PIA21029: The Color Wonderland of Mawrth Vallis


The Color Wonderland of Mawrth Vallis

Caption:

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Map Projected Browse Image
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There is a candidate landing site in the Mawrth Vallis region for the European Space Agency's ExoMars rover, planned to launch in 2020. This is one of the HiRISE images acquired to evaluate this site.

Mawrth Vallis has some of the most spectacular color variations seen anywhere on Mars. This color variability is due to a range of hydrated minerals -- water caused alteration of these ancient deposits -- which is why this site is of interest to study the past habitability of Mars.

Background Info:

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
Instrument Host Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Host Type Orbiter
Instrument High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE)
Detector
Extra Keywords Color, Map, Water
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2016-09-08
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21029
Identifier PIA21029