THEMIS Image of the Day, December 11, 2018. In the center of this VIS image is a crater rim, which is shared by two craters. The crater with the deeper floor is at the bottom of the image, and this part of the rim has deeply incised channels.
The crater to the top of the image has a relatively higher floor. In this image, as well as some other similar cases, it is difficult to identify the younger crater.
Sol 2254-55, December 10, 2018, update by MSL scientist Mariah Baker: Today was one of those planning days when you realize the importance of being able to adapt quickly and think on your feet (i.e., wheels) when operating a rover on Mars. Our previous plan brought us to the Lothian E area, where we hoped to find an exposure of red Jura rock that was suitable for drilling. Unfortunately, the bedrock at this location appeared just as fractured as at the previous site, forcing the team to rethink the weekend plan.
The new possibilities included trying to drill a very small portion of the outcrop at Lothian E, do a short “bump” to another possible candidate in the near vicinity, or give up on this site and head in the direction of our long-term strategic route. Making these tactical decisions requires a lot of quick thinking; the team must weigh immediate scientific priorities with long-term goals, and must try to determine the best potential drill target with limited data. We never know exactly what we will find when we arrive at a new site, so the best we can do is use long distance imaging and lessons learned from previous sites to make an educated decision on where to send the rover next... [More at link]
Sol 2255, December 10, 2018. Four Navcam frames trace the skyline toward the south. Click the image to enlarge it.
The Martian south polar cap is a layer of carbon dioxide ice, full of pits that make it look like Swiss cheese. The pits form when the Sun heats the ice and makes it sublimate (transform from a solid to a gas). Because it’s at the pole, the Sun never gets very high in the sky, so steep slopes get more heat and sublimate faster, causing pits to form and grow. This is balanced by new carbon dioxide frost that forms on flatter areas…. [More at link]
THEMIS Image of the Day, December 10, 2018. Numerous channels, also called gullies, dissect the rim of this unnamed crater in Noachis Terra. (Note that the lighting in this image comes from the lower right.)
At upper right lies a small field of active dunes — dark because they are dust-free, and active because sand grains kick off dust when they move.
Layering and faulting in layered deposits in Candor Chasma. This observation was a last minute one done as nadir-only, meaning when the camera is pointing straight down at the surface, as opposed to an angle when we want to create a stereo pair.
Beautiful Mars series. [More at links]
Sol 2252, December 7, 2018. Five Navcam frames show the scene to the east and southeast of Curiosity. The rover team is looking for a good spot to try to drill into the Jura member of Vera Rubin Ridge. Click the image to enlarge it.
NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander, which touched down on Mars just 10 days ago, has provided the first ever “sounds” of Martian winds on the Red Planet. A media teleconference about these sounds will be held today at 12:30 p.m. EST (9:30 a.m. PST).
InSight sensors captured a haunting low rumble caused by vibrations from the wind, estimated to be blowing between 10 to 15 mph (5 to 7 meters a second) on Dec. 1, from northwest to southeast. The winds were consistent with the direction of dust devil streaks in the landing area, which were observed from orbit.
“Capturing this audio was an unplanned treat,” said Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. “But one of the things our mission is dedicated to is measuring motion on Mars, and naturally that includes motion caused by sound waves.” [More at link]
Sol 10, December 7, 2018. InSight is continuing to set up shop on Elysium Planitia; the Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC) is recording the steps as the spacecraft unpacks after the trip from Earth.
Each IDC image has a field of view of 45 x 45 degrees. Click the image to enlarge it.
Raw images (in .PNG format) here.
THEMIS Image of the Day, December 7, 2018. Located on the northern margin of Aonia Terra, this unnamed crater interacts with one of the fossa, also called a graben.
In this image, it is apparent that the tectonic depression crosses the crater, which means the crater was created before the depression.
The ability to relatively date the different features allows for interpretations of the series of events that created the features in this image.
The softened appearance of the crater’s features also suggests that it is mantled with material, probably ice-rich — and the raised ejecta blanket surrounding the smaller crater at top points to the same thing.
