Big sand ripple on the west side of the rover (three-frame composite from the Navcam).
NASA description (middle frame): This image was taken by Navcam: Left B (NAV_LEFT_B) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 683 (2014-07-08 22:31:12 UTC).
Sol 683 raw images (from all cameras), and Curiosity’s latest location map.
Repeated high-resolution observations made by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) indicate the gullies on Mars’ surface are primarily formed by the seasonal freezing of carbon dioxide, not liquid water. The first reports of formative gullies on Mars in 2000 generated excitement and headlines because they suggested the presence of liquid water on the Red Planet, the eroding action of which forms gullies here on Earth. Mars has water vapor and plenty of frozen water, but the presence of liquid water on the neighboring planet, a necessity for all known life, has not been confirmed. This latest report… has been posted online by the journal Icarus… [More at top link]
As Opportunity drove down into the saddle between Murray Ridge, the crestline of the Solander Point rim segment, and Cape Tribulation, the Navcam imaged its surroundings (two-frame composite above). Winds blowing through the saddle have pushed up small ripples of sand and dust.
Opportunity raw images, its latest mission status, and a location map. (A shortcut to Sol 3718 Navcam images is here.)
Sol 685, July 10, 2014, update on Curiosity from MSL scientist Lauren Edgar: “Today we are planning Sol 685, which includes a short pre-drive science block, 2.5 hours of driving, and some post-drive imaging for targeting. The pre-drive….” [More at link]
THEMIS Image of the Day, July 10, 2014. Today’s VIS image shows more north polar dunes.
More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.
Perspective view of Hellespontus Montes, a rocky ridge on the western rim of the vast Hellas basin in the southern hemisphere of Mars. The foreground shows a close-up of a crater with a particularly interesting feature: wrinkles that form a roughly concentric pattern, with ever-smaller arcs towards the structure’s centre. This type of feature is known as ‘concentric crater fill’, and is thought to be associated with snowfall and freezing cycles in an earlier and wetter period of Martian history… [More at link]
This HiRISE image shows a valley filled with an assortment of linear ridges. These ridges are often referred to as transverse aeolian ridges, or TAR, and they take a variety of forms. Here they sit at right angles to the direction of the valley, because the topography funnels the wind along the trough… [More at link]
In two frames, the Navcam captures the view looking over the saddle between the rover’s current position on Murray Ridge and the Cape Tribulation rim segment at right. In the distance lies the interior of Endeavour Crater and farther rim segments to the south and east.
Opportunity raw images, its latest mission status, and a location map. (A shortcut to Sol 3717 Navcam images is here.)
The Fin, in Pancam closeup. (Image contrast adjusted to reveal shadow detail.)
Opportunity raw images, its latest mission status, and a location map. (A shortcut to Sol 3717 Pancam images is here.)
This recent observation is the fifth time we’ve imaged this spot on Mars. We often re-image spots on the surface to search for, or track changes, due to active processes, such as migrating sand dunes. In this case, there isn’t any known activity, although careful comparison of the images could show changes. Instead, we acquired these pictures at a range of viewing and illumination angles as an experiment to try to extract new information at the limits of image resolution… [More at link]
