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Countdown Nears: Final Tests

Countdown Nears: Final Tests

July 14, 2009

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NASA

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Sand dunes often accumulate in the floors of craters. In this region of Lyot Crater, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows a field of classic barchan dunes on Jan. 24, 2018.
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Blue dune
Once in a Blue Dune
This image, taken with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, shows a mesa within the "Murray Buttes" area on Mars showing a complex fracture pattern (black arrow) protrudi...
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This image shows a mesa (grayish) within the "Murray Buttes" area on Mars showing a complex fracture pattern (black arrow) protruding from the eroding rock.
'Murray Buttes' Mesa
This color image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows bedrock layers of diverse colors and composition.
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This color image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows bedrock layers of diverse colors and composition.
Colorful Layers in Ariadnes Colles
Light-Toned Bedrock Along Cracks as Evidence of Fluid Alteration.
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The image was acquired during winter in Mars' southern hemisphere. It combines separate band passes taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment in blue-green light, red light and near-infrared light.
NASA Mars Orbiter Sees Effects of Ancient Underground Fluids
The bright landing platform left behind by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in 2004 is visible inside Eagle Crater, where "Opportunity Lander" is indicated in this annotated, April 8, 2...
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The bright landing platform left behind by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in 2004 is visible inside Eagle Crater, where "Opportunity Lander" is indicated in this annotated, April 8, 2017, image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Rover's Landing Hardware at Eagle Crater, Mars (Annotated)
This image combines a photograph of seasonal dark flows on a Martian slope with a grid of colors based on data collected by a mineral-mapping spectrometer observing the same area.
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This image combines a photograph of seasonal dark flows on a Martian slope with a grid of colors based on data collected by a mineral-mapping spectrometer observing the same area.
Color-Coded Clues to Composition Superimposed on Martian Seasonal-Flow Image
Impact Crater in Tempe Terra
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Impact Crater in Tempe Terra
Impact Crater in Tempe Terra
Near the lower left corner of this view is the three-petal lander platform that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove off in January 2004.
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Near the lower left corner of this view is the three-petal lander platform that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove off in January 2004.
Spirit Lander and Bonneville Crater in Color
Crater Floor Deposits in Promethei Terra
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Crater Floor Deposits in Promethei Terra
Crater Floor Deposits in Promethei Terra
This image contrasts gullies and recurring warm-season slope flows appearing in the same crater, in the middle southern latitudes of Mars.
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This image contrasts gullies and recurring warm-season slope flows appearing in the same crater, in the middle southern latitudes of Mars.
Gullies and Newly Identified Flow Features in Same Mars Crater (Arrows)
As the Sun peeks above the horizon at the Martian south polar icecap, powerful jets of carbon-dioxide (CO2) gas erupt through the icecap's topmost layer.
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As the Sun peeks above the horizon at the Martian south polar icecap, powerful jets of carbon-dioxide (CO2) gas erupt through the icecap's topmost layer.
Dry Ice Spiders on Mars
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 2)
This map shows unprecedented detail of local variations in Mars' gravitational pull on orbiters. The gravitational mapping has been applied to map variations in the thickness of the planet's crust ...
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This map shows unprecedented detail of local variations in Mars' gravitational pull on orbiters. The gravitational mapping has been applied to map variations in the thickness of the planet's crust and to deduce information about its deeper interior.
Local Variations in the Gravitational Pull of Mars
This map of an area within the Arabia Terra region on Mars shows where hydrologic modeling predicts locations of depressions that would have been lakes (black), overlaid with a map of the preserved...
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This map of an area within the Arabia Terra region on Mars shows where hydrologic modeling predicts locations of depressions that would have been lakes (black), overlaid with a map of the preserved valleys (blue lines, with width exaggerated for recognition) that would have been streams.
Hydrologic Modeling of Relatively Recent Martian Streams and Lakes
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover can be seen in this image taken from space on May 31, 2019, by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. In the image, Curiosity appears as a bluish speck.
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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover can be seen in this image taken from space by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
