Windswept Martian dunes create a somewhat humanoid, running gingerbread-man figure in this image from the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The dunes reside within a crater in the southern hemisphere of Mars. This week, the University of Arizona released thousands of new images from their HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) observations, taken…
Tag: MRO
Cracking the Surface
Images taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Global Surveyor satellites show dry, cracked surfaces within Martian craters. Previously thought to have been caused by subsurface permafrost contractions, it’s now believed these parched surfaces indicate the remains of dried lake beds. Similar to features found in dry lake beds on Earth, the cracks on…
Revisiting Victoria
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of Victoria Crater on July 18, 2009, with the onboard HiRISE high-definition camera. Victoria Crater was the site of the Opportunity rover’s 2006-2007 investigation. Craters like these are great targets for the rover team because the exposed rock along their edges offers valuable information about Mars’ geologic history….
Devils’ Causeways
Like a child’s random scribblings, the tracks of countless dust devils trace dark swirls across the surface of Mars in a region called Russell Crater. Dust devils – caused by surface air heated during the day rising upwards in spinning columns – are extremely common on Mars and pick up the thin Martian sand easily,…
Off the Hook
These oddly-shaped landforms reside on the south polar region of Mars, an area rich in carbon-dioxide frost…aka dry ice. These embryonic features develop fairly rapidly and then erode back into the icy surface at a rate of about 15 feet per year. Click for a wider angle view of the region. (Looks like spilled…
Focus!
At first glance it may seem as if the University of Arizona’s HiRISE camera needs a little focus adjustment. But notice the few scattered little impact craters and dune ripples in this image and you’ll realize there’s nothing wrong with the focus—it’s the surface of Mars that’s blurry here!
Do You Heart Mars?
Well, Mars hearts you. This 1.25-mile-long crater was photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on February 26, 2008. It lies on the western edge of the Hydaspis Chaos region, an area of jumbled depressions thought to be caused by the sudden release of groundwater. Click to see a larger shot of the area. Other heart-shaped…
Intersection
The sinuous knife edge of three dune ridges connect in this photo from the HiRISE camera aboard the MRO. Click for a higher resolution version…the texture of the surface sand becomes more visible. Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
A Fresh Wound
This image from the HiRISE camera on the MRO shows an impact crater that is estimated to have been formed some time between February and July of 2005. This feature is in an equatorial highland region of Mars. The colors here are not true to life…they indicate material composition and density more than actual…
A Tangled Web
Criscrossing the south polar region of Mars, cracks and ridges line the frozen ground, broken by the occasional spray of dark material spewed by a geyser of released subsurface gases. These lines are referred to as “spider troughs” due to their resemblance to cobwebs, as seen from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This image was…
Bottomless Pit?
Not really, but it sure seems like it! A 900-foot-wide hole in the Tractus Fossae region of Mars drops down into blackness in this photo by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter…it looks like an entrance to a cave or “bottomless pit” but is actually just a very steep-walled depression, formed by…
Dark Dunes
Dark-colored sand dunes mark the terrain on Chasma Boreale, a trough that cuts into the north polar ice fields of Mars. These are known as barchan dunes…like their counterparts on Earth, they have steep edges with “horns” that point in the direction of the wind. The dune material could either be dark sand or…
Lights in the Dark 