth [ http://mgs.dnr.md.gov/esic/brochures/sharks.html ] or chocolate confections [ http://www.exploratorium.edu/chocolate/ ]. In reality, they arise from the complex relationship between the sandy surface [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000514.html ] and high winds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000514.html ] on Mars. These particular dunes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980814.html ] are located in Proctor Crater [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/8_10_99_releases/moc2_170/ ], a 170 kilometer wide crater first seen to house sand dunes by Mariner 9 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/tmp/1971-051A.html ] more than 25 years ago. The above picture [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/01_31_01_releases/sharks/index.html ] was taken by Mars Global Surveyor [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ] (MGS), a robot spacecraft [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/overvu/overview.html ] currently in orbit around Mars [ http://www.nineplanets.org/mars.html ]. MGS has recently completed a primary goal [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/01_31_01_releases/index.html ] of taking and transmitting detailed survey images of the red planet [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/mars.html ] over an entire Martian year (669 Earth days). MGS will now be deployed [ http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/mgs_update_001212.html ] to study particularly interesting regions of Mars [ http://cmex-www.arc.nasa.gov/ ] in more detail.
The Fogs of Mars
Title
The Fogs of Mars
Explanation
Fogs of clouds and dust covered parts of southern Mars [ http://www.nineplanets.org/mars.html ] during last Martian winter [ http://www.giss.nasa.gov/data/mars/time/ ]. Giant volcanoes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981019.html ], such as Ascraeus Mons [ http://www.solarviews.com/cap/mars/ascraeu2.htm ], the central circular feature near the top of the image [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/05/20/index.html ], were surrounded by large water clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010417.html ]. Slightly southwest, Pavonis Mons [ http://ic.arc.nasa.gov/ic/projects/bayes-group/Atlas/Mars/VSC/views/md00nxxx/md00n120.html ] and Arisa Mons [ http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-volcano-01a1.html ] also peeked above their water clouds. The rough terrain below center is Labyrinthus Noctis [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/canyons/PIA00941.html ], a maze of deep troughs running over 200 kilometers long. Directly south, a large white dust storm fogs Syria Planum [ http://ic.arc.nasa.gov/ic/projects/bayes- group/Atlas/Mars/VSC/views/md15sxxx/md15s105.html ], a large plateau [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020913.html ]. This image mosaic [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/05/20/index.html ] was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/overvu/overview.html ] spacecraft currently orbiting Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/mars.html ]. Soon, five more [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030502.html ] Earth-launched spacecraft should arrive at the Red Planet [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010331.html ], named for the Roman god of war [ http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(god) ].
Viking 1 Picture of the Mart
…
Title
Viking 1 Picture of the Martian Surface
Full Description
Viking 1 obtained this color picture of the Martian surface and sky on July 24, 1976. Camera number 1 facing southeast captured part of the gray structured spacecraft in the foreground. A bright orange cable leads to one of the descent rocket engines. Orange-red surface materials cover most of the surface, apparently forming a thin veneer over dark bedrock. A zone of large dark boulders is present in the far-field. The sky has a reddish cast, which is probably due to scattering and reflection from reddish sediment suspended in the lower atmosphere. This picture had been radiometrically calibrated, using information on camera performance acquired before launch. Although the colors are very vivid the fidelity with which the bright orange cable is reproduced suggests the intense colors of the Martian surface.
Date
07/26/1976
NASA Center
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Martian "Swiss Cheese
title
Martian "Swiss Cheese
Description
This image is illuminated by sunlight from the upper left. Looking like pieces of sliced and broken swiss cheese, the upper layer of the martian south polar residual cap has been eroded, leaving flat-topped mesas into which are set circular depressions such as those shown here. The circular features are depressions, not hills. The largest mesas here stand about 4 meters (13 feet) high and may be composed of frozen carbon dioxide and/or water. Nothing like this has ever been seen anywhere on Mars except within the south polar cap, leading to some speculation that these landforms may have something to do with the carbon dioxide thought to be frozen in the south polar region. On Earth, we know frozen carbon dioxide as 'dry ice'. On Mars, as this picture might be suggesting, there may be entire landforms larger than a small town and taller than 2 to 3 men and women that consist, in part, of dry ice. No one knows for certain whether frozen carbon dioxide has played a role in the creation of the 'swiss cheese' and other bizzare landforms seen in this picture. The picture covers an area 3 x 9 kilometers (1.9 x 5.6 miles) near 85.6°S, 74.4°W at a resolution of 7.3 meters (24 feet) per pixel. This picture was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) during early southern spring on August 3, 1999. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Description
Dazzled by the beauty of the strange features in the Athabasca Valles channel system on Mars, geologist Windy Jaeger pondered their origin. In a new paper, she concludes that lava filled the channel system to the brim and then drained away leaving a thin coating of hard lava rock to preserve the underlying landscape. Other unique features indicating that massive lava flows once filled the channels are hydrovolcanic cones that formed when water met lava and boiled explosively, leaving behind small, conical and ring-shaped features visible in and around the dune field (upper left).
