Search Publications
New Craters on Mars: An Updated Catalog
Piqueux, S.; Dundas, C. M.; Werynski, A. +15 more
We present a catalog of new impacts on Mars. These craters formed in the last few decades, constrained with repeat orbital imaging. Crater diameters range from 58 m down to <1 m. For each impact, we report whether it formed a single crater or a cluster (58% clusters); albedo features of the blast zone (88% halos; 64% linear rays; 10% arcuate ra…
Geometry and Segmentation of Cerberus Fossae, Mars: Implications for Marsquake Properties
Rodriguez, S.; Hauber, E.; Lognonné, P. +9 more
The NASA InSight mission to Mars successfully landed on 26 November 2018 in Elysium Planitia. It aims to characterize the seismic activity and aid in the understanding of the internal structure of Mars. We focus on the Cerberus Fossae region, a giant fracture network ∼1,200 km long situated east of the InSight landing site where M ∼3 marsquakes we…
Rivers and Lakes in Western Arabia Terra: The Fluvial Catchment of the ExoMars 2022 Rover Landing Site
Fawdon, Peter; Davis, Joel; Bridges, John +3 more
Oxia Planum, the landing site for the ExoMars rover mission, is a shallow basin on the southern margin of Chryse Planitia that hosts remnants of fan-shaped sedimentary deposits associated with the ancient channel system Coogoon Vallis. This indicates runoff from a catchment in Arabia Terra has transported sediment into the landing site. To explore…
Protracted Hydrogeological Activity in Arabia Terra, Mars: Evidence From the Structure and Mineralogy of the Layered Deposits of Becquerel Crater
Rossi, A. P.; Pondrelli, M.; Schmidt, G. +3 more
The formation of layered mounds on Mars remains a major topic of debate, with the relationship between their deposition and chemical alteration a major aspect still to be constrained. The association these deposits have with hydrated minerals indicates aqueous processes were active in their past, however the extent and duration of this aqueous per…
Orbital Observations of a Marker Horizon at Gale Crater
Arvidson, Raymond E.; Weitz, Catherine M.; Grant, John A. +5 more
A dark-toned, indurated, smooth horizon, and (or) bed (herein called "marker horizon") is exposed across much of the northwestern, southwestern, and southeastern portions of Mount Sharp in Gale crater. Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars spectra taken from the marker horizon exhibit evidence for the presence of high calcium pyroxe…
New Insights Into Subsurface Stratigraphy Northwest of Ascraeus Mons, Mars, Using the SHARAD and MARSIS Radar Sounders
Plaut, J. J.; Carter, L. M.; Morgan, G. A. +2 more
The Tharsis Montes volcanoes on Mars are the source of laterally extensive lava flows and other volcanic deposits generating a complex stratigraphy throughout the Tharsis Volcanic Province. We use SHAllow RADar (SHARAD) and Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) observations in a region northwest of Ascraeus Mons to d…
Carbon Dioxide Ice Glaciers at the South Pole of Mars
Smith, I. B.; Putzig, N. E.; Schlegel, N. -J. +4 more
Massive, kilometer thick deposits of carbon dioxide (CO2) ice have been detected at the south polar cap of Mars by radar investigations. These deposits are divided into several units that are separated by thin water ice bounding layers. Recent studies investigated the accumulation history of CO2 ice and found that the deposit…
Layered Ejecta Craters in the Candidate Landing Areas of China's First Mars Mission (Tianwen-1): Implications for Subsurface Volatile Concentrations
Di, Kaichang; Gou, Sheng; Yue, Zongyu +2 more
One important scientific objective of China's first Mars mission (Tianwen-1) is to investigate the martian surface soil characteristics and water-ice distribution. Layered ejecta craters (LECs) on Mars are characterized by their fluidized ejecta deposits which have been interpreted to indicate volatiles in the substrate where the impact occurred. …
Water Vapor on Mars: A Refined Climatology and Constraints on the Near-Surface Concentration Enabled by Synergistic Retrievals
Montmessin, Franck; Trokhimovskiy, Alexander; Korablev, Oleg +8 more
With the utilization of a novel synergistic approach, we constrain the vertical distribution of water vapor on Mars with measurements from nadir-pointing instruments. Water vapor column abundances were retrieved simultaneously with PFS (sensing the thermal infrared range) and SPICAM (sensing the near-infrared range) on Mars Express, yielding disti…
Martian CO2 Ice Observation at High Spectral Resolution With ExoMars/TGO NOMAD
Vandaele, A. C.; Daerden, F.; Thomas, I. R. +14 more
The Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery (NOMAD) instrument suite aboard ExoMars/Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft is mainly conceived for the study of minor atmospheric species, but it also offers the opportunity to investigate surface composition and aerosols properties. We investigate the information content of the Limb, Nadir, and Occultation (…