View allAll Photos Tagged MarsReconnaissanceOrbiter
Though Mars is the Red Planet, false-color images can help us learn about its weather and geology. This image shows a variety of wind-related features on the Red Planet near the center of Gamboa Crater. Larger sand dunes form sinuous crests and individual domes.
There are tiny ripples on the tops of the dunes, only several feet from crest-to-crest. These merge into larger mega-ripples about 30 feet apart that radiate outward from the dunes. The larger, brighter formations that are roughly parallel are called "Transverse Aeolian Ridges" (TAR). These TAR are covered with very coarse sand.
The mega-ripples appear blue-green on one side of an enhanced color cutout while the TAR appear brighter blue on the other. This could be because the TAR are actively moving under the force of the wind, clearing away darker dust and making them brighter. All of these different features can indicate which way the wind was blowing when they formed. Being able to study such variety so close together allows us to see their relationships and compare and contrast features to examine what they are made of and how they formed.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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This image taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft’s HIRISE instrument on Oct. 23, 2022, of the northern plains of Arabia Terra shows craters that contain curious deposits with mysterious shapes and distribution. For instance, the deposits are located on the south sides of the craters, but not usually in the north, and are found only in craters larger than 600 meters in diameter. Scientists suspect that these features formed by sublimation of ice-rich material.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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Mars has a thin atmosphere – just 1% as dense as Earth's. As a result, there's less of a protective barrier to burn up space debris. That means larger meteors make it through the Red Planet's atmosphere than Earth's. CTX has detected over 800 new impact craters during MRO's mission. After CTX spotted this one, scientists took a more detailed image with the HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The crater spans approximately 100 feet (30 meters) in diameter and is surrounded by a large, rayed blast zone. In examining the distribution of ejecta – the debris tossed outward during the formation of a crater – scientists can learn more about the impact event. The explosion that created this crater threw ejecta as far as 9.3 miles (15 kilometers).
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
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Land changes over time, so having a spacecraft at Mars for years offers a unique perspective. "The more we look, the more we discover," said Leslie Tamppari, MRO's deputy project scientist at JPL. "Before MRO, it wasn't clear what on Mars really changed, if anything. We thought the atmosphere was so thin that there was almost no sand motion and most dune movement happened in the ancient past."
We now know that's not the case. "False color" has been added to this image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to accentuate certain details, like the tops of dunes and ripples. Many of these landforms are migrating, as they do on Earth: Sand grain by sand grain, they're carried by wind, crawling across the planet over millions of years.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
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NASA’s InSight lander recorded a magnitude 4 marsquake last Dec. 24, but scientists learned only later the cause of that quake: a meteoroid strike estimated to be one of the biggest seen on Mars since NASA began exploring the cosmos. What’s more, the meteoroid excavated boulder-size chunks of ice buried closer to the Martian equator than ever found before – a discovery with implications for NASA’s future plans to send astronauts to the Red Planet.
Scientists determined the quake resulted from a meteoroid impact when they looked at before-and-after images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and spotted a new, yawning crater. Offering a rare opportunity to see how a large impact shook the ground on Mars, the event and its effects are detailed in two papers published Thursday, Oct. 27, in the journal Science.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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More about the InSight Mars Lander
As the HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter pans over large swaths of Mars' surface, it occasionally discovers surprises like this towering dust devil, which was captured from 185 miles (297 kilometers) above the ground. The length of this whirlwind's shadow indicates that it was more than half a mile (800 meters) high – about the size of the United Arab Emirate's Burj Khalifa, the tallest building on Earth.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Named for the Greek god of fear, Phobos is one of Mars' two moons (Deimos, named for the god of terror, is the other), and it's only about 13 miles (21 kilometers) across. Stickney Crater, the indentation on the moon's lower right, is about 5.6 miles (9 kilometers) wide in this image from the HiRISE aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Despite its small size, Phobos is of great interest to scientists: Is it a captured asteroid, or a chunk of Mars that broke off after a massive impact? A Japanese mission is scheduled to launch to Phobos in the near future, and the moon has been proposed as a staging ground for astronauts before they go to Mars.
Image credit: NASNA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
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The HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured avalanches in action. As seasonal ice vaporized in the spring, these 1,640-foot-tall (500-meter-tall) cliffs at Mars' north pole began to crumble. Such cliffs reveal the deep time scales on the planet, exposing the many layers of ice and dust that have settled during different eras. Like the rings of a tree, each layer has a story to tell scientists about how the environment was changing.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
NASA’s InSight Lander Detects Stunning Meteoroid Impact on Mars
NASA’s InSight lander recorded a magnitude 4 marsquake last Dec. 24, but scientists learned only later the cause of that quake: a meteoroid strike estimated to be one of the biggest seen on Mars since NASA began exploring the cosmos.
