Author Archives: rburnham

HiRISE: Valleys in a crater north of Sacra Sulci

Posted on June 4, 2019 by rburnham

Valleys in a crater to the north of Sacra Sulci. Small valleys similar to these have been dated to the Hesperian and Amazonian epochs in other areas of Mars, making them some of the youngest features formed by the flow … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: Frost-free (almost) south polar ice cap

Posted on June 4, 2019 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, June 4, 2019. This VIS image shows part of the surface of the south polar cap. Collected at the end of southern summer, most of the ice is frost free and different textures are readily … Continue reading →

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Curiosity update: West Side Multispectral Story

Posted on June 3, 2019 by rburnham

Sols 2424-26, June 3, 2019, update by MSL scientist Sarah Lamm: Today we planned the weekend activities for Curiosity in Woodland Bay. Woodland Bay is a location in Glen Torridon, in the clay bearing unit. Over the next three sols, … Continue reading →

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Curiosity: MAHLI shoots Morningside, a layered outcrop

Posted on June 3, 2019 by rburnham

Sol 2424, June 1, 2019. The rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) shot a multi-frame portrait (above, 4.6 MB) of Morningside, a layered outcrop at the Woodland Bay area where Curiosity is parked. Morningside contains multiple targets of interest. At … Continue reading →

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Curiosity update: Familiar rocks at our feet

Posted on June 3, 2019 by rburnham

Sols 2422-23, June 3, 2019, update by MSL scientist Lauren Edgar: On Sol 2420 Curiosity drove ~61 m back to the “Woodland Bay” target, to analyze some interesting thick and thin laminations within the bedrock that we had observed previously, … Continue reading →

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Radiation showstopper for Mars exploration?

Posted on June 3, 2019 by rburnham

An astronaut on a mission to Mars could receive radiation doses up to 700 times higher than on our planet – a major showstopper for the safe exploration of our Solar System. A team of European experts is working with … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Dipping layers

Posted on June 3, 2019 by rburnham

Dipping layers. These aren’t dipping dots. The objective of this observation is to examine several sets of dipping layers in a depression in Ismeniae Fossae, which straddles the southern highlands/northern lowlands of Mars. HiRISE Picture of the Day archive. [More … Continue reading →

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Long runout Mars landslides reconstructed in 3D

Posted on June 3, 2019 by rburnham

Planetary Geomorphology Image of the Month, June 1, 2019: Giulia Magnarini (University College, London). The availability of high resolution imagery of the surface of Mars from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter CTX and HiRISE cameras (NASA PDS) allow us to reconstruct … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: South polar ice cap canyon

Posted on June 3, 2019 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, June 3, 2019. Today’s VIS image shows part of the South Pole. Chasma Australe crosses diagonally through the middle of the image. The layers that comprise the polar cap are visible along the sides of … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Still life with an impact crater

Posted on May 31, 2019 by rburnham

Still life with an impact crater. Ice fill within a crater in the north polar layered deposits (NPLD) may be a site where accumulation could be observed, helping to settle a long-term problem in Mars polar science: are the NPLD … Continue reading →

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