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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
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Meridiani_Planum-ESP_032098_1785-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgFeatures of Meridiani Planum (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)85 visiteIn this frame, taken by the NASA - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on the date of June, 1st, 2013, we can see a few interesting (although very common) Surface Features which characterize the Meridiani Planum Region of Mars. In particular, we can see an old and (still) Unnamed Impact Crater - with the "usual" Dunefield on its Floor - that is located on the very upper portion of the frame and just below a (relatively) Sand-free section of Surface known as "Martian Paving". Afterwards, moving down towards the South (such as towards the lower portion of the frame), we can find an area where there are many Sand Ripples and a few small Impact Craters. Finally, on the very lowest portion of the picture, we can also see more Sand Ripples, a number of Sand Dunes, several very small Impact Craters and quite a few Rocky Outcrops.
However, the Martian Surface pictured here, in our opinion (as IPF), and contrary to the common idea of how the Meridiani Planum Region of Mars is - generally - characterized and known (such as an almost totally plain and reliefs-free Region), is really far from being flat at all: as a matter of fact, if you observe the picture carefully, you will be able to notice that the whole area which has been photographed by the NASA - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (and, particularly, the area visible in the central and lower portion of the frame - meaning the one located to the South of the main visible Feature, such as the Unnamed Impact Crater) appears to show several points of Subsidence, a few Ridges and some (most likely very short and small) Hillocks.
Mars Local Time: 14:09 (Early Afternoon)
Coord. (centered): 1,584° South Lat. and 3,132° East Long.
Spacecraft altitude: 268,9 Km (such as about 166,986 miles)
Original image scale range: 26,9 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~ 81 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale: 25 cm/pixel
Map projection: EQUIRECTANGULAR
Emission Angle: 0,0°
Phase Angle: 34,0°
Solar Incidence Angle: 34° (meaning that the Sun was about 56° above the Local Horizon at the time the picture was taken)
Solar Longitude: 328,5° (Northern Winter - Southern Summer)
Credits: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Additional process. and coloring: Lunar Explorer Italia
This picturee (which is a NASA - Original Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter NON-Map Projected b/w frame identified by the serial n. ESP_032098_1785) has been additionally processed and then colorized in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and then looked down, towards the Surface of Mars), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team.MareKromium
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Meridiani_Planum-PIA13598-PCF-LXTT.jpgOpportunity's "Martian Traverse" through Sol 2442 (Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)70 visiteThe white line on this map shows where NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity has driven from the place where it landed in January 2004 - inside Eagle Crater, at the lower left end of the track - to where it reached on the 2442nd Martian Day, or Sol, of its work on Mars (such as December 6, 2010).
The map covers an area about 14 Km (approx. 8,7 miles) wide.
South is at the top.
An Eastward drive of 124 meters (405 feet) on Sol 2442 brought Opportunity to within about 550 meters (1800 feet) of Santa Maria Crater.
Santa Maria, with a diameter about of about 90 meters (295 feet), is nearly as big as Endurance Crater, which Opportunity entered and explored from June to December 2004.
The Sol 2442 drive brought Opportunity's Total Odometry to 25,92 Km (such as 16,11 miles). The long-term destination of the Mission since mid-2008 has been Endeavour Crater, still more than 6 Km (about 3,7 miles) away. The western edge of Endeavour appears in the upper right, including Ridges that are part of the Crater's eroded Rim. This Crater is about 22 Km (approx. 14 miles) in diameter, dwarfing the largest crater that Opportunity has visited so far, Victoria, which is about 800 meters (approx. half a mile) in diameter. Opportunity explored the Rim and interior of Victoria from mid-2006 to mid-2008.
The base map for this traverse map is a mosaic combining images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera and the Context Camera, both on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It is used by Tim Parker of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, for mapping each of Opportunity's drives based on images taken by the rover after the drive.
Opportunity completed its three-month prime mission in April 2004 and has continued operations in extended missions since then. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, operates the Context Camera.MareKromium
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Mud_Volcano-MRO.jpgMud Volcanoes on Mars? (Natural Colors; credits: Lunar Explorer Italia)54 visiteDa "NASA - Picture of the Day" del giorno 30 Marzo 2009:"Is this a Mud Volcano on Mars? If so, could it be dredging up Martian Microbes? This strange possibility has been suggested recently and seems to fit several recent observations of Mars.
First of all, hills like this seem to better resemble Mud Volcanoes on Earth than Lava Volcanoes and Impact Craters on Mars.
Next, the pictured dome has an unusually textured surface consistent with fractured ice. Infrared images from space indicate that hills like this cool more quickly than surrounding rock, consistent with a dried mud composition.
The hills also reflect colors consistent with a composition that formed in the presence of water.
Finally, unusual plumes of gas containing Methane have been found on Mars with unknown origin. These gas plumes could conceivably have been liberated by Mud Volcanoes, were the initially warm mud to contain Methane-producing microbes drifting in a previously unobservable underground lake.
A candidate mud volcano over 100 meters across is pictured above in the Northern Plains (Vastitas Borealis Region) of Mars".MareKromium
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Nereidum_Montes-Dunefield-ESP_029608_1390-PCF-LXTT-IPF-1.jpgDunefield in Nereidum Nontes (CTX Frame - Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/IPF)55 visiteMars Local Time: 15:43 (Middle Afternoon)
Coord. (centered): 40,495° North Lat. and 309,939° East Long.