A Colorful Marriage of Old &
…
title
A Colorful Marriage of Old & Young
Description
Primordial and prehistoric come together in a lasting bond of something old, something new, something orange, and something blue. In this false-color image, blue signals cooler sand or dust around an ancient crater, which dates back to a violent time of cataclysmic collisions about 4 billion years ago, shortly after Mars formed. Later, sheets of lava streamed across the surface and lapped against the crater walls. These younger lava rocks "glow" orange and yellow since they retain more heat at night than the sand and dust. More at the THEMIS Instrument site >> [ http://themis.asu.edu/features/sirenum ] Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Bright Streaks and Dark Fans
title
Bright Streaks and Dark Fans
Description
Browse Image | Full Resolution (1.05 MB) More images at the UA HiRISE site >> [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_004350_1635 ]
Athabasca Vallis Streamlined
…
title
Athabasca Vallis Streamlined "Islands
Description
Tremendous floods carved these tear drop-shaped landforms in Athabasca Vallis in the Cerberus region, south of the Elysium volcanoes. The orientation of the streamlined forms indicate that the fluid flowed from the right/upper right toward the left/lower left (from the northeast to the southwest). Similar features occur in central and eastern Washington in the northwestern United States. The examples in Washington formed when massive amounts of water rushed across the landscape, scouring a "channeled scabland" during the last Ice Age, roughly 12,000-13,000 years ago. The features on Mars are much older, while the absolute age cannot be determined, the small impact craters with rayed ejecta patterns on the flood surfaces indicate it must be much, much older than the flood landscape in Washington. This is a mosaic of six Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images acquired in 1999 through 2002. Illumination is from the left. The mosaic covers an area 11.9 km (7.4 mi) by 13.0 km (8.1 mi). The full-size mosaic has a resolution of 4 meters (13 ft) per pixel. Images Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems Caption by: K. S. Edgett and M. C. Malin, MSSS
Terrain Type for Phoenix Lan
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title
Terrain Type for Phoenix Landing
Description
This view shows the texture of the ground in the area favored as a landing site for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander mission. The pattern resembles permafrost terrain on Earth, where cycles of thawing and freezing cause cracking into polygon shapes. This is a subframe, covering a patch of ground about 700 meters (2,300 feet) across, from a larger image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Nov. 11, 2006. The full image, catalogued as PSP_001418_2495 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_001418_2495 ], shows an area of far-northern Mars centered at 69.2 degrees north latitude, 234.2 degrees east longitude.
Ice Clouds over Mars
Title
Ice Clouds over Mars
Explanation
Mars [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/mars.html ] has clouds too. The above true color image [ http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/ops/sol45-46.html ] taken in August by Mars Pathfinder [ http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/default.html ] shows clouds of ice high in the Martian atmosphere [ http://humbabe.arc.nasa.gov/mgcm/faq/climate_study.html ]. Unlike Earth's atmosphere [ http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/space/atmosphere.html ] which is composed predominantly of nitrogen [ http://cst.lanl.gov/CST/imagemap/periodic/7.html ] and oxygen [ http://cst.lanl.gov/CST/imagemap/periodic/8.html ], Mars' atmosphere is composed mostly of carbon dioxide [ http://hydrolab.arsusda.gov/csl/bsum.html ]. Nevertheless, a trace amount of water [ http://www.sciam.com/1196issue/1196kargelbox2.html ] does freeze into visible clouds [ http://marswatch.tn.cornell.edu/jgr_co2.html ] at night, which become particularly apparent during the day by reflection of sunlight. Contact was lost [ http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/default.html ] with Mars Pathfinder [ http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov/default1.html ] last Sunday but re-established later in the week.
