Tag Archives: MEX

HRSC: Cappuccino swirls at Mars’ south pole

Posted on February 9, 2015 by rburnham

Swirls of chocolate, caramel and cream – this image is definitely one to trigger sweet-toothed cravings. Smooth cream-coloured plateaus surrounded by cocoa-dusted ridges interspersed with caramel-hued streaks create a scene reminiscent of a cosmic cappuccino. This picture is, perhaps surprisingly, … Continue reading →

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HRSC: Mysteries in Nili Fossae

Posted on January 22, 2015 by rburnham

The Nili Fossae graben system is an area of great geological interest near the giant Isidis impact basin, northeast of the Syrtis Major volcanic province. The graben system contains numerous troughs, part of one can be seen at the lower … Continue reading →

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Finding Beagle 2

Posted on January 16, 2015 by rburnham

The UK-led Beagle 2 Mars Lander, thought lost on Mars since 2003, has been found partially deployed on the surface of the planet, ending the mystery of what happened to the mission more than a decade ago. Images taken by … Continue reading →

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Mars Express: New Years at Mars

Posted on January 6, 2015 by rburnham

This image was taken on 2 January just after midday GMT, and is one of the first of the Red Planet this year from the low-resolution Visual Monitoring Camera – the ‘Mars Webcam’ – on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter. It … Continue reading →

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HRSC: Chasms and cliffs on Mars

Posted on January 5, 2015 by rburnham

Although Mars is a very alien planet, some aspects of its geology are surprisingly familiar. This Mars Express image shows a snippet of a region of Mars filled with cliffs, trenches, faults, giant plateaus and volcanoes. The flowing cracks and … Continue reading →

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HRSC: Flight over Becquerel Crater

Posted on December 18, 2014 by rburnham

This latest release from the [High Resolution Stereo] camera on ESA’s Mars Express is a simulated flight over the Becquerel crater, showing large-scale deposits of sedimentary material. The 167 km-diameter Becquerel crater is located in the Arabia Terra region, straddling … Continue reading →

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HRSC: Frost-covered chaos in Hellas

Posted on December 1, 2014 by rburnham

Hellas Chaos, in the southern central part of the giant Hellas basin, stretches roughly 200 km north–south and for about 500 km in an east–west direction. It shows a variety of landforms, from large impact craters containing wind-blown dunes or … Continue reading →

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Comet Siding Spring’s effects on Mars atmosphere

Posted on November 7, 2014 by rburnham

Two NASA and one European spacecraft that obtained the first up-close observations of a comet flyby of Mars on Oct. 19, have gathered new information about the basic properties of the comet’s nucleus and directly detected the effects on the … Continue reading →

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NASA telecon to discuss Mars comet findings

Posted on November 5, 2014 by rburnham

NASA will host a media teleconference at 9 a.m. PST (noon EST) on Friday, Nov. 7, to provide initial science observations of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring’s close flyby of Mars and the impact on the Martian atmosphere. Briefing participants … Continue reading →

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HRSC: Comet Siding Spring

Posted on November 4, 2014 by rburnham

Comet Siding Spring came extraordinarily close to Mars as it whizzed by on 19 October 2014. The celestial body – a mere 500 metres in diameter – passed the Red Planet at a distance of just 137 000 kilometres, where it … Continue reading →

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