Curiosity update: ‘Mars science conference’

Posted on July 15, 2014 by rburnham

Sol 689, July 15, 2014, update on Curiosity from USGS scientist Ken Herkenhoff: “Many of the scientists on the MSL team are attending the 8th International Mars Science Conference this week on the Caltech campus in Pasadena…. With all this going on, I wasn’t able to keep up with MSL operations, but my review of…” [More at link]

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Curiosity’s iron meteorite find

Posted on July 15, 2014 by rburnham

PIA18387_modestThis rock encountered by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover [on Sol 640, May 25, 2014] is an iron meteorite called “Lebanon,” similar in shape and luster to iron meteorites found on Mars by the previous generation of rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Lebanon is about 2 yards or 2 meters wide (left to right, from this angle). The smaller piece in the foreground is called “Lebanon B”… [More at link]

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Cold dust, warm rock: sharpest map ever of Mars surface properties

Posted on July 15, 2014 by rburnham

gratteriMore than 20,000 THEMIS nighttime infrared images have been merged and blended into the sharpest map ever made of Mars’ surface properties. The work is a collaboration between Arizona State University and Robin Fergason of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Astrogeology Science Center. [More at link]

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THEMIS: Hills

Posted on July 15, 2014 by rburnham

Arabia Terra hills (THEMIS_IOTD_20140715)THEMIS Image of the Day, July 15, 2014. The group of hills in this VIS image are located on the floor of a large unnamed depression in northern Arabia Terra.

More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

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Curiosity update: ‘Soliday’

Posted on July 14, 2014 by rburnham

Sol 687, July 12, 2014, update on Curiosity from USGS scientist Ryan Anderson: “Today we received data from sol 685, showing that we drove 60.4 meters, and the rover is busy doing its sol 686 activities right now. Today we are…” [More at link]

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Curiosity update: ‘Cut short’

Posted on July 14, 2014 by rburnham

Sol 686, July 11, 2014, update on Curiosity from USGS scientist Ryan Anderson: “The sol 683 drive was cut a bit short because the rover yaw exceeded the specified limits for the drive, which is a fancy way of saying that the rover steered away….” [More at link]

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HiRISE: Sample terrain near Nili Fossae

Posted on July 14, 2014 by rburnham

tumblr_n8px62aq561rlz4gso1_1280Sample terrain near Nili Fossae. Beautiful Mars series.

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HiRISE: Shimmer

Posted on July 14, 2014 by rburnham

tumblr_n8gqlhIfLw1rlz4gso1_1280Shimmer. Beautiful Mars series.

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THEMIS: Apledon Undae

Posted on July 14, 2014 by rburnham

Aspledon Undae (THEMIS_IOTD__20140714)THEMIS Image of the Day, July 14, 2014. This VIS image shows part of Aspledon Undae, a region of dunes near the north pole. The right side of the image shows hundreds of small, isolated dunes. On the left side of the image, these small dunes appear to have merged into larger dune forms.

More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

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THEMIS: More polar dunes

Posted on July 11, 2014 by rburnham

Polar dunes encircle crater (THEMIS_IOTD_20140711)THEMIS Image of the Day, July 11, 2014. Like yesterday’s image, this VIS image shows more north polar dunes. If you compare multiple dune images, you will see that the dunes can take different forms and cover different amounts of the plains. The differences are caused by many factors including the amount of available sand, the force and direction of the winds, and the topography of the underlying plains.

More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.

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