Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of ejecta from a crater in Meridiani Planum. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of mineralogy in Acidalia Planitia.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter context image of erosion in Cerberus Fossae. Inverted grayscale variant.

Two views of Mars' moon Deimos from an old PR image from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Processing variant.

Edited PR image of the rim of a crater on Mars on a very hazy day (due to the global dust storm that's now mostly abated).

Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22726

Original caption: This image was acquired on July 22, 2018 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Mars has recently been enveloped in dusty haze, but the sensitivity of HiRISE enabled imaging of surface features through a moderate level of haze.

This image shows a fresh impact crater in the northern middle latitudes. A technique called "pixel binning" was needed to improve the signal, but it is still the highest-resolution image ever acquired at this location.

Pixel binning combines information of adjacent detectors in a CCD camera sensor to create one single pixel in the recorded image.

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 60.3 centimeters (23.7 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 181 centimeters (71.3 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Image Addition Date:

2018-09-24

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of a large rocky area in Aram Chaos on Mars. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of part of Candor Chasma showing swirly rock and sand layers. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Tyrrhena Terra on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of light-toned layers in Tithonium Chasma. Color variant.

Original caption: Tithonium Chasma is a part of Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the Solar System. If Valles Marineris was located on Earth, at more than 4,000 kilometers long and 200 kilometers wide, it would span across almost the entire United States. Tithonium Chasma is approximately 800 kilometers long. A “chasma”, as defined by the International Astronomical Union, is an elongate, steep-sided depression.

The walls of canyons often contain bedrock exposing numerous layers. In some regions, light-toned layered deposits erode faster than the darker-toned ones. The layered deposits in the canyons are of great interest to scientists, as these exposures may shed light on past water activity on Mars. The CRISM instrument on MRO indicates the presence of sulfates, hydrated sulfates, and iron oxides in Tithonium Chasma. Because sulfates generally form from water, the light-toned sulfate rich deposits in the canyons may contain traces of ancient life.

The mid-section of this image is an excellent example of the numerous layered deposits, known as interior layered deposits. The exact nature of their formation is still unclear. However, some layered regions display parallelism between strata while other regions are more chaotic, possibly due to past tectonic activity. Lobe-shaped deposits are associated with depositional morphologies, considered indicative of possible periglacial activity.

Overall, the morphological and lithological features we see today are the result of numerous geological processes, indicating that Mars experienced a diverse and more active geological past.

Written by: Elizabeth Silber, Livio Tornabene, and Kayle Hansen (12 August 2015)

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of dunes in Russell Crater.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a crater field in Xanthe Dorsa.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sand dunes on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of colorful streaks running down a crater on Mars. Color/processing variant.

Tectonic fractures within the Candor Chasma region of Valles Marineris, Mars, retain ridge-like shapes as the surrounding bedrock erodes away. This points to past episodes of fluid alteration along the fractures and reveals clues into past fluid flow and geochemical conditions below the surface. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took this image on Dec. 2, 2006. The image is approximately 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) across. Illumination from the upper left.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of ejecta west of Hargraves Crater on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of part of Trouvelot Crater. Color variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of mineralogy in Acidalia Planitia.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of slopes in Eos Chasma.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sand in a windy location in Ganges Chasma on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of hills and sand dunes in an unnamed crater on Mars along with dust devil tracks. Context image.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sliding ice block dunes. I don't know that those are, but they sound dangerous...

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of rocky ridges at least partially formed and shaped by flowing wind. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of rough-looking landscape on the surface of Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of layers in Eberswalde Crater on Mars. Processing (blurry) variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of barchan dunes in the north polar region of Mars. Color variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of fractured mounds and cracks in part of Elysium Planitia. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of bright sand dunes (looking very dark) in Syria Planum. Inverted color variant (at least this way they look bright).

Image source: www.uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_032735_1680

Original caption: Bright Dunes in Syria Planum

This image shows curious bright deposits in Syria Planum, a high elevation region near the summit of the Tharsis rise.

Syria Planum has a history of surface changes documented in telescopic and low resolution orbital observations since the Viking era. The surface changes result from the relentless deposition and removal of bright dust, as the dust is transported by winds blowing from north to south across the rocky dark surface.

