Curiosity: RMI looks at distant caprock

Posted on July 10, 2019 by rburnham

2461-rmiSol 2461, July 9, 2019. The rover’s Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) reaches out and captures a stretch of thin caprock on a distant butte. Click the image to enlarge it.

Sol 2461 raw images (from all cameras).

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MARCI weather report, July 1-7, 2019

Posted on July 10, 2019 by rburnham

MARCI-July-1-2019Dust storm activity picked-up over the northern lowlands of Mars this past week. Near the middle of the week, long arcuate-shaped dust storms propagated eastward across the plains of Acidalia. Subsequent dust events swept northward over the perennial north polar ice cap by week’s end. Meanwhile, on the other side of the red planet, small transient dust storms kicked-up along the edge of the south polar hood. Further north, dusty conditions persisted within eastern Valles Marineris as local storm activity continued to loft dust into the canyon system. Peering east of Syrtis, a number of transient… [More at link, including video]

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HiRISE: Watching the dune gullies

Posted on July 10, 2019 by rburnham

ESP_055226_1300Watching the dune gullies. When dune gullies are as gorgeous as these, it’s an easy thing to want to continue to observe them for any seasonal changes. These are located in Matara Crater, a region that we’ve monitored before many times.

HiRISE Picture of the Day archive. [More at links]

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Orbital changes drive deposition of south polar layered deposits

Posted on July 10, 2019 by rburnham

grl59231-fig-0001-m[Editor’s note: From a paper by Patricio Becerra and seven co-authors recently published in Geophysical Research Letters.]

Timescales of the Climate Record in the South Polar Ice Cap of Mars

• Patterns in the stratigraphy of Mars’ south polar ice sheet are consistent with orbital climate forcing
• Mars’ south polar ice sheet accumulated nonuniformly at rates of 0.11–0.39 mm/year
• Similar orbital oscillations forced the accumulation of the northern and southern ice sheets

The single location on Mars with the most water ice is in the southern polar ice cap, in the so‐called South Polar Layered Deposits (SPLD). Changes in Martian climate through time affect the locations on Mars where ice is stable, and it is believed that these changes drove the accumulation of layers upon layers of ice and dust in the SPLD.

The High‐Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System are satellite cameras that have photographed troughs and scarps within the SPLD to produce 3‐D views of this layered internal structure. We analyzed this structure and found patterns in the layering related to variations of Mars’ orbit and spin axis.

These variations drive climate change on Mars, so our analysis confirms the connection between the SPLD and Mars’ astronomical parameters. From this relationship, we inferred that the ice and dust of the SPLD took at least 10–30 Myr to accumulate. [More at link]

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THEMIS: Wind-etched sediments in Gordii Dorsum

Posted on July 10, 2019 by rburnham

Wind erosion in Gordii Dorsum (THEMIS_IOTD_20190710)THEMIS Image of the Day, July 10, 2019. The most common active process affecting the surface of Mars today is erosion by the wind. In areas of poorly cemented surface materials, the effect is more easily seen.

This image near Gordii Dorsum has been eroded for millions of years. Long term unidirectional winds scour the surface into linear patterns.

Explore more THEMIS Images of the Day by geological subject.

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Soluble salts in Mars meteorite came from martian brines similar to terrestrial seawater

Posted on July 9, 2019 by rburnham

Tissint-Meteorite[Editor’s note: From a paper by Elizabeth Jaramillo and four co-authors recently published in Geophysical Research Letters.]

Indigenous Organic‐Oxidized Fluid Interactions in the Tissint Mars Meteorite

• Results support hypothesis that indigenous fluids incorporated into Tissint fissures on Mars and resulting chemical signatures preserved
• Differences between soluble chemistry of Tissint and strewn field soil suggest that terrestrial contamination from recovery site is unlikely
• Analyses provide a glimpse into the chemical composition of a potentially habitable brine on early Mars

Meteorites that come from Mars usually become contaminated after landing on Earth. One Mars meteorite, named Tissint, was seen falling in the dry Moroccan desert, and many of its pieces were collected within months. We analyzed the meteorite and the local soil for organic compounds and soluble salts.

We found differences between the Tissint meteorite and the local soil that suggest that Tissint is uncontaminated. The analyses also showed that the soluble salts in Tissint most likely came from Martian fluids that were similar to terrestrial seawater. [More at link]

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HiRISE: Exposed material southwest of an impact crater

Posted on July 9, 2019 by rburnham

ESP_055230_1695Exposed material southwest of an impact crater. This terrain is right at the edge of the ejecta blanket of an impact crater to the south of Louros Valles, which itself is on the southern edge of Ius Chasma and was named after a modern river in Greece.

HiRISE Picture of the Day archive. [More at links]

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THEMIS: Radial crater ejecta in Utopia

Posted on July 9, 2019 by rburnham

Radial crater ejecta in Utopia (THEMIS_IOTD_20190709)THEMIS Image of the Day, July 9, 2019. Today’s VIS image shows part of an unnamed crater in Utopia Planitia.

The ejecta surrounding the crater rim shows both layering and radial grooves. These features formed during the impact event.

Explore more THEMIS Images of the Day by geological subject.

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Curiosity update: A busy holiday weekend!

Posted on July 8, 2019 by rburnham

2453ML0130220020903439E01_DXXX-br2Sols 2457-60, July 3, 2019, update by MSL scientist Mark Salvatore: Curiosity will continue to investigate the rocky Harlaw region of the Glen Torridon formation on this holiday weekend. Curiosity arrived at her current location on Monday and has been investigating some interesting layered bedrock material over the past few days. Today’s planning was for the next four sols, where Curiosity will continue her investigation of this area before a short drive to the south on Saturday. In the plan for the first sol, Curiosity will use the ChemCam instrument to analyze the chemistry of four bedrock targets representative of the surrounding region and potential alteration features: “Benfiddich,” “Orbost,” Dunnet,” and the appropriately named “Forth” (not the same spelling as the Fourth of July, but close enough!). Overnight, the APXS instrument will make a long measurement of its calibration target. On the second sol, Curiosity will acquire high resolution images of future targets further to the south and will make several measurements and observations of atmospheric phenomena. Overnight, she will use the APXS instrument to accurately measure the chemistry of two bedrock targets. On the third sol, Curiosity will make a short drive to a new target location still within the Harlaw region. During the drive, she will image her wheels using the MAHLI high-resolution camera… [More at link]

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Curiosity update: Investigating laminated rocks

Posted on July 8, 2019 by rburnham

FLB_615343905EDR_F0761576FHAZ00206M_-br2Sols 2455-56, July 2, 2019, update by MSL scientist Susanne Schwenzer: The 4th of July is coming up – and so the team worked to keep the rover busy without keeping ourselves busy! Today Earth time we planned two Mars sols, and tomorrow Earth time we will complete an over-sized weekend plan that will keep Curiosity busy while we celebrate 4th of July on Earth. Parts of the plan are dedicated to engineering activities and preparation for the next CheMin measurement. For the former, the most important part is a full MAHLI wheel imaging, which we do in regular intervals to monitor the health of our wheels. The latter is a CheMin empty cell analysis, so we know that we have a clean cell prepared and ready for the next drill activity. While the next drill location is not decided yet, we still use the time available during longer planning intervals to do those activities.

But there was remote science, too. We planned two ChemCam LIBS targets, one on the target “Culross” and the other one on the target “Corston.” They are different in their textures and it is important to document if they are also different in their chemistry – if they are, we will find out when we come back… [More at link]

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