Mars Surface and Atmosphere Views

False color images of Mars captured by NASA's Odyssey orbiter. Highlights icy clouds and unique surface features from a high altitude.

Full-Circle 'Bonestell' Panorama from Spirit

This view of Mars was captured by NASA's Odyssey orbiter using its Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS, camera. This image is a false color composite, made by combining three channels of infrared data that highlight water-ice clouds and dust in the atmosphere. This panorama was one of 10 captured on May 9, 2023, from an altitude of roughly 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Martian surface - about the same altitude at which the International Space Station flies over Earth. The 10 panoramas of the Martian horizon were taken to capture a one-of-a-kind view of the Martian atmosphere as Odyssey circled the planet during its two-hour orbit. The reason why the view is so uncommon is because of the challenges involved in creating it. Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California (which leads the Odyssey mission) and Lockheed Martin Space (which built Odyssey and co-leads day-to-day operations) spent three months planning the observations. THEMIS' sensitivity to

The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Chia Crater. Chia Crater is 92 km (57 miles) in diameter and is located in Xanthe Terra just east of Maja Valles. The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the Martian surface using five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the spatial resolution and coverage of the image must be reduced to accommodate the additional data volume produced from using multiple filters. To make a color image, three of the five filter images (each in grayscale) are selected. Each is contrast enhanced and then converted to a red, green, or blue intensity image. These three images are then combined to produce a full color, single image. Because the THEMIS color filters don't span the ful

This anaglyph from from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is of Victoria crater, looking north from 'Duck Bay' towards the dramatic promontory called 'Cape Verde.' 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. This image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows part of the floor of Melas Chasma.

Valles Marineris

This VIS image is located in Arabia Terra. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Orbit Number 61900 Latitude -8.73294 Longitude 352.802 Instrument VIS Captured 2015-11-27 14 36

Albert Edler von Obermayer's 1899 silver gelatin photograph captures light forming stripe patterns, demonstrating photochemical reactions in a laboratory experiment.

Full-Circle 'Bonestell' Panorama from Spirit

This image shows part of Syria Planum

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover captured this stereo, 360-degree view near the ridgeline of Endeavour Crater's western rim. The center is southeastward. You need 3D glasses to view this image.

This image shows part of the south polar region

Many constellations in the summer sky

Today's VIS image shows part of the floor of Rutherford Crater. Blue tones in false color images are indicative of basaltic sand. Rutherford Crater is approximately 107 km (66 miles) in diameter. This crater is located in Arabia Terra. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Orbit Number 61900 Latitude 18.9562 Longitude 349.107 Instrument VIS Captured 2015-11-27 14 45

The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of the vast volcanic plains in the Tharsis region, in this case east of Pavonis Mons. The mottled appearance of the image is being caused by high altitude cloud cover. These clouds will be primarily composed of ice rather than dust. The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the Martian surface using five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the spatial resolution and coverage of the image must be reduced to accommodate the additional data volume produced from using multiple filters. To make a color image, three of the five filter images (each in grayscale) are selected. Each is contrast enhanced and then converted to a red, green, or blue intensity image. These three

Three of Perseverance's Depot Locations. NASA's Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to take this image of the location where three of its 10 sample tubes will be deposited. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust). Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. https //photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25679

The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows a cross section of Gale Crater, including the large layered deposit in the center of the crater. The Curiosity Rover is located on the floor of Gale Crater. Orbit Number 71162 Latitude -5.39778 Longitude 138.328 Instrument VIS Captured 2017-12-29 14 50

This enhanced-color view of the eastern rim and floor of Victoria

A Crater of Clues to Mars' Buried Past

Lanternfish aggregation in the twilight zone

. Nili Fossae - False Color. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. The linear depressions in the center of today's false color image are part of Nili Fossae. Nili Fossae is a collection of curved faults and down-dropped blocks of crust between the faults. The fossae, or graben, lie northeast of the large volcano Syrtis Major and northwest of the ancient impact basin Isidis Planitia. The troughs, which can be almost 500 meters (1,600 feet) deep , make concentric curves that follow the outline of Isidis Planitia. The graben likely formed as the crust sagged under the weight of lava flows filling the Isidis Planitia impact basin. The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the Martian surface using five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the s

