THEMIS: Endeavour Crater in false color

Posted on May 15, 2019 by rburnham

Endeavour Crater in false color (THEMIS_IOTD_20190515)THEMIS Image of the Day, May 15, 2019. Today’s false color image shows part of Endeavour Crater in Meridiani Planum. The MER Opportunity Rover drove along the rim of this crater, ending its 15 year mission after losing contact during a global dust storm.

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.

Explore more THEMIS Images of the Day by geological subject.

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THEMIS: Noachis Terra in false color

Posted on May 8, 2019 by rburnham

Noachis Terra in false color (THEMIS_IOTD_20190508)THEMIS Image of the Day, May 8, 2019. Today’s false color image shows part of Noachis Terra. The large craters are unnamed, as is the channel in the center of the image. Dark blue tones in this false color image indicate basaltic sands.

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.

Explore more THEMIS Images of the Day by geological subject.

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HiRISE: Pitted cones

Posted on May 7, 2019 by rburnham

ESP_054845_2245Pitted cones. The objective of this observation is to examine if these cones are deformed along this ridge in Acidialia Planitia.

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

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Latest weather at Gale Crater and Elysium Planitia

Posted on May 7, 2019 by rburnham

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

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THEMIS: Terra Sabaea in false color

Posted on May 7, 2019 by rburnham

Terra Sabaea in false color THEMIS_IOTD_20190507)THEMIS Image of the Day, May 7, 2019. Today’s false color image shows part of Terra Sabaea.

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.

Explore more THEMIS Images of the Day by geological subject.

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InSight’s dusty selfie

Posted on May 6, 2019 by rburnham

PIA23203_main_slider_after-16This is NASA InSight’s second full selfie on Mars. Since taking its first selfie, the lander has removed its heat probe and seismometer from its deck, placing them on the Martian surface; a thin coating of dust now covers the spacecraft as well.

This selfie is a mosaic made up of 14 images taken on March 15 and April 11 – the 106th and 133rd Martian days, or sols, of the mission – by InSight’s Instrument Deployment Camera, located on its robotic arm.

InSight’s first selfie showed its instruments still on the deck. Now that they’re removed, the viewer can see the spacecraft’s air pressure sensor (white object in center), the tether box for its seismometer and the tether for its heat probe running across the deck. Also visible is its robotic arm and grapple. [More at link]

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Curiosity: Studying the sulfate-bearing unit

Posted on May 6, 2019 by rburnham

2396-rmiSol 2396, May 3, 2019. The Remote Micro-Imager took a multi-frame composite of the sulfate-bearing unit’s layers seen in a distant outcrop. Click the image to enlarge it.

Sol 2396 raw images (from all cameras).

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HiRISE: Polygon variety pack

Posted on May 6, 2019 by rburnham

ESP_054850_1900-2Polygon variety pack. The objective of this observation is to determine the nature of polygons of different sizes here in Gordii Dorsum. Who doesn’t like variety with his polygons?

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

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Mars 2020 can now phone home

Posted on May 6, 2019 by rburnham

PIA23193Mars 2020 engineers and technicians prepare the high-gain antenna for installation on the rover’s equipment deck. The antenna is articulated so it can point itself directly at Earth to uplink or downlink data.

The image was taken on April 19, 2019, in the Spacecraft Assembly Facility’s High Bay 1 clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, California… [More at link]

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THEMIS: Briault Crater in false color

Posted on May 6, 2019 by rburnham

Briault Crater in false color (THEMIS_IOTD_20190506)THEMIS Image of the Day, May 6, 2019. Today’s false color image shows part of Briault Crater located in Tyrrhena Terra.

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.

Explore more THEMIS Images of the Day by geological subject.

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