Exposed Layering in Crater Rim (ESP_076604_1565) - Request Submitted: September 12, 2017; Request Scheduled: November 22, 2022; Request Fulfilled: November 29, 2022. This observation targets stratigraphy exposed in the rim of a small crater located within a larger heavily degraded crater. The targeted area is located along the edge of a high thermal inertia surface that covers much of the larger crater's floor. The exposed stratigraphy here provides an opportunity to study the material underlying this high thermal inertia surface. Small rocky ledges visible on the crater rim at CTX resolution suggest that there may be a stratigraphic sequence underlying the high thermal inertia material. Thus, this observation should help understand the relationship between the visible high thermal inertia surface and underlying materials.
Banded Olivine-Rich Massif in Northeast Hellas Planitia (ESP_076431_1525) - Request Submitted: December 5, 2018; Request Scheduled: October 28, 2022; Request Fulfilled: November 15, 2022 This observation targets banded terrain located in an olivine-rich massif in the Hellas Basin. The olivine-rich massifs have been interpreted as ejecta blocks excavated from the lower crust/upper mantle by the Hellas Basin impact (e.g. Ody et al. 2013). Thus, observations of these locations may investigation of deep crustal or mantle materials not otherwise exposed at the surface. Coarse, 100 m scale banding is visible in an apparent megabreccia block at this location in CTX image B17_016127_1526_XN_27S288W. In places, this banding is disrupted by a blobby and streaky dark-toned unit. High-resolution imagery of this block will be useful to evaluate differences in banding across this outcrop, assess whether finer-scale banding not visible at CTX resolution is present, and the relationship between the various units exposed in this massif.
Lobate Dome in Terra Cimmeria (ESP_077008_1455) - Request Submitted: November 30, 2019; Request Scheduled: December 19, 2022; Request Fulfilled: December 30, 2022. This observation targets a ~15 x 8 km dome located within a Terra Cimmeria intercrater plain. The dome has very steep sides, with a relatively flat summit area that stands 600-700 m above the surrounding plains surface. A small crater impacting along the contact between the surrounding intercrater plains and northwestern slope of the dome is visible in HiRISE image ESP_036470_1455. This crater suggests a lithological contact, as materials exposed along the rim on the plains side are less blocky than on the dome side. The location of this dome within the Eridiania paleolake basin may indicate a possible origin as a tuya. Small domes on the summit region and large veinlike features on the southern slope might support this hypothesis. This observation will target one of the summit domes, as well as a well-exposed contact along one of the main dome's lobes. This will help characterize the geologic contacts of the dome in detail and test the hypothesis that the dome is a tuya.