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Storm Chaser on Mars

March 20, 2012

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Catches a Twister in Action.

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Download a PDF of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Arival Press Kit.
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MRO arrival press kit
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Arrival Press Kit
The arm and the remote sensing mast of the Mars rover Curiosity each carry science instruments and other tools for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission.
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The arm and the remote sensing mast of the Mars rover Curiosity each carry science instruments and other tools for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission.
Arm and Mast of NASA Mars Rover Curiosity
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a close-up of a trough, along with channels draining into the depression. On the floor of the trough is some grooved material typically seen in...
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Formations in Context (or, what is it?)
Formations in Context (or, what is it?)
This image, taken with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, shows the transition between the "Murray Formation," in which layers are poorly expressed and difficult to tra...
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This image shows a base map of Mount Sharp with the transition between the "Murray Formation," with the rover's old path marked in white and the new path marked in yellow.
Geological Transition
This image shows the quadrangle where NASA's Curiosity rover landed, now called Yellowknife.
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Curiosity's Quad - this image shows the quadrangle where NASA's Curiosity rover landed, now called Yellowknife.
Curiosity's Quad
Mars's seasonal polar caps are composed primarily of carbon-dioxide frost.
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Mars's seasonal polar caps are composed primarily of carbon-dioxide frost.
Seasonal Processes-Omega Sublimation
These barchan (crescent-shaped) sand dunes are found within the North Polar erg of Mars.
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These barchan (crescent-shaped) sand dunes are found within the North Polar erg of Mars.
Well-Speckled Polar Dunes
This series of images shows warm-season features that might be evidence of salty liquid water active on Mars today.
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This series of images shows warm-season features that might be evidence of salty liquid water active on Mars today.
Warm-Season Flows on Slope in Horowitz Crater (Eight-Image Sequence)
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows many new ice blocks compared to earlier images in 2006. One of the most actively changing areas on Mars are the steep edges of the North Pol...
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Ice block avalanche. This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows many new ice blocks compared to earlier images in 2006.
Ice Block Avalanche
This photograph from Shiprock in northwestern New Mexico shows a ridge roughly 30 feet (about 10 meters) tall that formed from lava filling an underground fracture then resisting erosion better tha...
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This photograph from Shiprock in northwestern New Mexico shows a ridge roughly 30 feet (about 10 meters) tall that formed from lava filling an underground fracture then resisting erosion better than the material around it did.
'Wing' Dike of Hardened Lava in New Mexico
At the center of this view of an area of mid-latitude northern Mars, a fresh crater about 6 meters (20 feet) in diameter holds an exposure of bright material, blue in this false-color image.
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At the center of this view of an area of mid-latitude northern Mars, a fresh crater about 6 meters (20 feet) in diameter holds an exposure of bright material, blue in this false-color image.
Exposed Ice in a Fresh Crater
This HiRISE image shows a crater approximately 11 km (7 miles) in diameter, located in Acidalia Planitia, part of the Northern Plains. Several features in and around this crater are suggestive of f...
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HiRISE image (PSP_001942_2310) shows a crater approximately 11 km (7 miles) in diameter, located in Acidalia Planitia, part of the Northern Plains. Several features in and around this crater are suggestive of fluids and ice at and near the surface. The south-looking (or equator facing) walls of this crater are cut by numerous gullies such as the ones shown in this image's cutout (500 x 600 m or 550 x 650 yards), with well developed alcoves, sinuous channels, and terminal fan deposits. These gullies seem to originate at the same height, suggesting that the carving agent may have emanated from one single layer exposed in the crater's wall. Contrastingly, no gullies are observed in the north-looking (or pole facing) wall of this crater. Terrestrial gullies very similar to the ones shown in this image are produced by surface water. The arrows in the cutout show fissures that may indicate detachment of surficial materials possibly held together by subsurface ice, sliding en masse down the crater's wall. The muted topography of the crater and its surroundings, the relatively shallow floor (300 m or 330 yards), the convex slope of its walls-all are consistent with ice being present under the surface, mixed with rocks and soil. Ice would have acted as a lubricant, facilitating the flow of rocks and soils and hence smoothing landscape's features such as ridges and craters' rims. The concentric and radial fissures in the crater's floor may indicate decrease of volume due to loss of underground ice. Piles of rocks aligned along these fissures and arranged forming polygons are similar to features observed in terrestrial periglacial regions such as Antarctica. Antarctica's features are produced by repeated expansion and contraction of subsurface soil and ice, due to seasonal temperature oscillations. The funnel-shaped depressions visible in the crater's floor could be collapse pits, further evidence of ice decay; alternatively, they could be smoothed-out impact craters.
