Mars Travel: Arsia Mons

Showing posts with label Arsia Mons. Show all posts

Mars Photo of the Day - May 15 2012

Today's Image of Mars shows the Tharsis Trio (Arsia, Pavonis, and Ascraeus Mons) and Olympus Mons off to the Northwest. This image is very similar to one previously showcased by Mars Travel from the European Space Agency's Mars Express.

The Tharsis Trio are aligned in almost a perfect line pointing Northeast. Scientists speculate that all these volcanoes formed from a larger fracture/vent system that caused the three initial eruptions that created the Tharsis Trio. In other images you can see the vents pointing Northeast from Arsia Mons toward Pavonis and Ascraeus Mons, which lend credence to this theory.

As far as I can tell this image was taken by Mars Odyssey Orbiter's THEMIS (please correct me if I'm wrong) Click on this image to see the original high resolution image.

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Weekend Feature: Arsia Mons

Arsia Mons measures nearly 16km (12mi) high and over 435km (270mi) wide, with a caldera (opening) measuring 110km (72mi) in diameter It is the southernmost of the Tharsis Trio, which also consists of Pavonis Mons to the north and Ascraeus Mons to the north of that.

While Arsia Mons may be larger than any volcano on Earth, it pales in comparison to the largest volcano yet discovered in the solar system, Olympus Mons, which measures 22km (16mi) high. Coincidentally Olympus Mons is relatively close to the Tharsis Trio (right).

These volcanoes lie in the Tharsis Quadrangle on Mars, which contains an abundance of volcanoes. The region is thought to have been volcanically active as recently as 100-250 million years ago, which is relatively recent in geological terms.Scientists believe that the abundance of volcanoes in this region had an astronomical impact on the climate of Mars because the carbon dioxide and water vapor emitted from them would have been enough to create an atmosphere thicker than that on Earth!

This means that the environment we currently see on Mars may be drastically different than what it used to be! The Tharsis volcanoes would have had a direct impact on that, so determining how long ago they were active will help scientists to determine at which point the Martian climate changed!

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Mars Photo of the Day - May 1 2012

Today's Image of Mars shows how the Tharsis Trio (Arsia, Pavonis, and Ascraeus Mons) pale in comparison to Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in the solar system. Of the Tharsis trio, Arsia Mons is the oldest and Ascraeus Mons is the youngest.

The Tharsis Quadrangle is full of volcanoes and is thought to have been volcanically active as recently as 100-250 million years ago, which is relatively recent in geological terms. It is thought that at one time the abundance of volcanoes in this region had an enormous impact on the climate of Mars.

Scientists have determined that the amount of carbon dioxide and water vapor released into the air by all the discovered Tharsis volcanoes would have been enough to create an atmosphere thicker than that currently on Earth. If this is the case the environment on Mars could have been completely different than what we see in images today.

Click on this image to see all images of Tharsis volcanoes showcased by Mars Travel. [See the Mars Express article with this image]

Credit: ESA/Mars Express

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Mars Photo of the Day - Feb 11 2012

Today's Images of Mars come from the Mars Odyssey Orbiter and show seven different pits on Mars that scientists believe lead to underground caverns. These pits were found over 700km along the side of Arsia Mons, the second largest mountain on Mars, after Olympus Mons.

Cavern entrances like these ones are called skylights. They have no raised rim or ejecta, which differentiates them from impact craters. Can you see the seventh one?

In recent years scientists have suggested that underground caverns like these are likely to be much more suitable to life than the surface, which many believe is presently hostile to life as we know it.

Caverns like the ones below are likely destinations for future manned and unmanned missions to Mars! Some scientists speculate that colonies could be set up inside of caverns because they act as a natural shield to space radiation and the harsh Martian environment.

There are two skylights located in the image labeled "E", making the total number of skylights imaged below seven.

The entrances imaged below are only some of many potential cavern entrances discovered and imaged on Mars. Clicking the images will take you to other Mars Travel posts about skylights. These images were compiled by National Geographic. [See their original short caption for the images]

Images courtesy NASA/JPL/LPI

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Mars Photo of the Day - Nov 22 2011

Today's Image of Mars is of a crater filled in by lava flows from the volcano Arsia Mons, one of the northern most Tharsis volcanoes.

What's amazing about this crater is the fact that the rim remains almost entirely intact. Oftentimes all evidence of an impact will be erased by a lava flow, but not in this case. The lava flows surrounded this crater and eventually broke through the crater rim, filling it to the same level as the surrounding terrain, but the rim is still distinct.

Clicking this image will take you to the original captioned image from Mars Odyssey Orbiter's THEMIS.

Source: THEMIS

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Mars Photo of the Day - Nov 5 2011

Today's Image of Mars is of Arsia Mons, the southernmost of the Tharsis volcanoes. This volcano is larger than any on Earth, measuring nearly 12 miles high and over 270 miles wide.

The fractures in the top right and bottom left of the image are aligned with Pavonis Mons and Ascreaus Mons to the Northeast. This may represent a large fracture or vent system that was responsible for the eruptions which created the volcanoes.

This image was taken by the Thermal Emissions Imaging System (THEMIS) aboard Mars Odyssey Orbiter. The image was released to the public on June 13 2005. Click the image to see the original captioned image from THEMIS.

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