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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is Off to Mars!

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is Off to Mars!

August 12, 2005

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is Off to Mars!

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Artist's concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter en route to Mars.
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Artist's concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter en route to Mars.
Artist's concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter en route to Mars.
This image acquired on December 5, 2018 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows ripples in the sand which tell us which way the wind was moving and how it was diverted around these rock formati...
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This image acquired on December 5, 2018 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows ripples in the sand which tell us which way the wind was moving and how it was diverted around these rock formations.
Wind Flow
The Mars Color Imager (MARCI), shown here with a gloved hand for scale, is designed to produce a global map to help characterize daily, seasonal and year-to-year variations in Mars' climate, provid...
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The Mars Color Imager (MARCI), shown here with a gloved hand for scale, is designed to produce a global map to help characterize daily, seasonal and year-to-year variations in Mars' climate, providing a daily weather report for Mars.
Mars Color Imager (MARCI) for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Mawrth Vallis contains clay minerals that formed by chemical alteration of rocks by water. The central part of the image is dominated by light-toned materials with curving fractures of many differe...
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Mawrth Vallis contains clay minerals that formed by chemical alteration of rocks by water.
Mawrth Vallis Closeup (3-D)
This pit crater was created by an empty lava tube in Mars’ Arsia Mons region. The image was captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Aug. 16, 2020.
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This pit crater was created by an empty lava tube in Mars’ Arsia Mons region. The image was captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Aug. 16, 2020.
HiRISE Spots the Mouth of a Martian Lava Tube
This map shows unprecedented detail of local variations in Mars' gravitational pull on orbiters. The gravitational mapping has been applied to map variations in the thickness of the planet's crust ...
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This map shows unprecedented detail of local variations in Mars' gravitational pull on orbiters. The gravitational mapping has been applied to map variations in the thickness of the planet's crust and to deduce information about its deeper interior.
Local Variations in the Gravitational Pull of Mars
As the Sun peeks above the horizon at the Martian south polar icecap, powerful jets of carbon-dioxide (CO2) gas erupt through the icecap's topmost layer.
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As the Sun peeks above the horizon at the Martian south polar icecap, powerful jets of carbon-dioxide (CO2) gas erupt through the icecap's topmost layer.
Dry Ice Spiders on Mars
A Lockheed Martin-built Atlas 5 rocket, like the one pictured, will launch the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in August 2005 from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida.
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In this image, against a bright blue sky streaked with thin clouds, a Lockheed Martin-built gold and white rocket lifts off its pad at Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida. Fire bursts from the bottom of the rocket which is surrounded by four lightning suppression towers, two of which are in view in this picture.
Atlas 5 Rocket
Color has been added to highlight minerals in this image of Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 mission. The green color represents minerals called carbonates, which are es...
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Color has been added to highlight minerals in this image of Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 mission.
Jezero Crater Minerals
This unnamed impact crater is about 8 kilometers in diameter and contains numerous gullies.
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This unnamed impact crater is about 8 kilometers in diameter and contains numerous gullies.
Bright Gully Deposits on Mars
Artist concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter during aerobraking.
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Artist concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter during aerobraking.
Artist concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
This dune field in Aonia Terra shows sand dunes with a variety of morphologies. These complex shapes often indicate that the dominating winds change direction, either over time or from one locatio...
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This dune field in Aonia Terra shows sand dunes with a variety of morphologies. These complex shapes often indicate that the dominating winds change direction, either over time or from one location to the next.
Colliding Sand Dunes in Aonia Terra
This image acquired on December 9, 2018 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a recent impact in Noachis Terra in the southern mid-latitudes of Mars.
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This image acquired on December 9, 2018 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a recent impact in Noachis Terra in the southern mid-latitudes of Mars.
A Recent Impact Site in Noachis Terra
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in December 2016, which is in the upper half of a geological unit cal...
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This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in December 2016, which is in the upper half of a geological unit called the Murray formation, on lower Mount Sharp.
Late 2016 Map of NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Mission
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows Aram Chaos, an ancient impact crater that lies within in the Southern Highlands of Mars. Uplifted blocks are composed largely of the iron-ox...
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This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows Aram Chaos, a 280-kilometer-wide impact crater in the Southern Highlands. Uplifted blocks of hematite and water-altered silicates indicate that this crater once held a lake.
Uplifted Blocks of Light-Toned Layered Deposits
Lighter colors represent higher elevation in this image of Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 mission. The oval indicates the landing ellipse, where the rover will be touc...
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Lighter colors represent higher elevation in this image of Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 mission. The oval indicates the landing ellipse, where the rover will be touching down on Mars.
Jezero Crater's Ancient Lakeshore
Gale Crater forms a large natural repository for much of Martian geologic history.
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Gale Crater forms a large natural repository for much of Martian geologic history.
Gale Crater's History Book
This "ring trough" or eroded pit crater, is located in the rugged southern highland terrain known as Noachis Terra. The HiRISE image shows the layered, boulder-rich wall rock facing to the northeas...
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Geologically young gullies are a prime target for the HiRISE camera. Gullies are located in a variety of settings and are found all over Mars. This "ring trough" or eroded pit crater, is located in the rugged southern highland terrain known as Noachis Terra. The HiRISE image shows the layered, boulder-rich wall rock facing to the northeast and gullies that are transporting material downslope. The material collects into debris aprons along the walls, which often exhibit narrow channels along its surface.
Gullies on Southwest Slope of Ring Trough in Noachis Terra
This movie sequence of images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring before and after its close pass by Mars in October 2014. False color enhances subtle ...
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Mars-Flyby Comet in False Color
Mars-Flyby Comet in False Color
Back-and-forth blinking of this two-image animation shows movement of ripples covering a sand dune on Mars.
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Back-and-forth blinking of this two-image animation shows movement of ripples covering a sand dune on Mars.
Ripple Movement on Sand Dune in Nili Patera, Mars
Recent small craters discovered by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter expose buried ice in the middle latitudes of Mars.
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Recent small craters discovered by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter expose buried ice in the middle latitudes of Mars.
Fresh Crater Revealing Buried Ice
This area at the base of Mount Sharp on Mars includes a pale outcrop, called "Pahrump Hills," that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover investigated from September 2014 to March 2015, and the "Artist's Driv...
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This area at the base of Mount Sharp on Mars includes a pale outcrop, called "Pahrump Hills," that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover investigated from September 2014 to March 2015, and the "Artist's Drive" route toward higher layers of the mountain.
Curiosity Heading Away from 'Pahrump Hills'
The Cerberus Fossae are a group of troughs in the Cerberus region of Mars that run roughly parallel to one another. They formed due to extension of the crust in the region. Some of the troughs, suc...
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The Cerberus Fossae are a group of troughs in the Cerberus region of Mars that run roughly parallel to one another.
Vent in the Cerberus Region (3-D)
This color-enhanced view shows the terrain around the rover's landing site within Gale Crater on Mars.
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This color-enhanced view shows the terrain around the rover's landing site within Gale Crater on Mars.
A Whole New World for Curiosity
Mysterious features on slopes hint there could be water flows on Mars.
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Possible Water Flows on Mars
Possible Water Flows on Mars

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