Signs of Fluids and Ice in Acidalia Planitia
This map traces where NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drove between landing at a site subsequently named "Bradbury Landing," and the position reached during the mission's 130th Martian day, or sol, (De...
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This map traces where NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drove between landing at a site subsequently named "Bradbury Landing," and the position reached during the mission's 130th Martian day, or sol, (Dec. 17, 2012).
Curiosity Traverse Map, Sol 130
This color-enhanced view shows the terrain around the rover's landing site within Gale Crater on Mars.
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This color-enhanced view shows the terrain around the rover's landing site within Gale Crater on Mars.
A Whole New World for Curiosity
Wrinkle Ridge, Solis Planum
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Wrinkle Ridge, Solis Planum
Wrinkle Ridge, Solis Planum
A new map of Mars' gravity made with three NASA spacecraft is the most detailed to date, providing a revealing glimpse into the hidden interior of the Red Planet. Satellites always orbit a planet's...
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Mars Gravity Map
Mars Gravity Map
Images like this from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show portions of the Martian surface in unprecedented detail. 
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Images like this from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show portions of the Martian surface in unprecedented detail. 
True Gullies on Mars
This image taken on May 19, 2010, shows an impact crater that had not existed when the same location on Mars was previously observed in March 2008.
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This image taken on May 19, 2010, shows an impact crater that had not existed when the same location on Mars was previously observed in March 2008.
Icy Material Thrown from Cratering Impact on Mars
The yellow-white cloud in the bottom-center of this image is a Mars "dust tower" — a concentrated cloud of dust that can be lofted dozens of miles above the surface. The blue-white plumes are water...
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a concentrated cloud of dust on Mars
A Mars Dust Tower Stands Out
Cydonia Labyrinthus is a complex of intersecting valleys that form a polygonal fractured terrain.
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Cydonia Labyrinthus is a complex of intersecting valleys that form a polygonal fractured terrain.
Cydonia Labyrinthus (3-D)
This image shows spidery channels eroded into Martian ground. It is a Sept. 12, 2016, example from HiRISE camera high-resolution observations of more than 20 places that were chosen in 2016 on the ...
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This image shows spidery channels eroded into Martian ground. It is a Sept. 12, 2016, example from HiRISE camera high-resolution observations of more than 20 places that were chosen in 2016 on the basis of about 10,000 volunteers' examination of Context Camera lower-resolution views of larger areas.
Martian 'Spiders' in Sharper Look, Thanks to Volunteers
This image shows layered blocks tilted at high angles, diverse color and textures and dark dunes. Some of the bedrock may have originated at great depths, uplifted first by Becquerel Crater and lat...
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This image shows layered blocks tilted at high angles, diverse color and textures and dark dunes.
Tilted and Layered Bedrock Blocks in a Large Crater inside Becquerel Crater (3-D)
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows an impact crater that triggered a slope streak. When a meteoroid hit the surface and exploded to make the crater, it destabilized the slope ...
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This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows an impact crater that triggered a slope streak. When a meteoroid hit the surface and exploded to make the crater, it destabilized the slope and initiated this avalanche.
Bang and Whoosh!
This oblique view with moderate vertical exaggeration shows the portion of the rim of Endeavour crater given the informal name "Spirit Point." This is the location where the team operating NASA's ...
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This oblique view with moderate vertical exaggeration shows the portion of the rim of Endeavour crater given the informal name "Spirit Point." This is the location where the team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity plans to drive the rover to its arrival at the Endeavour rim.
Opportunity's First Goal at Endeavour Crater: 'Spirit Point'
The Coloe Fossae region is a series of enclosed, intersecting canyons. The floors of the canyons in this image contain complex set of ridges and grooves that are generally parallel to the canyon wa...
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The Coloe Fossae region is a series of enclosed, intersecting canyons.
Coloe Fossae Region (3-D)

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