Oudemans Crater Central Uplift: A Sample of Well-Preserved Layering Excavated from Kilometres Below PSP_001602_1700 Evidence of Multiple Episodes of Gully Formation PSP_001684_1410 Crommelin Crater Floor PSP_001810_1825 Jupiter As Seen from Mars PSP_002162_9030 Sinuous Ridges Near Aeolis Mensae PSP_002279_1735
The HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took a huge, detailed image of Mars' Mojave crater on Jan. 7, 2007.
This is only part of that photograph. It shows the central uplift structure in the crater. Rocks that form this peak were several kilometres beneath the surface until an impact formed the 60 kilometre crater just north of Mars' equator. The HiRISE image shows that boulders as large as 15 meters have eroded from the massive uplifted rock and rolled downslope. The HiRISE image also confirms earlier evidence that this part of Mojave crater appears untouched by liquid water. Previous photographs taken by the HiRISE camera, and even earlier by the Mars Orbital Camera that flew on NASA'S Mars Global Surveyor, show that Mojave crater rim walls feature striking drainage channels and alluvial fans that likely were formed by surface water runoff. How runoff formed these channels and alluvial fans is one of the questions that HiRISE team members and their collaborators are looking into.
Eroding Layers in an Impact Crater _001503_1645 Sinuous Ridges in Argyre Basin _001508_1245 Frost-Covered Dunes in the North Polar Region _001660_2570 Layered Deposits in Terby _001662_1520 Radial Ridge in Deposit Near Pavonis Mons _001682_1845 Frost Patch and Dunes in a Northern Hemisphere Crater _001700_2505 Slope Streaks in Terra Sabaea _001808_1875 Mojave Crater Floor and Central Uplift _002101_1875 Exhumed Layers Near the Nili Fossae _002176_2025
Images for Release: 17 January 2007 Anaglyph of the Basal Scarp of Olympus Mons Volcano PSP_001630_2015 Volcanic Vent in the Tharsis Region PSP_001695_2080 Anaglyph of East Mareotis Tholus PSP_001760_2160 Gullies on the Exterior Wall of a Crater PSP_001908_1405 Knobs and Mounds on the Northern Plains PSP_001916_2220
Primary Science Phase Primary Science Phase (PSP) images were acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument beginning November 7, 2006 on orbit number 1,330 of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Release No. 5 Thirty-five new HiRISE images. Primary Science Phase (PSP) images were acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument beginning November 7, 2006 on orbit number 1,330 of the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter (MRO).
This false-colour subframe of an image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the north polar layered deposits at top and darker materials at bottom, exposed in a scarp at the head of Chasma Boreale, a large canyon eroded into the layered deposits.
The polar layered deposits appear red because of dust mixed within them, but are ice-rich as indicated by previous observations. Water ice in the layered deposits is probably responsible for the pattern of fractures seen near the top of the scarp.
Zoom views:
Expand (91kb, 560 x 400)............................Expand (74kb, 560 x 400)
The darker material below the layered deposits may have been deposited as sand dunes, as indicated by the crossbedding (truncation of curved lines) seen near the middle of the scarp. It appears that brighter, ice-rich layers were deposited between the dark dunes in places. Exposures such as these are useful in understanding recent climate variations that are likely recorded in the polar layered deposits.
New images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show three additional NASA spacecraft that have landed on Mars: the Spirit rover active on the surface since January 2004 and the two Viking landers that successfully reached the surface in 1976. The orbiter's high-resolution camera took a dramatic photograph of Spirit's twin rover, Opportunity, at the edge of a Martian crater two months ago. Besides providing new portraits of these robotic emissaries, the images provide scientists valuable high-resolution information about the surrounding terrain at each site. This aids both in interpreting other orbital data and in planning activities for surface missions.
This HiRISE image covers the youthful and enigmatic Ada crater and its fresh ejecta situated on the southern bounds of Meridiani Planum. Ada crater has an approximate diameter of 2 kilometres.
Prior to HiRISE targeting, the crater's freshness was suspected from Mars Orbital Camera (MOC) images showing primary structures in the ejecta, from Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) and Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) mapping. THEMIS showed that the crater possesses a thermally distinct ejecta blanket, and TES spectral mapping demonstrated that the area surrounding the crater had been extensively swept clean of the surface deposit (possessing a Fe-rich mineral known as hematite) known to drape Meridiani Planum. The HiRISE sub-image shows that the crater has well-developed and sharp crater morphologic features with no discernable superimposed impact craters—a clear testament to the crater's youthfulness. The interior crater morphology is what makes Ada so enigmatic, as it appears that it consists of two craters (i.e., a smaller crater nested in a larger one). Another idea explaining this "nested" crater-in-crater appearance is that the interior ledge may have been bedrock that slid down the crater wall. However, the darker tone of this interior "exposure" does not appear to match the light-toned bedrock exposed in the upper crater wall. This suggests that the crater sampled two distinct rock types from the subsurface. The presence of these two distinct rock types is an important clue with the difference in strength between these two rock types possibly causing the strange appearance of Ada crater. The other enigmatic aspect is the "scalloped" appearance of the wall rock/rim of the crater. This morphology is more pronounced at other craters in Meridiani Planum, such as Victoria Crater indicating that the more pronounced morphology results from erosion and continued downslope movement of material off the crater wall/rim.
Image PSP_001348_1770 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on November 9, 2006. The complete image is centred at -3.1 degrees latitude, 356.8 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 265.9 km. At this distance the image scale is 26.6 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~80 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 3:32 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 56 degrees, thus the sun was about 34 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 132.8 degrees, the season on Mars is Northern Summer.