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NASA's Mars Orbiters Maneuvers as Comet Siding Spring Approaching Mars

Artist's concept of Comet Siding Spring approaching Mars, shown with NASA's orbiters preparing to make science observations of this unique encounter.

October 19, 2014

Artist’s concept of Comet Siding Spring approaching Mars, shown with NASA’s orbiters preparing to make science observations of this unique encounter.

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

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This image acquired on October 12, 2020 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows an isolated, elongated mound (about 1 mile wide and 3.75 miles long) rising above the smooth, surrounding plains.
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This image acquired on October 12, 2020 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows an isolated, elongated mound (about 1 mile wide and 3.75 miles long) rising above the smooth, surrounding plains.
A Technicolor Mound near Oxia Planum
This image lies in the middle of a candidate landing site in the Northeast part of Syrtis Major, a huge shield volcano, and near the Northwest rim of Isidis Planitia, a giant impact basin.
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This image lies in the middle of a candidate landing site in the Northeast part of Syrtis Major, a huge shield volcano, and near the Northwest rim of Isidis Planitia, a giant impact basin.
Candidate Landing Site in NE Syrtis Major
On this map of Mars, areas indicated in green are where spectrometers on spacecraft orbiting Mars have detected clay minerals and areas indicated in blue are where those spectrometers have detected...
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Regions of Mars with Clays and Hydrated Minerals Identified from Orbit
Regions of Mars with Clays and Hydrated Minerals Identified from Orbit
NASA Goddard hosted a live Google+ Hangout on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 4 p.m. EST about MAVEN, NASA's next mission to Mars.
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NASA's MAVEN Mars Mission Pre-Launch Hangout
NASA's MAVEN Mars Mission Pre-Launch Hangout
These three views of the Martian moon Phobos were taken by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter using its infrared camera, THEMIS. Each color represents a different temperature range.
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Three views of the Martian moon Phobos taken by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter using its infrared camera.
Odyssey's Three Views of Phobos
This map of an area within the Arabia Terra region on Mars shows where hydrologic modeling predicts locations of depressions that would have been lakes (black), overlaid with a map of the preserved...
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This map of an area within the Arabia Terra region on Mars shows where hydrologic modeling predicts locations of depressions that would have been lakes (black), overlaid with a map of the preserved valleys (blue lines, with width exaggerated for recognition) that would have been streams.
Hydrologic Modeling of Relatively Recent Martian Streams and Lakes
This image maps the traverse of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity from "Bradbury Landing" to "Yellowknife Bay," with an inset documenting a change in the ground's thermal properties with arrival at a dif...
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This image maps the traverse of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity from "Bradbury Landing" to "Yellowknife Bay," with an inset documenting a change in the ground's thermal properties with arrival at a different type of terrain.
Curiosity's Traverse into Different Terrain (Sol 121)
A sea of dark dunes, sculpted by the wind into long lines, surrounds the northern polar cap covering an area as big as Texas.
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A sea of dark dunes, sculpted by the wind into long lines, surrounds the northern polar cap covering an area as big as Texas.
Mars Odyssey All Stars: Polar Dunes
This map shows the thickness of the north polar layered deposits on Mars as measured by the Shallow Radar instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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This map shows the thickness of the north polar layered deposits on Mars as measured by the Shallow Radar instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
How Thick is the North Polar Ice Cap on Mars?
This HiRISE image shows a crater approximately 11 km (7 miles) in diameter, located in Acidalia Planitia, part of the Northern Plains. Several features in and around this crater are suggestive of f...
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HiRISE image (PSP_001942_2310) shows a crater approximately 11 km (7 miles) in diameter, located in Acidalia Planitia, part of the Northern Plains. Several features in and around this crater are suggestive of fluids and ice at and near the surface. The south-looking (or equator facing) walls of this crater are cut by numerous gullies such as the ones shown in this image's cutout (500 x 600 m or 550 x 650 yards), with well developed alcoves, sinuous channels, and terminal fan deposits. These gullies seem to originate at the same height, suggesting that the carving agent may have emanated from one single layer exposed in the crater's wall. Contrastingly, no gullies are observed in the north-looking (or pole facing) wall of this crater. Terrestrial gullies very similar to the ones shown in this image are produced by surface water. The arrows in the cutout show fissures that may indicate detachment of surficial materials possibly held together by subsurface ice, sliding en masse down the crater's wall. The muted topography of the crater and its surroundings, the relatively shallow floor (300 m or 330 yards), the convex slope of its walls-all are consistent with ice being present under the surface, mixed with rocks and soil. Ice would have acted as a lubricant, facilitating the flow of rocks and soils and hence smoothing landscape's features such as ridges and craters' rims. The concentric and radial fissures in the crater's floor may indicate decrease of volume due to loss of underground ice. Piles of rocks aligned along these fissures and arranged forming polygons are similar to features observed in terrestrial periglacial regions such as Antarctica. Antarctica's features are produced by repeated expansion and contraction of subsurface soil and ice, due to seasonal temperature oscillations. The funnel-shaped depressions visible in the crater's floor could be collapse pits, further evidence of ice decay; alternatively, they could be smoothed-out impact craters.
