HiRISE Updates (2013 Jan 30)

[bystander]

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Textured Crater Floor in the Arabia Region (ESP_024870_2080) (video)

Surrounding the uplifted bedrock in the center of this large crater is mottled terrain. What possibly caused this?

The floor of the crater might be the result of icy flows. Perhaps an ancient aquifer system was exposed at the time of the impact resulting in the incredible mottled floor we see now, which appears different from the uplifted central peak.

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East Coprates Chasma Dune Fields and Wall Rock (ESP_025164_1655) (video)

One of the suggested goals for this observation was to investigate the relation of dune material with wall rock as a suspected sand source.

Outcrops emulating dark material are located upslope of the dune field. Adjacent HiRISE images (like PSP_007218_1660) show evidence that the dune material may be locally derived. Overlaps with other HiRISE images also help to monitor for change detection (dune slip faces and rock slides).

Coprates Chasma is part of the large Valles Marineris canyon, the largest one in the Solar System.

This is a stereo pair with ESP_025731_1655.

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A Crater Exposing Diverse Compositions (ESP_030079_1550) (video)

This image covers a well-preserved (relatively young) impact crater about 5 kilometers (3 miles) wide. The enhanced-color sample shows that the north-facing slope (on the south side of the crater) has a blue-green color but the south-facing slope has a yellowish color.

The blue-green (infrared-shifted) colors indicate minerals like olivine and pyroxene, common in lava or subsurface intrusions of magma. The yellowish color is typical of hydrous alteration or dust. This crater likely exposed diverse lithologies (rock types) that were present before the crater formed.

This is a stereo pair with ESP_030290_1550.

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MSL Curiosity on Sol 157 in Color (ESP_030313_1755) (video)

This HiRISE observation was performed in conjunction with a CRISM observation so that they could get good spectral data on the scour zone created by the MSL descent rockets.

Our higher resolution HiRISE image will allow the CRISM team to compare their data with ours. The scour zone is where MSL touched down. The pair of bright white spots in the HiRISE image show the area immediately below where sky crane's rockets were pointed. Those areas were "blasted clean" and therefore show brightest. The larger dark scour zone is dark because the fine dust has been blown away from the area leaving darker materials.

However, we also captured Curiosity on its 157th Sol as it was exploring Yellowknife Bay and about to drill its first rock.

This is the first time that we've captured the rover tracks in color, and they show up as a pair of dark lines moving across the landscape.

Note: the above image is non map-projected, so approximate north is down.

Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

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[owlice]

WOW!!

[MargaritaMc]

WOW!!

Mega-WOW... Oh, those little lonely tracks...
M

[geckzilla]

Good thing robotic laboratories aren't prone to depression or loneliness.

[MargaritaMc]

Good thing robotic laboratories aren't prone to depression or loneliness.

Would that be part of a Turing test?
For all we know, poor dear little Curiosity is weeping quietly, feeling so alone and forsaken. Like Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy .
Margarita
(I've just thought - is my tablet PC running on a Paranoid Android? It would explain a lot about my techie issues! )

[bystander]

Opportunity has been alone a lot longer, even lost a twin on Mars before Curiosity got there.

[MargaritaMc]

Opportunity has been alone a lot longer, even lost a twin on Mars before Curiosity got there.

I'm sure that it is Curiosity's name that makes me anthropomorphise him... Curiosity is such a human attribute. 'Opportunity', 'Endeavour' and similar words are labels - but once something is called something so personal and friendly-sounding as 'Curiosity'... Well, it's en route to cuddly toy models and asking God to bless him in our prayers at night!

But I'm probably a hopeless case - all my cars and computers have had names and personalities...

Margarita

[geckzilla]

An old one, but still good... Poor Spirit! http://www.xkcd.com/695/

[MargaritaMc]

An old one, but still good... Poor Spirit! http://www.xkcd.com/695/

Aaaah....

[MargaritaMc]

Marvin, my paranoid Android tablet, is being fractious again, and is refusing to paste urls anywhere except at the beginning of my post. Which is why the quotes and attributions are laid out in this rather clunky manner.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_rover
http://news.discovery.com/space/remembe ... 130103.htm

JPL continued to attempt to regain contact until May 24, 2011, when NASA announced that efforts to communicate with the unresponsive rover had ended.[10][11][12] A formal farewell was planned at NASA.... and was televised on NASA TV

While Opportunity is showing some signs of its advanced age, such as an arthritic arm, the rover remains in good health and continues to return interesting data to its handlers back on Earth.

So I'm not the only anthropomorphical astronomer...