High-quality images of Mars. Surface of the red planet. Martian Dragon Scale

IN Curiosity rover(Curiosity), also known as NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), is an anniversary of sorts. For 2000 Martian days (sols), he has been exploring Gale Crater on the Red Planet.

During this period, the robot made many important observations. Having selected just a few of them, the team of scientists working with Curiosity has prepared some interesting ones for you.

ABOUTlookingback. Throughout the history of the space age, we have received many spectacular images of planets. Many of them showed the Earth photographed from deep space.

This image from the Curiosity rover's Mastcam shows our planet as a faint speck of light in the Martian night sky. Every day, scientists from around the world fly Curiosity and study the Red Planet from 100 million miles away.

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Start. The first image from Curiosity arrived 15 minutes after the rover landed on Mars on August 5, 2012.

Photos and other data come to us through the interplanetary station Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which appears above the robot at certain intervals, which determines the structure of the working day on Mars, or sols.

This photo shows a grainy image from a Front Hazard Camera device (which researchers typically use to avoid obstacles in their path). This final goal of our trip - Mount Sharp. When the image arrived, we knew the mission would be successful.

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Reternalpebbles When we began to move along the surface of the planet (16 sols after landing), we soon came across these layers of pebbles.

The rounded shape of the fragments indicates that they were formed in an ancient shallow river. It flowed from the surrounding highlands, which were already four billion years old, and flowed into Gale Crater.

The inset image from the Mastcam device shows an enlarged view of the stone. Before the Mars Science Laboratory, we believed that the surface that was eroded by river water was all dark basalt. However, its mineralogical composition is not so simple.

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A rock lying in the bed of this ancient river on Mars has changed our understanding of how the planet's igneous crust and mantle formed.

Pradavnherlake. Before landing the device and initial stages mission, researchers did not yet know for sure what exactly they were seeing in the relief images obtained from the HiRISE camera of the Mars Reconnaissance Satellite. These could be lava flows or lake sediments.

Without detailed close-up photographs "from the surface" there was no certainty. But this image ended the debate and marked a turning point in the study of Mars. The Yellowknife Bay area contains layers of fine-grained sand and silt formed by rivers flowing into the ancient lake of Gale Crater.

We drilled the first 16 holes here at the John Klein site on Sol 182. This is done in order to take rock samples and send them to the spectrometer contained in the body of our rover. Clay, organic matter and nitro compounds obtained from the analysis indicate that the area was once a favorable environment for microbial life. Whether there was life here remains to be determined.

Deep waters. Around Sol 753, the rover approached the Pahrump Hills. Working at this site has given us an invaluable opportunity to understand what the environment once was like in Gale Crater.

Here, the rover discovered thin layers of shale that formed as particles settled in the depths of the lake. This means that Lake Gale was a deep reservoir, the water in which stood for a very long time.

Nopemating. Beginning on Sol 980, near Mount Stimson, the rover discovered a large layer of sandstone overlying lake sediments. So-called inconsistencies formed between them - a violation of the geological sequence of layers.

This geological feature marks a time when, after millions of years of existence, the lake finally dried up. Erosion began, leading to the formation of a new soil surface - evidence of events that took place over an "indefinite period of time." An example of such inconsistency was found by pioneer geologist James Hutton at Siccar Point on the coast of Scotland.

PeSki Pustyni. Curiosity approached the Namib dune on Sol 1192. It belongs to the large Bagnold dune cluster. These are the first active dunes we've explored on another planet, so Curiosity navigated its way forward very carefully because shifting sands are an obstacle for rovers.

And although the atmosphere on Mars is 100 times less dense than the earth’s, it is still capable of transporting sand, forming beautiful structures similar to those we see in the deserts on planet Earth.

INwindsculpturess. The Murray Buttes, photographed by Mastcam on sol 1448, were formed from the same sandstone that the rover discovered near Mount Stimson.

This is an area of ​​dunes formed from lithified sandstone. They were the result of dune activity similar to what we saw in the modern Bagnold Strip. These desert deposits are located above the faults. And this indicates that after a long period the humid climate was replaced by an arid one, and the main factor in the formation environment There was wind in Gale Crater.

ABOUTpetrified silt. The Curiosity rover can analyze the composition in detail rocks in the Gale Mountains. To do this, he uses a ChemCam laser and a telescope mounted on a mast. On Sol 1555, at Schooner Head, we came across ancient drying cracks of silt sediments and veins of sulfur rock.

