The Entrance to Mawrth Vallis
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
The Entrance to Mawrth Vallis
ESP_049017_2060  Science Theme: Future Exploration/Landing Sites
In Andy Weir’s “The Martian,” stranded astronaut Mark Watney drives from the Ares 3 landing site in Acidalia Planitia towards the Ares 4 landing site in Schiaparelli Crater via Mawrth Vallis. This image covers the entrance to Mawrth Vallis. (Have a look at the scene in 3D).

As you can tell, driving over this terrain will be much more difficult than it was depicted in the novel or the movie.

Written by: Alfred McEwen (audio: Tre Gibbs)  (7 March 2017)

This is a stereo pair with ESP_048595_2060.
 
Acquisition date
09 January 2017

Local Mars time
14:11

Latitude (centered)
25.898°

Longitude (East)
340.243°

Spacecraft altitude
288.9 km (179.5 miles)

Original image scale range
58.5 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~176 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
9.7°

Phase angle
51.8°

Solar incidence angle
58°, with the Sun about 32° above the horizon

Solar longitude
296.3°, Northern Winter

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  96°
Sub-solar azimuth:  311.7°
JPEG
Black and white
map projected  non-map

IRB color
map projected  non-map

Merged IRB
map projected

Merged RGB
map projected

RGB color
non-map projected

JP2
Black and white
map-projected   (400MB)

IRB color
map-projected   (229MB)

JP2 EXTRAS
Black and white
map-projected  (206MB)
non-map           (178MB)

IRB color
map projected  (71MB)
non-map           (195MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (396MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (358MB)

RGB color
non map           (175MB)
ANAGLYPHS
Map-projected, reduced-resolution
Full resolution JP2 download
Anaglyph details page

BONUS
4K (TIFF)
8K (TIFF)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
Merged IRB label
Merged RGB label
EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
About color products (PDF)

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
For scale, use JPEG/JP2 black & white map-projected images

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:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

POSTSCRIPT
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. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.