Category Archives: Reports

Curiosity update: And objects in the rear-view mirror may appear…interesting!

Posted on March 6, 2019 by rburnham

Sol 2340, March 6, 2019, update by MSL scientist Susanne Schwenzer: In the current plan, we start with a dust devil survey to look for them while they are still in season. This is followed by a ChemCam investigation “Schiehallion” … Continue reading →

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MARCI weather report, Feb 25-March 3, 2019

Posted on March 6, 2019 by rburnham

Last week on Mars, the southern highlands experienced an uptick in local-scale dust storm activity. Meanwhile, on the other side of the red planet, a mixture of dust storms and water ice clouds continued to propagate eastward along the seasonal … Continue reading →

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Mapping potential sources of Mars water

Posted on March 6, 2019 by rburnham

Missions carrying humans to Mars will require on-site resources, and a project led by Planetary Science Institute (PSI) scientists Nathaniel Putzig and Gareth Morgan is mapping the availability of potential shallow water-ice sources across the surface of the Red Planet. … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Colorful impact ejecta in Ladon Valles

Posted on March 6, 2019 by rburnham

This image covers the western portion of a well-preserved (recent) impact crater in Ladon Basin. Ladon is filled by diverse materials including chemically-altered sediments and unaltered lava, so the impact event ejected and deposited a wide range of elements. This … Continue reading →

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Sedimentary volcanism in southern Chryse Planitia: varieties of mud volcanos

Posted on March 6, 2019 by rburnham

[Editor’s note: From a paper by Petr Broz and four co-authors recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.] Subsurface Sediment Mobilization in the Southern Chryse Planitia on Mars • Southern Chryse Planitia contains a large field of Amazonian‐aged extrusive … Continue reading →

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THEMIS: Crater dunes in Arabia Terra

Posted on March 6, 2019 by rburnham

THEMIS image of the Day, March 6, 2019. Today’s VIS image is located in Arabia Terra. The crater at the bottom of the image contains a large region of sand dunes. Dark blue in this band configuration indicates basaltic sand. … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Gullies in Galle

Posted on March 5, 2019 by rburnham

This image was taken of the hills that resulted from uplifted rocks due to an impact that formed the 230-kilometer diameter Galle Crater. These hills form a segment of a circle known as a “peak ring” and this particular formation … Continue reading →

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Curiosity: Going on —

Posted on March 5, 2019 by rburnham

Sol 2338, March 5, 2019. Five Navcam frames composited show the way forward through the valley behind Vera Rubin Ridge, which forms the skyline on the left side of the image. (In addition, the top of Gale Crater’s rim is … Continue reading →

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InSight: Lander’s ‘mole’ pauses digging

Posted on March 5, 2019 by rburnham

NASA’s Mars InSight lander has a probe designed to dig up to 16 feet (5 meters) below the surface and measure heat coming from inside the planet. After beginning to hammer itself into the soil on Thursday, Feb. 28, the … Continue reading →

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Latest weather at Gale Crater and Elysium Planitia

Posted on March 5, 2019 by rburnham

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

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