December 3, 2004

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows an exposure of finely-detailed layers in the martian north polar region. The polar ice cap, which is made up of frozen water (whereas the south polar cap is mostly frozen carbon dioxide), is underlain by a thick sequence of layers. Some have speculated that these layers may record the history of changes in martian climate during the past few hundreds of millions of years. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left.
North Polar Layers - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

December 3, 2004

This Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) image shows a portion of Hebrus Vallis, a channel system located south of Granicus Vallis. Like Granicus Vallis, Hebrus Vallis originates close to the base of the Elysium volcanic complex. The criss-crossing of channels seen in the image is not typical for fluvial systems, indicating that this channel system was likely formed by volcanic activity.
Hebrus Vallis - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

> It's amazing when you think about it. Controlling a robot lab
> on another planet many million miles away. We might still be
> at the early age of science but what a great step since we
> thought earth was flat and supported by turtles...

Just think of where we might be if we hadn't had to drag the anchor of religion all these centuries. Isn't that thought enough to make a strong woman cry?

>

---

Dave Nelson

With Proof of Ancient Water on Mars, Researchers Consider Life's Chances

Researchers can now say definitively that Mars once supported a watery environment, but whether the red planet could have ever supported life is still far from certain.

The success of NASA's Mars rover Opportunity in finding tell-tale signs of past water at its Meridiani Planum landing site has left some researchers believing the region could have once been a habitable, albeit still hostile, environment.

"We can say 'yeah, it was probably a habitable environment, but was it an environment in which life could have arisen,'" said Cornell University's Steve Squyres, principal science investigator for the Mars rover mission, in a telephone interview. "That's a good question."
...

read the Full Story at Space.com
With Proof of Ancient Water on Mars, Researchers Consider Life's Chances

Greetings from Germany NRW
Ulli S@h Berkeley's Staff Friends Club m7 ©

December 2, 2004

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows details near the front edge of a lava flow in the Daedalia Planum region. Daedalia Planum is a vast region covered with the extremely large lava flows of southern Tharsis. The trough in the lower third of the image is a graben formed by extension and faulting of the martian crust. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left.
Lava Flow Features - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

December 2, 2004

This Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) image is of Olympica Fossae, located further eastward than yesterday's image and closer to Alba Patera. Note the complexity of the deeper main channel and the nearby collapse channels. The deeper channel may represent an unroofed lava tube or open main lava channel. The floor texture seen in the main channel in both yesterday's and today's images may represent the surface of one of the last lava flows hosted by the channel.
Olympica Fossae Redux - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

December 2, 2004

The most dramatic findings so far from NASA's twin Mars rovers -- telltale evidence for a wet and possibly habitable environment in the arid planet's past -- passed rigorous scientific scrutiny for publication in a major research journal. Eleven reports by 122 authors in Friday's issue of the journal Science present results from Opportunity's three-month prime mission, fleshing out headline discoveries revealed earlier.
Discoveries of Wet Martian History - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

December 2, 2004

As NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity was making its way back toward its original entry path into "Endurance Crater," scientists and engineers spotted what they hoped might be a shortcut for climbing out of the crater. The possible exit path, pictured on the far right of this image where the outcrop is punctuated, was eventually deemed too hazardous for the rover to attempt. Opportunity would have had to cross terrain with a slope of 28 degrees and face a tall rock outcropping very close to the exit chute opening which, itself, is too narrow for the rover to pass.
No Shortcut for Opportunity - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

MarsQuest Online
On this site you can launch a spacecraft to Mars, explore its volcanos and canyons, fly over Mars, drive a rover, solve the mysteries about the search for life on Mars, and explore the latest rover images.

---

me@rescam.org

December 1, 2004

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a group of semi-parallel ridges--yardangs--etched by wind into layered sedimentary rock on the floor of an unnamed crater in Terra Cimmeria. Many craters on Mars have been the sites of sedimentation. Over time, these sediments have become lithified. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left/upper left.
Crater Floor Yardangs - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

December 1, 2004

This Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) image is of Olympica Fossae. Located between Olympus Mons and Alba Patera, this entire region is comprised of volcanic flows. All the channels seen in this image were created by volcanic activity. Many shallow channels surround the deeper main channel.
Olympica Fossae - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