On Earth, lakes are gradually drying up within their shores. This is what happened with Gale Lake here on Mars. Red marks mark the places in the rock where we aimed the laser. A small spark of plasma would appear, and the wavelength of light in the spark would tell us the composition of the shale and the veins.

Clouds in the sky. The rover took this sequence of images using navigation cameras (NavCam, Navigational Cameras) on Sol 1971, when we sent them into the sky. From time to time, on cloudy days, we can see fuzzy clouds in the sky of Mars.

These images are edited to highlight the difference and show how the clouds move across the sky. Three images show never-before-seen cloud patterns taking on a noticeable zigzag shape. Taking these images from start to finish took approximately twelve Martian minutes.

AboutpleadingselfieAnd. Over the years, thanks to the numerous selfies taken along the route, the Curiosity rover has earned such a reputation that it can easily compete with Instagram users.

However, these selfies are not just for self-admiration. They help the research team monitor the condition of work throughout the mission, because wheels can wear out and dirt accumulates. Curiosity takes these self-portraits using the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on a mechanical manipulator - the “hand” of the work.

By merging many high-definition images, a photo is assembled. This particular photo was taken on Sol 1065 in the Buckskin area. It shows Curiosity's main mast with the ChemCam telescope, which is used to identify rocks, and the Mastcam camera.

In the foreground is a gray pile of waste rock particles (called tailings) left over from drilling.

Beforelyingroad. This is a panoramic shot from a Mastcam device. It shows the path that the Curiosity rover has covered over the past 5 years: 18.4 km from the landing site (Bradbury) to its destination - on the Vera Rubin Ridge (VRR, Vera Rubin Ridge).

Previously, this ridge was called hematite - due to the high content of the mineral hematite (red iron ore), which scientists obtained from orbit.

Because hematite predominantly forms in the presence of water, the site is of great interest to the Curiosity team, which is studying changes in conditions at Gale Crater throughout its geological history.

This important site is ideal for Curiosity to celebrate its 2000th sol. And for us it's Observation deck, where you can look back at the many discoveries made during the rover's mission.

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August 6, 2012 back from the Curiosity rover after an eight-month journey. The device covered 567 million kilometers on its way to the Red Planet.

During this time, the Curiosity rover made discoveries that indicate the existence of favorable conditions for the life of microbes billions of years ago, did countless jobs with different instruments, drilled, fired lasers, took photographs, and sent 468,926 images to Earth.

Images from the Curiosity rover and news from the Red Planet over the past few years.

2. From a distance, the surface of Mars appears reddish-red due to the red dust contained in the atmosphere. Up close, the color is yellowish-brown with an admixture of gold, brown, reddish-brown and even green, depending on the color of the planet’s minerals. In ancient times, people easily distinguished Mars from other planets, and also associated it with war and created all sorts of legends. The Egyptians called Mars "Har Decher", which meant "red". (Photo by JPL-Caltech | MSSS | NASA):

3. The Curiosity rover loves to take selfies. How does he do this, since there is no one to remove him from the side?

The rover has four color cameras, all of them with a different set of optics, but only one of them is suitable for . The automatic arm, called MAHLI, has 5 degrees of freedom, which gives the camera significant flexibility and allows it to “fly” the Mars rover from all sides. The movement of this camera arm is controlled by a specialist on Earth. the main task– follow a certain sequence of movements of the automatic arm so that the camera can take a sufficient number of pictures for subsequent stitching of the panorama. The scenario for preparing each such selfie is first tested on Earth on a special test module called Maggie. (NASA Photo):

4. Martian sunset, April 15, 2015. At noon, the sky of Mars is yellow-orange. The reason for such differences from the colors of the earth's sky is the properties of the thin, rarefied atmosphere of Mars containing suspended dust. On Mars, Rayleigh scattering of rays (which on Earth is the cause of the blue color of the sky) plays a minor role, its effect is weak, but appears in the form of a blue glow at sunrise and sunset, when the light passes through a thicker layer of air. (Photo by JPL-Caltech | MSSS | Texas A&M Univ via Getty | NASA):

5. Wheels of the Mars rover September 9, 2012. (Photo by JPL-Caltech | Malin Space Science Systems | NASA):

6. And this is a photo taken on April 18, 2016. You can see how worn out the hard worker’s “shoes” are. From August 2012 to January last year, the Curiosity rover traveled 15.26 km. (Photo by JPL-Caltech MSSS | NASA):

7. We continue to look at pictures of the Curiosity rover. The Namib Dune is an area of ​​dark sand consisting of dunes northwest of Mount Sharp. (Photo by JPL-Caltech | NASA):

8. Two thirds of the surface of Mars are occupied by light areas called continents, about a third are dark areas called seas. And this is the base of Mount Sharp.

