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Context Camera Investigation on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Bell, James F.; Thomas, Peter C.; Wolff, Michael J. +11 more
The Context Camera (CTX) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a Facility Instrument (i.e., government-furnished equipment operated by a science team not responsible for design and fabrication) designed, built, and operated by Malin Space Science Systems and the MRO Mars Color Imager team (MARCI). CTX will (1) provide context images for data…
The high-resolution stereo camera (HRSC) experiment on Mars Express: Instrument aspects and experiment conduct from interplanetary cruise through the nominal mission
Jaumann, R.; Stephan, K.; Oberst, J. +24 more
ESA's Mars Express has successfully completed its nominal mission of one Martian year covering about 25% of the surface in stereo and color with resolutions up to 10 m/pixel by its high-resolution stereo camera (HRSC). Mars Express is now in its extended mission phase, during which much of the remaining part of the Martian surface is envisaged to …
Antarctic dry valleys: Microclimate zonation, variable geomorphic processes, and implications for assessing climate change on Mars
Head, James W.; Marchant, David R.
The Antarctic Dry Valleys (ADV) are generally classified as a hyper-arid, cold-polar desert. The region has long been considered an important terrestrial analog for Mars because of its generally cold and dry climate and because it contains a suite of landforms at macro-, meso-, and microscales that closely resemble those occurring on the martian s…
Subsurface Radar Sounding of the South Polar Layered Deposits of Mars
Gurnett, Donald A.; Stofan, Ellen R.; Frigeri, Alessandro +21 more
The ice-rich south polar layered deposits of Mars were probed with the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding on the Mars Express orbiter. The radar signals penetrate deep into the deposits (more than 3.7 kilometers). For most of the area, a reflection is detected at a time delay that is consistent with an interface between th…
CRISM multispectral summary products: Parameterizing mineral diversity on Mars from reflectance
Bibring, J. -P.; Gendrin, A.; Gondet, B. +9 more
The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is the most recent spectrometer to arrive at Mars. The instrument is a hyperspectral imager covering visible to near-infrared wavelengths (0.37-3.92 µm at 6.55 nm/channel). Summary products based on multispectral parameters will be d…
Martian Atmospheric Erosion Rates
Barabash, Stas; Lundin, Rickard; Fedorov, Andrei +1 more
Mars was once wet but is now dry, and the fate of its ancient carbon dioxide atmosphere is one of the biggest puzzles in martian planetology. We have measured the current loss rate due to the solar wind interaction for different species: Q(O+) = 1.6·1023 per second = 4 grams per second (g s-1), Q(O2…
Martian surface mineralogy from Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activité on board the Mars Express spacecraft (OMEGA/MEx): Global mineral maps
Bibring, J. -P.; Gondet, B.; Langevin, Y. +5 more
After 2 years of operation the Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activité (OMEGA) imaging spectrometer on board Mars Express has acquired data coverage of the Martian surface with spatial resolution varying between 300 m and 4.8 km, depending on the pericenter altitude of the spacecraft's elliptical orbit. We report the glob…
Early geochemical environment of Mars as determined from thermodynamics of phyllosilicates
Bibring, Jean-Pierre; Poulet, Francois; Chevrier, Vincent
Images of geomorphological features that seem to have been produced by the action of liquid water have been considered evidence for wet surface conditions on early Mars. Moreover, the recent identification of large deposits of phyllosilicates, associated with the ancient Noachian terrains suggests long-timescale weathering of the primary basaltic …
Martian gullies in the southern mid-latitudes of Mars: Evidence for climate-controlled formation of young fluvial features based upon local and global topography
Head, James W.; Kreslavsky, Mikhail; Dickson, James L.
A new survey of Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) narrow-angle images of gullies in the 30°-45° S latitude band includes their distribution, morphology, local topographic setting, orientation, elevation, and slopes. These new data show that gully formation is favored over a specific range of conditions: elevation (-5000 to +3000 m), slope (>10°), and o…
Coupled Ferric Oxides and Sulfates on the Martian Surface
Mangold, N.; Sotin, C.; Bibring, J. -P. +9 more
The Mars Exploration Rover (MER), Opportunity, showed that layered sulfate deposits in Meridiani Planum formed during a period of rising acidic ground water. Crystalline hematite spherules formed in the deposits as a consequence of aqueous alteration and were concentrated on the surface as a lag deposit as wind eroded the softer sulfate rocks. On …