Spacecraft altitude: 254,8 Km (such as about 159,3 miles)
Original image scale range: 25,5 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~ 76 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale: 25 cm/pixel
Map projection: EQUIRECTANGULAR
Emission Angle: 1,0°
Phase Angle: 57,3°
Solar Incidence Angle: 56° (meaning that the Sun was about 34° above the Local Horizon at the time the picture was taken)
Solar Longitude: 209,9° (Northern Autumn - Southern Spring)
Credits: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Additional process. and coloring: Lunar Explorer ItaliaMareKromium
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Nereidum_Montes-Dunefield-ESP_029608_1390-PCF-LXTT-IPF-2.jpgDunefield in Nereidum Nontes (EDM - Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/IPF)55 visiteMars Local Time: 15:43 (Middle Afternoon)
Coord. (centered): 40,495° North Lat. and 309,939° East Long.
Spacecraft altitude: 254,8 Km (such as about 159,3 miles)
Original image scale range: 25,5 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~ 76 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale: 25 cm/pixel
Map projection: EQUIRECTANGULAR
Emission Angle: 1,0°
Phase Angle: 57,3°
Solar Incidence Angle: 56° (meaning that the Sun was about 34° above the Local Horizon at the time the picture was taken)
Solar Longitude: 209,9° (Northern Autumn - Southern Spring)
Credits: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Additional process. and coloring: Lunar Explorer ItaliaMareKromium
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Niger_Vallis-TRA_000830_1440_IRB-1.jpgFeatures of Niger Vallis (Enhanced Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)409 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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Nili_Fossae-PCF-LXTT-00.jpgFeatures of Nili Fossae (Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)296 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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Nili_Fossae-PCF-LXTT-02.jpgFeatures of Nili Fossae (Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)327 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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Nili_Fossae-PCF-LXTT-03.jpgFeatures of Nili Fossae (Natural Colors; credits: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)298 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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Noachis_Terra-PIA13074.jpgNoachis Terra (Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)54 visiteThis observation shows Gullies in a semi-circular Trough in Noachis Terra. The Gullies are observed to face all directions.
It is interesting to note that the Gully Morphology seen here depends on the orientation of the Gullies. The morphology differences are most pronounced on the sunlit slope, with the Gullies facing South (down) being more deeply incised than those facing the West. It is unknown what caused the different Gully Morphologies, but there are several possibilities.
Gullies are proposed to form at locations determined by the availability of a forming liquid (thought to be water) and/or the amount of insolation the Slope receives, among other factors. It is possible that the deeper Gullies experienced more erosional events or that their erosional events were more effective for undetermined reasons. It is also possible that the Gullies formed at different times such that they did not have the same amount of water -- either for an individual flow or total -- available to them. Also, the underlying topography could make the Gullies appear relatively more incised without this actually being the case.
The majority of the Gullies on both sides of the Trough appear to originate at a boulder-rich layer visible in the subimage. The layer appears dark on the sunlit slope because the boulders sticking out from the slopes cast shadows. If these Gullies formed by water from the Subsurface, then it is possible that this layer is a permeable layer that conducted water to the Surface.
The layer is deteriorating and traveling down slope in the form of Boulders. These Boulders can clearly be seen in the alcoves of the Gullies on both sides of the Trough.MareKromium
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North_Polar_Cap_oct2006.jpgThe "North Polar Cap" of Mars53 visiteDuring the last week of September and the first week or so of October, 2006, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) scientific instruments were turned on to acquire test information leading up to full science operations to begin the first week of November 2006, following superior conjunction (superior conjunction is where a planet goes behind the sun as viewed from the Earth). Since it is very difficult to communicate with a spacecraft when it is close to the Sun as seen from Earth, this checkout of the instruments was crucial to being ready for the Primary Science Phase (PSP) of the mission.
Throughout the Transition Phase of operations, the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) acquired terminator (transition between nighttime and daytime) to terminator swaths of color images on every dayside orbit, as the spacecraft moved northward in its orbit. The south polar region was deep in winter shadow, but the north polar region was illuminated the entire martian day. During the primary mission, these swaths will be assembled into global maps that portray the state of the martian atmosphere -- its weather -- as seen every day and at every place at about 3 PM local solar time. After the Transition Phase was completed, most of the instruments were turned off, but the Mars Climate Sounder and MARCI have been left on. Their data will be recorded and played back to Earth following the communications blackout associated with conjunction and just prior to the start of the PSP.
Combined with Mars Global Surveryor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) wide angle image mosaics taken at 2 PM local solar time, the MARCI maps will be used to track motions of clouds.
The image shown above is a composite mosaic of four polar views of Mars, taken at midnight, 6 AM, noon, and 6 PM local martian time. This is possible because during summer the sun is always shining in the polar region. It shows the mostly water ice perennial cap (white area), sitting atop the north polar layered materials (light tan immediately adjacent to the ice), and the dark circumpolar dunes. This view shows the region poleward of about 72 degrees north latitude. The data were acquired at about 900 meters per pixel. Three channels are shown here (425 nm, 550 nm, and 600 nm).
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North_Polar_Features-Layers-MRO-PCF-LXTT.jpgNon-Conformities (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)58 visiteCaption NASA:"How did these layers of red cliffs form on Mars? No one is sure. The Northern Ice Cap on Mars is nearly divided into two by a huge division named Chasma Boreale. No similar formation occurs on Earth. Pictured here, several dusty layers leading into this deep chasm are visible. Cliff faces, mostly facing left but still partly visible from above, appear dramatically reddish. The light areas are likely water ice. This image spans about 1 Km near the North of Mars, and the elevation drop from right to left is over one kilometer. One hypothesis relates the formation of Chasma Boreale to underlying volcanic activity".MareKromium
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