M.I.N.I.O.N.

(via Catalog Page for PIA16654)

Mars’ south pole develops thumbprint-like markings as seen in this image from THEMIS on the Mars Odyssey orbiter.

Orbit Number: 48024 Latitude: -86.1515 Longitude: 307.082 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2012-10-11 09:51

Image Credit:NASA/JPL/ASU
Image Addition Date:2013-01-04

(via Catalog Page for PIA16571)

A Sampling of Martian Soils 

The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit’s landing region in Gusev Crater is seen in both pictures at top; Viking’s landing site is shown at lower left; and a close-up of Curiosity’s Gale Crater soil target called “Portage” is at lower right.

Image Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech
Angwe sez: Ooooh. So cool. Love that we get to see some stuff from Spirit. (Wish we had more interesting stuff from Sojourner.)

(via Catalog Page for PIA16553)

Looking Back at Entry Into ‘Yellowknife Bay’ 

Angwe says: That’s one small step for a rover…a bit big for you or me. Well, OK, a half-meter isn’t that bad for a jump, but for Curiosity, it was just a little step.

Original Caption Released with Image:

The NASA Mars rover Curiosity used its left Navigation Camera to record this view of the step down into a shallow depression called “Yellowknife Bay.” It took the image on the 125th Martian day, or sol, of the mission (Dec. 12, 2012), just after finishing that sol’s drive. The Sol 125 drive entered Yellowknife Bay and covered about 86 feet (26.1 meters). The descent into the basin crossed a step about 2 feet (half a meter) high, visible in the upper half of this image.

Image Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech
Image Addition Date:2012-12-18

(via Catalog Page for PIA16550)

Layered Martian Outcrop ‘Shaler’ in ‘Glenelg’ Area 

Original Caption Released with Image:

Figure 1

Figure 2

Click on an individual image for larger views

The NASA Mars rover Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) during the mission’s 120th Martian day, or sol (Dec. 7, 2012), to record this view of a rock outcrop informally named “Shaler.”

The outcrop’s striking layers, some at angles to each other in a pattern called crossbedding, made it a target of interest for the mission’s science team. The site is near where three types of terrain meet at a place called “Glenelg,” inside Gale Crater.

The area covered by the image spans about 3 feet (90 centimeters) in the foreground. Figure 1 includes a 10-centimeter (4-inch) scale bar.

The image has been white-balanced to show what the rock would look like if it were on Earth. Figure 2 is a raw-color version, showing what the rock looks like on Mars to the camera.

Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, developed, built and operates Mastcam. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project’s Curiosity rover.

For more about NASA’s Curiosity mission, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl, http://www.nasa.gov/mars, andhttp://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl.

Image Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Image Addition Date:2012-12-11

(via Volcanic Dike Spawns Giant Flood | Mars Odyssey Mission THEMIS)

The yellow arrow indicates what’s left of the volcanic dike that broke and released the flooding. The blue arrow indicates multiple layers of erosion tracks, indicating that there was likely multiple instances of flooding.

From THEMIS’s homepage at ASU:

A crow’s-foot pattern of fractures and faults spreads south and west from Arsia Mons, the southernmost of the giant Tharsis volcanos. Some fractures slice through Terra Sirenum, while to the north others cut through an area called Memnonia. One of the Memnonia faults, in response to an injection from below of molten magma, widened and became a long linear valley, called a graben by geologists.

What gives this graben — Mangala Fossae — geological interest is that the faulting released a flood of subsurface water. The waters filled the graben to overflowing, found the lowest spot in its wall, and spilled out to the north. The floodwaters carved a channel called Mangala Valles around 900 kilometers (550 miles) long as they raced toward Amazonis Planitia and the northern lowlands.

The image above showing the start of Mangala Valles is a mosaic of infrared frames taken during daytime by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter. Orbiting Mars every two hours, THEMIS scans the surface below in five visible and 10 infrared bands. The smallest details it can detect at infrared wavelengths are 100 meters (330 feet) wide; at visual wavelengths, THEMIS has imaged selected regions at 18-meter (59 feet) resolution.

Breach

Ample evidence lies all over Mars for lots of subsurface water and ice. Such water clearly existed in the past and may even exist today. In places, scientists suspect the water may be confined under pressure because its natural outflow is blocked by impenetrable layers of rock or simply by a capping layer of permanently frozen ground. But if anything breaks into that layer, any water present will gush out with dramatic results.

(via Catalog Page for PIA16468)

Curiosity’s ‘Rocknest’ Workplace 

Angwe sez: The MAHLI camera on the instrument arm took this great self-portrait of Curiosity (she always looks small to me, and I keep forgetting that she’s the size of an SUV!) and the fine folks at JPL have annotated it for us. See the JPL explanation for more detail, but the short form is this:

1) The wheel scuff allowed MAHLI and APXS to determine if the sand was small enough to clean the system with. 

2) The first three scoops were used to ensure that the scoops, intakes, and the system itself had been cleared of any Earth-based material that might cause readings errors. Think of scouring your bowl with sand when you’re hiking.

3) The last two were used in the CheMin and SAM units for initial readings, which came out fantastic.

Just a reminder, you can’t see MAHLI or any of the other items on the instrument turret at the end of the arm because MAHLI took the images that compose this shot.

From JPLs Site:

For more about NASA’s Curiosity mission, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl, http://www.nasa.gov/mars, andhttp://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl.

Image Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Image Addition Date:2012-12-03

(via Catalog Page for PIA16577)

Curiosity Rover’s Traverse, August through November 2012 

Original Caption Released with Image:

This map shows where NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has driven since landing at a site subsequently named “Bradbury Landing,” and traveling to an overlook position near beside “Point Lake,” in drives totaling 1,703 feet (519 meters). The rover landed on Aug. 5 Pacific Time (Aug. 6, Universal Time). It was at the easternmost waypoint on this map on Nov. 30, 2012. It worked on scoops of soil for a few weeks at the drift of windblown sand called “Rocknest.” The place called “Glenelg” is where three types of terrain meet. The depression called “Yellowknife Bay” is a potential location for selecting the first target rock for Curiosity’s hammering drill.

All of these sites are within Gale Crater and north of the mountain called Mount Sharp in the middle of the crater. After using its drill in the Glenelg area, the rover’s main science destination will be on the lower reaches of Mount Sharp. For broader-context images of the area, see PIA16064 and PIA16058.

The base image from the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera (HiRISE) in NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

JPL manages the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

For more about NASA’s Curiosity mission, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl, http://www.nasa.gov/mars, andhttp://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl.

Image Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Image Addition Date:2012-12-03