Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of folds on the surface in Hellas Planitia.

This annotated image shows where features seen in a 2014 observation by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have been interpreted as hardware from the Dec. 25, 2003, arrival at Mars of the United Kingdom's Beagle 2 Lander.

Beagle 2 was released by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter but never heard from after its expected landing. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have been interpreted as showing the Beagle 2 did make a soft landing and at least partially deployed its solar panels.

The 0.1-kilometer scale bar indicates a dimension of 328 feet. The location is approximately 11.5 degrees north latitude, 90.4 degrees east latitude.

The criss-crossing spiderweb of canyons on Mars called Noctis Labyrinthus (the “labyrinth of night”) not only has the coolest place name in the entire solar system—it also boasts a richer assortment of water-related minerals than almost any place on Mars.

Explorers studying the Red Planet used sensitive instruments on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to peer deep into the labyrinth, and they have found a striking variety of minerals on the canyon’s floor. In findings published in this month’s issue of Geology, scientists from the Planetary Science Institute report that groundwater, hydrothermal activity, and melting snow or ice are all plausible sources for the water that created these minerals.

“These places were potentially habitable zones for life,” they wrote. Of course, this was billions of years in the past, but it adds another intriguing page to the story as Mars slowly yields up its secrets. Could there have been life in this labyrinth?

Learn more on the awesome Red Planet Report.

Sent by: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | From: Mars | Credit: NASA/JPL/MSSS | Added to Riding with Robots on September 19, 2011

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a volcanic fissure on Mars. The color images are almost monochromic making detailed processing more fun.

Mars' Victoria crater viewed from orbit by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Victoria is about a half mile across.

Source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08813

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of part of Jezero Crater on Mars, the intended landing site for Mars 2020. Color/processing variant.

Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23239

Original caption: This image is of Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 mission. It was taken by instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which regularly takes images of potential landing sites for future missions.

On ancient Mars, water carved channels and transported sediments to form fans and deltas within lake basins. Examination of spectral data acquired from orbit show that some of these sediments have minerals that indicate chemical alteration by water. Here in Jezero Crater delta, sediments contain clays and carbonates.

The image combines information from two instruments on MRO: the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and the Context Camera (CTX). The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, led the work to build the CRISM instrument and operates CRISM in coordination with an international team of researchers from universities, government and the private sector. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates CTX.

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. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the orbiter and collaborates with JPL to operate it.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHU-APL

Image Addition Date:

2019-05-15

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of part of Jezero Crater on Mars. This crater is the future landing site of the Mars 2020 Rover (a near twin to Curiosity) and features an ancient river bed and delta and most likely used to be a large lake (similar to Gale Crater). Inverted grayscale variant.

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Monitor Crater Slopes

Science Theme: Mass Wasting Processes

Acquisition date

04 July 2024

Local Mars time

14:51

Latitude (centered)

-38.632°

Longitude (East)

168.831°

Spacecraft altitude

252.2 km (156.8 miles)

Original image scale range

from 25.3 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) to 50.7 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning)

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter/Mars Express/Mars Global Surveyor PR image and data showing the relative elevations in Jezero Crater, and ancient and very much dried up lake bed that was originally a crater on Mars. The circle shows the intended landing ellipse for Perseverance in February of 2021. Color/processing variant.

Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23511

Original caption: Lighter colors represent higher elevation in this image of Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 mission. The oval indicates the landing ellipse, where the rover will be touching down on Mars. The color added to this image helps the crater rim stand out clearly, and makes it easier to spot the shoreline of a lake that dried up billions of years ago.

Scientists want to visit this shoreline because it may have preserved fossilized microbial life, if any ever formed on Mars.

The image was created using data from a combination of instruments and spacecraft: NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and its Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA); NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and Context Camera (CTX); and the European Space Agency's Mars Express and its High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC).

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, led the work to build the CRISM instrument and operates CRISM in coordination with an international team of researchers from universities, government and the private sector. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates CTX. MOLA was built and operated by a team headed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHU-APL/ESA

Image Addition Date:

2019-11-12

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiterimage of colorful flows of material on Mars. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of diverse and interesting deposits in Melas Chasma. Round color variant.

Transverse aeolian ridges (TARs) are commonly found throughout the Martian tropics, including rocky regions such as Syrtis Major that are largely devoid of dust. These bright wind-blown ripples most often occur in simple sets of ridges with regular size and spacing. Typical TARs stand a few meters tall and have a wavelength (that is to say, separation) of 30 to 60 meters.

