Science and Exploration

Possible Hydrated Minerals on the Plains of Terra Sirenum On Mars

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
January 15, 2022
Filed under ,
Possible Hydrated Minerals on the Plains of Terra Sirenum On Mars
Plains of Terra Sirenum
NASA/HiRISE

This image shows a small light-toned exposure of rock on the plains of Terra Sirenum, in a heavily cratered region of the Southern Hemisphere of Mars.
What’s of interest here is the potential hydrated mineral signature that appears in CRISM multispectral data. Hydrated minerals on Mars are indicators of past environmental conditions. Comparing high-resolution images from HiRISE and the high spectral resolution of CRISM helps understand these minerals.

Prior to HiRISE, there were no existing high-resolution images of this exposure.

This caption is based on the original science rationale.

ID: ESP_023335_1560
date: 19 July 2011
altitude: 257 km

https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_023335_1560
NASA/JPL/UArizona

SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.