View allAll Photos Tagged MarsReconnaissanceOrbiter
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of anomalous terrain (the image source didn't specify) on the aureole of Olympus Mons on Mars.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Jezero Crater, site of where Perseverance will land next month (February 2021). Color/processing variant.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of an avalanche on a Martian north polar scarp exposing carbon dioxide frost that is falling down the scarp. The white spot in the dark layer is the falling carbon dioxide. Cropped and processed variant.
Original caption: This scarp at the edge of the North Polar layered deposits of Mars is the site of the most frequent frost avalanches seen by HiRISE. At this season, northern spring, frost avalanches are common and HiRISE monitors the scarp to learn more about the timing and frequency of the avalanches, and their relationship to the evolution of frost on the flat ground above and below the scarp.
This picture managed to capture a small avalanche in progress, right in the color strip. See if you can spot it in the browse image, and then click on the cutout to see it at full resolution. The small white cloud in front of the brick red cliff is likely carbon dioxide frost dislodged from the layers above, caught in the act of cascading down the cliff. It is larger than it looks, more than 20 meters across, and (based on previous examples) it will likely kick up clouds of dust when it hits the ground.
The avalanches tend to take place at a season when the North Polar region is warming, suggesting that the avalanches may be triggered by thermal expansion. The avalanches remind us, along with active sand dunes, dust devils, slope streaks and recurring slope lineae, that Mars is an active and dynamic planet.
Written by: Paul Geissler (30 September 2015)
Image and caption source: hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_042572_2640
This image shows lava crumpled against the upstream side of an impact crater. In places where we see smaller ridges in the lava, they have steep faces that retain less dust and look rocky. Because of the lesser amount of dust, we might be able to see better details of the topography.
The crater itself is extremely old, having long been filled in with dust and its rim severely eroded. Note also the flat surrounding terrain.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of an avalanche on a Martian north polar scarp exposing carbon dioxide frost that is falling down the scarp.
Original caption: This scarp at the edge of the North Polar layered deposits of Mars is the site of the most frequent frost avalanches seen by HiRISE. At this season, northern spring, frost avalanches are common and HiRISE monitors the scarp to learn more about the timing and frequency of the avalanches, and their relationship to the evolution of frost on the flat ground above and below the scarp.
This picture managed to capture a small avalanche in progress, right in the color strip. See if you can spot it in the browse image, and then click on the cutout to see it at full resolution. The small white cloud in front of the brick red cliff is likely carbon dioxide frost dislodged from the layers above, caught in the act of cascading down the cliff. It is larger than it looks, more than 20 meters across, and (based on previous examples) it will likely kick up clouds of dust when it hits the ground.
The avalanches tend to take place at a season when the North Polar region is warming, suggesting that the avalanches may be triggered by thermal expansion. The avalanches remind us, along with active sand dunes, dust devils, slope streaks and recurring slope lineae, that Mars is an active and dynamic planet.
Written by: Paul Geissler (30 September 2015)
Image and caption source: hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_042572_2640
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of the floor of Gale Crater. I looked to see if I could see Curiosity but I couldn't find it - I don't even know if Curiosity is in the image...
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of Endeavour Crater showing the full, and, unfortunately, final route map of Opportunity, from when she landed to her last location.
Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23178
Original caption: This final traverse map for NASA's Opportunity rover shows where the rover was located within Perseverance Valley on June 10, 2018, the last date it made contact with its engineering team.
Visible in this map is a yellow traverse route beginning at Opportunity's landing site, Eagle Crater, and ranging 28.06 miles (45.16 kilometers) to its final resting spot on the rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover was descending down into the crater in Perseverance Valley when the dust storm ended its mission.
This map is made from several images taken by the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Those images are: B02_010486_1779_XN_02S005W, P15_006847_1770_XN_03S005W, and P13_006135_1789_XN_01S005W. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates the camera.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Exploration Rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter projects for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Image Addition Date:
2019-04-25
Edited and converted into a 360° circle Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Aram Dorsum, which is a possible landing site for ESA's ExoMars rover in 2018.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of blue sand dunes in Melas Chasma. The color is blue because the image is infrared (which, if you look at that statement from a purely vocabulary-level, makes no sense whatsoever).
Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22783
Original caption: This color-infrared image shows sand dunes in Melas Chasma, located within the Valles Marineris canyon system. The dark-blue and purple colors indicate coarse-grained sands that are comprised of basalt, an iron and magnesium-rich volcanic rock that formed from cooled lava millions of years ago when volcanism was an active process on Mars.
Migrating sand dunes often lead to the erosion and excavation of underlying material; regions where there are active dune fields are ideal places to search for exposed bedrock. Repeated imaging of dunes may also show changes that provide evidence for active surface processes related to wind patterns and climate.
The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 26.5 centimeters (10.4 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 79 centimeters (31.1 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/Univ. of Arizona
Image Addition Date:
2018-10-01
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of the landing spot of Perseverance's heat shield in Jezero Crater. Processed variant.