What’s more, the meteoroid excavated boulder-size chunks of ice buried closer to the Martian equator than ever found before – a discovery with implications for NASA’s future plans to send astronauts to the Red Planet.
Scientists determined the quake resulted from a meteoroid impact when they looked at before-and-after images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and spotted a new, yawning crater. Offering a rare opportunity to see how a large impact shook the ground on Mars, the event and its effects are detailed in two papers published Thursday, Oct. 27, in the journal Science.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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The winds that carve the north pole’s troughs of Mars also reshape Mars’ sand dunes, causing sand to pile up on one side while removing sand from the other side. Over time, the process causes dunes to migrate, just as it does with dunes on Earth.
Surrounded by frost, these Martian dunes in Mars’ northern hemisphere were captured from above by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter using its HiRISE camera on Sept. 8, 2022.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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On Aug. 18, 2023, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured ridged lines carved onto Mars’ landscape by the gradual movement of ice. While surface ice deposits are mostly limited to Mars’ polar caps, these patterns appear in many non-polar Martian regions.
As ice flows downhill, rock and soil are plucked from the surrounding landscape and ferried along the flowing ice surface and within the icy subsurface. While this process takes perhaps thousands of years or longer, it creates a network of linear patterns that reveal the history of ice flow.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona
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With help from AI, scientists discovered a fresh crater made by an impact that shook material as deep as the Red Planet’s mantle.
Meteoroids striking Mars produce seismic signals that can reach deeper into the planet than previously known. That’s the finding of a pair of new papers comparing marsquake data collected by NASA’s InSight lander with impact craters spotted by the agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Captured by the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on March 4, 2021, this impact crater was found in Cerberus Fossae, a seismically active region of the Red Planet. Scientists matched its appearance on the surface with a quake detected by NASA’s InSight lander.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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This image from ESA’s Mars Express shows Utopia Planitia, a plain that fills one of three major basins in the northern hemisphere of Mars – Utopia – and has a diameter of 3 300 km, in wider context.
The area outlined by the bold white box indicates the area imaged by the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera on 12 July 2021 during orbit 22150.
Credits: NASA/MGS/MOLA Science Team
On Jan. 16, 2020, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured this image of two types of sand dunes on Mars: barchan and linear dunes.
The small dots are called barchan dunes, and from their shape we can tell that they are upwind. The downwind dunes are long and linear. These two types of dune each show the wind direction in different ways: the barchans have a steep slope and crescent-shaped “horns” that point downwind, while the linear dunes are stretched out along the primary wind direction. Linear dunes, however, typically indicate at least two different prevailing winds, which stretch out the sand along their average direction.
Barchan and linear dunes aren’t just a Martian phenomenon – we can also see them on Earth. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have snapped photos of them occurring in Brazil and Saudi Arabia.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
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This image was taken by the MRO through HiRISE on 12 December 2022 from an altitude of 250.9 km, the circular area should be about 2 km in size. The colouring and magnification was done by artificial intelligence. The curious shape of this part of the Martian orography is very reminiscent of a bear. The curious V-shape of the central hill is very reminiscent of the nose and mouth of a plantigrade. Note the protrusion of a rock reminiscent of a bear's tooth. The two northernmost craters are reminiscent of the bear's eyes, while the circular subsidence of the whole area defines the contours of the face.
It is just pareidolia, the human brain trying to derive meaning from what it sees. A real freak of nature. The file is available for download at 668.74 million pixels at 25860x25860 pixels.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/PipploIMP (for enlargement and colouring via AI).
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Phobos is the closest moon to its planet, orbiting Mars in 7.5 hours, faster than Mars itself which spins with a 24.6 hour day.
The surface of this small moon has been pounded into powder by eons of meteoroid impacts, some of which started landslides that left dark trails marking the steep slopes of giant craters. There is incredible detail when viewed at full size. So it's soft and low, in stark contrast to Hyperion.
Russia has made three failed attempts to land on Phobos; I visited the most recent spacecraft — Phobos-Grunt — in Russia prior to launch (below).
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a depression or crater on Mars with a very cracked crust near by.
Editor's note: NASA's Curiosity Rover is scheduled to land on the surface of Mars on the evening of Aug. 5/6, 2012. (Read more here: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html). In honor of this historic event, here are some breathtaking stills of the Red Planet.