A88105 U12P MISSION CYBER POST SHOT G-SAC JOHN WEYDERT (PROJECT ENGINEER) JAN 11 88 EG&G/NTS PHOTO LAB Publication Date: 1/11/1988 EDGERTON, GERMESHAUSEN & GRIER; EG&G; EQUIPMENT; EQUIPMENT & INSTRUMENTS; GSAC; INSTRUMENTS; INSTRUMENTS & EQUIPMENT; MISSION CYBER; MISSION CYBER POST SHOT; NEVADA; NEVADA TEST SITE; NTS; NUCLEAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY; NUCLEAR TESTING; NUCLEAR TESTS; TEST SITES; UGT; UNDERGROUND; UNDERGROUND TESTING; U12P MISSION CYBER POST SHOT historical images. 1972 - 2012. Department of Energy. National Nuclear Security Administration. Photographs Related to Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site.

The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. The faint bluish white tone in this image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft are clouds in Noachis Terra.

During four months prior to the fourth anniversary of its landing on Mars, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity examined rocks inside an alcove called 'Duck Bay' in the western portion of Victoria Crater.

Today's false color image shows part of Terra Cimmeria. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Orbit Number 63092 Latitude -23.8466 Longitude 158.387 Instrument VIS Captured 2016-03-04 18 39

alien terrain with craters made in 3d software

Russell Crater Dunes. The complex dune forms in this VIS image are located on the floor of Russell Crater. The large ridge dune is unique to Russell Crater. Russell Crater is located in Noachis Terra and is 135km (83miles) in diameter. Orbit Number 91411 Latitude -54.3479 Longitude 12.7322 Instrument VIS Captured 2022-07-24 01 26

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Dusty Crater In False Color

Mars, computer illustration.

This 360-degree three dimensional anaglyph view from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit highlights Gusev crater on sol 148. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

This 3-D cylindrical-perspective mosaic was created from navigation camera images that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured on on sol 109. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

alien terrain with craters made in 3d software

Diver cleans historical shipwreck Chaika of clams (Dreissena polymorpha), river Dnjepr, Khortytsia, Zaporizhia oblast, Ukraine, Europe

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drove 6.2 feet (1.9 meters) during the 100th Martian day, or sol, of the mission (Nov. 16, 2012). The rover used its Navigation Camera after the drive to record the images combined into this 3-D panoramic view.

This artist's concept depicts an aerial view of what the Jezero Crater area of Mars may have looked like billions of years ago.

Clouds in a Jovian jet stream, called Jet N5, swirl in the center of this color-enhanced image from NASA's Juno spacecraft. A brown oval known as a brown barge can be seen in the North North Temperate Belt region in the top-left portion of the image. This image was taken at 5 58 p.m. PDT on Sept. 6, 2018 (8 58 p.m. EDT) as the spacecraft performed its 15th close flyby of Jupiter. At the time, Juno was 7,600 miles (12,300 kilometers) from the planet's cloud tops, above a northern latitude of approximately 52 degrees. Citizen scientists Brian Swift and Seán Doran created this image using data from the spacecraft's JunoCam imager. The view has been rotated 90 degrees to the right from the original image.

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity gained this stereo vista from the top of a raised segment of the rim of Endeavour Crater. The view appears three-dimensional when seen through 3D glasses with red lens on the left.

The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows several craters in northwestern Arabia Terra. Orbit Number 70020 Latitude 23.0087 Longitude 339.177 Instrument VIS Captured 2017-09-26 12 56

On Nov. 22, 2012, or sol 106, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity was near a location called 'Point Lake' for an overlook of a shallow depression called 'Yellowknife Bay' which is in the left third of this scene, in the middle distance.

