HiRISE | Candidate Landing Site in a Possible Salt Playa (ESP_016288

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Candidate Landing Site in a Possible Salt Playa
ESP_016288_1745 Science Theme: Composition and Photometry

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This image covers part of a candidate landing site that appears to be a shallow depression with a deposit perhaps consisting of chlorides, like table salt.

The relatively bright material broken up into polygons or other patterns is possibly chloride. Such deposits occur in playas on Earth, and imply the past presence of water and a habitable (but not necessarily inhabited) environment. The HiRISE images will help to interpret the geology and to determine if this spot is a sufficiently safe landing site—not too many boulders or steep slopes. If it is safe enough, this site will be considered further as a landing site for the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory or for a European or NASA rover to be launched in 2018 according to current plans.

Be sure also to look at the stereo anaglyph for more detail.
Written by: Alfred McEwen (10 March 2010)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_016433_1745.

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Acquisition date:	16 January 2010	Local Mars time:	2:51 PM
Latitude (centered):	-5.6 degrees	Longitude (East):	353.8 degrees
Range to target site:	265.5 km (165.9 miles)	Original image scale range:	26.6 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~80 cm across are resolved
Map projected scale:	25 cm/pixel and North is up	Map projection:	EQUIRECTANGULAR
Emission angle:	0.5 degrees	Phase angle:	47.9 degrees
Solar incidence angle:	47 degrees, with the Sun about 43 degrees above the horizon	Solar longitude:	38.7 degrees, Northern Spring
For non-map projected products:
North azimuth:	97 degrees	Sub-solar azimuth:	32.2 degrees
For map-projected products
North azimuth:	270 degrees	Sub solar azimuth:	206.9 degrees

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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.