HiRISE: Gully monitoring

Posted on September 2, 2014 by rburnham

tumblr_nb8ofrAhLJ1rlz4gso1_1280Gully monitoring. Beautiful Mars series.

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HiRISE: Phantom zone

Posted on September 2, 2014 by rburnham

tumblr_nb8nae7oS91rlz4gso1_1280Phantom zone. Beautiful Mars series.

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Curiosity: Valley and rocks

Posted on September 2, 2014 by rburnham

735-mastcamSol 735, August 31, 2014. Taking images toward the southwest with its 34mm lens, the Mastcam makes a panorama showing the head of shallow Amargosa Valley (left and center) and a wide, rock-strewn field to the right. (Clicking the above image loads a 2.6 MB version of the panorama.) Where will Curiosity go?

Sol 735 raw images (from all cameras), and Curiosity’s latest location map.

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THEMIS: Pavonis Mons

Posted on September 2, 2014 by rburnham

Into the pit of Pavonis Mons (THEMIS_IOTD_20140902)THEMIS Image of the Day, September 2, 2014. This VIS image shows the summit caldera of Pavonis Mons.

More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

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MAVEN nearing arrival at Mars

Posted on September 1, 2014 by rburnham

MAVEN_Aug292014[MAVEN status update, August 29, 2014]  MAVEN continues on a smooth journey to Mars. All spacecraft systems are operating nominally. Since we are now in a “pre-Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) moratorium”, all instruments are powered off until after we arrive at the Red Planet. We had scheduled a final Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM-4) for September 12th…. As we approach the last few days before arriving at Mars [September 21], the following are public affairs events that you may be interested in tuning in for:

  • Pre-MOI Press Conference at NASA Headquarters: September 17th at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
  • Live Television Coverage of the MOI Event: September 21st from 9:30 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. EDT.
  • Post-MOI Press Conference at Lockheed Martin-Denver: September 21st less than 2 hours after MOI.

All of these events can be watched on NASA TV through your cable/satellite system or online at www.nasa.gov/ntv….. [More at link]

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THEMIS: Lava channel

Posted on September 1, 2014 by rburnham

Lava channel in Tharsis (THEMIS_IOTD_20140901)THEMIS Image of the Day, September 1, 2014. The lava flows and channel in this VIS image are located on the eastern margin of Olympus Mons.

More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

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Curiosity update: ‘Rapid traverse planning’

Posted on September 1, 2014 by rburnham

Sols 735-737, August 31, 2014, update from USGS Scientist Ken Herkenhoff: “The volume of data sent from MSL to Earth has been less than usual over the past few days because the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter went into “safe mode”…. [More at link]

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Curiosity: Rocky road ahead

Posted on August 29, 2014 by rburnham

733-NW-panSol 733, August 29, 2014. Looking toward the northwest with the Navcam (three-frame composite), across the plateau where Curiosity must go to reach a trafficable section of the valley network leading to Mount Sharp.

NASA description (middle frame): This image was taken by Navcam: Right B (NAV_RIGHT_B) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 733 (2014-08-29 08:42:11 UTC).

Sol 733 raw images (from all cameras), and Curiosity’s latest location map.

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HiRISE: Ridge between two north polar scarps

Posted on August 29, 2014 by rburnham

tumblr_navr12paAJ1rlz4gso1_1280Ridge between two steep north polar interior scarps. Beautiful Mars series.

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Opportunity: Flash-memory reformat planned

Posted on August 29, 2014 by rburnham

pia18598-640An increasing frequency of computer resets on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has prompted the rover team to make plans to reformat the rover’s flash memory. The resets, including a dozen this month, interfere with the rover’s planned science activities, even though recovery from each incident is completed within a day or two… Individual cells within a flash memory sector can wear out from repeated use. Reformatting clears the memory while identifying bad cells and flagging them to be avoided… [More at link]

More details and context at Opportunity’s status report.

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