. Terra Sirenum - False Color. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Terra Sirenum. The linear features at the top of the image are tectonic features called graben. These graben are part of Sirenum Fossae. Graben are formed by extension of the crust and faulting. When large amounts of pressure or tension are applied to rocks on timescales that are fast enough that the rock cannot respond by deforming, the rock breaks along faults. In the case of a graben, two parallel faults are formed by extension of the crust and the rock in between the faults drops downward into the space created by the extension.The graben in this image are trending from north-northeast to south-southwest. Because the faults defining the graben are formed perpendic

Dinosaurs: footprint of a Theropod dinosaur (meat eater dinosaur). Near Tuba City, Arizona, USA. Lower Jurassic, Kayenta Formation.

HFF (Hypervelocity Free-Flight) N-237 Impact Studies (For JSC)

The Gulf of Mexico as seen from NASA photographer Carla Thomas at high altitude in the F/A-18 research aircraft during a flight in support of the Quiet Supersonic Flights 2018 series, or QSF18. The high altitude is necessary as part of the quiet supersonic dive maneuver, climbing to around 50,000 feet, followed by a supersonic, inverted dive. This creates sonic boom shockwaves in a way that they are quieter in a specific area.

Auroras are caused when high-energy electrons pour down from the Earth's magnetosphere and collide with atoms. Red aurora, as captured here by a still digital camera aboard the International Space Station (ISS), occurs from 200 km to as high as 500 km altitude and is caused by the emission of 6300 Angstrom wavelength light from oxygen atoms. The light is emitted when the atoms return to their original unexcited state. The white spot in the image is from a light on inside of the ISS that is reflected off the inside of the window. The pale blue arch on the left side of the frame is sunlight reflecting off the atmospheric limb of the Earth. At times of peaks in solar activity, there are more geomagnetic storms and this increases the auroral activity viewed on Earth and by astronauts from orbit.

This photograph of Neptune's southern hemisphere was taken by the narrow-angle camera on NASA's Voyager 2 when the spacecraft was 4.2 million km (2.6 million miles) from the planet.

. Oyama Crater - False Color. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Today's false color image shows part of Oyama Crater. Located in Arabia Terra near Mawrth Vallis, Oyama Crater is 101km (63 miles) in diameter. The THEMIS VIS camera is capable of capturing color images of the Martian surface using five different color filters. In this mode of operation, the spatial resolution and coverage of the image must be reduced to accommodate the additional data volume produced from using multiple filters. To make a color image, three of the five filter images (each in grayscale) are selected. Each is contrast enhanced and then converted to a red, green, or blue intensity image. These three images are then combined to produce a full color, single image. Because the THEMIS color filter

A830558 U12N MINI JADE FLOOR GAUGE FACES DONOHOE (Project Engineer) APR 13 83 EG&G/NTS PHOTO LAB Publication Date: 4/13/1983 EDGERTON, GERMESHAUSEN & GRIER; EG&G; FLOOR GAUGE FACES; GAUGE FACES; INSTRUMENTATION; INSTRUMENTS; MINI JADE; N-TUNNEL; NEVADA; NEVADA TEST SITE; NTS; NUCLEAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY; TEST SITES; TUNNELS; UGT; UNDERGROUND TESTING; WEAPONS EFFECTS historical images. 1972 - 2012. Department of Energy. National Nuclear Security Administration. Photographs Related to Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site.

Fictional Mars Soil Aerial View. Trace of Water on Mars Channels

With pastel blues, pinks, greens and golds, Saturn displays a dazzling diversity of colors and hues. Here, Cassini looks upward at, and through, the sunlit side of the rings from about 19 degrees below the ring plane. The small moon Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across) can be spotted off the planet's western limb (edge) near the image bottom.

This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a dusty area of Mars. The dark streaks on the slopes are locations where the dust has slumped downhill revealing a less dusty surface underneath.

Minerals: Sulphides - Sylvanite (Silver Gold Telluride)

This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is part of simulated flyover showing rhythmic layers of sedimentary rock inside Becquerel crater on Mars.

Color satellite image of Bhadla Solar Park, Jodhpur District, Rajasthan, India. Image collected on June 29, 2020 by Sentinel-2 satellites.

