Red Planet Report

THEMIS: The Martian, Part 2: Mawrth Vallis

Posted on October 13, 2015 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, October 13, 2015. All this week, the THEMIS Image of the Day is following on the real Mars the path taken by fictional astronaut Mark Watney, stranded on the Red Planet in the book and movie, The Martian.

Today’s image shows part of Mawrth Vallis, a channel carved by giant floods billions of years ago. The highlands lying to the south and west of the channel are under consideration as a potential landing site for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover. Remote-sensing observations from orbit show widespread exposures of clay minerals, indicating alteration by water early in Martian history. These might preserve traces of ancient life, if there was any.

For astronaut Mark Watney, driving in a pressurized and solar-powered rover vehicle, Mawrth Vallis offers a gentle slope and an easy-to-follow route up from Acidalia’s low-lying plains into the Arabia Terra highlands. At this point in his journey to Schiaparelli Crater, he has driven about 750 kilometers (470 miles).

More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

Posted in Reports | Tagged Arizona State University, ASU, channels, Mark Watney, Mars Odyssey, Mawrth Vallis, NASA, outflow channels, The Martian, THEMIS, Thermal Emission Imaging System | Comments Off

HiRISE: Geologic contact in Aeolus Dorsa

Posted on October 12, 2015 by rburnham

Geologic contact between fluvial deposits in Aeolus Dorsa — That blue is basaltic (volcanic) sand.

Beautiful Mars series.

Posted in Reports | Tagged Aeolis Dorsa, basaltic sand, Beautiful Mars, fluvial deposits, High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, HiRISE, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, NASA, sand, sediments, University of Arizona | Comments Off

ExoMars 2018: Landing site choices to narrow

Posted on October 12, 2015 by rburnham

Later this month, scientists and engineers will meet to choose which two, of four possible landing sites for the ExoMars 2018 mission, should be retained as candidates.

ExoMars is a joint two-mission endeavour between ESA and Russia’s Roscosmos space agency. The Trace Gas Orbiter and an entry, descent and landing demonstrator module, known as Schiaparelli, will be launched in March 2016, arriving at Mars seven months later. The rover and surface platform will depart in 2018, with touchdown on Mars in 2019.

The search for a suitable landing site for the second mission began in December 2013, when the science community was asked to propose candidates. In October 2014, four candidates were chosen by the Landing Site Selection Working Group. Meeting at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands this month, experts must select the two candidate sites that conform best to both the engineering constraints of descent and landing, and the best possible scientific return of the mission. [More at link]

Posted in Reports | Tagged 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter, Aram Dorsum, ESA, European Space Agency, ExoMars, ExoMars 2018, ExoMars rover, Hypanis Valles, Mawrth Vallis, Oxia Planum, Roscosmos, TGO, Trace Gas Orbiter | Comments Off

HiRISE: Possible ice-related features in Argyre

Posted on October 12, 2015 by rburnham

Possible ice-related features in a crater in the Argyre region. Beautiful Mars series.

Posted in Reports | Tagged Argyre basin, Beautiful Mars, High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, HiRISE, ice, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, NASA, University of Arizona | Comments Off

Opportunity: Surveying the valley

Posted on October 12, 2015 by rburnham

Sols 4162 and 4164, October 9 and 11, 2015. Mission control is directing Opportunity to explore the Marathon Valley floor for clay minerals before going to its winter haven site. That will lie on the valley’s south wall, thus tipping the rover’s panels north for maximum power.

Above: the view eastward on Sol 4164; at right, a false-color Pancam composite (by Holger Isenberg) on Sol 4162, with one grayscale frame. Click either image to enlarge.

After an inconclusive test of the flash memory, mission control is running Opportunity in RAM mode. This means the rover gets its daily orders early, then takes data and images all day and relays them to Earth before shutting down for the night, which erases the RAM contents. Thus any data not uploaded to Mars Odyssey or Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter by the end of the day is lost.

Opportunity raw images, its latest mission status, a location map. and atmospheric opacity, known as tau.

Posted in Reports | Tagged Cape Tribulation, Endeavour Crater, Marathon Valley, Mars Exploration Rover, MER, NASA, Opportunity | Comments Off

THEMIS: The Martian, Part 1: Acidalia Planitia

Posted on October 12, 2015 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, October 12, 2015. All this week, the THEMIS Image of the Day is following on the real Mars the path taken by fictional astronaut Mark Watney, stranded on the Red Planet in the book and movie, The Martian.

