Monthly Archives: April 2014

Ancient flood sediments exposed in northern lowlands craters

A light-toned layer has been discovered exposed in the interior walls of numerous craters in the Chryse and Acidalia plains, according to a recent paper published in Geology by Mark Salvatore and Philip Christensen (both Arizona State University). The layer, … Continue reading

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THEMIS: Channels

THEMIS Image of the Day, April 29, 2014. Two channels are visible in today’s image. The smaller one near the bottom of the image did not carve as deeply as the larger channel at the top of the image. The … Continue reading

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Curiosity: Sol 613, April 27, 2014

Mars moon Phobos leaves a trail as it sets in the east over the shoulder of Mount Sharp, in the first of six time- exposure frames taken over a 10-minute period by Curiosity’s right-side Navcam. The full series of images … Continue reading

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Curiosity: Sol 613 selfie

Everybody’s doing selfies: Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) took frames on Sol 613 (April 27, 2014) that Damia Bouic composited into a (still incomplete) selfie. At left is the Kimberley outcrop’s southern end, while in the background at right … Continue reading

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THEMIS: Granicus Valles

THEMIS Image of the Day, April 28, 2014. The channels in this VIS image are part of Granicus Valles, located west of the Elysium volcanic complex. More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

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Drill here? Curiosity inspects site

The team operating NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is telling the rover to use several tools this weekend to inspect a sandstone slab being evaluated as a possible drilling target. If this target meets criteria set by engineers and scientists, it … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: “Selfie”

Sol 611, April 25, 2014: update on Curiosity from U.S. Geological Survey scientist Ken Herkenhoff: “The data returned from Sol 610 showed that the rover is stable, so the weekend plan includes lots of arm activities. On Sol 612, APXS … Continue reading

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MARCI weather report: April 14-20, 2014

Local dust storms occurred in Solis and Aonia. The aphelion water ice cloud belt was present at equatorial latitudes, and diffuse water ice clouds were also present over the major shield volcanoes. Skies were relatively clear and storm free over … Continue reading

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CRISM: Iron-magnesium clays in Libya Montes

This image is located right along the rim of the Isidis impact basin, at the foot of Libya Montes. Here we see the interaction between olivine (red) and iron-magnesium phyllosilicates (green). The group of olivine minerals is known to have … Continue reading

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Curiosity: Sol 610, April 24, 2014

Looking west over the front of the rover along the southern edge of the Kimberley outcrop, with Gale Crater’s rim in the distance. The ground slopes here, so the horizon appears to tilt. NASA description: This image was taken by … Continue reading

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