In this scene, we see TARs with a highly unusual morphology. Instead of single ridges, we see sets of small ridges that are separated by about 50 meters. The smaller ripples are spaced only 5 to 8 meters apart. Between the smaller ripples are even smaller striations that are perpendicular to the ridge crests with regular spacing of less than 2 meters.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter MARCI PR image of Mars before and during the current global dust storm.

Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22487

Original caption: Side-by-side movies shows how dust has enveloped the Red Planet, courtesy of the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

The view from May shows Valles Marineris chasms (left), Meridiani center, an autumn dust storm in Acidalia (top) and the early spring south polar cap (bottom). The view from July shows the same regions, but most of the surface was obscured by the planet-encircling dust cloud and haze.

Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, provided and operates MARCI. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft.

More information about Curiosity is online at www.nasa.gov/msl and mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Image Addition Date:

2018-07-19

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of mesas in Arabia Terra with stair step slopes. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of part of Jezero Crater on Mars. This crater is the future landing site of the Mars 2020 Rover (a near twin to Curiosity) and features an ancient river bed and delta and most likely used to be a large lake (similar to Gale Crater). Processing variant.

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McLaughlin Crater Dunes

Acquisition date

26 October 2023

Local Mars time

15:37

Latitude (centered)

21.659°

Longitude (East)

337.419°

Spacecraft altitude

286.4 km (178.0 miles)

Original image scale range

28.8 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~86 cm across are resolved

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a rocky set of hills.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a butte's cliffs.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image (the colors indicate the general types of minerals in the area and not the surface color) of the delta (long since desiccated) of the river (also long since dried up) flowing into Jezero Crater on Mars. this is the intended landing area of the Perseverance rover in February of 2021.

Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23239

Original caption: This image is of Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 mission. It was taken by instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which regularly takes images of potential landing sites for future missions.

On ancient Mars, water carved channels and transported sediments to form fans and deltas within lake basins. Examination of spectral data acquired from orbit show that some of these sediments have minerals that indicate chemical alteration by water. Here in Jezero Crater delta, sediments contain clays and carbonates.

The image combines information from two instruments on MRO: the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and the Context Camera (CTX). The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, led the work to build the CRISM instrument and operates CRISM in coordination with an international team of researchers from universities, government and the private sector. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates CTX.

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. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the orbiter and collaborates with JPL to operate it.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHU-APL

Image Addition Date:

2019-05-15

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sand dunes in Hellespontus.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Eagle Crater, which is where Opportunity ended up after her landing and bouncing (she was surrounded by huge air bags when she landed and bounced around quite a bit). Color/processing variant.

Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21494

Original caption: The bright landing platform left behind by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in 2004 is visible inside Eagle Crater, at upper right in this April 8, 2017, observation by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrived at Mars in March 2006, more than two years after Opportunity's landing on Jan. 25, 2004, Universal Time (Jan. 24, PDT). This is the first image of Eagle Crater from the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, which has optics that include the most powerful telescope ever sent to Mars.

Eagle Crater is about 72 feet (22 meters) in diameter, at 1.95 degrees south latitude, 354.47 degrees east longitude, in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars. The airbag-cushioned lander, with Opportunity folded-up inside, first hit Martian ground near the crater, then bounced and rolled right into the crater. The lander structure was four triangles, folded into a tetrahedron until after the airbags deflated. The triangular petals then opened, exposing the rover. A week later, the rover drove off (see PIA05214), and the landing platform's job was done.

The spacecraft's backshell and parachute, jettisoned during final descent, are visible near the lower left corner of this scene. The blue tint of the backshell is an effect of exaggerated color, because HiRISE combines color information from red, blue-green and infrared portions of the spectrum, rather than three different visible-light colors, so its color images are not true color.

Figure 1 is an annotated version covering a broader area from the same HiRISE observation, ESP_050177_1780.

Opportunity examined Eagle Crater for more than half of the rover's originally planned three-month mission, before driving east and south to larger craters. At Eagle, it found headline-making evidence that water once flowed over the surface and soaked the subsurface of the area. By the time this orbital image of the landing site was taken, about 13 years after the rover departed Eagle, Opportunity had driven more than 27 miles (44 kilometers) and was actively exploring the rim of Endeavour Crater, which is about 1,000 times as wide as Eagle.

