* Astronomy

Ius Chasma is one of several canyons that make up Valles Marineris, the largest canyon system in the Solar System.
The canyons likely formed by extension in association with the development of the Tharsis plateau and volcanoes to the west. Wind and possibly water have modified the canyons after they formed.
This HiRISE image shows the floor of Ius Chasma. The floor is bounded to the north and south by higher standing wallrock, with a few exposures of wallrock seen in the north (top) of the picture. Much of the floor is covered by ripples that are oriented approximately north-south, indicating an east to west wind flow, parallel to the orientation of Ius Chasma.
Layered deposits and bright patches of material are also seen along portions of the Ius Chasma floor. The layered deposits appear distinct in morphology from the nearby wallrock. These layered deposits could be lava flows, sediments deposited in a former lake, or fines that settled out from the atmosphere over time, such as dust or volcanic ash.
The bright outcrops visible further south in the image have been seen elsewhere in Valles Marineris as well as other locations on Mars and tend to have mineral signatures consistent with sulphates. Data from the CRISM instrument (also on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) of the composition of these bright patches in Ius Chasma could shed insight into their origin.


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Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Image PSP_002538_1720 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on 10-Feb-2007. The complete image is centred at -8.0 degrees latitude, 278.4 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 265.7 km. At this distance the image scale is 26.6 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~80 cm across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 cm/pixel and north is up.
The image was taken at a local Mars time of 03:43 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 56 degrees, thus the sun was about 34 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 181.4 degrees, the season on Mars is Northern Autumn.

New Images for Release: 21 February 2007

Signs of Eolian and Periglacial Activity at Vastitas Borealis PSP_001481_2410
Mound of South Polar Layered Deposits PSP_002345_1095
Newly-Formed Slope Streaks PSP_002396_1900
Pit Craters of Tractus Catena PSP_002420_2040
Proctor Crater Dune Field PSP_002455_1320
Floor of Ius Chasma PSP_002538_1720

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-- Edited by Blobrana at 01:28, 2007-02-23

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is suffering science-reducing glitches, although the spacecraft is nearing a milestone in churning out record-setting levels of data.
The spacecraft carries six instruments for probing Mars’ atmosphere, surface and subsurface to characterize the red planet and how it changed over time.

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NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft this month  is set to surpass the record for the most science data returned by  any Mars spacecraft. While continuing to produce data at record  levels, engineers are examining why two instruments are  intermittently not performing entirely as planned. All other  spacecraft instruments are operating well and continue to return  science data.
Since beginning its primary science phase in November 2006, the  orbiter has returned enough data to fill nearly 1,000 CD-ROMs. This  ties the record for Mars data sent back between 1997 and 2006 by  NASA's Mars Global Surveyor mission.
In late November 2006 the spacecraft team operating the High  Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on Mars Reconnaissance  Orbiter noticed a significant increase in noise, such as bad pixels,  in one of its 14 camera detector pairs. Another detector, that  developed the same problem soon after launch, has worsened. Images  from the spacecraft camera last month revealed the first signs of  this problem in five other detectors.

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