Mars Photo of the Day - 2 Jul 2012

Tweet

Imagine being able to hike on Mars! How would you plan such a trip? Where would you go?  Would you climb mountains, or explore ancient riverbeds? What marvels of Mars would you encounter? One thing's for sure, you'd probably carry a map!

But just what would a typical hiking map of an area on Mars look like? Let's look at an area where all sorts of terrain comes together, from mountains to canyons to great expanses of plains! In the map below we see Chryse Planitia, Meridiani Planum, Ares Valles, Iani Chaos, Margaritfer Terra, and Valles Marineris, all distinctly different types of terrain, but interconnected. 

We also see a future tourist destination: the 1997 landing site of Mars Pathfinder! Sites where the first rovers touched down may one day become extremely popular locations for tourists wishing to see a part of history and marvel at how far we've come! I look forward for the day when I can wait in line to see the great robotic explorers of my childhood!

Click on this image to see the original high resolution map from Mars Express.

Source: Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera

See All Mars Photo of the Day Posts

Mars Photo of the Day - Nov 11 2011

Tweet

Today's Image of Mars is a perspective of Oraibi Crater, as taken by Mars Express Orbiter. Oraibi Crater is 32 km in diameter and a prominent feature in Ares Valles, an outflow channel channel on Mars. 

The crater is filled with sediments and a large part of its southern rim has been eroded by the water that once flooded Ares Valles. On the right side of this image you can see a number of relatively recent craters.

Clicking on this image will take you to the original image taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). I highly recommend checking it out because it's a lot bigger and you can zoom in on it. 

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

See All Mars Photo of the Day Posts!

Mars Photo of the Day - Nov 3 2011

Tweet

Today's Image of Mars shows a mesa on the eastern floor of Aram Chaos, a 1300km (~800mi) diameter depression. (A mesa is a hill/mountain with a flat top) It is thought that a cataclysmic amount of water was released from this depression, which led to the creation of the 2000km long outflow channel, Ares Vallis.

Surrounding the center mesa you can see many isolated hills and eroding mesas. A variety of dune fields are visible in this image. The interplay between the dunes, eroded land forms, and light and dark-toned materials enables scientists to determine the relative age of each feature, as well as the composition of the interacting materials.

Clicking on this image will take you to a related, captioned image by HiRISE. This image is a subimage of that captioned image.

See All Mars Photo of the Day Posts!

Mars Photo of the Day - Sept 4 2011

Tweet

Todays Mars Photo was taken by the Mars Pathfinder in Ares Valles on July 4 1997. The large boulders in the image were most likely deposited by the catastrophic floods that created the valley. The sky is reddish brown because of the dust particles abundant the atmosphere.

See All Mars Photo of the Day Posts!