Sharp is a Martian mountain located in Gale Crater. The height of the mountain is about 5 kilometers. The highest mountain in the world is also located on Mars. solar system- extinct Olympus volcano 26 km high. The diameter of Olympus is about 540 km. (Photo by JPL-Caltech | MSSS | NASA):

9. Photo from the orbiter, the rover is visible here. (Photo by JPL-Caltech | Univ. of Arizona | NASA):

10. How was this unusual Ireson hill formed on Mars? His history has become the subject of research. Its shape and two-color structure make it one of the most unusual hills that the robotic rover has passed by. It reaches a height of about 5 meters, and the size of its base is about 15 meters. (Photo by JPL-Caltech | MSSS | NASA0:

11. This is what the “traces” of the rover on Mars look like. (Photo by JPL-Caltech | NASA):

12. The hemispheres of Mars differ quite greatly in the nature of their surface. In the southern hemisphere, the surface is 1-2 km above average and is densely dotted with craters. This part of Mars resembles the lunar continents. In the north, most of the surface is below average, there are few craters and the bulk is relatively smooth plains, probably formed as a result of lava flooding and erosion. (Photo by JPL-Caltech | MSSS | NASA):

13. Another masterful selfie. (Photo: JPL-Caltech | MSSS | NASA):

14. In the foreground, about three kilometers from the rover, is a long ridge replete with iron oxide. (Photo by JPL-Caltech | MSSS | NASA):

15. A look at the path taken by the rover, February 9, 2014. (Photo by JPL-Caltech | MSSS | NASA):

16. The hole drilled by the Curiosity rover. This color of the rock beneath the red surface is not immediately obvious. The rover's drill is capable of making holes with a diameter of 1.6 cm and a depth of 5 cm in stone. Samples extracted by the manipulator can also be examined by the SAM and CheMin instruments located in the front part of the rover body. (Photo by JPL-Caltech | MSSS | NASA):

17. Another selfie, the most recent, taken on January 23, 2018. (Photo by NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSSS):

New colored photo of the surface of the planet Mars 2019 high-resolution images with descriptions from NASA's Earth, Space Telescope and Mars Curiosity rover.

If you have never seen frosty deserts, then you need to visit the Red Planet. It didn't get its name by accident. photos of Mars from the Mars rover confirm this fact. Space– an amazing place where you can find completely unusual phenomena. So, the reddish color is created by iron oxide, that is, the surface is covered with rust. There are also amazing dust storms that show quality photo of Mars from space in high definition. Well, let’s not forget that for now this is the first goal in the search for extraterrestrial life. On our website you can see new real photos of the surface of Mars from rovers, satellites and telescopes from space.

High resolution photos of Mars

First photo of Mars

July 20, 1976 marked a turning point when Viking 1 captured the first photo of the surface of Mars. Its main tasks were to create high-resolution images to analyze the structure and atmospheric composition and look for signs of life.

Arsino-Chaos on Mars

On January 4, 2015, the HiRISE camera on MRO was able to capture a photograph of the surface of the Red Planet from space. This is the territory of Arsino-Chaos, located on the far eastern region of the Valles Marineris canyon. The damaged terrain may be based on the influence of massive water channels flowing in a northern direction. The curved landscape is represented by yardans. These are areas of rock that have passed sandblasting. Between them there are transverse sandy ridges - Aeolian. This is a real mystery, hidden between the dunes and ripples. The point is located at 7 degrees south. w. and 332 degrees E. w. HiRISE is one of 6 tools on MRO.

Attack on Mars

Martian Dragon Scale

This interesting surface texture is created due to the rock's contact with water. Review performed by MRO. Then the stone collapsed and came into contact with the surface again. Pink indicates Martian rock that has become clayey. There is still little information about water itself and its interaction with stone. And this is not surprising, because scientists have not yet focused on solving such questions. But understanding this will help understand the past climate situation. Latest analysis showed that the early environment may not have been as warm and wet as we would have liked. But this is not a problem for the development of Martian life. Therefore, researchers focus on terrestrial life forms that arise in dry and frosty areas. The scale of the Mars map is 25 cm per pixel.

