HiRISE | Candidate Landing Site in NE Syrtis Major (ESP_016219

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Candidate Landing Site in NE Syrtis Major
ESP_016219_1980 Science Theme: Future Exploration/Landing Sites

800
1024
1152
1280
1440
1600
1920
2048
2560

PDF, 11 x 17 in

This image lies on the eastern edge of a candidate landing site in the northeastern part of Syrtis Major, a huge shield volcano, and near the northwestern rim of Isidis Planitia, a giant impact basin.

This region exposes Early Noachian bedrock, more than 4 billion years old, and contains a diversity of hydrated minerals. This would be an excellent place to explore early Mars, when the environment may have been conducive to life.

HiRISE images will aid geologic interpretations and help determine if this spot is sufficiently safe for landing--not too many boulders or steep slopes. If it is sufficiently safe, it may be considered for the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory or the 2018 rovers from Europe and the USA.
Written by: Alfred McEwen (24 February 2010)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_016364_1980.

Image Products: All image links are drag & drop for HiView, or click to download

JPEG
Grayscale: map projected non-map
IRB color: map projected non-map
RGB color: non-map projected

JP2 DOWNLOAD
Grayscale: map-projected (2349.4 MB)
IRB color: map-projected (1061.3 MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Grayscale: map-projected (1195.7 MB),
non-map (864.3 MB)

IRB color: map projected (437.8 MB)
non-map (791.7 MB)

RGB color: non map-projected (730.0 MB)

ANAGLYPHS
Map-projected reduced-resolution (PNG)
Full resolution JP2 download
View anaglyph details page

Additional Image Information
Grayscale label Color label
Merged IRB label Merged RGB label
EDR products

About color products (PDF)
HiView main page
HiRISE Online Image Viewer

Observation Toolbox

Acquisition date:	11 January 2010	Local Mars time:	2:56 PM
Latitude (centered):	17.9 degrees	Longitude (East):	77.3 degrees
Range to target site:	317.7 km (198.6 miles)	Original image scale range:	31.8 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~95 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale:	25 cm/pixel and North is up	Map projection:	EQUIRECTANGULAR
Emission angle:	30.2 degrees	Phase angle:	12.9 degrees
Solar incidence angle:	42 degrees, with the Sun about 48 degrees above the horizon	Solar longitude:	36.3 degrees, Northern Spring
For non-map projected products:
North azimuth:	96 degrees	Sub-solar azimuth:	7.8 degrees
For map-projected products
North azimuth:	270 degrees	Sub solar azimuth:	182.1 degrees

Usage Policy
All of the images produced by HiRISE and accessible on this site are within the public domain: there are no restrictions on their usage by anyone in the public, including news or science organizations. We do ask for a credit line where possible: Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Postscript
For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. The image data were processed using the U.S. Geological Survey’s ISIS3 software.