#NASA's #MMGIS has moved (probably some time ago) to a new dataset prepared by the #USGS which includes areas west of Jezero Crater, which may be where the Mars Sample Return mission (#MSR) could land, if the mission ever takes off.

For those interested in Martian maps and #GIS, here is where to find the new data:

Description PDF:
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2025/pdf/1627.pdf
Source (5.1GB, includes raster and DTM):
https://asc-pds-services.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mosaic/Mars/MSR_TRN_HiRISE_soc_003_USGS_release_aug2024/MSR_TRN_HiRISE_soc_003_USGS_release_aug2024_mosaics.zip

#Perseverance ##Mars2020 #Solarocks #Space

While #Perseverance and team has some (political) steam left, it does what it came to Mars to do: examine rocks and collect samples, to be returned to Earth with an upcoming mission, the #MSR. That mission is now proposed by the Trump WH to be cancelled.

Processed SUPERCAM_RMI of a laser zapped stone in front of the rover.
Looking NE (47°) from RMC 73.0000
Sol 1494, LMST: 11:46:46

Original: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01494/ids/edr/browse/scam/LRF_1494_0799566915_259EBY_N0730000SCAM02494_0070I6J01.png

Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/65dBnoise

The #Trump administration intends to terminate #NASA's Mars Sample Return mission (#MSR), in favor of "putting an American on Mars" and on the Moon "before China".

#Kleptocracy in plain sight. Taxpayer money that was allocated to scientific missions will now be shoveled to the pockets of the fascist billionaire who hasn't set foot in one of his spacecraft, even for a short trip beyond the Kármán line.

And you thought that science was not political.

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/president-trumps-fy26-budget-revitalizes-human-space-exploration/

Safe & Precise Landing – Integrated Capabilities Evolution (#SPLICE) is a #NASA program to develop next-generation landing technologies for planetary exploration.

SPLICE technologies are being considered for use on Mars Sample Return (#MSR), the Europa Lander, Commercial Lunar Payload Services flights, and Gateway.

The image shows #Ingenuity's Hazard Avoidance system in action on Mars and a sample of SPLICE capabilities.

https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/johnson/nasa-advances-precision-landing-technology-with-field-test-at-kennedy/

https://www.europesays.com/uk/5598/ Nasa and Esa want to bring Martian rocks to Earth. Here’s what will happen to the samples once they get here #Earth’sAtmosphere #EuropeanSpaceAgency #MarsSampleReturn #MartianRocks #MartianSamples #MSR #Nasa #Science #ScientificCommunity #scientists #UK #UnitedKingdom

What a sick sick sick race!
#MSR #MilanoSanRemo #cycling

Congratulations to Mathieu van der Poel!
..and Pippo
..and Tadej

Always a fantastic race, Milano-Sanremo!

Klimmen met 5 a 6 % omhoog...
Ze vliegen bijna uit de bocht... niet normaal dit #msr

That's a team pursuit team of 3 that can take on any team pursuit team of 4.

Milano - Sanremo day!
Or La primavera
La classisicima
Or just The MSR

289 km and The Poggio

The finale starts in Finale?

The cycling race that is hardest to win.
Who is your pick?

Startlist at: https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=4&y=2025&k=8

#cycling #sport #monument #world #tour #MSR #MilanoSanRemo #Poggio

Images Are screenshot from race guide at race website

After laying off thousands of employees (8% of #JPL's workforce) under the #Biden administration and putting on hold the #MSR mission, while favoring "space economy" (a euphemism for subsidizing the space industry) and calling upside-down moon landings and half baked private missions a "success", now

#NASA is being audited by their contractor #Musk and his DOGE team.

As conflicted as this may sound, that's today's reality in #USpol

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-15/republicans-tough-nasa-choice-protect-home-state-jobs-or-back-doge

Another paper from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, #LPSC2025, examines co-occurrence and absence cases of organic carbon with "leopard spots" and "poppy seeds".

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2025/pdf/2581.pdf

For a thorough list of papers regarding Jezero Crater and #Perseverance, see @sharponlooker 's detailed thread:

https://mastodon.social/@sharponlooker/113950679490539853

Many thanks to @sharponlooker for digging out and sharing those papers! Great service to the #solarocks community !!

Wondering how come and #NASA don't have money to bring back 30 samples of rock from Mars, that the #Perseverance rover is painstakingly collecting under the guidance of brilliant scientific and engineering minds?

While at the same time #US oligarch wealth skyrockets under both GOP and Democrat administrations? (see slopes of skyrocketing wealth of the rich, in graph)

See for yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States#Definitions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States#Statistics

Still wondering?

After figuring out that its previous plan to bring fresh Martian samples back to Earth wouldn't work, #NASA has come up with two new options. But what will Donald #Trump (and Elon #Musk) do? https://cosmiclog.com/2025/01/07/nasa-lays-out-two-new-options-for-mars-sample-return/ #Space #Mars #MSR

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST, Tuesday, Jan. 7, to provide an update on the status of the agency’s Mars Sample Return Program.

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-to-host-media-call-highlighting-mars-sample-return-update/

Ken Farley, at the AGU24 meeting:

"We're likely to spend about the next 6 months investigating Witch Hazel Hill, and I think that is likely to be on the time frame on which there's at least some more clarity about where a potential rendezvous [with the #MSR lander] will happen."

Ken Farley's carefully expressed views are indicative of the hard times the #Mars2020 mission is going through.

But what's science compared to "space economy"? Hype is now the unbeatable modus vivendi!