Martian dunes

Martian ghosts

Martian rocks

Martian tattoos

Martian Niagara Falls

Escape from Mars

Surface Martian forms

The photo of the surface of Mars was taken with the HiRISE camera of the MRO apparatus flying in Martian orbit. Similar gully reliefs appear on many craters in mid-planetary latitudes. Changes began to be noticed for the first time in 2006. Nowadays many deposits are found in ravines. This photograph reflects new sediment in the southern mid-latitude Gasa Crater. The position is brighter in enhanced color photos. The image was mined in the spring, but the stream was formed in the winter. It is believed that the activity of the ravines awakens in winter and early spring.

Arrival and movement of Martian ice

Blue on the Red Planet

Follow the (bright) stream

Snowy Martian dunes

Mars Tattoos

Textures in Deuteronilus

Short description Pictures: The plan for 2159-2162 working days was very large, for 4 sols almost 3 gigabits of data! This entire volume was transmitted to Earth using two additional orbiters. Typically, MRO and Mars Odyssey are used to send data, with an average of 500 megabits of data transmitted per sol (approximately 60 megabytes). In November, the InSight mission will land on Mars and all MRO resources will be directed to transmitting data from this landing vehicle, then the Curiosity rover will switch to transmission through the MAVEN and ExoMars spacecraft. During these days, work through these satellites was tested. This allowed us to reduce the amount of delayed data.
During Sol 2159, the rover recharged its batteries. Over the next three days, the rover began a flurry of activity. MastCam captured multispectral panoramas of "Tayvallich", "Rosie", "Rhinns of Galloway" and "Ben Haint", and also captured the stone "Ben Vorlich". The “Ben Vorlich” stone was examined with a laser using a ChemCam analyzer, and the “Tayvallich” stone was studied with an APXS X-ray spectrometer, a ChemCam analyzer and filmed with a MAHLI camera on a manipulator arm.
After completing the program for 2,161 Martian days, a calibration cycle of the rover's main instruments was carried out, and the APXS spectrometer studied its calibration target (a marker on the rover itself) at night. The MastCam took a series of multispectral images of the work area.

Sol 2162 was devoted to collecting environmental data, including a survey of the sky and rim of Gale Crater, to compare the amount of dust at the surface with its concentration in the atmosphere as a whole.
On the 2163rd Martian day, the rover drove 15 meters to the next place where it was planned to use the rover's drill. An interesting stone platform has already been chosen for this gray, which according to orbital data belongs to the “Jura” region of the Murray geological horizon on the Vera Rubin Ridge. This place was called “Loch Eriboll” (Scottish). Scientists decided to find out how this section of rock differs from the surrounding brown stones, which are more typical for this area. Before starting contact research, it was decided to explore the area from the outside.
But first, on Sol 2165, the MAHLI camera photographed a close-up of the REMS UV sensor, which must be periodically checked for dust and general condition.


After checking the sensor, the rover moved slightly to the side and conducted a series of remote sensing studies of 4 targets ("The Law", "Eathie", "The Minch" and "Windy Hills") using the ChemCam analyzer, then documented them using the MastCam camera.
For a couple of days, the rover studied the location of the geological contact of gray and brown rocks in the “Lake Eriboll” area. On Sol 2167, the rover again moved slightly away from the drilling site. From its new position, the rover conducted two autonomous studies with the ChemCam spectrometer of rocks in this area. Then I took readings from the REMS and DAN instruments, carried out environmental monitoring using a navigation camera, prepared the CheMin analyzer for work (vibrating the remaining soil from the Stoer area) and carried out basic SAM testing.
The rover met the 2168th Martian day on its way to the finally chosen location for drilling work on the Vera Rubin Ridge. The move to the work area was successful and the rover stopped in front of a stone slab with the name “Inverness”. On the same day, an area on the surface of the slab was cleaned of dust with a DRT brush, photographed with a MAHLI camera, studied with an APXS X-ray spectrometer, and the ChemCam analyzer laser evaporated the surface layer to study its chemistry. At the end of the day, the work area was filmed with a MastCam camera


It would seem that everything is taken into account and ready to go. For several days the rover was preparing for drilling operations. On Sol 2171, the rover tried to drill a hole in the rock surface of the Inverness slab, but could not... On the morning, when the working day on Earth had just begun, scientists learned that the drill was only able to penetrate the surface by 4 mm.


Too hard! After a short discussion of the situation, it was decided to repeat the attempt, but this time in the area of ​​“Lake Orcadie”, where they had previously tried to carry out drilling work on Sol 1977. During the last attempt, they were able to deepen the area by 10 mm, but it had not yet been finalized new way drilling
Having completed work in the area of ​​the Inverness plate, the rover on Sol 2173 was supposed to travel 65 meters towards Lake Orcadie, but could not...