Signs of Fluids and Ice in Acidalia Planitia
This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the caldera floor of Arsia Mons. Arsia Mons is the southernmost of the Tharsis volcanoes. It is 270 miles in diameter, almost 12 mi...
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Investigating Mars: Arsia Mons
Investigating Mars: Arsia Mons
A radar on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected widespread deposits of glacial ice in the mid-latitudes of Mars.
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Glacial Ice Deposits in Mid-Latitudes of Mars
Glacial Ice Deposits in Mid-Latitudes of Mars
This image shows atomic hydrogen scattering sunlight in the upper atmosphere of Mars, as seen by the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph on NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission.
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This image shows atomic hydrogen scattering sunlight in the upper atmosphere of Mars, as seen by the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph on NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission.
MAVEN's Ultraviolet Views of Hydrogen's Escape from Mars
The Odyssey spacecraft was launched toward Mars on April 7, 2001 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. In this four-part video series, Odyssey navigation team members explain the daily challenges of steeri...
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Challenges of Getting to Mars: Aerobraking
Challenges of Getting to Mars: Aerobraking
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured winter images of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander surrounded by dry-ice frost on Mars.
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Phoenix in Winter
Phoenix in Winter
Before and after images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter illustrate occurrence of new streaks on the slip face of a dark san...
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Changes on Dune Slip Face, Nili Patera, Mars
Changes on Dune Slip Face, Nili Patera, Mars
This map indicates geological units in the region of Mars around a smaller area where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has driven from early 2004 through late 2010.
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Geologic Setting of Opportunity Traverse and Meridiani Planum
Geologic Setting of Opportunity Traverse and Meridiani Planum
Odyssey launched on Boeing's Delta II 7925 that uses nine strap-on solid rocket motors.
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Odyssey launched on Boeing's Delta II 7925 that uses nine strap-on solid rocket motors.
Odyssey Launches Boeing's Delta II 7925
This May 2015 image from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a location on Mars associated with the best-selling novel and Hollywood movie, "The Martian." It is in a regio...
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This May 2015 image from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a location on Mars associated with the best-selling novel and Hollywood movie, "The Martian." It is in a region called Acidalia Planitia, at the landing site for the science-fiction tale's Ares 3 mission.
The Ares 3 Landing Site (Figure A)
Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers and technicians perform a spin test of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spa...
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Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers and technicians perform a spin test of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft.
MAVEN Spin Test
Unfrozen brine in cryopegs and fracture networks provides habitats for the survival and growth of organisms both within and under frozen rocky materials on Earth and, by analogy, could provide habi...
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Unfrozen brine in cryopegs and fracture networks provides habitats for the survival and growth of organisms both within and under frozen rocky materials on Earth and, by analogy, could provide habitats on Mars.
Plausible Martian Habitats
Sample Noachis Terra
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Sample Noachis Terra
Sample Noachis Terra
This false-color map shows the area within Gale Crater on Mars, where NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (Aug. 6, 2012 EDT).
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This false-color map shows the area within Gale Crater on Mars, where NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (Aug. 6, 2012 EDT).
Downslope of the Fan
Dunes on Floor of Samara Valles, Mars
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Dunes on Floor of Samara Valles, Mars
Dunes on Floor of Samara Valles, Mars
Three images of the same location taken at different times on Mars show seasonal activity causing sand avalanches and ripple changes on a Martian dune.
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Three images of the same location taken at different times on Mars show seasonal activity causing sand avalanches and ripple changes on a Martian dune.
Seasonal Changes in Northern Mars Dune Field

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