Image caption: Dunes in Herschel Crater on Mars, seen by the HiRise instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Image credit: NASA
More about Curiosity and the Mars Science Laboratory:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html
View the "Mars Landscapes" photoset:
www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/sets/72157630860188338/
View the "Mars Landscapes" video:
www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=...
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This image shows the northern end of a mound of sedimentary rock in Juventae Chasma, a canyon north of the Valles Marineris canyon system. This canyon system is the apparent source of the Maja Vallis outflow canyon system.
The floor of Juventae Chasma lies nearly 5 km below the surrounding plains of Lunae Planum, and appears to have formed through a combination of extensional faulting and melting of subsurface ice. In places, this canyon was infilled by thick sedimentary deposits up to 3 km thick. These deposits are sulfate-rich (similar to those in Meridiani Planum and Gale Crater) and suggest they were deposited at a time when water was becoming more scarce on Mars.
Eons of wind erosion have sculpted these deposits into thick mounds with deeply incised canyons. In some places, layers form rhythmically spaced layers, indicating that astronomical cycles such as orbital eccentricity and pole orientation were strong controls on the deposition of sediments.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on February 14, 2007. It uses CRISM observation HRL0000444C and CTX observation P04_002590_1768_XI_03S061W.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Aster Cowart
This image covers a unique polar dune field during northern spring, revealing some interesting patterns.
The main “megadune” formation comprises giant crescent-shaped dunes called “barchans,” which have been migrating (from upper-right to lower-left) over the past several centuries or more.
Acquisition date
06 May 2021
Local Mars time
14:02
Latitude (centered)
82.042°
Longitude (East)
312.660°
Spacecraft altitude
317.3 km (197.2 miles)
Original image scale range
31.8 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~95 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel
Source: www.uahirise.org/ESP_069261_2620
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) imaged the ExoMars Schiaparelli module’s landing site on 25 October 2016, following the module’s arrival at Mars on 19 October.
The zoomed insets provide close-up views of what are thought to be several different hardware components associated with the module’s descent to the martian surface. These are interpreted as the front heatshield, the parachute and the rear heatshield to which the parachute is still attached, and the impact site of the module itself.
In the image, north is up; west to the left. Schiaparelli was travelling from west to east. The image scale is 29.5 cm/pixel. The brightness of the individual zooms have been adjusted to best reveal the features against the martian surface in each case.
The 100 m scale bar in the main image is only indicative, as the HiRISE image was taken at an oblique angle. The distances given between the various components in the main text have been corrected for this effect.
More information: Detailed images of Schiaparelli and its descent hardware on Mars
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
The distinctively fluted surface and elongated hills in this image in Medusae Fossae are caused by wind erosion of a soft fine-grained rock, called yardangs. These features are aligned with the prevailing wind direction. This wind direction would have dominated for a very long time to carve these large-scale features into the exposed rock we see today.
Yardangs not only reveal the strength and direction of historic winds, but also reveal something of the host rock itself. Close inspection by HiRISE shows an absence of boulders or rubble, especially along steep yardang cliffs and buttresses. The absence of rubble and the scale of the yardangs tell us that the host rock consists of weakly-cemented, fine granules in deposits tens of meters, or more, thick. Such deposits could have come from extended settling of volcanic ash, atmospheric dust, or accumulations of wind deposited fine sands. After a period of time these deposits became cemented and cohesive, as illustrated by the high standing relief and exposed cliffs.
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in December 2016, which is in the upper half of a geological unit called the Murray formation on lower Mount Sharp.
Blue triangles mark waypoints investigated by Curiosity during the rover's two-year prime mission and first two-year extended mission. The "Hematite Unit" and "Clay Unit" are key destinations for the second two-year extension, which lasts through September 2018. An approximate possible route is indicated for studying those layers of the mountain.
The base image for the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Bagnold Dunes form a band of dark, windblown material at the foot of Mount Sharp.
Enhanced & Enlarged version of PIA24622 "Mont Mercou" Gale Crater Mars
Original Caption Released with Image:
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured these clouds just after sunset on March 19, 2021, the 3,063rd Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission. The image is made up of 21 individual images stitched together and color corrected so that the scene appears as it would to the human eye. The clouds are drifting over "Mont Mercou," a cliff face that Curiosity has been studying.
Source image: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24622
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of folds in the ice on Mars' northern polar ice cap, with the required dust on top.
