-
Recent Posts
- Aeolis Serpens, Mars’ longest sinuous ridge, is an ancient riverbed
- Most deltas on Mars created by short, catastrophic floods
- Are brines actually needed to make recurring slope lineae flow?
- ‘Faint young Sun paradox’ a problem for Mars (and Earth, too)
- Gale’s winds sculpted the Mt. Sharp mound as they built it
Tags
atmosphere clay minerals climate climate change CO2 ice craters CRISM CTX Curiosity dunes dust Endeavour Crater Gale Crater groundwater gullies Gusev Crater HiRISE HRSC ice impacts lava flows LPSC 2012 LPSC 2013 magnetic field Mars Exploration Rovers Mars Express Mars Odyssey Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Science Laboratory Medusae Fossae formation MER Meridiani Planum meteorites MSL Opportunity Phobos phyllosilicates polar layered deposits Spirit Tharsis THEMIS Valles Marineris volcanos water windArchives
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
Links
general
mission instruments
- CRISM: Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars
- CTX: Context Camera
- HiRISE: High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment
- SHARAD: Shallow Radar
- THEMIS: Thermal Emission Imaging System
missions
- All Mars missions list
- Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN)
- Mars Exploration Rovers (MER)
- Mars Express (MEX)
- Mars Odyssey
- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
- Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
news
Tag Archives: CTX
Aeolis Serpens, Mars’ longest sinuous ridge, is an ancient riverbed
A linear ridge that winds for more than 200 kilometers (120 miles) through part of South Australia was a river channel roughly 10 million years ago. After the paleoriver stopped flowing, silica-rich groundwater seeped into the riverbed, cementing its sediments. … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Aeolis Dorsa, Aeolis Serpens, climate, CTX, fluvial channels, fluvial landforms, groundwater, HiRISE, Medusae Fossae formation, sinuous ridge, water
Leave a comment
Are brines actually needed to make recurring slope lineae flow?
Recurring slope lineae (RSL) are finger-like dark lines on steep slopes that appear and grow longer during the warmest time of year, then fade and disappear over winter. They repeat the following Mars year in the same places. While scientists … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, climate, climate change, Context Camera, CTX, HiRISE, ice, lineae, LPSC 2013, Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, recurrent slope lineae, recurring slope lineae, RSL, TES, Thermal Emission Imaging System, Thermal Emission Spectrometer, water
Leave a comment
Hardened arteries in Nili and Nilo
Water seeping through conduits and cracks in the deep subsurface rocks of Nilosyrtis and Nili Fossae left behind minerals, like hard-water deposits that collect in the plumbing of your house. (Or cholesterol in your arteries.) Then as the softer rocks … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged clay minerals, cracks, CTX, Curiosity, fractures, Gale Crater, groundwater, gypsum, HiRISE, Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MSL, Nili Fossae, Nilosyrtis, Opportunity, phyllosilicates, water
Leave a comment
Lava flows resurfaced crater lakes after water was gone
Fire and water didn’t mix when it came to resurfacing basins that lie along Martian fluvial valley networks. A study of some 30 open-basin lakes (paleolakes) with floors covered by lava flows has concluded that at least these basins were … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged CRISM, CTX, Gusev Crater, HiRISE, HRSC, lava flows, Mars Exploration Rovers, OMEGA, open-basin lakes, paleolakes, Spirit, TES, THEMIS
Leave a comment
Loess in the lowlands
A team of geologists led by James A. Skinner, Jr. (U.S. Geological Survey) has discovered and mapped a previously unidentified unit in the Martian northern lowlands. The unit appears to give evidence of a major climate shift long ago in … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, climate change, CO2 ice, CTX, loess, MOLA, north polar ice cap, northern plains, THEMIS
Leave a comment
Caverns in the northern lowlands?
Vast quantities of water have poured across the surface of Mars in ages past. The evidence is obvious in dozens of outflow channels, large and small. The waters emerged, scientists think, from subsurface reservoirs when the frozen ground capping them … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged caverns, CTX, groundwater, Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MOLA, nothern lowlands, THEMIS, water
1 Comment
Latitude controlled Amazonian ice flows
Signs of underground ice deposited in the Amazonian period (the most recent in Martian history) are common in many places on Mars. Evidence includes tropical mountain glacier deposits, lobate debris aprons, lineated valley fill, concentric crater fill, and pedestal craters. … Continue reading
Slope streaks not becoming more common; survive for decades
Slope streaks are dark lines that run down dusty slopes on Mars; scientists explain them as dust avalanches touched off by rockfalls or some similar trigger. (Slope streaks differ in nature and cause from a different kind of streak, dubbed … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged CTX, LPSC 2012, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, slope streaks, Viking Orbiter
Leave a comment
Pitted deposits in Mars craters point to subsurface ice
Studies of pitted deposits in crater floors appear to indicate that subsurface ice has been more widespread on Mars than previously thought. That’s the conclusion of a team of reseachers led by Livio Tornabene (University of Western Ontario), who reported … Continue reading
Ancient volcanos suggest long activity
Mars is a volcanic planet and has been volcanically active from the start. The most extensive volcanism occurred during the earliest part of its geologic history, the Noachian era, the time before roughly 3.7 billion years ago. However, as a … Continue reading