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| Videos |
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| 2009 |
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| 2008 |
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Peeling Back Layers of a Martian Polar Ice Cap
This artist's animation illustrates how NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter used radar to map the insides of the north polar ice cap on Mars.
The animation begins by showing the orbiter flying above the Red Planet. It then shows the orbiter shooting out beams of radio waves across a slice of the ice cap. The waves, which belong to the radio portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, penetrate through the ice and bounce back at different times depending on the differing concentrations of sand and dust in the ice.
The result is a glimpse inside the layers that make up the ice cap, as demonstrated by the next part of the movie. The ice cap slices open to reveal what the scientists found. Flashing green lights show some of the actual radar reflections, subsequently seen as dark lines delineating the layers. While the uppermost thin layers were observed before in camera images, the deeper layers have been discovered by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The movie ends by showing the radar image by itself.
These observations demonstrate that radar can be used to study the history of global climate on Mars by revealing the patterns of deep layering. They also expose a flat boundary between the ice cap and the surface of Mars, indicating that the outer strong shell of Mars must be thick enough to support the weight of the ice cap without sagging. This, in turn, suggests that the planet's outer shell, called the lithosphere, is colder than previously thought, with temperatures in the interior increasing gradually with depth. Any bodies of liquid water that might exist underneath Martian ground must therefore be deeper than previously calculated, where temperatures are warmer.
This artist's animation is based on data from the Shallow Radar instrument on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, as well as images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor mission.
The Shallow Radar instrument was provided by the Italian Space Agency. Its operations are led by the University of Rome and its data are analyzed by a joint U.S.-Italian science team. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Rome/SwRI
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| 2007 |
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Carbon-Dioxide Frost Settling from Seasonal Outbursts on Mars (Movie)
This movie, constructed by overlaying a time series of images taken by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), shows seasonal changes and unearthly processes that occur in Mars' south polar seasonal frost cap.
Mars' seasonal caps consist of frozen carbon dioxide mixed with smaller amounts of water ice frost and dust. The different composition of Mars' seasonal caps than Earth's seasonal caps (water-ice snow), plus the lower pressure of the Martian atmosphere, inevitably make springtime recession of the seasonal cap different than the snowmelt that characterizes retreat of Earth's seasonal cap. To monitor Mars' seasonal changes, CRISM repeatedly targets specific regions as Mars' seasons change. Results shown here are evidence that as warming carbon-dioxide ice vaporizes, some is trapped under the ice slab from which pressurized outbursts occur. The released gas expands, cools, and some of it refreezes and falls back to the surface as bright fans.
The region shown in this movie, known informally as Manhattan, is located at 86.3 degrees south latitude, 99 degrees east longitude. To represent the content of the spectral images, two versions of the data are shown side-by-side. The left image was constructed from extended visible wavelengths, to look similar to color images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. The right image is infrared false-color, with red being the reflectance at 1.30 micrometers, green being depth of the water ice absorption centered at 1.5 micrometers, and blue being depth of the carbon dioxide ice absorption centered at 1.435 micrometers. In this color scheme, surfaces with higher water ice content will appear greenish, while bright carbon dioxide ice will appear magenta. Areas covered by dust will appear dark. In both images, north is to the right. The four time steps in the movie were taken at solar longitudes (Ls) ranging from 195 through 226. (Solar longitude is a measure of seasons, where 180 is southern spring equinox and 270 is southern summer solstice.)
The first frame shows a number of spots and dark fan-shaped features, with a higher concentration of spots on a slope in the middle of the scene. The dark fans show multiple directions, generally indicating wind coming out of the east. The second frame was taken just a few days after the prior one and starts to show color variations in the fans.
The third frame records appearance of bright (bluish) fans in addition to the dark fans. The bright fans are slightly more bluish in the false-color image at right, indicating enrichment in carbon dioxide ice. The tails of the dark fans are more greenish, indicated a slight enhancement of water ice. The fourth and final frame shows distinct bright fans that appear magenta in the false-color image, indicating carbon dioxide ice with little evidence of water ice. However the surrounding surface is greenish, suggesting small amounts of water ice contamination. The tails of the dark fans appear to be more greenish in the infrared than the surrounding ice, suggesting a slight enhancement of the water ice contamination. The difference between the directions of dark and bright fans suggests changes in the wind direction, perhaps as part of a diurnal cycle or pattern.
CRISM science team members working with these data believe that they are seeing evidence for a process first proposed based on data from the Thermal Imaging System (THEMIS) instrument on Mars Odyssey. In this hypothesis, sunlight penetrating the ice warms the underling soil and causes carbon dioxide frost to vaporize at its base. At first the gas is trapped under the frost; when it is released, the expanding gas cools and part of it refreezes to form carbon dioxide frost in the magenta-colored fans.