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 part of a very straight and large crack on Mars - part of Cerberus Fossae.
Two views of Mars' moon Deimos from an old PR image from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Processing variant.
NASA's Curiosity rover and its parachute were spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descended to the surface on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT). The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera captured this image of Curiosity while the orbiter was listening to transmissions from the rover. Curiosity and its parachute are in the center of the white box; the inset image is a cutout of the rover stretched to avoid saturation. The rover is descending toward the etched plains just north of the sand dunes that fringe "Mt. Sharp." From the perspective of the orbiter, the parachute and Curiosity are flying at an angle relative to the surface, so the landing site does not appear directly below the rover.
This view is one product from an observation made by HiRISE targeted to the expected location of Curiosity about one minute prior to landing. It was captured in HiRISE CCD RED1, near the eastern edge of the swath width (there is a RED0 at the very edge). This means that the rover was a bit further east or downrange than predicted.
The image scale is 13.2 inches (33.6 centimeters) per pixel.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of diverse and interesting deposits in Melas Chasma. Color variant.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of Opportunity near Endeavour Crater. Opportunity hasn't responded since the start of the global dust storm (which is now mostly over). This image was taken on 20 September 2018. Color/processing variant.
Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22549
Original caption: NASA's Opportunity rover appears as a blip in the center of this square. This image taken by HiRISE, a high-resolution camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the dust storm over Perseverance Valley has substantially cleared.
The square highlighting Opportunity is just over a half-mile (1 kilometer) across (Figure 1). The image was taken Thursday, September 20, 2018, from about 166 miles (268 kilometers) above the surface.
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/Univ. of Arizona
Image Addition Date:
2018-09-25
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of the Earth and the Moon, seen from Mars orbit. Color variant.
Original caption: Full image and caption
From the most powerful telescope orbiting Mars comes a new view of Earth and its moon, showing continent-size detail on the planet and the relative size of the moon.
The view is available online at:
www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA21260
The image combines two separate exposures taken on Nov. 20, 2016, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The images were taken to calibrate HiRISE data, since the reflectance of the moon's Earth-facing side is well known. For presentation, the exposures were processed separately to optimize detail visible on both Earth and the moon. The moon is much darker than Earth and would barely be visible if shown at the same brightness scale as Earth.
The combined view retains the correct positions and sizes of the two bodies relative to each other. The distance between Earth and the moon is about 30 times the diameter of Earth. Earth and the moon appear closer than they actually are in this image because the observation was planned for a time at which the moon was almost directly behind Earth, from Mars' point of view, to see the Earth-facing side of the moon.
In the image, the reddish feature near the middle of the face of Earth is Australia. When the component images were taken, Mars was about 127 million miles (205 million kilometers) from Earth.
With HiRISE and five other instruments, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been investigating Mars since 2006.
The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of 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. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the orbiter and collaborates with JPL to operate it. For additional information about the project, visit:
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a dune field (being monitored for changed) in Syrtis Major on Mars.
MRO has been orbiting Mars for nearly 10 years. One benefit of MRO's nearly three completed extended missions is the chance to see landscapes change over time.
These barchan sand dunes are a case in point: these have been imaged at least five times already, and each time, a bit more movement is revealed. The steeply dipping slip faces (where sand slides down after it gets piled up on the dunes' crests) indicate the direction of the wind, although this particular dune field seems to show two converging wind directions.
Edited PR image of layers stacked up on the floor of an impact crater on Mars. Cropped by NASA.
Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09578
Original caption: This HiRISE image shows a stack of layers on the floor of an impact crater roughly 30 km across. Many of the layers appear to be extremely thin, and barely resolved.
In broad view, it is clear that the deposit is eroding into a series of ridges, likely due to the wind. Below the ridges, additional dark-toned layered deposits crop out. These exhibit a variety of textures, some of which may be due to transport of material.
The light ridges are often capped by thin dark layers, and similar layers are exposed on the flanks of the ridges. These layers are likely harder than the rest of the material, and so armor the surface against erosion. They are shedding boulders which roll down the slope, as shown in the subimage (figure 1). Although these cap layers are relatively resistant, the boulders do not seem to accumulate at the base of the slope, so it is likely that they also disintegrate relatively quickly.
The subimage shown is 250 meters wide. The light is from the left. Boulders can be seen on the slopes of the ridges along with thin dark layers including the cap layer, but they are absent on the spurs where the resistant cover has been eroded. This demonstrates that the boulders come only from the dark layers, and are not embedded in the rest of the deposit.
Observation Geometry
Image PSP_001503_1645 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on 21-Nov-2006. The complete image is centered at -15.3 degrees latitude, 89.7 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 256.3 km (160.2 miles). At this distance the image scale is 25.6 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~77 cm across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 cm/pixel and north is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 03:35 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 62 degrees, thus the sun was about 28 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 138.7 degrees, the season on Mars is Northern Summer.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Univ. of Arizona
Image Addition Date:
2007-01-24
The patterns in this odd terrain, found in the Deuteronilus Mensae region of Mars, probably resulted from ice in the soil. The soil, or glaciers underneath it, also appears to be flowing downhill around obstacles.
