Postcards From Mars

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Postcards From Mars

The Surface Stereo Imager onboard the Phoenix lander captured this view of Mars' arctic surface.
(NASA )

This artist rendition provided by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory shows the Phoenix lander on the arctic plains of Mars digging a trench through the upper soil layer. The polar water ice cap is shown in the far distance.
(Cory Waste/NASA-JPL/AP Photo)

Shown here is one of the Phoenix Mars Lander's octagonal solar panels, which open like two handheld fans on each side of the spacecraft. Beyond this view is a glimpse of the north polar terrain of Mars.
(NASA )

This image taken by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander shows the vast plains of the northern polar region of Mars. The landscape is flat and strewn with tiny pebbles and cracks, a pattern common in high latitudes and also seen in permafrost terrains on Earth. The cracks are believed to result from the seasonal freezing and thawing of the ice surface.
(NASA )

This image shows the ground near NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, which resembles icy ground in the arctic regions of Earth.
(NASA )

The first-ever image of active avalanches on Mars was caught on camera last month. The Reconnaissance Orbiter took the photo Feb. 19, 2008, near the red planet's north pole. Tan clouds billow away from the foot of a towering slope, where ice and dust have just cascaded down.
(NASA, University of Arizona/AP Photo)

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has slowly been making its way down the side of a crater called Victoria. This view looks across the crater. The far side is about half a mile away.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University )

Scientists say they now have ideas about why Mars did not bloom with life, even though it used to be warm and moist like the Earth. They have analyzed the soil and concluded any standing water would have been thick with dissolved minerals. This false-color image from the Opportunity rover shows bedrock in Victoria Crater.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University)

On one edge of Victoria Crater is this cliff, nicknamed Cape Verde. For scale, NASA superimposed an image of the Opportunity rover, which is about the size of a golf cart.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University)

CAPTION: The Mars Rover Spirit has spent the last several months on a low plateau in Gusev Crater, where it landed in 2004. This is a view looking west
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University)

Sunset on Mars, as seen by the Spirit rover. The Martian sky, salmon-hued at midday, turns blue as the sun goes down.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University)

The deck of NASA's Spirit rover is so dusty that it almost blends into the Martian soil below, in this image assembled from frames taken by the rover's panoramic camera over a period of three days.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell )

A microscopic imager on the rover reveals mysterious shiny, spherical objects embedded in the Martian soil. The area shown is just over an inch across.
(NASA)

The Opportunity rover dragged one of its wheels back and forth across the sandy soil to dig a small trench -- one way to study the Martian dirt for clues to mineral composition and history.
(NASA)

Opportunity made a U-turn and looked back at its tread marks, seen in this image. In a day it drove about 9 meters or 30 feet. At other times, either to study an interesting spot or save power, the rovers have stayed put for months.
(NASA)

Spirit's PanCam surveyed nearby hills, dedicated to the lost crew of Space Shuttle Columbia. Spirit later drove up into the hills.
(NASA)

The round, shallow depression was left by a drill on the rover's robot arm called a RAT, short for Rock Abrasion Tool. The idea was to expose fresh interior material for close analysis.
(NASA)

Spirit's "hand" -- the tools on its robot arm -- poised in front of a rock. This one was nicknamed Adirondack. Scientists gave earthly names to features of interest on Mars.
(NASA)

This rock was nicknamed White Boat. The blue tinge is artificial, created because Spirit shot this image in many different wavelengths of light.
(NASA)



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