Impact crater measuring about three kilometers

The surface of Mars is a dry and barren wasteland, covered with old volcanoes and craters.

Dunes through the eyes of Mars Odyssey

Photos show it can be hidden by a single sandstorm, hiding it from sight for days. Despite its formidable conditions, Mars is better studied by scientists than any other world in the solar system, except our own, of course.

Since the planet has almost the same tilt as Earth, and it has an atmosphere, it means there are seasons. The surface temperature is about -40 degrees Celsius, but at the equator it can reach +20. On the surface of the planet there are traces of water, and relief features formed by water.

Scenery

Let's take a closer look at the surface of Mars, information provided by numerous orbiters, as well as rovers, allows us to fully understand what the red planet is like. The ultra-clear images show dry, rocky terrain covered in fine red dust.

Red dust is actually iron oxide. Everything from the ground to small stones and rocks is covered with this dust.

Since there is no water or confirmed tectonic activity on Mars, its geological features remain virtually unchanged. Compared to the surface of the Earth, which experiences constant changes associated with water erosion and tectonic activity.

Surface of Mars video

The landscape of Mars consists of a variety of geological structures. It is home to plants known throughout the solar system. That's not all. The most famous canyon in the solar system is Valles Marineris, also located on the surface of the Red Planet.

Look at the pictures from the Mars rovers, which show many details that are not visible from orbit.

If you want to look at Mars online, then

Surface photo

The images below are from Curiosity, the rover currently actively exploring the red planet.

To view in full screen mode, click on the button at the top right.

Panorama transmitted by the Curiosity rover

This panorama represents a section of Gale Crater where Curiosity is conducting its research. The high hill in the center is Mount Sharp, to the right of it you can see the ring rim of the crater in the haze.

To view in full size, save the image to your computer!

These photographs of the surface of Mars are from 2014 and, in fact, are the most recent at the moment.

Among all the features of the landscape of Mars, perhaps the most widely publicized are the mesas of Cydonia. Early photographs of the Sedonia region showed a hill in the shape of “ human face" However, later images, with higher resolution, showed us an ordinary hill.

Planet sizes

Mars is pretty small world. Its radius is half that of Earth, and it has a mass that is less than one tenth of ours.

Dunes, MRO image

More about Mars: The planet's surface consists mainly of basalt, covered with a thin layer of dust and iron oxide, which has the consistency of talc. Iron oxide (rust, as it is commonly called) gives the planet its characteristic red hue.

Volcanoes

In ancient times, volcanoes erupted continuously on the planet for millions of years. Due to the fact that Mars does not have plate tectonics, huge volcanic mountains were formed. Olympus Mons was formed in a similar way and is the largest mountain in the solar system. It is three times higher than Everest. Such volcanic activity may also partly explain the deepest valley in the solar system. Valles Marineris is believed to have been formed by the breakdown of material between two points on the surface of Mars.

Craters

Animation showing changes around a crater in the Northern Hemisphere

There are many impact craters on Mars. Most of these craters remain untouched because there are no forces on the planet capable of destroying them. The planet lacks wind, rain and plate tectonics that cause erosion on Earth. The atmosphere is much thinner than that of the Earth, so even small meteorites are able to reach the ground.

The current surface of Mars is very different from what it was billions of years ago. Orbiter data has shown that there are many minerals and signs of erosion on the planet that indicate the presence of liquid water in the past. It is possible that small oceans and long rivers once completed the landscape. The last remnants of this water were trapped underground in the form of ice.

Total number of craters

There are hundreds of thousands of craters on Mars, of which 43,000 are larger than 5 kilometers in diameter. Hundreds of them were named after scientists or famous astronomers. Craters less than 60 km across have been named after cities on Earth.

The most famous is Hellas Basin. It measures 2,100 km across and is up to 9 km deep. It is surrounded by emissions that stretch 4,000 km from the center.

Cratering

Most of the craters on Mars were likely formed during the late "heavy bombardment" period of our solar system, which occurred approximately 4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago. In this period, a large number of craters have formed on all celestial bodies in the solar system. Evidence for this event comes from studies of lunar samples, which have shown that most rocks were created during this time interval. Scientists cannot agree on the reasons for this bombing. According to the theory, the gas giant's orbit changed and, as a result, the orbits of objects in the main asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt became more eccentric, reaching the orbits of the terrestrial planets.

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