Miyamoto is a crater within the

Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle The Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle is one of a series of list of quadrangles on Mars, 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle is also referred ...

(MC-19) region of the planet

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

, west of the Plains of Meridiani. It is wide. Its northeastern half is filled with rocks formed in the presence of water and include minerals of iron and sulfur, which likely settled on lake bottoms or in groundwater systems. In the southwestern half of the crater floor, erosion has stripped these materials away, revealing clays and other materials like those found in the most ancient Martian rocks. More than 3.5 billion years old, they date to the Noachian era at which time, liquid water was likely present at the surface and could have created an environment favorable to life. Miyamoto was considered as a possible landing site for the

Mars Science Laboratory Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic spacecraft, robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed ''Curiosity (rover), Curiosity'', a Mars rover, in Gale (crater), Gale Crater on Augus ...

Mars Science Laboratory

Several sites in the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle have been proposed as areas to send NASA's next major Mars rover, the

. Miyamoto Crater was in the top seven sites chosen. Among the top 33 landing sites was Iani Chaos. Holden Crater is believed to have once been a lake. Eberswalde Crater contains a

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

. There is a great deal of evidence that Miyamoto Crater once contained rivers and lakes. Many minerals, such as clays, chlorides, sulfates, and iron oxides, have been discovered there. Miyamoto Crater displays

Inverted relief Inverted relief, inverted topography, or topographic inversion refers to landscape features that have reversed their elevation relative to other features. It most often occurs when low areas of a landscape become filled with lava or sediment t ...

in the form of inverted channels. The picture below shows an inverted channel in Miyamoto. Inverted channels formed from accumulated sediments that were cemented by minerals. These channels eroded into the surface, then the whole area was covered over with sediments. When the sediments were later eroded away, the place where the river channel existed remained because the hardened material were resistant to erosion. In an article published in January 2010, a large group of scientists endorsed the idea of searching for life in Miyamoto Crater because of inverted stream channels and minerals that indicated the past presence of water. The aim of the Mars Science Laboratory is to search for signs of ancient life. It is hoped that a later mission could then return samples from sites identified as probably containing remains of life. To safely bring the craft down, a 12 mile wide, smooth, flat circle is needed. Geologists hope to examine places where water once ponded. They would like to examine sediment layers. The seven finalists were:

Eberswalde Eberswalde () is a major town and the administrative seat of the district Barnim in Brandenburg in north-eastern Germany, about northeast of Berlin. Population 42,144 (census in June 2005). The town is often called Waldstadt (forest town), beca ...

crater,

Gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface wind moving at a speed between .

crater,

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...

crater, Mawrth Vallis, Miyamoto Crater, Nili Fossae Trough, Southern Meridiani (also near Miyamato)

Gallery

Image:Meridiani Planum PIA13704.jpg, Color-coded for minerals and annotated File:Meridianicropped.png, Annotated elevation map of Opportunity landing site and some surrounding craters including Endeavour and Miyamato File:Miyamoto ellipse2.jpg, The proposed landing ellipse in Miyamoto when it was one of seven finalists under consideration as a landing site for MSL.

Gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface wind moving at a speed between .

was eventually chosen. Image:Miyamoto Crater.JPG, Inverted Channel in Miyamoto Crater, as seen by HiRISE File:Miyamoto crater 653A57.jpg, Viking Orbiter 1 image

References

{{Portal bar, Solar System Impact craters on Mars Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle

Mars Science Laboratory

Gallery

See also

References