A Face On Mars
Title
A Face On Mars
Explanation
This image, showing what looks to be a human face [ http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/facts/HTML/FS-016-HQ.html ] (above center) and other features of the Cydonia region on the Martian surface [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960207.html ], was produced using data from NASA's Viking 1 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/viking.html ] orbiter in 1976. Described in a NASA press release [ http://barsoom.msss.com/education/facepage/pio.html ] as a "rock formation which resembles a human head", some have since offered the extraordinary explanation that the face is an artificial construct built by a civilization on Mars [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/mars.html ]! However, most scientists have a more conventional view - that this feature [ http://barsoom.msss.com/education/facepage/face.html ] is indeed a natural Martian hill whose illusory face-like appearance [ http://barsoom.msss.com/education/happy_face/happy_face.html ] depends on illumination and viewing angle. This month [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/98/cydonia2.html ], the Mars Global Surveyor [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ ] satellite will be in position to take new pictures [ ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/1998/98-050.txt ] of this region of controversial Martian features along with areas around the Mars Pathfinder [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971010.html ] and Viking landing [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960722.html ] sites.
View of Argyre Basin from Te
…
PIA08067
Sol (our sun)
Mars Color Imager (MARCI), M
…
Title
View of Argyre Basin from Test of Mars Color Image
Original Caption Released with Image
, three views acquired by MARCI are compared to a color composite of two views acquired about four hours later by the wide-angle imager of Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. The MARCI imaging occurred during the morning on Mars, while the MOC observations were made at about 2 p.m. local solar time. The region of Mars imaged by MARCI was south of the Valles Marineris. It includes the Argyre Basin's interior plains, Argyre Planitia, and mountains forming the basin rim, Nereidum Montes to the northwest (middle of images) and Charitum Montes to the southeast (bottom of images). The color composite from MARCI differs from the MOC wide-angle color composite because, to create a color image with MOC data, camera-team members synthesize (fake) a green channel by adding the red and blue channels together and dividing by two. The slightly greenish tint of the MARCI image shows that the approximation used for MOC images underestimates the amount of green. The test image labeled 260 nm shows how the planet appears at an ultraviolet (UV) waveband of 260 nanometers, where ozone absorbs the UV light. Relatively darker areas in this band normally will indicate the presence of ozone, and relatively lighter areas will indicate the absence of ozone. Water vapor in Mars' atmosphere is in an inverse relationship with ozone, where there is more of one, there is less of the other. So, lighter areas in images can be used to track water vapor. The term "relatively" is used here because Mars itself is very dark in the UV owing to absorption of UV light by iron-bearing minerals, and sunlight is deficient in UV relative to visible light, so in general Mars will always look dark in the UV. A second UV band on MARCI (not shown in the figure above) at a longer wavelength allows these differences to be quantified. The MOC wide-angle image shows wispy, light water-ice clouds to the northwest of Argyre in the afternoon, but researchers cannot yet correlate these clouds with the UV information from MARCI, especially because the times of day are different. When in its final mapping orbit, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will view the same area as Mars Global Surveyor separated by only one hour, and such correlations will be much more direct. For more details of how MARCI images are acquired and processed, see the companion release, MARCI2-3 [ http://www.msss.com/mro/marci/images/2006/04/13/marci_detail/index.html ], and be certain to examine the 15.6 Mbyte animated Gif movie, . The pictures shown here are the first views of Mars acquired by the Mars Color Imager on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This is a re-flight of a similar instrument that was aboard the Mars Climate Orbiter, which was lost in September 1999 during its orbit insertion activity. In the primary science phase of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MARCI will routinely acquire daily global maps of the planet. These data will be used to help track storms, monitor clouds and water vapor, and track seasonal changes in surface albedo (bright and dark) patterns and the polar caps., MARCI Bands Composite The Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired a seven-band color, wide-angle view of Mars on March 24, 2006, as part of a checkout of the orbiter's payload. This image shows a color composite made from the MARCI red, green, and blue bands. The view looks northward and includes the large Argyre Basin in Mars' southern hemisphere. One use of the test imaging is an opportunity to fine-tune calibrations used for processing the separate bands into "true" color -- as it would appear to a human eye looking down from orbit. Further calibration will be needed. Regular use of MARCI and the other science instruments on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will begin in autumn 2006, after the spacecraft's orbit has been reshaped to a nearly circular, low-altitude path. The March 24 test produced images from each color band. Illustrated here are some of these test images. In figure 1
The Gullies Of Mars
Title
The Gullies Of Mars
Explanation
The recently revealed gullies [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/june2000/ ] on Mars are rare. But they may [ ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-099.txt ] prove to be sites of present day, near surface, liquid water [ http://cmex-www.arc.nasa.gov/SiteCat/sitecat2/water.htm ], holding out the tantalizing possibility of martian life [ http://cmex-www.arc.nasa.gov/SiteCat/sitecat2/stratex.htm ]. Too small to have been seen by past [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mep/history/index.html ] Mars orbiters, these disconcerting landforms were found in only about 250 out of more than 20,000 high resolution images from the operating Mars Global Surveyor [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/images/highres.html ] spacecraft. Gullies found so far are located away from the martian [ http://cmex.arc.nasa.gov/MarsTools/MarsTools.html ] equatorial region at middle and high latitudes (predominately in the south) and on poleward facing slopes. They are disconcerting because researchers have a compelling body of evidence [ http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/ hottopics/index.html ] that the martian gullies are related to groundwater seepage and, like their terrestrial counterparts, liquid water runoff -- on a planet [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970627.html ] whose surface is thought to be too cold and atmosphere too thin for liquid water to exist. The gullies in the three kilometer wide area pictured above [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/june2000/scicover/ index.html ] are in the south facing wall of a crater in southern Noachis Terra [ http://cmex-www.arc.nasa.gov/SiteCat/sitecat2/oasis.htm ]. Unblemished by craters and overlaying young surface features, these and other gullies are inescapably young [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/june2000/age/ index.html ] themselves. In fact, future [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/mars/ ] monitoring of the martian gullies for changes could demonstrate whether the flows that formed them are still active today.