The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) is one of six science instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Led by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the CRISM team includes expertise from universities, government agencies and small businesses in the United States and abroad.
CRISM's mission: Find the spectral fingerprints of aqueous and hydrothermal deposits and map the geology, composition and stratigraphy of surface features. The instrument will also watch the seasonal variations in Martian dust and ice aerosols, and water content in surface materials . leading to new understanding of the climate.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Video Candidate for a Mars Landing
- Oct 11, 2007
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in orbit around Mars has examined many possible landing sites for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory rover, including the Nili Fossae area seen here.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ.of Arizona
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Video Exploration of Details in Athabasca Valles on Mars
- Sep 20, 2007
This video provides zoom and pan moves to emphasize the context and features of a Martian valley named Athabasca Valles, perhaps the youngest outflow channel on Mars. The detailed view comes from an image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on April 4, 2007.
Features in this and other images reveal that Athabasca Valles is entirely draped by a thin layer of lava. This requires that a fissure eruption fed a large volume of lava through the channels in geologically recent times. Most of the scene is covered by dust, but a few areas appear blue (in exaggerated color) where rocks and sand are exposed.
The location of the terrain explored in this video is at about 10 degrees north latitude, 156 degrees east longitude. The HiRISE source image is catalogued as PSP_003294_1895.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ.of Arizona
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Simulated Flight over Gullied Crater
- Sep 20, 2007
This video uses three-dimensional modeling of a gullied crater in the Centauri Montes region of Mars and simulates a flight over that landscape. One gully inside the crater has a deposit of light-toned material that was not present in 1999 but appeared by 2004, as determined from before-and-after images taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. The deposit is several hundred meters or yards long.
The imagery and stereo information for this video come from images taken on Dec. 12, 2006, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera and the Context Camera (CTX) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The HiRISE image is catalogued as PSP_001714_1415.
The location of this crater is at about 38 degrees south latitude, 97 degrees east longitude.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ.of Arizona/MSSS/USGS
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Video Exploration of Details in Martian North Polar Layered Deposits
- Sep 20, 2007
This video provides zoom and pan moves to emphasize the context and features of layered deposits near the north pole of Mars. The detailed view comes from an image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Dec. 12, 2006.
Patterns in the layering of this ice-rich material provide clues to global climate variations on Mars.
The location of the terrain explored in this video is at about 87 degrees north latitude, 93 degrees east longitude. The HiRISE source image is catalogued as PSP_001738_2670.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ.of Arizona
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Mars Rovers Battle Severe Dust Storm
- July 20, 2007
Whopper dust storms on Mars are whipping up potential problems for the twin Mars rovers, Opportunity and Spirit. Opportunity in particular is getting less power from the sun because it's blocked by a dusty haze. To conserve Opportunity's power supply, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have told the rover to conduct only essential operations. Once the storm subsides, the plan is to have Opportunity descend into Victoria Crater, which could be a site of intriguing science discoveries.
Huge dust storms whip around Mars every 5 to 6 years. Scientists hope the rovers will weather this latest storm, and in fact, that they will learn a lot about Martian dust storms from observations made by the rovers, by NASA's orbiting Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and by the European Mars Express spacecraft.
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Flying Over Opportunity's Work Site
- March 13, 2007
Images of "Victoria Crater" in Mars' Meridiani Planum region, taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, provided detailed, three-dimensional information that was used to create this animation of a hypothetical flyover. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity reached the edge of this crater in September 2006 and began exploring its rim clockwise.
Victoria is about 800 meters (one-half mile) in diameter. This animated flyover approaches the crater from the south, and then moves counterclockwise around part of the rim. An enhanced glimpse of Opportunity appears at a location where the rover was seen by the orbiter.
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/U.S. Geological Survey
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Flying Over Spirit's Work Site
- March 13, 2007
Images of the "Columbia Hills" region inside Mars' Gusev Crater, taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, provided detailed, three-dimensional information that was used to create this animation of a hypothetical flyover. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been exploring this range of hills since 2004.
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/U.S. Geological Survey
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| 2006 |
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Seeing Mars Better Than Ever
- October 17, 2006
NASA's newest Mars spacecraft, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, is providing an unprecedented view of the surface of Mars.
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Imager Instrument Pointing Simulation
- May 01, 2006
This animation highlights the orbiter's context imager as it took and returned its first image.