Isolated patches where thick dust deposits have accumulated can be identified in THEMIS night-time infrared observations. The dust deposits are cooler (darker) than the rocky surface both in daytime and at night. Our HiRISE image was centered on one of these cold spots to observe the interaction of the dust deposits with local topography.

Examining the image shows that the dust here has accumulated into linear arrays of broken ridges spaced about 50 meters apart, and extending from tens to hundreds of meters in length. Dust deposits are visible along the rim of the impact crater but much of the crater's ejecta deposits are strangely dust free.

At full resolution, the ridges appear to have a morphology that is clearly distinct from sand dunes and bright transverse aeolian ridges common elsewhere on Mars. Their steep faces are on the upwind side (in the present day wind regime), opposite to the sand dunes. The ridge crests are crenulated, suggesting that the deposits are currently being eroded by the wind. Fine layering is visible in the deposits, possibly indicating an alternation of dust and sand deposition.

Deposits such as these hint that while modern Mars is relatively benign, the surface of the planet was battered by much more ferocious winds in the recent past, perhaps during periods of high obliquity.

ID: ESP_032735_1680

date: 21 July 2013

altitude: 252 km

NASA/JPL/UArizona

uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_032735_1680

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of part of Juventae Chasma.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sinuous linear gullies in sand in Hellas Planitia on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of reddish plateaus and mesas with sand dunes and bedrock. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a long canyon on a flat plain on Mars with sand dunes.

This image provides higher-resolution views of a site where another observation indicates the presence of chloride salt deposits. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took this image on March 30, 2007. The colors resemble natural appearance, but are not true color. The chloride mineral deposit looks bright in tone, like salt pans on Earth. The deposit seems to be emerging as overlying material erodes away Evidence that this site and about 200 other sites in the southern highlands of Mars bear deposits of chloride salts comes from observations by the Thermal Emission Imaging System on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. The salt deposits typically lie within topographic depressions, as exemplified in this image. They point to places where water was once abundant, then evaporated, leaving the minerals behind. Inset boxes show two areas in greater detail, revealing cracks that formed as the salt deposit dried. Scale bars are 1 kilometer (six-tenths of a mile) and 100 meters (110 yards). The site lies at about 221 degrees east longitude and 38.8 degrees south latitude, within the rugged Terra Sirenum region of Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of parallel sand dunes.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a crater near where Opportunity landed many years ago. Color variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a color (relatively speaking) crater in Syrtis Major. Color/processing variant.

Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22727

Original caption: Some regions of Mars are not very colorful, but we can be surprised by local features. This image of an impact crater in the south Syrtis Major region was acquired as a "ride-along" with a CRISM observation, which targeted this location because that instrument's team expected a distinct composition.

Our enhanced image reveals colors ranging from red to green to blue. These are infra-red shifted colors (infrared-red-blue) so it's different than what we would see with our eyes.

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 53.3 centimeters (21.0 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 160 centimeters (63.0 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Image Addition Date:

2018-10-15

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of features in a debris apron in Deuteronilus Mensae.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sand dunes seen by earlier missions (Viking 2 and Mars Global Surveyor). Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of rocky ridges at least partially formed and shaped by flowing wind.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sand dunes in Nili Patera on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a valley or riverbed in Syrtis Major Planum.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of polar pits on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter context image of an ice-filled crater on the northern plains of Mars. Processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of rough-looking landscape on the surface of Mars. Processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of streaks of dark material in Malea Planum in Mars' south polar region. Processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sand dunes on Mars.

This image shows sequences of layered, most likely sedimentary, rocks in Coprates Chasma, part of the massive Valles Marineris system on Mars. The very high spatial resolution (30 cm/pixel) of the HiRISE camera on the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enables the identification of more and finer layers of rock units on Mars. In this image, parts of the layered rock units are being exposed by erosion from landslides (gravity), gully formation (fluvial processes), and wind (aeolian processes).

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of part of Mawrth Vallis on Mars. Context image.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Curiosity in Gale Crater. This is a red channel (and only the red channel, but spread to green and blue as well, so it appears grayscale) context image for the set.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a part of Daedalia Planum showing a valley with sand dunes and lots of very straight dust devil tracks.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of old salt deposits on the surface of Mars.