S Pa c E m IsS I o n

The subject of astrogeology rarely comes up these days. But in case it does, here’s what you need to know. We earthlings, or at least a small subset of us known as astrogeologists, are learning wondrous new things about the other planetary bodies in our solar system. Did you realise, for instance, that Lo, which orbits Jupiter and is roughly the size of our own moon, has peaks higher than Mount Everest? And, at this very moment, there are more than 20 active space probes (Voyagers I and II and Cassini-Huygens, among them) threading among the planets and their moons, analysing, monitoring and taking pictures. Indeed, the number and sheer breadth of space missions launched in recent years, combined with major advances in remote sensing technologies (think laser altimeters and radar imaging), has produced an information overload of sorts. Fortunately for the rest of us, a small but highly dedicated

From Martian Lava To Mountains Higher Than Everest, The Science Of Astrogeology Is Mapping Outer Space

community of astrogeologists – professionals, students and passionate amateurs, many of them working in collaboration with the Astrogeology Research Program of the US Geological Survey (USGS) in Flagstaff, Arizona – is trying to make sense of it all. The technical side of their pursuit may be a bit much for dinner party conversation, but you’d be hard pushed not to be fascinated by seeing the digital maps the USGS compiles, with their Murakami-like vibrant colours, dynamic shapes, subtle

rhythms and patterns. There are the veins of baby blue on the map of western equatorial Mars, for example, which represent new lava flows on the flanks of the Arsia, Pavonis and Ascraeus Mons, and which probably originate from fissures along major geological features. Text Lucy White

Images USGS Astrogeology Research Program astrogeology.usgs.gov

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