Before leaving its lander platform out of sight, Opportunity took a memorable look-back image of Eagle Crater, online at PIA05755 .

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 and Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Image Addition Date:

2017-04-21

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image (the colors indicate the general types of minerals in the area and not the surface color) of the delta (long since desiccated) of the river (also long since dried up) flowing into Jezero Crater on Mars. this is the intended landing area of the Perseverance rover in February of 2021. Color/processing variant.

Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23239

Original caption: This image is of Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 mission. It was taken by instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which regularly takes images of potential landing sites for future missions.

On ancient Mars, water carved channels and transported sediments to form fans and deltas within lake basins. Examination of spectral data acquired from orbit show that some of these sediments have minerals that indicate chemical alteration by water. Here in Jezero Crater delta, sediments contain clays and carbonates.

The image combines information from two instruments on MRO: the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and the Context Camera (CTX). The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, led the work to build the CRISM instrument and operates CRISM in coordination with an international team of researchers from universities, government and the private sector. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates CTX.

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. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the orbiter and collaborates with JPL to operate it.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/JHU-APL

Image Addition Date:

2019-05-15

This 2.5-kilometer diameter crater observed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been significantly altered from the usual bowl-shaped appearance we associate with craters. Material has covered significant portions of the ejecta and filled in the crater. This fill material has since been subject to erosion — like boulders weathering out of the slopes — and the crater rim is also highly irregular.

This crater is located in Elysium Planitia, an area dominated by volcanic processes. It is likely that the crater fill material is volcanic in origin, and possible that the rim was etched by lava, either flowing into the crater or spilling over after the crater filled completely. However, there are also signs of erosion by wind, like the parallel ridges in the rim breaches and between high-standing regions of the crater fill. It is likely that the current appearance of this crater is due to a combination of surface processes.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of the Phoenix lander (which landed in 2008), seen in late 2017.

Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22223

Original caption: This animation blinks back and forth between two images taken nearly a decade apart of NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander and related hardware around the mission's May 25, 2008, landing site on far-northern Mars. By late 2017, dust had obscured much of what was visible two months after the landing.

Both images were taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The one with three patches of darker ground -- where landing events removed dust -- was taken on July 20, 2008. It is Fig. 1, an excerpt of HiRISE observation PSP_009290_2485. The one with a more even coating of pale dust throughout the area was taken on Dec. 21, 2017. It is Fig. 2, an excerpt of HiRISE observation ESP_053451_2485. Both cover an area roughly 300 meters wide at 68 degrees north latitude, 234 degrees east longitude, and the two are closely matched in viewing and illumination geometry, from about five Martian years apart in northern hemisphere summers.

The animation comparing the two images shows a number of changes between mid-2008 and late 2017. The lander (top) appears darker, and is now covered by dust. The dark spot created by the heat shield impact (right) is brighter, again due to dust deposition. The back shell and parachute (bottom) shows a darker parachute and brighter area of impact disturbance, thanks again to deposits of dust. We also see that the parachute has shifted in the wind, moving to the east.

In August 2008, Phoenix completed its three-month mission studying Martian ice, soil and atmosphere. The lander worked for two additional months before reduced sunlight caused energy to become insufficient to keep the lander functioning. The solar-powered robot was not designed to survive through the dark and cold conditions of a Martian arctic winter.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, led the Phoenix mission and also operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, managed the Phoenix Mars Lander Project and manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space, Denver, built both the Phoenix and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Image Addition Date:

2018-02-20

As the antarctic winter on Mars comes to a close, sunshine has begun to fall on the dunes in Russell Crater. When that happens, carbon dioxide ice sublimates (turns directly from a solid into a gas) and dislodges material that flows downhill. In this false-color image, the green spots might look like some kind of alien vegetation, but they are just places where frost has sublimated away in the sun.

Sent by: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | From: Mars | Released: Nov, 2008 | Credit: NASA/JPL/UA

Added to www.ridingwithrobots.org Nov 16, 2008.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter MARCI PR image of Mars before and during the current global dust storm. Color/processing variant.

Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22487

Original caption: Side-by-side movies shows how dust has enveloped the Red Planet, courtesy of the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

The view from May shows Valles Marineris chasms (left), Meridiani center, an autumn dust storm in Acidalia (top) and the early spring south polar cap (bottom). The view from July shows the same regions, but most of the surface was obscured by the planet-encircling dust cloud and haze.

Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, provided and operates MARCI. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft.

More information about Curiosity is online at www.nasa.gov/msl and mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Image Addition Date:

2018-07-19

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of sand dunes in the center of Juventae Chasma. Context image. Processing variant.

Original caption: The ultimate origin of the sediment that forms Martian dunes has long been debated. While sand dunes on Earth are primarily sourced by quartz-bearing components of granitic continental crust, it's often suggested that sand on Mars derives from eroded volcanic flows or sedimentary deposits, but exact sources are often vague.

This image reveals a unique situation where this small dune field occurs along the summit of the large 1-mile-tall mound near the center of Juventae Chasma. The layered mound slopes are far too steep for dunes to climb, and bedform sand is unlikely to come from purely airborne material. Instead, the mound's summit displays several dark-toned, mantled deposits that are adjacent to the dunes and appear to be eroding into fans of sandy material.

Along with local HiRISE images, spectral data from other instruments on MRO have confirmed such units are likely to be the sand source for these mound summit dunes and reveal how landscape evolution on Mars might occur.

The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 27.8 centimeters (10.9 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 83 centimeters (32.7 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:

2018-10-01

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of seasonal spiders near the south pole of Mars. Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of topography on Mars showing ancient and dry lakes and streams.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a mound in the south polar region with what looks like some carbon dioxide frost and/or snow.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of a circular carbon dioxide ice formation in Mars' south polar region.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of dunes named Tleilax.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of sand dunes on Mars looking very blue (most likely due to contrasting colors of the bedrock and the filters used to take the images).

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

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of high contrast colors in Ius Chasma on Mars.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter caught this view of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on February 14, 2014. The red arrow points to Opportunity at the center of the image. Blue arrows point to tracks left by the rover since it entered the area seen here, in October 2013. The scene covers a patch of ground about one-quarter mile (about 400 meters) wide. North is toward the top. The location is the "Murray Ridge" section of the western rim of Endeavour Crater. Murray Ridge is between "Solander Point" and "Cape Tribulation" on Endeavour's rim.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of dark sand dunes and layers. The interesting part of this image is in the upper-right where a depression with rings can be seen.

Original caption: The target of this observation is a circular depression in a dark-toned unit associated with a field of cones to the northeast.

At the image scale of a Context Camera image, the depression appears to expose layers especially on the sides or walls of the depression, which are overlain by dark sands presumably associated with the dark-toned unit. HiRISE resolution, which is far higher than that of the Context Camera and its larger footprint, can help identify possible layers.

This caption is based on the original science rationale.

Written by: HiRISE Science Team (audio: Tre Gibbs) (8 April 2015)

Image source: hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_039581_1520

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of frost around gullies on Mars. Context image.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Gale Crater, specifically the landing site for Curiosity. This image was taken before Curiosity landed in August of 2012.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of plateaus and mesas with cracked tops.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of dry ice and water ice near the Martian south pole.

Original caption: The Changing Climate of Mars

A story of changes in the climate of Mars is told by icy deposits. Remnants of a formerly extensive deposit composed of dry ice layered together with dust and water ice form what is known as the south polar residual cap.

This deposit is shrinking over time as the frozen carbon dioxide turns to vapor. Rounded valleys that give the deposit an appearance resembling Swiss cheese are enlarging over time, exposing an older surface below that is likely made up of water ice.

Read more: www.uahirise.org/ESP_056563_0960

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of an ice-filled crater in Mars' north polar region that may be losing or gaining ice. It appears to be losing ice given the trailing material downwind, but that's just my guess... Color/processing variant.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image used to support the theory of running water (albeit very salty running water) on Mars.

Original caption from main story: New findings from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.

Using an imaging spectrometer on MRO, researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet. These darkish streaks appear to ebb and flow over time. They darken and appear to flow down steep slopes during warm seasons, and then fade in cooler seasons. They appear in several locations on Mars when temperatures are above minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 Celsius), and disappear at colder times.

“Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water,’ in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we’ve long suspected,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water -- albeit briny -- is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”

These downhill flows, known as recurring slope lineae (RSL), often have been described as possibly related to liquid water. The new findings of hydrated salts on the slopes point to what that relationship may be to these dark features. The hydrated salts would lower the freezing point of a liquid brine, just as salt on roads here on Earth causes ice and snow to melt more rapidly. Scientists say it’s likely a shallow subsurface flow, with enough water wicking to the surface to explain the darkening.