PictionID:54485843 - Catalog:AV007 022 - Title:Array - Filename:AV007 022.jpg - ---- Images from the Convair/General Dynamics Astronautics Atlas Negative Collection. The processing, cataloging and digitization of these images has been made possible by a generous National Historical Publications and Records grant from the National Archives and Records Administration---Please Tag these images so that the information can be permanently stored with the digital file.---Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Barchan dunes located in the 70km wide Bunge Crater (33.7 S, 311.4 E). In this type of dune, the crescent-shaped tips point downwind. The tips are connected connected by a steep slope (the 'slipface'), which marks the migrating front edge of the dune. Dunes of this type form when wind blows from a single direction, in this case from the bottom left. Some dunes, especially towards the top, appear to be transitioning towards seif ('ridge') dunes or star dunes, indicating that the general wind direction is more complex. As these dunes are located close to the crater rim, it is likely that the topography creates large changes in the wind field over short distances.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on January 19, 2007. It uses CRISM observation HRS00003F3D and CTX observation P03_002260_1459_XI_34S048W
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Justin Cowart
A partially infilled depression in the Meridiani Planum region. The origin of this depression is unclear, but it may be an crater formed by a low-angle impact or a possible volcanic vent. Regardless of its origin, this depression was partially filled with sediments. Modern erosion of these sediments has exposed fine internal layering, creating the appearance of bathtub rings.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on January 13, 2007. It uses CRISM observation FRT00003E24 and CTX observation P03_002179_1855_XI_05N001W.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Aster Cowart
This is a crop from the full resolution image - Focusing on the Dune's Detail.... (Bacterial / Biological footprints perhaps)
Acquisition date
01 October 2020
Local Mars time
14:30
Latitude (centered)
56.717°
Longitude (East)
350.838°
Spacecraft altitude
309.8 km (192.6 miles)
Source: www.uahirise.org/ESP_066476_2370
A small exposure of light-toned bedrock in Mars' Meridiani Planum region. Based on the Opportunity rover's exploration of southern Meridiani Planum, these rocks are interpreted to have been deposited in a large dune field crossed by larger rivers originating from the highlands to the southeast. The ever shifting courses of these rivers left hundreds of small "fossil" channel segments in the region, of which the winding ridge at center right may be one.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on January 3, 2007. It uses CRISM observation FRT00003BB2 and CTX observation P03_002060_1822_XI_02N353W.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Aster Cowart
Layered sedimentary rocks on the floor of the 67 km wide Danielson Crater, located in Mars' Arabia Terra region. Semi-regular thickness variations suggest that sediment deposition was influenced by astronomical cycles, like changes in axial tilt, axial precession and orbital eccentricity. These rocks have been deeply eroded by wind, exposing the many thousands of layers that accumulated over eons.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on December 10, 2006. It uses CRISM observation HRL00003551 and CTX observation P02_001744_1879_XI_07N006W.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Aster Cowart
Dune Monitoring in Crater / Mars
Full resolution Jp2000 Infrared Blue filter
Acquisition date
07 April 2021
Local Mars time
14:52
Latitude (centered)
64.850°
Longitude (East)
209.369°
Spacecraft altitude
311.0 km (193.3 miles)
Source data: www.uahirise.org/ESP_068896_2450
This image shows the contact between crater ejecta and a lava flow in Daedalia Planum. The crater ejecta is composed of weak, fragmented rock, which has been eroded by wind to form a series of parallel ridges called yardangs. The lava flows, which are composed of mechanically resistant rocks, are more or less unchanged from when they were emplaced.
The streakiness of colors in this image are due to the variable deposition and erosion of light-colored dust. High-standing obstacles block the wind, allowing dust to accumulate on surfaces. In areas exposed to wind, dust is more easily removed, revealing darker sand and bedrock.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on March 2, 2007. It uses CRISM observation HRL0000489C and CTX observation P05_002804_1667_XI_13S143W.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Aster Cowart
A small side canyon in the Kasei Valles system. 'Small' is a relative term, as the valley floor lies 1.5 km (~1 mi) below the surrounding volcanic tablelands. This region has been extensively shaped by gigantic floods originating north of the Valles Marineris region. This side canyon occurs both along a faulted area and a large fork in the canyon, which suggests it was carved as water attempted to flow around the large obstruction in the canyon.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on December 10, 2006. It uses CRISM observation HRL0000355d and CTX observation P02_001746_2025_XI_22N063W.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Aster Cowart
A small plateau located a spine of mountains separating Coprates Chasma (a main canyon in the Valles Marineris system) from a smaller side canyon paralleling it to the south. This plateau appears to be a small remnant of the flat upland surface present to the north and south of the Valles Marineris. At least two different layers of rock are visible along the sides of this plateau. Similar layers are found along the rim of Valles Marineris. It is unclear when these layers formed, but they were perhaps deposited during the opening stages of Coprates Chasma's formation, when the region started to subside but had yet to form the deep canyons of today..