Sand Dunes of Nili Patera, S
…
title
Sand Dunes of Nili Patera, Syrtis Major
Description
This dramatic image shows a field of dark sand dunes in the Nili Patera region of Syrtis Major. The shapes of these dunes indicate that wind has been steadily transporting the dark sand from the right/upper right toward the lower left. This picture was taken on the first day of the MGS Mapping Phase during the second week of March 1999. It shows an area 2.1 kilometers (1.3 miles) wide at the full commanded resolution of 3 meters per pixel. Illumination is from the upper left. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
The South Pole of Mars
Title
The South Pole of Mars
Explanation
The south pole of Mars [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/mars/ ] is the bright area near the center of the detailed, subtly shaded color image above. Recorded in September of this year by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft, the picture shows [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/spolar_9_01/index.html ] a region surrounding the 400 kilometer wide martian polar cap [ http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/html/polar1.htm ] in the midst of southern hemisphere spring [ http://www.msss.com/http/ps/seasons/seasons.html ]. During this season the ice cap [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/polaricecaps/index.html ], predominantly layers of frozen carbon dioxide [ http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/oct98/crys1098.htm ] (dry ice [ http://www.dryiceinfo.com/ ]) plus some water ice, begins to shrink as the ices change directly from solid to gas (sublimate). Hazy clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971017.html ] of ice crystals [ http://marswatch.tn.cornell.edu/jgr_co2.html ] and fog, extend across the bottom of the picture and a darker, more defrosted area is visible at the upper right, near the Red Planet's [ http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/online.bks/mars/ contents.htm ] night side. A wealth of [ http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/tharsis/snow_paper.html ] MGS data has allowed changes in the extent and density [ http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20011206molaice.html ] of the ice cap to be tracked over time. Now, researchers are also reporting indications that, in addition to seasonal changes [ http://www.mgcm.arc.nasa.gov/mgcm/faq/ climate_study.html ], overall the martian southern ice cap has been dwindling in recent years -- dramatic evidence of [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/polaricecaps/ co2_cover_100.html ] a changing martian climate [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2001/ release_2001_238.html ]. At the measured rate, the increasing amount of carbon dioxide released could gradually raise Mars' atmospheric pressure, doubling it over hundreds to thousands of martian [ http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/ Archives/mars/marsfacts.html ] years.
Brain Crater on Mars
Title
Brain Crater on Mars
Explanation
What caused this unusual looking crater floor on Mars? Appearing at first glance to resemble the human brain [ http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/ ], the natural phenomena that created the unusual texture on the floor of this Martian impact crater [ http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/SIC/impact_cratering/World_Craters_Web/intromap.html ] are currently under investigation. The light colored region surrounding the brain-textured region is likely sand dunes [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010226.html ] sculpted by winds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990112.html ]. The Mars Global Surveyor [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/overvu/overview.html ] robot spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971006.html ] since 1997 took the above image [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2004/05/05/ ]. Meanwhile, down on the surface, robots Spirit [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040104.html ] and Opportunity [ http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/ ] continue to roll, inspecting landscape [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040504.html ], rocks [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040310.html ], and soil [ http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/msad03mar99_1.htm ] for clues to the ancient watery past [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040303.html ] of the red planet [ http://www.nineplanets.org/mars.html ]. Humorously, this brain-terrain [ http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/cases/caseNA/pb9.htm ] on Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/mars.html ] spans about a kilometer, making it just about the right size [ http://badastronomy.com/bad/misc/hoagland/face.html ] to fit inside the rock formation [ http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/extended_may2001/face/index.html ] once dubbed the Face [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010528.html ] on Mars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980406.html ].