Today’s image shows a small portion of Acidalia Planitia, a largely flat plain that is part of Mars’ vast northern lowlands. Scientists are debating the likelihood that the northern plains once contained a large ocean or other bodies of water, probably ice-covered.

In the story, Acidalia Planitia is the landing site for a human expedition to Mars. After a dust storm damages the crew habitat and apparently kills Watney, the remaining crew abandon the expedition and leave for Earth. Watney however is still alive, and to save himself he must journey nearly 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) east to Schiaparelli Crater, where a rescue rocket awaits.

More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

Posted in Reports | Tagged Acidalia Planitia, Arizona State University, ASU, Mark Watney, Mars Odyssey, NASA, northern lowlands, northern plains, The Martian, THEMIS, Thermal Emission Imaging System | Comments Off

Curiosity update: ‘Assessing Greenhorn’

Posted on October 10, 2015 by rburnham

Sol 1129-1131, October 9, 2015, update from USGS scientist Lauren Edgar: Curiosity is currently investigating an alteration zone around a fracture. After a successful drilling investigation at “Big Sky,” Curiosity is now ready to evaluate the alteration zone at “Greenhorn” for comparison.

The weekend plan is a busy one. The first sol is focused on SAM activities, to prepare a cup to receive the “Big Sky” drill sample, and then to drop off the sample. On… [More at link]

Posted in Reports | Tagged Aeolis Mons, Big Sky, Curiosity, Gale Crater, Greenhorn, Mars Science Laboratory, Mount Sharp, MSL, NASA | Comments Off

Curiosity update: ‘Twenty minutes to Mars’

Posted on October 9, 2015 by rburnham

Sol 1128, October 8, 2015, update from USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: got up before dawn again today, and was treated to a beautiful view of the crescent Moon, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter in the eastern sky. I hadn’t seen Mars since it emerged from behind the Sun following solar conjunction last June (it was cloudy yesterday morning), and its dimness reminded me of how far away Mars is right now: 351 million kilometers or 218 million miles. It takes 20 minutes for commands sent from Earth to get to MSL, at the speed of light, and another 20 minutes for data to be sent back from Mars to Earth. We’ve gotten used to communicating with the rover over such great distances, but it’s amazing that the link has been so reliable.

The Sol 1127 data received this morning show that the MAHLI wheel imaging and the 7-meter drive completed successfully… [More at link]

Posted in Reports | Tagged Aeolis Mons, Benchmark, Curiosity, Curiosity wheels, Gale Crater, Greenhorn, Mars Science Laboratory, Mount Sharp, MSL, NASA, Pilgrim, rover wheels, wheel wear | Comments Off

Ancient lakes indicate wet paleoclimate at Gale

Posted on October 9, 2015 by rburnham

A new study from the team behind NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity has confirmed that Mars was once, billions of years ago, capable of storing water in lakes over an extended period of time.

Using data from the Curiosity rover, the team has determined that, long ago, water helped deposit sediment into Gale Crater, where the rover landed more than three years ago. The sediment deposited as layers that formed the foundation for Mount Sharp, the mountain found in the middle of the crater today.

“Observations from the rover suggest that a series of long-lived streams and lakes existed at some point between about 3.8 to 3.3 billion years ago, delivering sediment that slowly built up the lower layers of Mount Sharp,” said Ashwin Vasavada, Mars Science Laboratory project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and co-author of the new Science article to be published Friday, Oct. 9. [More at links]

Posted in Reports | Tagged Aeolis Mons, Curiosity, Gale Crater, Hidden Valley, Kimberley, lakes, Mars Science Laboratory, Mount Sharp, MSL, NASA, paleolakes | Comments Off

THEMIS: Arabia Terra – false color

Posted on October 9, 2015 by rburnham

THEMIS Image of the Day, October 9, 2015. 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. Today’s false color image shows part of Arabia Terra. A dark blue tone in this false color image is often associated with basaltic sand.

More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

Posted in Reports | Tagged Arabia Terra, Arizona State University, ASU, Mars Odyssey, NASA, sand, sand sheet, THEMIS, Thermal Emission Imaging System | Comments Off

THEMIS: The Martian, Part 2: Mawrth Vallis

HiRISE: Geologic contact in Aeolus Dorsa

ExoMars 2018: Landing site choices to narrow

HiRISE: Possible ice-related features in Argyre

Opportunity: Surveying the valley

THEMIS: The Martian, Part 1: Acidalia Planitia

Curiosity update: ‘Assessing Greenhorn’

Curiosity update: ‘Twenty minutes to Mars’

Ancient lakes indicate wet paleoclimate at Gale

THEMIS: Arabia Terra – false color

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