THEMIS Image of the Day, July 8, 2014. Today’s image is part of Olympia Undae, but unlike yesterday’s image, there is more topography in this region. The dunes are forming in the lower elevations, but can migrate up the sides of the hills if the prevailing winds are strong enough.
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Sand ripples flank Curiosity, with Mount Sharp rising in the background; a quiet weekend on Mars.
NASA description: This image was taken by Front Hazcam: Left B (FHAZ_LEFT_B) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 679 (2014-07-04 16:36:32 UTC).
Sol 679 raw images (from all cameras), and Curiosity’s latest location map.
Material contrast
in the northern plains. Beautiful Mars series.
Sols 678-679, July 3-4, 2014, update on Curiosity from U.S. Geological Survey scientist Ryan Anderson: “The sol 678 drive was successful! We traversed 66.5 meters, ending our drive right were we expected near some picturesque wind-blown…” [More at link]
A new geologic map of part of the ancient Martian highlands produced by Scott C. Mest and David A. Crown of the Planetary Science Institute provides new insights into the planet’s history of water modifying the surface. “This map depicts the complicated sequence of geologic processes that have served to modify ancient, rugged highland terrains surrounding the Hellas impact basin and shows evidence for the persistent effects of water and ice in degrading the Martian surface,” Crown says…. [More at link]
From A.J.S. Rayl’s blog at The Planetary Society: “Opportunity got off to a bumpy start in June, but the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission pressed on, continuing the exploration of Murray Ridge at the western rim of Endeavour Crater. And, by month’s end, as the MER team was honoring a colleague from across the Pond on Earth, the robot field geologist was driving to another fine finish at an outcrop that may reveal more about the watery, life nourishing environment that was once here long, long ago…” [More at link]
Opportunity’s Pancam looks over the Broken Hills outcrop on the summit of Murray Ridge. Cape Tribulation lies in the distance at center, the interior of Endeavour Crater on the left, and the sandy plains of Meridiani as they meet the foot of the Cape rim segment on the right, in a three-image composite panorama. (Composite image above is 1.2 MB in size, and will open in a new page or tab.)
Opportunity raw images, its latest mission status, and a location map. (A shortcut to Sol 3713 Pancam images is here.)
THEMIS Image of the Day, July 7, 2014. Dunes cover all but the highest hill of this image. These dunes are part of Olympia Undae, a huge dune field located near the north pole.
More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.
THEMIS Image of the Day, July 4, 2014. The hills in this VIS image are part of Protonilus Mensae, located on the northern margin of Terra Sabaea.
More THEMIS Images of the Day by geological topic.
