View allAll Photos Tagged MarsReconnaissanceOrbiter
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of low albedo (doesn't reflect much light) slops on ridges in Coprates Chasma.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of an exhumed crater in Meridiani Planum. NASA-provided cropped image.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of part of the Eridania Region being examined as a possible landing site for NASA's 2020 Mars rover mission (a rover very similar to Curiosity).
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of part of Jezero Crater, landing site for the Mars 2020 mission. This is part of the petrified delta that is of interest.
Original caption: A Candidate Landing Site for the 2020 Mission in Jezero Crater
This image was acquired in 2015 and is one of over two dozen images we took to help the Mars 2020 mission decide where to land in Jezero Crater. While this image is not exactly where the rover will land or explore, it underscores the importance of the HiRISE camera to provide high resolution images for future exploration.
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona (Alt: 321 km, less than 5 km across.)
Source: www.uahirise.org/ESP_042315_1985
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of colorful sediments near Hellas Basin on Mars. Color/processing variant.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of eroding sand dunes and mesas in the Hellespontus Region of Mars. Processing variant.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of layered deposits of material in craters in the Nilosyrtis region of Mars.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of the Curiosity Rover in Gale Crater. The rover is the black dot near the center of the image. Annotated to show Curiosity.
Original caption:
NASAs Curiosity Mars rover appears as a dark speck in this image captured from directly overhead by the agencys Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO.
February 29, 2024
click here for Figure A for PIA26245
Figure A
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover appears as a dark speck in this image captured from directly overhead by the agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO. The orbiter is equipped with a camera capable of viewing objects the size of a dinner table on the Red Planet's surface.
The camera, called the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), has viewed spacecraft on the surface many times before. Here, it captured Curiosity driving up a steep slope on Dec. 29, 2023, the 4,051st Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission.
Curiosity is seen in an area striped with alternating dark and light bands. Scientists are interested in learning what differentiated the materials on the surface to form these different bands.
Figure A: the same image with Curiosity circled.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages MRO for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.
Images from HiRISE and additional information about MRO are available online at: mars.nasa.gov/mro/ or HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu.
Curiosity was built by JPL, which leads the mission on behalf of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of ridges and light-tone outcroppings north of Atlantis Chaos.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of part of the rim of Gale Crater (Curiosity is not visible in this image - Curiosity is near the central peak, not the rim).
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Martian sand dunes in the USGS sand dune data base (entry number 2670-522). Image was taken to see the changes over time.
This combination of images helped researchers analyze the youngest flood lava on Mars, which is in Athabasca Valles, in the Elysium Planitia region of equatorial Mars. On the left, color coding indicates relative elevation. The labels A and B indicate the locations of the two images on the right. The images on the right appear three dimensional when viewed through red-blue glasses. The features evident here are phreatovolcanic cones related to lava-water interactions. They can be used as indicators of where the lava flowed. ASU-IPF-3056
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of outflow material from Mafra Crater on Mars. Color/processing variant.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a large canyon in the mountains of Gale Crater, whose slopes are being monitored for changes.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a sharply-angled fracture on the flank of the volcano Pavonis Mons on Mars. Color/processing variant.
This is an RGB image meaning it's close to what you would see if you were in orbit around Mars.
This is of a feature I requested to be imaged via the HiWish web site. This site lets anyone suggest a location on Mars to be imaged as long as you can come up with a plausible justification (eg, "interesting-looking right-angle bend in a fracture" or "Marvin the Martian's Summer Home in Utopia Planitia" (although the last one may be ignored)). I've had three or four of my suggestions accepted and it's always a thrill to see them published.
JPL's title for this image is "Fractures and Pits on Flank of Pavonis Mons."
Image source: www.uahirise.org/ESP_056616_1800
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of part of the delta of Jezero Crater on Mars, the intended landing spot for the Perseverance Rover in February of 2021. Color/processing variant.
Slope streaks begin at a point, and it only takes a small disturbance at that point to initiate the streak, such as a dust devil or an impact crater. Scientists think these are caused by dry avalanches of dust or sand falling downhill, revealing darker material underneath. The streaks are very shallow and don't appear to disturb pre-existing features on the surface, like ripples, or in this case, the boulder tracks. This case is particularly interesting because the slope streak appears to have flowed around the boulder.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter context image of of hills (and a nice crater) and swirls in the Hellas Planitia region of Mars.
At around 2,200 kilometers in diameter, Hellas Planitia is the largest visible impact basin in the Solar System, and hosts the lowest elevations on Mars' surface as well as a variety of landscapes. This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) covers a small central portion of the basin and shows a dune field with lots of dust devil trails.
In the middle, we see what appears to be long and straight "scratch marks" running down the southeast (bottom-right) facing dune slopes. If we look closer, we can see these scratch marks actually squiggle back and forth on their way down the dune. These scratch marks are linear gullies.
