Philip Christensen

What weighs 2,600 pounds, would fill a Smart Car to overflowing, and comes to ASU from all over the world? --by Robert Burnham

Want to suggest places on Mars for ASU's THEMIS camera to photograph? Want to see the very latest infrared images being beamed back from the Red Planet? Now you can, through two new features of Google Earth 5.0. (image courtesy of NASA) --by Robert Burnham

Scientists at ASU's Mars Space Flight Facility are using the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter to monitor a new dust storm that has erupted on the Red Planet. --by Robert Burnham

NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has a new orbit around the Red Planet. The change, part of a two-year extension for the mission, will give an ASU-operated instrument greater sensitivity for mapping Martian minerals. --by Robert Burnham

mars update thumbWhen the Phoenix Mars spacecraft reached the Red Planet, fields of giant boulders threatened to destroy the lander on touchdown. ASU Mars researchers helped guide the lander to a safe, boulder-free spot using the Thermal Emissions Imaging System (THEMIS).

Scientists using a Mars-orbiting camera have found the first evidence for deposits of salts in numerous places on Mars. These deposits show where water was once abundant and may also provide evidence for the existence of former Martian life. --by Robert Burnham

U.S. and Chinese high school students are taking aim at the Red Planet using an ASU-designed camera on a Mars-orbiting spacecraft. --by Robert Burnham

Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity continue to make new discoveries--like a deposit of silica--more than three years after landing. Meanwhile, NASA is planning where to send its next-generation rover, the Mars Science Laboratory. A promising site is Melas Chasma, a dried-up ancient lake that could hold evidence of microbial life.--by Robert Burnham

A mosaic image made with data from ASU's Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) shows a massive landslide in the Martian canyon Noctis Labyrinthus. --by Robert Burnham

What caused the mysterious dark spots, fan-like markings, and spider-shaped features on the icecap at the Martian south pole?