"We found the hydrated salts only when the seasonal features were widest, which suggests that either the dark streaks themselves or a process that forms them is the source of the hydration. In either case, the detection of hydrated salts on these slopes means that water plays a vital role in the formation of these streaks," said Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, lead author of a report on these findings published Sept. 28 by Nature Geoscience.

Ojha first noticed these puzzling features as a University of Arizona undergraduate student in 2010, using images from the MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). HiRISE observations now have documented RSL at dozens of sites on Mars. The new study pairs HiRISE observations with mineral mapping by MRO’s Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM).

The spectrometer observations show signatures of hydrated salts at multiple RSL locations, but only when the dark features were relatively wide. When the researchers looked at the same locations and RSL weren't as extensive, they detected no hydrated salt.

Ojha and his co-authors interpret the spectral signatures as caused by hydrated minerals called perchlorates. The hydrated salts most consistent with the chemical signatures are likely a mixture of magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate and sodium perchlorate. Some perchlorates have been shown to keep liquids from freezing even when conditions are as cold as minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 Celsius). On Earth, naturally produced perchlorates are concentrated in deserts, and some types of perchlorates can be used as rocket propellant.

Perchlorates have previously been seen on Mars. NASA's Phoenix lander and Curiosity rover both found them in the planet's soil, and some scientists believe that the Viking missions in the 1970s measured signatures of these salts. However, this study of RSL detected perchlorates, now in hydrated form, in different areas than those explored by the landers. This also is the first time perchlorates have been identified from orbit.

MRO has been examining Mars since 2006 with its six science instruments.

"The ability of MRO to observe for multiple Mars years with a payload able to see the fine detail of these features has enabled findings such as these: first identifying the puzzling seasonal streaks and now making a big step towards explaining what they are," said Rich Zurek, MRO project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

For Ojha, the new findings are more proof that the mysterious lines he first saw darkening Martian slopes five years ago are, indeed, present-day water.

"When most people talk about water on Mars, they're usually talking about ancient water or frozen water," he said. "Now we know there’s more to the story. This is the first spectral detection that unambiguously supports our liquid water-formation hypotheses for RSL."

The discovery is the latest of many breakthroughs by NASA’s Mars missions.

“It took multiple spacecraft over several years to solve this mystery, and now we know there is liquid water on the surface of this cold, desert planet,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “It seems that the more we study Mars, the more we learn how life could be supported and where there are resources to support life in the future.”

There are eight co-authors of the Nature Geoscience paper, including Mary Beth Wilhelm at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California and Georgia Tech; CRISM Principal Investigator Scott Murchie of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland; and HiRISE Principal Investigator Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona. Others are at Georgia Tech, the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique in Nantes, France.

The agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin built the orbiter and collaborates with JPL to operate it.

More information about NASA's journey to Mars is available online at:

www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomars

For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit:

www.nasa.gov/mro

Caption and image source: www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-confirms-evidence-that-li...

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of Perseverance, the descent stage, heat shield and parachute in Jezero Crater soon after landing.

Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24333

Original caption: This first image of NASA's Perseverance Rover on the surface of Mars from the Context Camera (CTX) aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows the many parts of the Mars 2020 mission landing system that got the rover safely on the ground. The image was taken on Feb. 19, 2021.

An annotated version of the image (Figure 1) points out the locations of the parachute and back shell, the descent stage, the Perseverance rover, and the heat shield. Each inset shows an area about 650 feet (200 meters) across.

The rover itself sits at the center of a blast pattern created by the hovering descent stage that lowered it there using the sky crane maneuver. The descent stage flew off to crash at a safe distance, creating a V-shaped debris pattern that points back toward the rover. Earlier in the landing sequence, Perseverance jettisoned its heat shield and parachute, which can be seen on the surface in the separate locations illustrated.

These objects are highly visible on the surface of Mars now but will become dustier with time and slowly fade into the background over years. HiRISE will continue to image the Perseverance landing site to track the progress of the rover and changes with the other pieces of hardware that accompanied it.

Close-ups of the spacecraft can be seen in PIA24334, PIA2335, PIA24336, and PIA24337.

MRO's mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, built the spacecraft. The University of Arizona provided and operates HiRISE.

A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Image Addition Date:

2021-02-22

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of bedrock in Tyrrhena Terra.

Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22784

Original caption: Large craters, like this 50-kilometer diameter one, can uplift material from below and form a mountain-like central peak. Craters of this size on Mars become unstable as they form and collapse due to gravity. Craters with central peaks and terraced rims are referred to as "complex" craters.

Geologists study these central peaks because the uplifted bedrock was once deep within the Martian crust. A 3D perspective shows heavily-fractured bedrock exposed within the peak, and also dark-toned and fragmental rocks that formed during the impact process.

Sometimes, we observe similar rocks in the crater wall terraces. Some areas of the terrace show dark-toned materials coating and surrounding the white- and green-colored bedrock. This dark-toned rock was the once-molten material that was produced by the tremendous energy generated during the formation of the crater. Similarly, the impact melt material coats and surrounds the higher-standing bedrock of the peak. There are additional exposures of bedrock in the northern wall-terraces of the crater.

Previous HiRISE images have focused largely on central structures, but clearly the wall-terraces of these craters may also be informative in our exploration of the Martian subsurface.

The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 25.8 centimeters (10.2 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 77 centimeters (30.3 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:

2018-10-01

The material on the floor of this crater appears to have flowed like ice, and contains pits that might have resulted from sublimation of subsurface ice. The surface is entirely dust-covered. There probably was ice here sometime in the past, but could it persist at some depth?

This crater is at latitude 26 degrees north, and near-surface ice at this latitude (rather than further toward one of the poles) could be a valuable resource for future human exploration. A future orbiter with a special kind of radar instrument could answer the question of whether or not there is shallow ice at low latitudes on Mars.

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image (from its Flickr photostream) of blue sand and sand dunes next to rocky ridges. (The blue is from the basaltic material and appears blue because of the way the camera took the picture.)

Edited PR image of layers stacked up on the floor of an impact crater on Mars.

Image source: photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09578

Original caption: This HiRISE image shows a stack of layers on the floor of an impact crater roughly 30 km across. Many of the layers appear to be extremely thin, and barely resolved.

In broad view, it is clear that the deposit is eroding into a series of ridges, likely due to the wind. Below the ridges, additional dark-toned layered deposits crop out. These exhibit a variety of textures, some of which may be due to transport of material.

The light ridges are often capped by thin dark layers, and similar layers are exposed on the flanks of the ridges. These layers are likely harder than the rest of the material, and so armor the surface against erosion. They are shedding boulders which roll down the slope, as shown in the subimage (figure 1). Although these cap layers are relatively resistant, the boulders do not seem to accumulate at the base of the slope, so it is likely that they also disintegrate relatively quickly.

The subimage shown is 250 meters wide. The light is from the left. Boulders can be seen on the slopes of the ridges along with thin dark layers including the cap layer, but they are absent on the spurs where the resistant cover has been eroded. This demonstrates that the boulders come only from the dark layers, and are not embedded in the rest of the deposit.

Observation Geometry

Image PSP_001503_1645 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on 21-Nov-2006. The complete image is centered at -15.3 degrees latitude, 89.7 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 256.3 km (160.2 miles). At this distance the image scale is 25.6 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~77 cm across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 cm/pixel and north is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 03:35 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 62 degrees, thus the sun was about 28 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 138.7 degrees, the season on Mars is Northern Summer.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL/Univ. of Arizona

Image Addition Date:

2007-01-24

Edited Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image of dark sand dunes and layers. The interesting part of this image is in the upper-right where a depression with rings can be seen.

Original caption: The target of this observation is a circular depression in a dark-toned unit associated with a field of cones to the northeast.

At the image scale of a Context Camera image, the depression appears to expose layers especially on the sides or walls of the depression, which are overlain by dark sands presumably associated with the dark-toned unit. HiRISE resolution, which is far higher than that of the Context Camera and its larger footprint, can help identify possible layers.

This caption is based on the original science rationale.

Written by: HiRISE Science Team (audio: Tre Gibbs) (8 April 2015)

Image source: hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_039581_1520

The Mars Curiosity Rover has been on the surface since August 6th, 2012. This graphic maps the locations of sites where NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has collected its rock and soil samples for analysis by laboratory instruments inside the vehicle. It also presents images of the drilled holes where 21 rockpowder samples were acquired.

The diameter of each drill hole is ~1.6 cm slightly smaller than a U.S. dime. The images used here are raw color, as recorded by the rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera. Notice the differences in color of the material at different drilling sites.