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The first close-up image of Mars, taken by Mariner 4 in 1965
This is the first close-up image of Mars, taken by Mariner 4 in 1965, the first time humans had sent a spacecraft past another planet. The hazy area barely visible above the edge of the planet on the left side of the image may be clouds. The area is near the boundary of Elysium Planitia to the west and Arcadia Planitia to the east.
Viking 1 Orbiter mosaic of Mars, showing Valles Marineris
This mosaic of Mars is a compilation of images captured by the Viking 1 Orbiter between 1976 and 1980. The center of the scene shows the entire Valles Marineris canyon system, more than 1,800 miles long and up to nearly 5 miles deep
Viking 2 lander image of the Martian surface.
Using the color calibration charts visible on the Viking 2 lander, scientists were able to create this true-color image of Mars as it actually would appear to a human eye. The boulder-strewn field of red rocks reaches to the horizon nearly 2 miles away. Fine particles of red dust have settled on the spacecraft. The salmon color of the sky is caused by dust particles suspended in the atmosphere. About one Martian year after landing, Viking 2 cameras photographed this very thin layer of frost on the surface (right). The layer is thought to be only a couple thousandths of a centimeter thick. It is speculated that dust particles in the atmosphere pick up tiny bits of water (as ice). When it gets cold enough for carbon dioxide to solidify, some of it attaches to the dust and ice and it falls to the surface.
Mars Pathfinder "panorama" from 1997.
This 360-degree view shows the terrain around NASA's Mars Pathfinder in 1997 (in a region known as Ares Valles, at the edge of Chryse Planitia). On the horizon are the double 'Twin Peaks, about 1-2 kilometers away. The rock 'Couch' is the dark, curved rock at right of Twin Peaks. Immediately to the left of the spacecraft ramp on the right is the rock 'Barnacle Bill', which may be a volcanic rock. This panorama is comprised of images take over three Martian days and "geometrically corrected".
Is this the fossil of an ancient Martian microbe?
This 4.5 billion-year-old rock, labeled meteorite ALH84001, is believed to have once been a part of Mars and to contain at least partial evidence that primitive life may have existed on Mars more than 3.6 billion years ago. The rock is a portion of a meteorite that was dislodged from Mars by a huge impact about 16 million years ago and that fell to Earth in Antarctica 13,000 years ago. Many scientists questioned whether the evidence conclusively shows life once existed on Mars, but if nothing else the mere presence of organic compound in this ancient meteorite increases the odds of life forming at an earlier time on a far wetter Mars. This high-resolution scanning electron microscope image (right) shows an unusual tube-like structural form that is less than 1/100th the width of a human hair in size found in meteorite ALH84001. This structure was not part of the published research paper, but it is located in a similar carbonate globule (i.e, round feature) in the sample.
Olympus Mons
Thousands of point elevation measurements from the laser altimeter (MOLA) on board the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft were processed by computer to create this three-dimensional view of the largest volcano known (yet) in the solar system, Olympus Mons. This volcano stands more than 90,000 feet above its base, and yet its flank slopes are only about six degrees, similar to that of its "cousin" volcano Mauna Loa in Hawaii. Olympus Mons was discovered in 1971 by the Mariner 9 orbiter, the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, when a global dust storm abated, revealing the peaks of this amazing edifice as the first "land" to be seen on Mars. Olympus Mons is so big and massive that its flanks have collapsed under their own weight, producing impressive cliffs that rise 10,000 feet or more, all around the gigantic mountain.
Sedimentary rocks in a martian crater
This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image provides a glimpse of the layered sedimentary rocks in southern Galle Crater. Galle Crater, like many of the larger-scale impact features on Mars, contains a layered stack of rocks that resemble the layer-cake arrangement observed here on Earth in places like the Grand Canyon. The remarkable array of layers show patterns that remind some scientists of "disruption patterns" that on Earth are the consequence of changes in deposition of sediments usually due to the action of liquid water. Mars scientists are searching for such patterns as they "follow the water" to better understand how to search for evidence of life.
Signs of water?
These images from the Mars Global Surveyor show gullies in two Martian craters. The gullies in these craters originate in a specific layer and may have been formed by release of groundwater in relatively recent geological times.
"Chaos" on Mars
This spectacular image is actually a mosaic of several high-resolution swaths acquired by the THEMIS camera aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. Aram Chaos represents an ancient impact basin that may have been flooded with liquid water long ago and subsequently filled with sediments. Some of the sediments display the mineral signature of hematite, an iron oxide like that observed in the Meridiani region where the Mars Exploration Rover "Opportunity" will land. The flat, gray-colored layers within the interior of the somewhat circular ancient basin are where the hematite mineral was discovered. Scientists believe hematite is most easily formed on Earth and Mars in association with liquid water. Scientists call the "jumbled" terrain within this image "chaos" because it suggests chaotic disruption of a rocky surface due to the action of catastrophic release of liquid water.
Was this the end of a Martian river?
This Mars Global Surveyor image shows an ancient, eroded, and exhumed sedimentary
distributary fan, a generic term used by geologists to describe a family of
deposits that includes river deltas and alluvial fans. Sometime in the distant
past, when it was still possible for liquid water to flow across the martian
surface, sediments transported through valleys by water formed a fan-shaped
deposit in a crater northeast of Holden Crater.
What is important about this discovery? First, it provides clear, unequivocal
evidence that some valleys on Mars experienced the same type of on-going flow
of liquid water over long periods of time as rivers do on Earth. Second, because
the fan is today a deposit of sedimentary rock, it demonstrates that some sedimentary
rocks on Mars were, as has been suspected but never clearly demonstrated, deposited
in a liquid (probably water) environment. Third, the general shape, pattern
of its channels, and low topographic slopes provide evidence that the feature
was actually a delta--that is, a deposit made when a river or stream enters
a standing body of water. In other words, the landform in the image may be the
strongest indicator yet that some craters and other depressions on Mars once
held lakes. Although hundreds of other locations on Mars where valleys enter
craters and basins have been imaged by MOC, this is the first to show landforms
like those presented here.
The Mars Exploration Rover "Spirit"
"Spirit", originally called Mars Exploration Rover A, will land on Mars in January 2004 and roll across the martian terrain, searching for clues about whether open water ever existed for long periods of time on Mars.
Eyes on Mars
These three images show how features on Mars can look different through different satellite "eyes". In the upper right is the famous Viking photograph of a landform in the Cydonia region of Mars that appeared to resemble a gigantic human face. The large image at left is the same feature as photographed by the Mars Global Surveyor in 2001. At the higher resolution available through the newer camera, the feature is clearly natural terrain, similar to mesas on Earth. On the lower right is a large Martian impact crater that bears a resemblance to the famous "happy face" of the 1970s.