Just like on Earth, high-latitude regions on Mars are covered with frost in the winter. However, the winter frost on Mars is made of carbon dioxide ice (dry ice) instead of water ice. We believe linear gullies are the result of this dry ice breaking apart into blocks, which then slide or roll down warmer sandy slopes, sublimating and carving as they go.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of intercrater sand dunes in Meridiani Planum. Color (very) variant.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of snowy dunes on Mars (probably carbon dioxide snow, not water snow).
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of terrain near the boundary of a dichotomy of surface types on Mars.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sand dunes and layers in a crater in the Nilosyrtis region of Mars.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of the landing spot of Perseverance's heat shield in Jezero Crater.
Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24337
Original caption: The High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was able to capture this image of the final location of the heat shield that helped protect NASA's Perseverance rover during its landing on the surface of Mars. The image was taken on Feb. 19, 2021.
It is a close-up version of a larger image showing several parts of the Mars 2020 mission landing system that got the rover safely on the ground, PIA24333.
These close-ups of Mars 2020 hardware were processed to make them easier to see.
MRO's mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, built the spacecraft. The University of Arizona provided and operates HiRISE.
A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
For more about Perseverance: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Image Addition Date:
2021-02-22
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sand dunes in the north polar region of Mars. Processing variant.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of frost on gullies in a crater on the northern plains of Mars. Color variant.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of cracks filled with light-colored material. The original title said there is a 250 meter diameter crater but I can't see one...
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of dry ice and water ice near the Martian south pole. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: The Changing Climate of Mars
A story of changes in the climate of Mars is told by icy deposits. Remnants of a formerly extensive deposit composed of dry ice layered together with dust and water ice form what is known as the south polar residual cap.
This deposit is shrinking over time as the frozen carbon dioxide turns to vapor. Rounded valleys that give the deposit an appearance resembling Swiss cheese are enlarging over time, exposing an older surface below that is likely made up of water ice.
Read more: www.uahirise.org/ESP_056563_0960
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Edited and cropped Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a bluish ("purple" according to the MRO headline) mountain on Mars.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a terraced crater on Mars. Terraced craters can be formed when there are layers of material with different strengths where the asteroid strikes a planet.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter MARCI PR image of Mars before and during the current global dust storm. This is an animated GIF (created by NASA) of the rotation of Mars during the dust storm.
To view animation, click on View all sizes and select Original size.
Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22487
Original caption: Side-by-side movies shows how dust has enveloped the Red Planet, courtesy of the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The view from May shows Valles Marineris chasms (left), Meridiani center, an autumn dust storm in Acidalia (top) and the early spring south polar cap (bottom). The view from July shows the same regions, but most of the surface was obscured by the planet-encircling dust cloud and haze.
Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, provided and operates MARCI. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft.
More information about Curiosity is online at www.nasa.gov/msl and mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Image Addition Date:
2018-07-19
This image spans the floor of Ius Chasma’s southern trench. Ius Chasma is located in the western region of Valles Marineris, the solar system’s largest canyon. This canyon is well known for its fine stratigraphic layers modified by wind and water. The outcrops contain interchanging layers of dark and bright rocks. The layered deposits consist of dark basalt lava flows and bright sedimentary layers. The sediments are likely to be from atmospheric dust, sand, or alluvium from an ancient water source. The layers are visible on the gentle slopes above the canyon floor, in pitted areas, and in small mesa buttes. The floor of the canyon is littered with megaripples that are aligned in a north-south direction.
This image shows a landslide along the margin of a small mesa in the Xanthe Terra region of Mars. This particular landslide has many blocks and boulders on the surface. It is likely these large pieces of the mesa wall rock rafted downslope when the landslide occurred and not jumbled and pulverized into smaller sizes. This observation gives some insight into the possible physics involved in downslope transport of rock materials. Landslides and other mass wasting features are also important in the overall study of Mars as they give some indication of the stability of rock materials.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of either Oxia or Mawrth Vallis - the caption is surprisingly vague... Inverted grayscale variant.
Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22805
Original caption: HiRISE plays an important role in finding suitable landing sites for future rover missions. Scientists have narrowed down the candidate landing sites for the upcoming European ExoMars rover mission to two regions: the plains of Oxia and Mawrth Vallis.
Images covering these areas aid scientists in picking a location that will be both scientifically interesting and a safe place to land and operate. HiRISE pictures help to assess the risk for each particular location so that a final landing site can be selected.
If you look very closely, the image may appear hazy. This is due to additional dust lingering in the atmosphere from the massive summer global dust storm at the time we acquired this observation. ExoMars is due to launch to Mars in 2020.
The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 28.3 centimeters (11.1 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 85 centimeters (33.5 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.
The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Image Addition Date:
2018-10-29