In this image, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) observes an impact crater with associated bright deposits that at first glance give the appearance of seasonal frost or ice accumulations. MRO has an onboard spectrometer called CRISM that can distinguish between ices and other minerals. Unfortunately, there is currently no coverage of this particular spot. However, it can be deduced through several lines of evidence that this is, in fact, not ice.

First, it should be noted that at the time this image was taken, the Southern hemisphere is at the end of the summer season, so any frost or ice deposits have long since sublimated away. Second, numerous HiRISE images of seasonal targets show that ice accumulates on pole-facing slopes. The deposits in question are situated on a slope that faces the equator, and would not accumulate deposits of frost. Thus, it can be concluded that these exposures are light-toned mineral deposits.

The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 25.5 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 77 centimeters (30.3 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of polygonal patterns of frost and cracks in carbon dioxide ice on Mars. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a crater in an island in an ancient lava flow.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of landforms on Mars with hints of blue (basaltic materials) here and there.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a steep scarp in Arnus Vallis on Mars. Color variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of light-toned layered deposits in western Ladon Valles.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of large polygons (which remind me of dried lake beds) on Mars. Color variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a hill or mountain on Elysium Mons. Processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a candidate landing site on Mars in the Utopia Planitia region. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of possible chloride salts in Icaria Planum

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of fresh (where fresh most likely means less than a billion years old) lava flows in Elysium Planitia.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter context PR image of a crater with a very bumpy, lumpy floor. Processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Ares Vallis near the landing site of Mars Pathfinder.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a channel, long desiccated, in Idaeus Fossae on Mars. PR version.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of mounds on Mars' north polar region, seen obliquely given MRO's orbit and the extreme north latitudes of the scene. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of craters and ejecta on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of gullies on a mountain side in Hale Crater on Mars. Processing variant

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a new impact crater on Mars with what looks like exposed ice next to the crater itself.

HiRISE acquired two dramatic views of the Martian moon, Phobos, on 23 March 2008. Observation, acquired at a distance of 6,800 kilometers from Phobos, provides surface detail at 6.8 m/pixel scale and a object diameter of about 3,200 pixels. The second observation, providing a closer look at 5,800 km, views the surface at slightly more detail (5.8 m/pixel with an object diameter of about 4,000 pixels). The two images were taken within 10 minutes of each other and show roughly the same features, but from a different angle so that they can be combined to yield a stereo view. (Watch a short clip of both observations: 204KB, QuickTime.) The illuminated part of Phobos visible in the images is about 21 km across. Images from previous spacecraft have been of smaller pixel scale (for example, Mars Global Surveyor got data at 4 m/pixel, because this spacecraft came closer to Phobos), but the HiRISE images have greater signal-to-noise, making the new data some of the best ever for Phobos. The most prominent feature in the images is the large impact crater Stickney, in the lower right. With a diameter of 9 km, it is the largest feature on Phobos. A series of grooves and crater chains is obvious on the other parts of the moon. Although many appear radial to Stickney in the images, previous studies show that the grooves radiate from a different point on Phobos. Hypotheses for their formation vary. Some scientists believe the grooves and crater chains are related to the formation of Stickney, whereas others think they may have formed from ejecta from impacts on Mars that later collided with Phobos. The lineated textures on the walls of Stickney and other large craters are landslides formed from materials falling into the crater interiors in the weak Phobos gravity (less than 1/1000th the gravity on Earth)

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Curiosity in Gale Crater. This is the IRB (Infrared, Red, Blue) version, which makes things look a little bluer than the RGB images. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sand dunes on what looks like bedrock. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a crater with chlorides (salts) scattered about on Mars. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter</b image of layered mesas in Lycus Sulci.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a hole in the ground in the Martian south polar cap. Processing variant.

Colorized via an on-line AI program (demos.algorithmia.com/colorize-photos/) image from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of a crater that the program thought was a beach (given the azure in the lower-left corner).

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Curiosity in Gale Crater. This is the IRB (Infrared, Red, Blue) version, which makes things look a little bluer than the RGB images. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of an ancient river delta in Jezero Crater on Mars. The colors are from a non-visual instrument on MRO and represent various geological materials.

Jezero Crater is one of the top candidates for the landing site for Mars 2020.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of textures in the Deuteronilus Mensae region of Mars. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Canberra Crater on Mars. Processing variant.

Annotated (by NASA) Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Perseverance in Jezero Crater. Theoretically the Ingenuity helicopter is in the image as well but is too small to see.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a canyon in Cerberus Fossae. Color variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of layers and sand dunes in Holden Crater.

This image shows bright mounds scattered throughout a rather flat, dark landscape. These mounds range approximately between 20 and 500 meters (yards) in diameter. The largest among them show central crater-like depressions, which give them an appearance similar to terrestrial volcanoes. The origin of these mounds is still unclear. The most widely accepted hypotheses involve extrusion of underlying fluid-like materials (lava, wet/icy sediments) through weak points in the surface.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of fans (probably caused by geysers of some type of material) in rough terrain on Mars. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sand dunes named Kolhar.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of part of a very straight and large crack on Mars - part of Cerberus Fossae. Processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of the internal structure of the residual south polar ice cap.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of outflow material from Mafra Crater on Mars. Processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of polygonal patterns of frost and cracks in carbon dioxide ice on Mars. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of hills and sand dunes in an unnamed crater on Mars. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of dust devil tracks among rocks on Mars, set next to a dune field. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of fans in Macclesfield.

Image source: www.uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_064469_0945

Original caption: Every Martian spring, fans of dust are blown out from under the seasonal layer of carbon dioxide ice that forms a polar cap over the winter.

Gas blowing out from under the ice carries with it a load of dust that is deposited on the surface in a direction determined by the wind at the time of the eruption. Like windsocks, these fans in a polar area we’ve dubbed Macclesfield, record the direction that the wind was blowing.

A citizen science task at Planet Four enlists the public to outline the fans. Their measurements go into a data base that will ultimately help us to understand weather on Mars.

ID: ESP_064469_0945

date: 27 April 2020

altitude: 245 km

NASA/JPL/UArizona

uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_064469_0945

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of polygonal patterns of frost and cracks in carbon dioxide ice on Mars. Inverted grayscale variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of subsided areas and a pit in Hephaestus Fossae on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of the layered floor of Noctis Labyrinthus (which is a really neat name).

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of slopes in Coprates Chasma being monitored for changes.

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

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a rocky surface in Holden Crater with very fine layers.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of mountains and sand dunes on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a proposed landing site for exploration on the Nili Fossae Carbonate plains. Grayscale (from NASA) version.