Sent by: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | From: Mars | Sent: Oct, 2008 | Credit: NASA/JPL/UA
Added to www.ridingwithrobots.org Nov 5, 2008.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Curiosity in Gale Crater. This is the much larger image of Gale Crater with Curiosity (this is the RGB version). Annotated version to show the location of Curiosity.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of polygon landscapes on Mars, with the borders of the polygons made up of rocky ridges (see next image).
This image of layered sulfate-containing deposits in the Coprates Chasma region of Mars was taken by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) at 1827UTC (1:27 p.m. EST) on December 12, 2006 near 10.2 degrees south latitude, 68.8 degrees west longitude. The image was taken in 544 colors covering 0.36-3.92 micrometers, and shows features as small as 40 meters (132 feet) across. The image is about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) wide at its narrowest point. The top panel in the montage above shows the location of the CRISM image on a mosaic taken by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft’s Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS). The CRISM data covers an area centered on a knob near the chasma’s northern wall.
The center left image, an infrared false color image, shows the knob’s layered morphology. The center right image unveils the mineralogical signatures of some of those layers, with yellow representing monohydrated sulfates (sulfates with one water molecule incorporated into each molecule of the mineral) and purple representing polyhydrated sulfates (sulfates with multiple waters per mineral molecule).
The lower two images are renderings of data draped over topography with 3 times vertical exaggeration. These images provide a view of the topography and reveal how the sulfate deposits relate to that topography. Darker polyhydrated sulfates (purple) lie along the knob's western flank. Brighter, monohydrated sulfates (yellow) appear to be superimposed on polyhydrated sulfate deposits in the southwest corner of the image. These coarsely banded deposits continue along the southeast side of the knob.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of mounds in Chryse Planitia. Color/processing variant.
Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22682
Original caption: This image was acquired on May 15, 2018 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This observation shows relatively bright mounds scattered throughout darker and diverse surfaces in Chryse Planitia. These mounds are hundreds of meters in size. The largest of the mounds shows a central pit, similar to the collapsed craters found at the summit of some volcanoes on Earth. The origins of these pitted mounds or cratered cones are uncertain. They could be the result of the interaction of lava and water, or perhaps formed from the eruption of hot mud originating from beneath the surface.
These features are very interesting to scientists who study Mars, especially to those involved in the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission. If these mounds are indeed mud-related, they may be one of the long sought after sources for transient methane on Mars.
The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 60.5 centimeters (23.8 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 181 centimeters (71.3 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/Univ. of Arizona
Image Addition Date:
2018-09-04
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of spiders (the geologic formation, not the arachnids) on an ejecta blanket.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of seasonal frost at the Viking 2 landing site. (I did a quick scan of the image to see if I could spot Viking 2 but didn't have any luck (or, more accurately, patience).)
(If this image actually uploads, it will be the largest I've ever uploaded to Flickr at 193MB. Download at your own risk in bandwidth.)
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of fading dust devil tracks on Mars, being used to determine the rate of dustiness, which is, apparently, quite high. Processing variant.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of ripples on sand dunes in Her Desher Vallis. Color/processing variant.
One of the derived products from the HiRISE experiment is the production of digital elevation models (DEMs). These DEMs provide unprecedented details of the topography of Mars, and are made from two areas of the same area on the ground, taken from slightly different look angles. As a general guide, terrain can be derived at a post spacing about 4 times the pixel scale of the input image, so that the DEM post spacing is 1 – 2 m with vertical precision in the tens of centimeters range. Thus these data are produced in a different manner from the DEM shown this month in image PRPDC-0031.
This image shows different elevations as a color rainbow, with the highest point at an elevation of -2405 m, and the lowest point at -3137 m. It covers part of the floor of Valles Marineris, centered at 7.82oS, 279.49oE (see below image) and could be used for numerous structural studies.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of Perseverance soon after it landed in Jezero Crater. The white lobes on either side are where the descent stage blew dust around during the landing process.
Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24334
Original caption: The High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was able to capture this image of NASA's Perseverance rover 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 a color (relatively speaking) crater in Syrtis Major. Color/processing variant.
Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22727
Original caption: Some regions of Mars are not very colorful, but we can be surprised by local features. This image of an impact crater in the south Syrtis Major region was acquired as a "ride-along" with a CRISM observation, which targeted this location because that instrument's team expected a distinct composition.
Our enhanced image reveals colors ranging from red to green to blue. These are infra-red shifted colors (infrared-red-blue) so it's different than what we would see with our eyes.
The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 53.3 centimeters (21.0 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 160 centimeters (63.0 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/University of Arizona
Image Addition Date:
2018-10-15
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a new and icy crater on Mars. Color/processing variant. It's relatively easier to see the structure of the crater itself in this variant.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of right-angle canyon intersections in the bottom of a crater on Mars.
Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of fractured mounds and cracks in part of Elysium Planitia.