Category Archives: Reports

THEMIS: Sand sheet, dunes in Matara Crater

THEMIS Image of the Day, April 22, 2019. Today’s VIS image shows the floor of Matara Crater. A large sand sheet with surface dune forms dominates the floor of this crater located in Noachis Terra. The dunes’ dark tone indicates … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: Drill all the rocks!

Sols 2383-2385, April 19, 2019, update by MSL scientist Abigail Fraeman: Yestersol’s drill pre-load test was successful, so today we are go for a drill attempt at “Kilmarie”! The front hazcam image from yesterday’s test (shown above) is a helpful … Continue reading

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Latest weather at Gale Crater and Elysium Planitia

Daily Elysium charts and data (temperature, wind speed, atmospheric pressure) here.

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North residual polar cap holds both old dense ice and fresh snow

[Editor’s note: From a paper by Jonathan Bapst and three co-authors recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.] Thermophysical Properties of the North Polar Residual Cap using MGS TES • We identify residual water ice with elevated surface porosity … Continue reading

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Curiosity update: After the drill is before the drill…

Sol 2382, April 19, 2019, update by MSL scientist Susanne Schwenzer: Some days just give me goose bumps. First, looking at yesterday’s plan I realized that we did something really unusual overnight: Wrap up the drill activity on one site … Continue reading

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Stagnant ice deposits in Terra Cimmeria

[Editor’s note: From a paper by Solmaz Adeli and five co-authors recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.] Geomorphological evidence of localized stagnant ice deposits in Terra Cimmeria, Mars • Small debris‐covered stagnant ice deposits (termed valley fill deposits … Continue reading

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HiRISE: Bedrock on the floor of Kaiser Crater

HiRISE has often imaged inside Kaiser Crater to monitor active sand dunes and gullies. Surrounding these dunes, we often find clean bedrock exposures, because the actively moving sand clears off the dust. Kaiser Crater is 207 kilometers wide and was … Continue reading

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THEMIS: Bonestell Crater in false color

THEMIS Image of the Day, April 19, 2019. Today’s false-color image shows part of Bonestell Crater. This is a relatively young crater located in Acidalia Planitia. Dust blown into the crater and the downslope movement of fine materials from the … Continue reading

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HiRISE: Pits and depressions to the east of Juventae Chasma

Pits and depressions to the east of Juventae Chasma. Juventae Chasma is a large box canyon, located north of Valles Marineris in the Coprates quadrangle and cuts more than 5 kilometers into the plains of Lunae Planum. HiRISE Picture of … Continue reading

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Mars 2020: Things are stacking up for the spacecraft

For the past few months, the clean room floor in High Bay 1 at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has been covered in parts, components and test equipment for the Mars 2020 spacecraft, scheduled for launch toward the … Continue reading

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