Mars Photo of the Day - 22 Jul 2012

Tweet

Today's Image of Mars comes from Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity during its fifth Martian winter. This image is a panorama of the rover's view from Greeley Haven during its winter stay at the location, between Sol 2811 (21 Dec 2011) and 2947 (8 May 2012) of its mission. The center of this image is looking North, while South is on both sides of the image. Imagine this image wrapped around you with both ends connected, so that you have a 360 degree view.

Center left in this image you can see the tracks left by MER Opportunity as it navigated through the area and up to Greeley Haven. The tracks have revealed that the bright soil we see over much of the surface is just a thin layer, under which lies darker soil. Future examinations of surface soil will likely require an examination of the top layer of dust and the underlying darker layer because the two layers are distinctly different.

In this image you can see the interior of Endeavour Crater on the right. On the left you can see bright wind blown deposits against an outcrop of Greeley Haven. North, northeast, and east of Greeley Haven  you can see even more bright deposits. At the center of the image is a bright patch called North Pole, which MER Opportunity examined in May 2012, as an investigation into bright wind-blown dust.

This panorama is a compilation of 817 different images taken by the rover's panoramic camera. I highly recommend you click on the image so you can see the high resolution version and zoom in on all the amazing features!

See All Mars Photo of the Day Posts

Mars Photo of the Day - Sept 22 2011

Tweet

Today's Mars Photo was taken by Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on a rock being called Salisbury. Oppy been brushing this area clean of dust and drilling into it with its rock abrasion tool for the past few days. This allow the rover to get a view of the 'raw' rock beneath the weathered, dust-covered surface. The rover is continuing to use its microscopic imager to determine what the rock is made of and learn more about its past. 

This photo was colored by The Road to Endeavour Blog, one of the leading authorities on everything related to MER Opportunity. Clicking on the image below will take you to the post where he discusses Salisbury in much more detail with numerous photos.

See All Mars Photo of the Day Posts!

Mars Photo of the Day - Sept 11 2011

Tweet

Today's Mars Image of Mars is another photo with a lot of meaning. This photo was taken on Sol 30 of Mars Explorarion Rover Opportunity's exploration of the Martian surface. It was found, colored, and enhanced at The Road to Endeavour blog.

When Mars Exploration Rover's Spirit and Opportunity were being created the MER team wanted to pay tribute to those 2,977 lost during the 9/11 attacks, but how could they do that when their greatest achievement would be millions of miles away on Mars? It was decided that both rovers would contain pieces of the wreckage from the Twin Towers and that they would bear them forth to a new world, Mars. The pieces were shaped into rectangular plate covers for cables and placed on the robotic arm of each rover.  These plate covers are marked with the American flag.

 These small plate covers also symbolize human polarity. There will always be evil acts committed by members of our species, but there will also be magnificent achievements made, like the Mars travel and subsequent exploration that is happening every day. 9/11 will always be remembered, on two planets, not just one.

This image links to the original hi-res, colored image from The Road to Endeavour.

See All Mars Photo of the Day Posts!

Mars Photo of the Day - Sept 2 2011

Tweet

Today's Mars Photo shows the path taken by Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in recent weeks. This photo was taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera. I kept the labels added on by NASA because I know how hard it is to remember where everything is when you hear about Opportunity's discoveries. Hopefully you can use this image as a reference.

Clicking on this image will direct you to an article about Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, its status and new mission. See the larger, original image.

See All Mars Photo of the Day Posts!

Opportunity Begins Exploration of Odyssey Crater

Tweet

Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has reached the rim of Endeavour Crater culminating a journey that has lasted three years. It went directly past Spirit Point, the rally point named after its twin rover Spirit and immediately to Odyssey Crater. Odyssey Crater is small (~20 meter) and at the lowest point along the rim of the much larger Endeavour Crater.

Odyssey Crater

It is now only a matter of days until Opportunity starts making discoveries about the rocks around Odyssey Crater, which are different than the rocks on Mars that have been examined thus far. As I explained in a  previous post:

The clays present in an around Endeavour Crater  are different than any found by a Mars Rover before. They imply a warm and wet environment, much like clays examined by Opportunity at other sites, but what makes them different is their low-acidity level. It is thought that warmth, moisture, and low-acidity levels provide a suitable environment for the development of life. So while Mars Rover Opportunity will examine the clay and determine its properties, it will also be looking for signs of tiny fossils, which would provide evidence of past life on Mars. While no one expects to find evidence of past life in the clays around Endeavour Crater, it would be foolish of us not to look for it.

Something Remarkable Found Already?

Despite the fact that Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity just arrived at Odyssey Crater last night, it has already discovered an anomaly that might end up being an amazing discovery.

Click to Keep Reading