Astrogeology Science Center
Multimedia
Fly By of Jezero Crater and SIM 3464
This video animates the 1:75,000 scale geologic map of Jezero crater, Mars, which is the landing site for the Mars 2020 mission and Perseverance rover, scheduled to land in February, 2021. This map, created by NASA JPL scientists and supported by USGS, primarily relied onimages from the Context Camera (CTX) instrument onboard
NASA Mars Perseverance 2020 Terrain Relative Navigation Mosaics
This video highlights two mosaics of the Jezero crater landing site on Mars made by the USGS Astrogeology Science Center to support the Mars 2020 mission, as well as several key locations that the Perseverance rover may visit once it is on the surface. The larger mosaic is composed of images from the Context Camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and has a resolution
Jezero crater, Mars
Description: This is a high-resolution oblique view of the northeastern edge of the delta deposit in Jezero crater, the landing site for the Perseverance Mars rover. In the foreground, buttes of delta material stand above the crater floor. On the left and in the middle of this image, the layered rocks of the delta deposit are visible. These may be lake bed or river
...Unified Geologic Map of the Moon
This animation shows a rotating globe of the new Unified Geologic Map of the Moon with shaded topography from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA). This geologic map is a synthesis of six Apollo-era regional geologic maps, updated based on data from recent satellite missions. It will serve as a reference for lunar science and future human missions to the Moon. Credit:
PubTalk 1/2020 — The Rise of the USGS in Space Exploration
The Rise of the USGS in Space Exploration: How the Astrogeology Science Center is integral to the past, present, and future investigation of the Solar System.
By Justin J. Hagerty, Director of the Astrogeology Science Center
- Every astronaut to set foot on the Moon trained with the USGS in
Sols 2574-2576: Characterizing Central Butte
Sols 2574-2576: Characterizing Central Butte
Image of the Week - Moon Craters in Arizona
Before landing on the surface of the moon in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin needed a training ground that matched their destination's cratered surface.
In the U.S., that turned out to be northern Arizona. Starting in 1967, the U.S. Geological Survey used hundreds of pounds of dynamite to blast holes into the surface of ancient lava fields south of
Astronaut Field Training in Flagstaff
USGS Field Test Support Unit (left to right) Dick Wiser, John Hendricks, Bill Tinnin and Putty Mills with the Explorer, a lunar rover vehicle simulator at Cinder Lake Crater Field east of Flagstaff, December 1968.
High-spatial-resolution airborne images of Tern Lake, Yellowstone
High-spatial-resolution airborne images of the Tern Lake area from 1994, 2006, and 2017. The area of bright pixels identified in the Landsat-8 thermal infrared image corresponds to a newly emerging area of warm ground and tree kills about 32,500 m2 (8 acres, or 4 soccer fields) in area. The air photo from 2006 shows the beginnings of a tree kill zone. The black
...Landsat-8 nighttime thermal infrared image, Tern Lake, Yellowstone
Landsat-8 nighttime thermal infrared image from April 2017 showing the Tern Lake area. In Yellowstone, temperatures are extremely cold at night in the winter, and most lakes are frozen (dark pixels). West Tern Lake seems to be thawing here - perhaps it receives some thermal waters from nearby hot springs. The patch of bright (warm) pixels between West Tern Lake and the
...Map of thermal areas in Yellowstone National Park, 2019
Map of thermal areas in Yellowstone National Park. Most of Yellowstone's more than 10,000 thermal features are clustered together into about 120 distinct thermal areas (shown in red). Lakes are blue. The Yellowstone Caldera is solid black and the resurgent domes are dotted black. Roads are yellow. The orange box shows the location of the Tern Lake thermal area.