THEMIS Image of the Day, November 21, 2016. Today’s false color image shows part of Syrtis Major Planum, a large area dominated by volcanism.
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image.
More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.
[Editor note: Blog post by Emily Lakdawalla, the Planetary Society] After analyzing the HiRISE coverage of the Curiosity landing site, I thought it would be easier to analyze Opportunity coverage, because I’d developed some good strategies along the way. Although those strategies helped, it has turned out to be much harder to summarize the Opportunity coverage than it was to summarize the Curiosity coverage, and in fact this post was two years in the making.
But I’ve finally done it: I’ve located all the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE images covering the Opportunity field site, and figured out which parts of Opportunity’s mission each one covers, and where to look for the rover and other hardware. Hopefully this effort will be useful to a few of you, academics if no one else! I’ve titled it “version 1.0″ because I’m hopeful there will be a few more images to add later (more on that below). [More at link]
Sol 1525-27, November 18, 2016, update by USGS scientist Lauren Edgar: The MAHLI images from Sol 1523 are down, and we acquired some beautiful images of this new outcrop, as seen in the above image of the target “Seawall.” Today’s plan is focused on finishing the investigation at “Sutton Island,” and then driving towards the next drill target, ~9 m away.
The plan starts with a couple of Navcam and Mastcam observations to monitor the opacity of the atmosphere and search for clouds. Then we’ll acquire ChemCam observations of “Ironbound Island” and “Goat Trail” to assess the composition of the bedrock. The plan also includes several Mastcam mosaics to characterize the geometry of this deposit and document its sedimentary structures. In the afternoon Curiosity will acquire MAHLI images of “Ironbound Island” to… [More at link]
The ExoMars orbiter is preparing to make its first scientific observations at Mars during two orbits of the planet starting next week.
The Trace Gas Orbiter, or TGO, a joint endeavour between ESA and Roscosmos, arrived at Mars on 19 October. It entered orbit, as planned, on a highly elliptical path that takes it from between 230 and 310 km above the surface to around 98 000 km every 4.2 days.
The main science mission will only begin once it reaches a near-circular orbit about 400 km above the planet’s surface after a year of ‘aerobraking’ – using the atmosphere to gradually brake and change its orbit. Full science operations are expected to begin by March 2018.
But next week provides the science teams with a chance to calibrate their instruments and make the first test observations now the spacecraft is actually at Mars. [More at link]
Sol 4557, November 18, 2016. After driving more than 12 meters (almost 40 feet) to the southeast, Opportunity is parked adjacent to Pompy’s Tower (at left in the above composite). Mission controllers directed the Navcam to perform a 10-frame panorama centered on due west, but so far only seven of the shots have come back. Above, the view southward (2.2 MB) and below the view (1.6 MB) to the northeast, with Spirit Mound at right. Click either image to enlarge it.
Opportunity raw images, its latest mission status, a location map. and atmospheric opacity, known as tau.
THEMIS Image of the Day, November 18, 2016. Today’s false color image shows part of Terra Sabaea. This area lies to the west of the Isidis Planitia impact basin, and near one of the candidate landing sites (Jezero Crater) for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover.
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image.
More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.
Two geoscientists at Arizona State University have made a discovery among hot springs in Chile that may spur scientists to revisit a location on Mars explored several years ago by NASA’s Spirit rover.
The discovery involves fingerlike structures that form in the hot spring deposits by processes that combine biological and non-biological activity. The Chilean hot springs are at a place called El Tatio and lie at the edge of the extremely dry Atacama Desert, one of the best “Mars analog” sites on Earth.
Co-authors Steve Ruff and Jack Farmer, of ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, report that El Tatio produces silica deposits with structures influenced by living organisms that appear nearly identical to those found eight years ago by Spirit in Gusev Crater on Mars. Their report was recently published by Nature Communications.
The question naturally arises whether what Spirit found on Mars might also have been influenced by life. [More at link]
Sol 1521, November 16, 2016. Curiosity turned its Mastcam (34 mm lens) on Sutton Island. Note the thin, blade-like structures and the light-roned veins running through the rock. Click to enlarge (2.4 MB).
Sol 1521 raw images (from all cameras), and Curiosity’s latest location.
Sol 1523-24, November 16, 2016, update by USGS scientist Lauren Edgar: On Sol 1521 Curiosity drove 11 m to the east, which set us up to investigate a darker-toned outcrop known as “Sutton Island,” seen in the middle of the above Mastcam image. Today’s plan is focused on contact science to study the grain size, stratification, and chemistry of the “Sutton Island” outcrop. I was the GSTL today, and it was a busy day of planning! It took a while to find contact science targets that we could safely reach with the DRT, MAHLI and APXS. Eventually we found targets that would work, and we planned MAHLI and APXS on two distinct parts of the outcrop, including a DRT location on the top of the outcrop to analyze a clean brushed surface. We were also able to plan a MAHLI “dogs eye” mosaic to investigate the… [More at link]
THEMIS Image of the Day, November 17, 2016. Today’s false color image shows dunes on the floor of an unnamed crater in Terra Sabaea. The dunes have piled up in the lee of the rdge that lies to the lower right of them. The false color indicates the sand grains are chiefly basaltic in composiiton.
The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image.
More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.