HiRISE Spots Curiosity Rover at Mars' 'Woodland Bay'
The MRO Context Camera, CTX, at Malin Space Science Systems in 2004, before it was delivered and mounted on the spacecraft.
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The MRO Context Camera, CTX, at Malin Space Science Systems in 2004, before it was delivered and mounted on the spacecraft.
Context Camera for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, its backshell and its heatshield are visible within this enhanced-color image of the Phoenix landing site taken on Jan. 6, 2010 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Ex...
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NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, its backshell and its heatshield are visible within this enhanced-color image of the Phoenix landing site taken on Jan. 6, 2010 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. With early spring at the Phoenix landing site comes progressive sublimation of carbon-dioxide frost that has blanketed the lander and surrounding terrain throughout the winter. During the long polar-winter night, atmospheric carbon dioxide freezes onto the surface, building up a layer of frost roughly 30 centimeters (about one foot) thick. In the spring this frost returns to atmosphere gas (sublimates) over the course of several months. This image, part of a seasonal frost monitoring sequence, shows some areas of bare ground are beginning to be exposed. However, extensive frost patches remain in the topographic lows, such as the troughs of the local polygonally patterned surface.
Phoenix Lander Amid Disappearing Spring Ice
This map shows the route on lower Mount Sharp that NASA's Curiosity followed between April 19, 2015, and Nov. 5, 2015. During this period the mission investigated silica-rich rock targets includin...
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This map shows the route on lower Mount Sharp that NASA's Curiosity followed between April 19, 2015, and Nov. 5, 2015.
Curiosity's Path During 2015 Studies of Silica-Rich Rocks
Mysterious features on slopes hint there could be water flows on Mars.
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Possible Water Flows on Mars
Possible Water Flows on Mars
Gale Crater forms a large natural repository for much of Martian geologic history.
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Gale Crater forms a large natural repository for much of Martian geologic history.
Gale Crater's History Book
This HiRISE image shows erosional features formed by seasonal frost near the south pole of Mars.
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This HiRISE image shows erosional features formed by seasonal frost near the south pole of Mars.
Erosion Features near the South Pole of Mars
The Mars Color Imager (MARCI), shown here with a gloved hand for scale, is designed to produce a global map to help characterize daily, seasonal and year-to-year variations in Mars' climate, provid...
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The Mars Color Imager (MARCI), shown here with a gloved hand for scale, is designed to produce a global map to help characterize daily, seasonal and year-to-year variations in Mars' climate, providing a daily weather report for Mars.
Mars Color Imager (MARCI) for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
This image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows gullies near the edge of Hale crater on southern Mars. The view covers an ...
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This image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows gullies near the edge of Hale crater on southern Mars. The view covers an area about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) across and was taken on Aug. 3, 2009.
Gullies at the Edge of Hale Crater, Mars
This HiRISE image shows fractured mounds on the southern edge of Elysium Planitia.
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This HiRISE image (PSP_003597_1765), shows fractured mounds on the southern edge of Elysium Planitia. The mounds are typically a few kilometers in diameter and about 200 feet tall. The fractures that crisscross their surfaces are dilational (extensional) in nature, suggesting that the mounds formed by localized uplift (i.e., they were pushed up from below). The mounds are probably composed of solidified lava. They are contiguous with, and texturally similar to, the flood lavas that blanket much of Elysium Planitia, and, where dilation cracks provide cross-sectional exposure, the uplifted material is rocky. Patches of mechanically weak and disrupted material overlie the rocky mound material. This is particularly conspicuous in the northeast corner of the HiRISE image. These patches may be remnants of a layer that was once more continuous but has been extensively eroded. Smooth lava plains fill the low-lying areas between the mounds. They are riddled with sinuous pressure ridges. The entire area is covered by a relatively thin layer of dust and sand.
Fractured Mounds in Elysium Planitia
This March 20, 2014, image from the MARCI camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has a dark spot (at center of inscribed rectangle) noticed while the image was being examined for a weather re...
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This March 20, 2014, image from the MARCI camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has a dark spot (at center of inscribed rectangle) noticed while the image was being examined for a weather report. Other observations confirmed that the spot is a scar from a space rock hitting Mars in 2012.
Impact Scar Detected in Mars Weathercam Image

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