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter First Images of Mars from HiRISE
- May 01, 2006
This animation highlights the first images returned by the orbiter's HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiement) camera.
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Instrument Pointing Simulation
- May 01, 2006
In order to wow us with amazing new views of the Red Planet, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter must be able to rotate its instrument deck to face its target. This animation features the spacecraft moving to get into position for optimal martian snapshots!
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Color Imager Instrument Pointing Simulation
- May 01, 2006
This animation highlights the first use of the MARCI (Mars Color Imager) camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Launch, Mars Orbit Insertion and Aerobraking Animation
- March 09, 2006
Follow the journey of NASA's next generation Mars orbiter during its launch, through the vastness of space and as it reaches critical mission milestones. The spacecraft's powerful suite of instruments and their unprecedented capabilities are highlighted.
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A Mars Eye Opener
- March 06, 2006
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will see things at Mars in greater detail than ever before.
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Next Leap in Mars Exploration
- March 03, 2006
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will bring new capabilities to Mars exploration. The spacecraft arrives at Mars Mar. 10, 2006.
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| 2005 |
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: Fall 2004 Update
- January 11, 2005
Less than a year before the launch of the largest spacecraft ever sent to Mars, engineers and technicians at Lockheed Martin were busily assembling the spacecraft while engineers and scientists at JPL were moving into their operations space.
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| 2004 |
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Animation
Full Version - June 07, 2004
Furthering our global perspective of Mars and its watery past, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is revealing the red planet as never before. After a seven-month cruise to Mars and six months of aerobraking to reach its science orbit, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's instruments have zoomed in for extreme close-up photography of the martian surface, analyzed minerals, looked for subsurface water, traced how much dust and water are distributed in the atmosphere, monitored daily global weather, and surveyed the surface for landing sites for future missions.
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Animation: Part 1
Launch to Orbit insertion - June 07, 2004
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Animation: Part 2
Aerobraking to Mission Simulation and Objectives - June 07, 2004
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Simulation of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Deploying its High-Gain Antenna - July 07, 2004
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Simulation of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Deploying its Solar Panels - July 07, 2004
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Mars is right next door to Earth, but it isn't very neighborly. Two-thirds
of all international missions have failed, but an undaunted human spirit
and
hard work keep us on a path to explore Mars - a world so much like our own,
but much more hostile and uninviting. In this Challenges of Getting to Mars
web series, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter team members describe
demanding mission stages associated with the largest vehicle to go to
Mars since Viking in the 1970s. Chapters include: transporting the
orbiter across the country, preparing it for its journey and
conducting a successful launch. Future episodes will include the
challenges of navigating the spacecraft, entering the martian
atmosphere, slowing down to achieve the spacecraft's science orbit
(aerobraking) and collecting vital, high-resolution Mars data.
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The Challenges of Getting to Mars: Dip and Drag
- April 03, 2006
With the spacecraft safely captured into orbit, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter team transitions to the next critical phase -- aerobraking. Learn how engineers slow the spacecraft and precisely shape its orbit using the dynamic atmosphere of Mars.
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The Challenges of Getting to Mars: Burn and Capture - March 07, 2006
After millions of miles, dozens of tests, a handful of calibrations and a number of "dress rehearsals," the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at the red planet on March 10, 2006. Find out how engineers prepare the spacecraft and themselves for this complicated engine burn and capture into Mars' orbit.
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The Challenges of Getting to Mars: Hitting the Bull's-Eye - February 24, 2006
Hitting a moving target over 306 million miles away is no easy feat. Learn how JPL navigation engineers have guided the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter toward its mission-critical capture into orbit around the red planet.
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The Challenges of Getting to Mars: Launch Logistics - October 12, 2005
The logistical challenge of getting a mission sent to Mars begins years before liftoff and culminates in the stressful days just prior to launch. This video highlights teams at JPL, Kennedy Space Center and Lockheed Martin working together to prepare for a complex launch amid the ever-changing weather of August in Florida.
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The Challenges of Getting to Mars: Getting to the Launch Pad - August 5, 2005
From one side of the country to the other, through a snowstorm and other delays, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter made its way to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final processing and rehearsals before launch. Hitch a ride on the C-17 cargo plane that carried the next generation of Mars explorers to its final Earth-bound destination.
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The Challenges of Getting to Mars: Heavy Lifting - April 18, 2005
Getting a spacecraft to Mars is no walk in the park - as launch engineers
are well aware. But when the spacecraft in question is among the largest
ever sent to the red planet, there are specific challenges that must be
overcome. Hear from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter team just what it will
take to get the mission on its way.
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