PDS logoPlanetary Data System
PDS Information
Find a Node - Use these links to navigate to any of the 8 publicly accessible PDS Nodes.

This bar indicates that you are within the PDS enterprise which includes 6 science discipline nodes and 2 support nodes which are overseen by the Project Management Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Each node is led by an expert in the subject discipline, supported by an advisory group of other practitioners of that discipline, and subject to selection and approval under a regular NASA Research Announcement.
Click here to return to the Photojournal Home Page Click here to view a list of Photojournal Image Galleries Photojournal_inner_header
Latest Images  |  Spacecraft & Technology  |  Animations  |  Space Images App  |  Feedback  |  Photojournal Search  

PIA05650: 'Vanilla' Under the Microscope
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
 Spacecraft:  Opportunity
 Instrument:  Microscopic Imager
Moessbauer Spectrometer 
 Product Size:  1024 x 1024 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA05650.tif (1.014 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA05650.jpg (104.5 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:
Part of the "Eagle Crater" soil survey, this three-centimeter by three-centimeter (1.2-inch by 1.2-inch) microscopic image of the target called "Vanilla" within the "Neopolitan" area was taken on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's 53rd sol, or day, on Mars. The image features small grains one millimeter (0.04 inch) or less in size and somewhat lighter in color than those in other soil units observed in the crater. Before this picture was taken, the rover's Moessbauer spectrometer took measurements of the target and pressed some of the grains into the surrounding finer-grained soil.

For mosaic of related microscopic images, see PIA05651.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Cornell

Image Addition Date:
2004-03-27