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.

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 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.

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 proposed landing site for exploration on the Nili Fossae Carbonate plains. Grayscale (from NASA) version.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Schaeberle Crater. Color variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sand in a crater.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Hamelin Crater.

Original caption: Hamelin Crater

This image straddles Hamelin with another crater, which is only 90 km northeast of the original landing site selected for Viking Lander 1 in Chryse Planitia. Hamelin shows the raised edge or rampart around the ejecta blanket that is characteristic of many craters in this area.

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona (284 km above the surface, less than x km top to bottom and north is to the right.)

Source: www.uahirise.org/ESP_020904_2005

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of possible (likely) rock falls on a steep slope in a fissure in Cerberus Fossae on Mars. Grayscale detail image.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of an impact crater near Coprates Rise on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of seasonal flows (perhaps of very salty water) in the central mountains of Hale Crater.

Original caption: Recurring slope lineae (RSL) are active flows on warm Martian slopes that might be caused by seeping water. One of the most active sites known on Mars in in the central peaks (uplifted mountains of deep bedrock) of Hale Crater.

This image shows RSL extending downhill from bedrock cliffs, mostly towards the northwest (upper left). This image was acquired in middle summer when RSL are most active in the southern mid latitudes.

The RSL in Hale have an unusually “reddish” color compared to most RSL, perhaps due to oxidized iron compounds, like rust. Since HiRISE color is shifted to infra-red wavelengths, they are actually especially bright the near-infrared just beyond the range of human vision.

The Hale RSL are also unusual because they began activity much earlier than most RSL sites in the middle southern latitudes, and were well-developed in the early spring (see ESP_038073_1440). If seeping water causes RSL in Hale crater, it must be rich in salts to lower its freezing point significantly below the freezing point of pure water.

Written by: Alfred McEwen (audio: Tre Gibbs) (8 April 2015)

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a candidate impact site for a small asteroid on Mars (where "candidate" means "virtually certain").

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of gullies being monitored for changes.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sand dunes in Mclaughlin Crater on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of the floor of Flaugergues Crater. Processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Gale Crater with Curiosity visible within the image. Grayscale version. Annotated to show the context of the region where Curiosity is visible.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Curiosity next to Namib Dune in Gale Crater. Cropped and annotated.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a channel entering a crater in Sirenum Fossae. Color variant.

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

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.

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 part of a crater with gullies.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a dust devil seen from the top soon after it formed on Mars.

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

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of dust devil tracks on sand dunes in Galle Carter (not "Gale" Crater) on Mars. Processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a dust devil in hilly terrain. Cropped and color variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of seasonal flows (perhaps of very salty water) in the central mountains of Hale Crater. Color variant.

Original caption: Recurring slope lineae (RSL) are active flows on warm Martian slopes that might be caused by seeping water. One of the most active sites known on Mars in in the central peaks (uplifted mountains of deep bedrock) of Hale Crater.

This image shows RSL extending downhill from bedrock cliffs, mostly towards the northwest (upper left). This image was acquired in middle summer when RSL are most active in the southern mid latitudes.

The RSL in Hale have an unusually “reddish” color compared to most RSL, perhaps due to oxidized iron compounds, like rust. Since HiRISE color is shifted to infra-red wavelengths, they are actually especially bright the near-infrared just beyond the range of human vision.

The Hale RSL are also unusual because they began activity much earlier than most RSL sites in the middle southern latitudes, and were well-developed in the early spring (see ESP_038073_1440). If seeping water causes RSL in Hale crater, it must be rich in salts to lower its freezing point significantly below the freezing point of pure water.

Written by: Alfred McEwen (audio: Tre Gibbs) (8 April 2015)

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a possible landing site for ESA's NASA's InSight mission. Color variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of an ancient river bed, now thoroughly dry. Color variant.

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

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of craters on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of channels in channels on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of northern Meridiani Planum. Color/processing variant.

Original caption: This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) of northern Meridiani Planum shows faults that have disrupted layered deposits. Some of the faults produced a clean break along the layers, displacing and offsetting individual beds (yellow arrow).

Interestingly, the layers continue across the fault and appear stretched out (green arrow). These observations suggest that some of the faulting occurred while the layered deposits were still soft and could undergo deformation, whereas other faults formed later when the layers must have been solidified and produced a clean break.

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 54.6 centimeters (21.5 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 164 centimeters (64.6 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.

This is a stereo pair with ESP_053038_1835.

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:

2017-12-12