November 30, 2004

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image was acquired using the cPROTO technique described in "cPROTO Views of Spirit's Rover Tracks and Athabasca Vallis Flood Features." In other words, the picture was obtained by MOC with a resolution that is better than 1 meter per pixel. On the left is a view of the entire cPROTO image; on the right is a magnified view of the features seen in the white box on the left. The 200 meter scale bar is about 219 yards long. This cPROTO image shows layered sedimentary rocks exposed in eastern Candor Chasma, part of the vast Valles Marineris trough system. On the steep slope in the lower half of the image (left), the rocks have been breaking down into fine-grained material that slides down the slope to create fan-shaped talus accumulations. In some cases, the movement of this dry debris has cut narrow, straight chutes into the slope. The sub-meter resolution of the cPROTO image reveals that there are no boulders in the talus, attesting to the extremely fine-grained and easily broken-up nature of these sedimentary rocks. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left.
East Candor cPROTO - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

November 30, 2004

This Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) image shows this small unnamed channel is just west of the large outflow region of Ares, Simud, and Tiu Valles. Note the interaction of the channel and the small crater that it has cut through. This channel is likely fluvial in origin.
Channel/Crater Interaction - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

November 29, 2004

Soil on Mars can be a bit clumpy, as shown in this image of soil after it was compacted by one of the wheels of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. Scientists think the light-colored material may be a global layer of airfall dust. Spirit's microscopic imager took this picture.
Closeup pic of Compacted Soil

---

me@rescam.org

November 29, 2004

Both out on the plains of Gusev Crater and in the "Columbia Hills," NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has encountered a thin, light-colored, fine-grained layer of material on top of a dark-colored, coarser layer of soil. In the hills, Spirit stopped to take a closer look at soil compacted by one of the rover's wheels. Spirit took this image with the front hazard-avoidance camera.
Rover Studies Soil on Mars pic

---

me@rescam.org

November 29, 2004

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a relatively young impact crater on the floor of the outflow channel system of Mangala Valles. The impact ejecta blanket in this case is quite bouldery. Some windblown sediment has partially filled the crater. Meteor impact craters are common the surfaces of most solid objects in the Solar System. They are least common on the volcanically-active moon of Jupiter, Io, and on Earth, where volcanism, tectonism, and erosion have all acted to erase the record of impact cratering. On Mars, erosion has also been vigorous enough to destroy craters. In other areas on Mars, craters have been filled and buried within the planet's bedrock. The crater is just over 300 meters across, about one third the diameter of the famous Meteor Crater in Arizona. The 300 meter scale bar is about 328 yards long. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left.
Bouldery Impact Ejecta - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

November 29, 2004

This Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) image is of the southern reach of Minio Vallis, a small fluvial channel located near the larger Mangala Vallis. Both channels are in the Tharsis region, in the area west of Arsia Mons and southeast of Medusae Fossae.
Minio Vallis Channel - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

November 28, 2004

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows banded terrain of the north polar region of Mars. The bands are exposures of layered material, possibly composed of dust and ice. The dark, rounded to elliptical mounds in this image might be the locations of ancient sand dunes that were completely buried in the north polar layered material. In more recent times, these mounds have been exhumed from within the layered material. Alternatively, the dark features are not ancient, exhumed dunes, but perhaps the remnants of a dark layer of material that once covered the entire area shown in the image. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left.
North Polar Features - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

November 27, 2004

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows some of the northern Sinus Meridiani sedimentary rock outcrops. Sinus Meridiani is the site of the largest outcropping of light-toned, layered sedimentary rocks on Mars. Last January, the Mars Exploration Rover, Opportunity, landed in a portion of central Sinus Meridiani and has since that time been exploring the local outcrops of light-toned, sedimentary rock. Where Opportunity landed, most of the sedimentary rocks are covered by a regolith of windblown sand and granules. At the rover site, rock outcrops are found mostly in crater walls. Further to the north, the outcrops are not covered with sediment. It also shows the locations of several meteor impact craters that have been degraded as the sedimentary rocks have been eroded away. The large, dark, circular area near the top of the picture may mark the location of a crater that is still mostly filled and buried beneath dark, windblown debris. The sedimentary rocks of northern Sinus Meridiani have been known to occur there for at least the past seven years. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the upper left.
Meridiani's Rocks - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

November 26, 2004

This Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) day time IR image shows a group of channels that originate from the Elysium volcanic field. Called Granicus Vallis, these channels are related to the volcanic activity of Elysium Mons and may be lava channels rather than fluvial. Note the lava flows at the top of the image.
Granicus Vallis Channels - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org