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on January 2, 2007. It uses CRISM observation HRS00003B3C and CTX observation P03_002036_1655_XI_14S055W.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Justin Cowart
An isolated mound of light-toned sediment located on the largely sand-covered floor of the Ganges Chasma canyon system. This mount is likely an isolated remnant of the Ganges Mensa deposit, a 100 x 50 km wide plateau of layered sulfate-bearing sediments located a short distance to the west. The soft nature of this rock has caused the formation of aerodynamic, wind-sculpted landforms called yardangs.
This image combines a 40 m/px natural color CRISM hyperspectral image (600 nm, 530 nm, and 440 nm as RGB channels, respectively) with a 5 m/px monochrome CTX image. The CRISM image was collected on June 12, 2007, and the CTX image was collected on May 4, 2009.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / MSSS / JHU / APL / Justin Cowart
Dunefields in Sera Crater, a 28 km diameter impact crater in Mars' Arabia Terra region. The crater is partially infilled by layered deposits, some of which appear to be rhythmic deposits. Rhythmic deposits have regular or semi-regular variations in layering thickness. These changes are usually interpreted as the result of long-term orbital and axial cycles, which in turn create regular climate cycles.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on December 22, 2006. It uses CRISM observation FRT000037F7 and CTX observation P02_001902_1889_XI_08N001W
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Justin Cowart
Description NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) launches at 7:43 a.m. EDT atop a Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Aug. 12. All systems performed nominally for NASA's first Atlas V launch. The spacecraft will arrive at Mars in March 2006. Once in orbit around Mars, various instruments on the MRO will convey detailed observations of the Martian surface, subsurface and atmosphere. Researchers will use the data to study the history and distribution of Martian water. Learning more about what has happened to the water will focus searches for possible past or present Martian life. Observations by the orbiter will also support future Mars missions by examining potential landing sites and providing a communications relay between the Martian surface and Earth.
Credit: NASA/JPL/KSC/Lockheed Martin Space Systems
Image Number: PIA04141
Date: August 12, 2005
Acquisition date
01 June 2021
Local Mars time
13:07
Latitude (centered)
85.123°
Longitude (East)
235.358°
Spacecraft altitude
318.4 km (197.9 miles)
Original image scale range
31.9 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~96 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel
Source: www.uahirise.org/ESP_069593_2650
The floor of Melas Chasma. This canyon, a side canyon in the Valles Marineris system, formed though the tearing of Mars' crust under the weight of the Tharsis Montes volcanoes to the west. This tearing formed faults, along which the canyon walls formed.
As these large canyons opened, they partially filled with sediments. Modern erosion of these sediments has revealed layers on the canyon floor, near the bottom of the image. Closer to the faulted region, downward slumping of the valley floor has twisted and folded this layering, forming the distorted bands along the canyon wall.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on February 11, 2007. It uses CRISM observation HRL000043C6 and CTX observation P04_002551_1712_XI_08S076W.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Aster Cowart
A crater located in Mars' Nili Fossae region. The material filling this crater is slowly being removed by the headward erosion of a channel network. The surrounding landscape is composed of extremely ancient materials which have reacted extensively with water to create an assortment of clay minerals and mineralized veins.
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on January 13, 2007. It uses CRISM observation FRT00003E12 and CTX observation P03_002176_2024_XI_22N28.
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Aster Cowart
Gullies developed on the rim of an unnamed 20 km crater located within the 150 km wide Mariner Crater. The gullies here likely originate from the accumulation of ice on the shadowed northern slope of the crater. One reason for this interpretation is the lobes of material that have accumulated at the base of some gullies; these resemble rock glaciers (mixtures of loose rock and sediment with ice filling the open space between particles).
This image was created using the CRISM imaging spectrometer. Each pixel of a CRISM image contains a 500 point spectrum, from which a color can be reconstructed. This reconstructed color was overlaid on a higher-resolution image taken with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera (CTX), which simultaneously took a photo while CRISM was collecting data.
This image was taken on January 23, 2007. It uses CRISM observation HRS00003FA5 and CTX observation P03_002317_1447_XI_35S164W
Image Credit: NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / MSSS / Justin Cowart