Another image from Opportunity showing some of the heavily-textured rocks ringing Concepción crater in fascinating detail, color-calibrated by Stuart Atkinson for an approximation of Martian natural lighting. You can clearly see here the layered structure of the rocks, their angular shapes, the interesting “crust” that coats their sides as well as the small stone “berries”…
Category: Mars
Head for the Hills!
…or, in Opportunity’s case, away from the Hills. The “Chocolate Hills“, that is…a pair of rocks on the rim of the rover’s latest exploration target, Concepción crater. Opportunity has spent a couple of weeks investigating them and other rocks in another fascinating side trip on its journey across the Meridian Plains. It is now moving…
Focus on Phobos
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express has begun a series of flybys of Mars’ largest – albeit still very small – moon, Phobos. Begun on February 16 (2010) Mars Express will perform closer and closer approaches until, on March 3, it will pass by at an altitude of only 31 miles, giving us the most…
Work Well Done
A poignant entry on xkcd.com, a webcomic by Randall Munroe. This is based on the recent news that the rover named Spirit will now officially be a “stationary science platform”. After repeated attempts to dislodge it from its current location, wheels hopelessly embedded in soft sand in a locale called “Troy”, the decision was made…
Hello, Neighbor
On Friday, January 29, Mars was in opposition and appeared very bright in the eastern sky, near the Moon. The photograph above was shot and color-calibrated by photographer Alan Friedman from his location in Buffalo, New York. The bright north polar ice cap is clearly visible, as are some darker surface features and wispy clouds….
Let’s Go Streaking
Streaks of swirling pastel colors mark eroded, windswept bedrock within a large crater on Mars in this HiRISE image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The enhanced colors highlight the differences in surface texture…the original RGB image in approximate true-color can be seen here. The full map-projected enhanced color image of the region can be found…
Diagonal Dunes
Symmetrical dune ridges line up within the basin of a Martian crater in this HiRISE image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, taken on December 28, 2009. Rocks and boulders line the crater floor between them. With the MRO’s computers now back online observation of the Martian surface can resume in full effect, providing us with…
Follow the Dotted Line
A dotted line marks the path of a large boulder that has bounced down the inner slope of this 1-km-wide crater in this image from the HiRISE camera, taken on November 12, 2006. The boulder can be seen where it came to rest among the sand dunes on the crater’s floor. See the original release…
Back in Action
“I know everything hasn’t been quite right with me. But I can assure you now, very confidently, that it’s going to be all right again.” This mesmerizing video montage showing beautiful high-resolution views of Martian landscapes opens with the fortunate foreshadowing of today’s news that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has resumed full operations since being…
Off to Marquette
The rover Opportunity took this false-color photo of another possible stony meteorite dubbed “Marquette Island” on Monday December 7. These objects stand out on the barren sandy plain that Opportunity is currently traveling across on its way to Endeavour Crater and provide interesting targets for investigation. The rover has already used its Rock Abrasion Tool…
Fear and Dread
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express has captured footage of Mars’ two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, passing each other in what is known as a “mutual event”. Although the moons themselves are in no special positions the images are noteworthy, being the first time the moons have been photographed passing each other. Mars Express’…
Dug In
Since November 17 the Mars Exploration Rover team has been attempting to carefully get Spirit out of the sand trap she’s been stuck in since summer….unfortunately there’s no sign of freedom for the rover yet. The photo above, taken on November 28 with Spirit’s Forward HAZCAM camera, shows one of the major difficulties facing the…
Lights in the Dark 