Tag Archives: MRO

MARCI weather report, May 13-19, 2019

Posted on May 22, 2019 by rburnham

Afternoon condensate water-ice clouds continued to be the dominant feature over all the major Martian volcanoes this past week. A few arcuate dust storms were observed along the edge of the seasonal north polar ice cap. On the other side … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Terrain near Idaeus Fossae

Posted on May 22, 2019 by rburnham

Terrain near Idaeus Fossae. Many valleys occur all over Mars that reveal an extensive ancient history of liquid water erosion. While these valley systems are typically now covered with fine soils and sand dunes, the overall scale and shape of … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Mounds in depressions in Deuteronilus Mensae

Posted on May 21, 2019 by rburnham

Mounds in depressions in Deuteronilus Mensae. The objective of this observation is to determine the nature of round mounds in depressions. The depressions may be part of the ribbed upper plains unit. Some of the edges of the depressions are … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Ridges in southern Claritas Fossae

Posted on May 20, 2019 by rburnham

Ridges in southern Claritas Fossae. The objective of this observation is to determine the nature of a small field of curved ridges. They may be inverted streams. Claritas Fossae is a densely-dissected highland terrain on the Tharsis Rise of Mars, … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: A snow plow landslide

Posted on May 17, 2019 by rburnham

This image shows a small landslide in Iani Chaos. Landslides are common on Mars where there are steep slopes, including this area where there are numerous mounds and hills. What is unusual about this landslide is that it carved a … Continue reading →

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MARCI weather report, May 6-12, 2019

Posted on May 17, 2019 by rburnham

We are now well into northern spring, and dust storm activity is picking up in the northern hemisphere. Numerous dust storms were observed near the seasonal north polar cap edge (presently ~60° N) throughout the past week. Several of these … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: A frosted surface

Posted on May 16, 2019 by rburnham

This is the first of a new monitoring series to track seasonal processes. It is also a striking image with late winter angled illumination over dunes covered by carbon dioxide frost mixed with dust. Dark spots may be where sand … Continue reading →

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60,000 orbits for MRO

Posted on May 15, 2019 by rburnham

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter hit a dizzying milestone this morning: It completed 60,000 loops around the Red Planet at 10:39 a.m. PDT (1:39 p.m. EDT). On average, MRO takes 112 minutes to circle Mars, whipping around at about 2 miles … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Resistant lava and erosion

Posted on May 15, 2019 by rburnham

This image demonstrates the curious phenomenon called “topographic inversion.” The southern half of the picture is covered by a well-preserved lava flow. The flow stops just at the brink of descending a steep slope. Lava isn’t afraid of falling, so … Continue reading →

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HiRISE: Pitted cones

Posted on May 7, 2019 by rburnham

Pitted cones. The objective of this observation is to examine if these cones are deformed along this ridge in Acidialia Planitia. HiRISE Picture of the Day archive. [More at links]

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