True Color of Mars - Pathfinder Sol 39 Sunrise

S85-E-5069 (13 August 1997) --- Category five Super Typhoon Winnie as it was passing over the Marianas in the Pacific Ocean. It was moving at 160 miles per hour (mph) with gusts up to 195 mph. The photograph was taken with the Electronic Still Camera (ESC).

This color-infrared image shows sand dunes in Melas Chasma, located within the Valles Marineris canyon system. The dark-blue and purple colors indicate coarse-grained sands that are comprised of basalt, an iron and magnesium-rich volcanic rock that formed from cooled lava millions of years ago when volcanism was an active process on Mars. Migrating sand dunes often lead to the erosion and excavation of underlying material; regions where there are active dune fields are ideal places to search for exposed bedrock. Repeated imaging of dunes may also show changes that provide evidence for active surface processes related to wind patterns and climate. More information is available at

Disant view of 53P Progress burn up over the Earth's surface as seen by the Expedition 40 crew.

NASA's Opportunity had driven 62.5 meters (205 feet) on April 7, 2009, southward away from an outcrop called 'Penrhyn,' which the rover had been examining for a few sols, and toward a crater called 'Adventure.' 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

This mosaic from the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity rover shows the view looking toward the 'Glenelg' area, where three different terrain types come together.

Earth Observations taken by Expedition 34 crewmember.

Top view of the salt lake mud sources. External similarity with craters. Mud healing springs Top view of the salt lake mud sources. External similarity with craters. Mud healing springs. Copyright: xZoonar.com/LeonidxEremeychukx 9799902

Nazca lines from the aircraft Mysterious figures Nazca desert from the aircraft Copyright: xZoonar.com/MassimoxLamax 11449206

A88112 U12P MISSION CYBER POST SHOT G-SAC JOHN WEYDERT (PROJECT ENGINEER) JAN 11 88 EG&G/NTS PHOTO LAB Publication Date: 1/11/1988 EDGERTON, GERMESHAUSEN & GRIER; EG&G; GSAC; MISSION CYBER; MISSION CYBER POST SHOT; NEVADA; NEVADA TEST SITE; NTS; NUCLEAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY; NUCLEAR TESTING; NUCLEAR TESTS; TEST SITES; UGT; UNDERGROUND; UNDERGROUND TESTING; U12P MISSION CYBER POST SHOT historical images. 1972 - 2012. Department of Energy. National Nuclear Security Administration. Photographs Related to Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site.

Richardson Crater is home to this sea of sand dunes. It was fall in the Southern hemisphere when NASA's MRO acquired this image of the dunes frosted with the first bit of carbon dioxide ice condensed from the atmosphere.

Mysterious figures Nazca desert from the aircraft

Longitudinal section of Peroba Rosa (Aspidosperma polyneuron), Brazil

On September 28, 2008, NASA's Mars rover Opportunity reached this location on the west side of 'Victoria Crater.' 3D glasses are necessary.

This image taken by the Mast Camera (MastCam) on NASA's Curiosity rover highlights the interesting geology of Mount Sharp, a mountain inside Gale Crater, where the rover landed.

ISS008-E-15890 (15 February 2004) --- This image was taken from the International Space Station (ISS) Feb 15 and shows a small piece of debris reported by the Expedition 8 crew. The debris, which has been identified as a two-inch "eyebolt" from a solar array on the Progress cargo craft that recently docked with the Station, drifted slowly away and posed no problems for the complex. The eyebolt is from a system that is used with the arrays during the Progress' launch and serves no function after the arrays are deployed in orbit.

A740928 U12E DIDO QUEEN FAST GATE DAMAGE LYNN TYLER (Project Engineer) NOV 6 74EG&G/NTS PHOTO LAB Publication Date: 11/6/1974 CORROSION; DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS; DAMAGED; DAMAGES; DIDO QUEEN TEST; EDGERTON, GERMESHAUSEN & GRIER; EG&G; EQUIPMENT & INSTRUMENTS; FAST GATE; FAST GATE DAMAGE; FAST GATE ENCLOSURE; GATES (OPENINGS); LABELS; NEVADA; NEVADA TEST SITE; NTS; NUCLEAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY; NUCLEAR TESTING; NUCLEAR TESTS; TEST SITES; TYLER, LYNN; UGT; UNDERGROUND TESTING; DIDO QUEEN-FAST GATE DAMAGE historical images. 1972 - 2012. Department of Energy. National Nuclear Security Administration. Photographs Related to Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site.

