HiRISE | ESP_049017_2060_ESP_048595

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

The Entrance to Mawrth Vallis
ESP_049017_2060_ESP_048595_2060

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.

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 (7 March 2017)

IMAGE PRODUCTS
Map projected reduced-resolution (PNG)

Full resolution JPEG2000

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/University of Arizona

STEREO PAIR
Left observation
ESP_049017_2060

Right observation
ESP_048595_2060

Contrast stretch
NONLINEAR

Convergence angle
19.3 degrees

Image lines
23613

Line samples
10790

RESOURCES
About anaglyph products (PDF)

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.