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Countdown Nears: Final Tests

Countdown Nears: Final Tests

July 14, 2009

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NASA

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This observation from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a sand dune field in the Nili Fossae region of Mars. The dark lines swirling over the surface of the dunes are the tracks of dust devi...
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This observation from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a sand dune field in the Nili Fossae region of Mars. The dark lines swirling over the surface of the dunes are the tracks of dust devils.
Dust Devils on Mars
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been working on Mars since landing inside Eagle Crater on Jan. 25, 2004 (Universal Time; evening of Jan. 24, Pacific Standard Time).
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NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been working on Mars since landing inside Eagle Crater on Jan. 25, 2004 (Universal Time; evening of Jan. 24, Pacific Standard Time).
Opportunity's First Decade of Driving on Mars
This image acquired on December 9, 2018 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a recent impact in Noachis Terra in the southern mid-latitudes of Mars.
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This image acquired on December 9, 2018 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a recent impact in Noachis Terra in the southern mid-latitudes of Mars.
A Recent Impact Site in Noachis Terra
The bright linear features cutting the bedrock in the center region of this image look like mineral veins.
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The bright linear features cutting the bedrock in the center region of this image look like mineral veins.
Mineral Veins (3-D)
A dust storm continues to envelop the Red Planet and Curiosity’s labs are back in action.
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A dust storm continues to envelop the Red Planet and Curiosity’s labs are back in action.
Mars Report: July 2018
Polygons are of great interest because they often indicate the presence of shallow ice or of desiccation such as in a mud flat. However, nature sometimes seems too clever for us.
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This image shows mud flats in the shape of polygons in a snake-skin-looking pattern.
Polygonal Sand Dunes
This image acquired on January 20, 2019 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a chaotic jumble of bright layered sediments, perhaps resulting from large landslides.
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This image acquired on January 20, 2019 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a chaotic jumble of bright layered sediments, perhaps resulting from large landslides.
Jumbled Blocks on the Floor of Melas Chasma
Nili Patera is a region on Mars in which dunes and ripples are moving rapidly. HiRISE continues to monitor this area every couple of months to see changes over seasonal and annual time scales.
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This image shows, smooth dark dunes, with lighter gray sand in between them.
Dunes and Ripples in Nili Patera
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
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover and tracks left by its driving appear in this portion of a Dec. 11, 2013, observation by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Re...
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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover and tracks left by its driving appear in this portion of a Dec. 11, 2013, observation by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Curiosity Trekking, Viewed from Orbit in December 2013
This image from the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows an impact scar on Mars made by pieces of the NASA Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft that the spacecraft shed just before entering the Mar...
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This image from the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows an impact scar on Mars made by pieces of the NASA Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft that the spacecraft shed just before entering the Martian atmosphere.
Impact Scars from MSL Cruise Stage and Two Balance Weights (Figure 1)
Intra-Crater Structure in NW Hellas Basin, Mars
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Intra-Crater Structure in NW Hellas Basin, Mars
Intra-Crater Structure in NW Hellas Basin, Mars
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passes above a portion of the planet called Nilosyrtis Mensae in this artist's concept illustration.
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NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passes above a portion of the planet called Nilosyrtis Mensae in this artist's concept illustration.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over Nilosyrtis
What is this enigmatic landform?
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On the far left part of the image is a nearly circular, gray feature that looks like an "island" or "sea" of lava flows.
An Enigmatic Feature in Athabasca Lava Flows
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) keeps finding new impact sites on Mars. This one occurred within the dense secondary crater field of Corinto Crater. The new crater and its ejecta have dist...
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This is an image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of a new impact site on Mars, within the dense secondary crater field of Corinto Crater.
A New Impact Crater
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has clocked more than a decade of service at the Red Planet and has yielded scientific discoveries and magnificent views of a distant world. These images taken by...
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Magnificent Mars: 10 Years of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Magnificent Mars: 10 Years of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
A regional dust storm visible in the southern hemisphere of Mars in this nearly global mosaic of observations made by the Mars Color Imager on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Nov. 25, 2012.
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A regional dust storm visible in the southern hemisphere of Mars in this nearly global mosaic of observations made by the Mars Color Imager on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Nov. 25, 2012.
Regional Dust Storm Weakening, Nov. 25, 2012
Download a PDF of the Mars as Art Booklet.
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Mars as Art
Mars as Art (2013)
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
Back-and-forth blinking of this two-image animation shows movement of ripples covering a sand dune on Mars.
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Back-and-forth blinking of this two-image animation shows movement of ripples covering a sand dune on Mars.
Ripple Movement on Sand Dune in Nili Patera, Mars
The yellow line on this map shows where NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity has driven from the place where it landed in January 2004 -- inside Eagle crater, at the upper left end of the track -- to a po...
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The yellow line on this map shows where NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity has driven from the place where it landed in January 2004 -- inside Eagle crater, at the upper left end of the track -- to a point about 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometers) away from reaching the rim of Endeavour crater.
Eagle to Endeavour: Opportunity's Path, Sol 2609
Artist's concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter approaching Mars.
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Artist's concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter approaching Mars.
Artist's concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter approaching Mars.
Mars is experiencing large regional dust storms over its northern hemisphere during the past week.
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This movie was acquired by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Mars Colour Imager (MARCI) camera.
The Martian Dust Storm of June 2018
This sequence of seven images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows wind-caused changes in the parachute of NASA's Mars Sci...
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This sequence of seven images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows wind-caused changes in the parachute of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft as the chute lay on the Martian ground during months after its use in safe landing of the Curiosity rover.
Curiosity's Parachute Flapping in the Wind
This image shows the landing site of NASA's Curiosity rover and destinations scientists want to investigate.
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This image shows the landing site of NASA's Curiosity rover and destinations scientists want to investigate.
Glenelg Intrigue

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