This image, captured by NASA's Terra satellite on July 20, 2005, shows the dust cloud just off the west coast of Africa near Mauritania and Senegal.

Today's VIS image is located in Arabia Terra. The crater at the bottom of the image contains a large region of sand dunes. Dark blue in this band configuration indicates basaltic sand. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Orbit Number 61563 Latitude -6.83478 Longitude 355.996 Instrument VIS Captured 2015-10-30 20 32

WATSON Documents First Sample on the Martian Surface. NASA's Perseverance rover deposited the first of several sample tubes onto the Martian surface on Dec. 21, 2022, the 653rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This composite image of the tube, filled with a sample of igneous rock, is made up of a series of stitched-together images taken by a camera called WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) on the end of the rover's 7-foot-long (2-meter-long) robotic arm. Perseverance has been taking duplicate samples from each rock target the mission selects. After having dropped its first sample on the surface, the rover now has 17 samples in its belly, including one atmospheric sample. Based on the architecture of the Mars Sample Return campaign, the rover would deliver samples to a robotic lander carrying a small rocket that would blast them off to space. The depot will serve as a backup if Perseverance can't deliver its samples. In that case, a pair of Sample

This VIS image shows part of Moreux Crater. The THEMIS VIS camera contains 5 filters. The data from different filters can be combined in multiple ways to create a false color image. These false color images may reveal subtle variations of the surface not easily identified in a single band image. Orbit Number 61012 Latitude 41.89 Longitude 44.6951 Instrument VIS Captured 2015-09-15 11 49

ISS033-E-009232 (3 Oct. 2012) --- This still photo taken by the Expedition 33 crew members aboard the International Space Station shows evidence of the fiery plunge through Earths atmosphere and the destructive re-entry of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle-3 (ATV-3) spacecraft, also known as Edoardo Amaldi. The end of the ATV took place over a remote swath of the Pacific Ocean where any surviving debris safely splashed down a short time later, at around 1:30 a.m. (GMT) on Oct. 3, thus concluding the highly successful ATV-3 mission. Aboard the craft during re-entry was the Re Entry Breakup Recorder (REBR), a spacecraft black box designed to gather data on vehicle disintegration during re-entry in order to improve future spacecraft re-entry models.

Cretaceous Dinosaur Footprints-mostly Ornithopod tracks. Image is approximately 1.5 meters across. Dakota Formation, Colorado.

Fictional Mars Soil Aerial View of Martian Desert

iss060e002056 (June 29, 2019) --- Flying 268 miles above New Zealand, the International Space Station's docked Progress 72 resupply ship is silhouetted over a wispy aurora australis, or "southern lights," the Earth's atmospheric glow and a starry orbital nighttime sky. The bright light at top is the Pirs module's lit airlock window.

Artwork of the icy core (nucleus) of a comet. Comets are mostly frozen ices (water, methane and ammonia) and dust, and they are often referred to as '...

Fossil leaf scars (Lepidodendron aculeatum Sternberg Carboniferous Coal Measures.

Filled fireplace of volcanic eruption in 1669 located next to Monte Rosso, 1778 drawing Drawing from the album 'Voyage and Italy, and Sicile et à Malte', 1778. paper. chalk. watercolor (paint) brush / pen volcano Etna

iss064e000361 (Oct. 24, 2020) --- Industrial mining activity is pictured in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, which is one of the most arid places on Earth. The International Space Station had just crossed into South America from the Pacific Ocean when this photograph was taken.

This is a false-color radar image of Central Africa, showing the Virunga Volcano chain along the borders of Rwanda, Zaire and Uganda. This area is home to the endangered mountain gorillas.

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