Ancient Layered Rocks in Sch
…
title
Ancient Layered Rocks in Schiaparelli Crater
Description
One of the earliest results of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) investigation shortly after the spacecraft began to orbit Mars in 1997 was the discovery of layered rock outcrops reaching deep down into the martian crust in the walls of the Valles Marineris. Since that time, thousands of MOC images have revealed layered rock in a variety of settings--crater floors, canyon interiors, and scarps exposed by faulting and pitting. This spectacular example taken by MOC in 2001 is found on the floor of an impact crater located near the equator in northwestern Schiaparelli Basin (0.15°N, 345.6°W). The image covers an area approximately 3 km (1.9 miles) across and is illuminated by sunlight from the upper left. Layers of uniform thickness and appearance suggest that these materials are ancient sediments, perhaps deposited in water, or perhaps deposited by wind. Wind has subsquently eroded and exposed the layers. Dark drifts of sand occur at the lower center of the image, and lighter-toned windblown ripples dominate the center and upper right. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Promethei Terra
title
Promethei Terra
Description
Dark streaks, everywhere! Many Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images of the middle latitudes of the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars show wild patterns of criss-crossing dark streaks. Many of these streaks are straight and narrow, others exhibit curly arcs, twists, and loops. They often cross over hills, run straight across dunes and ripples, and go through fields of house-sized boulders. The example shown above was acquired in the last three months. The picture is illuminated by sunlight from the upper left. It shows an area approximately 3 km by 5 km in Promethei Terra at a latitude of 58°S. For many months the MOC science team was seeing streaks such as these, but were uncertain how they formed. One speculation was that they might result from the passage of dust devils. Each dust devil would leave a dark streak by removing bright dust from the terrain in its path, revealing a darker surface underneath. An image described by the MOC team in July 1998 showed examples of streaks that were, at the time, speculated to be caused by dust devils. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems
Olivine-Rich Bedrock Around
…
title
Olivine-Rich Bedrock Around Nili Fossae
Description
Colors indicate infrared emission signatures in this mosaic of images from NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter of a region of martian troughs named Nili Fossae. Analysis of this information from Odyssey's Thermal Emission Imaging System suggests that a deposit rich in the mineral olivine is about four times larger than indicated in earlier data from a lower-resolution infrared instrument on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. The olivine-rich exposures appear magenta to purple-blue in this color-coding. Olivine can turn into other minerals rapidly in the presence of water. This deposit, in a relatively old region of Mars' surface adjacent to one of the planet's largest volcanoes, Syrtis Major, suggests the region may never have seen much water. The mosaic covers most of an area about 380 kilometers (about 240 miles) wide, from 75 degrees to 81 degrees in east longitude and from 18 degrees to 25 degrees in north latitude. North is up. Emission intensities at infrared wavelengths of 12.57 nanometers, 11.04 nanometers and 9.35 nanometers are displayed in red, green and blue, respectively. This mosaic was presented in a report in the June 2005 issue of the journal Geology. For additional information about that report, see a University of Hawaii press release [ http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/SOEST_News/News/PressReleases/Hamilton/ ]. Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU
Mars south polar layered dep
…
title
Mars south polar layered deposits December 8, 2003
Description
View complete mosaic image [ http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/gallery/science/PIA04910.html ] A zoom shows details in an area about 75 kilometers (47 miles) by 100 kilometers (62 miles), centered at about 80 degrees south latitude and 99 degrees east longitude. An older impact crater in the left part of the scene is filled with younger deposits from the layered terrain. Credit: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University ###
Description
Tracks left by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity as it traveled along the rim of Victoria Crater can be seen clearly in this image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. This is a subframe of a larger image that the camera acquired on June 26, 2007. The larger image will be released as HiRISE catalogue number PSP_004289_1780 after geometric processing. Opportunity first approached Victoria Crater at an alcove informally named "Duck Bay" (see tracks at left). It then drove along the crater's sinuous edge in a clockwise direction before heading back to Duck Bay, where it is expected to enter the crater in early July 2007.
