Wind is one of the most active forces shaping Mars' surface in today's climate. Wind-carved features such as these, called "yardangs," are common on the Red Planet.
February 10, 2016
This is an image of Gusev Crater taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera and is one of the potential landing sites for the Mars 2020 rover.
January 26, 2016
This map shows the route on lower Mount Sharp that NASA's Curiosity followed between April 19, 2015, and Nov. 5, 2015. During this period the mission investigated silica-rich rock targets including "Buckskin," in the "Maria Pass" area, and "Greenhorn," in the "Bridger Basin" area.
December 17, 2015
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in December 2015, at examples of the Bagnold Dunes.
December 17, 2015
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took this photo of the Curiosity rover in September 2015, as Curiosity was exploring the boundary between two rock units: the light-toned Murray Formation and the overlying and darker-toned Stimson unit.
December 9, 2015
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in mid-November 2015, approaching examples of dunes in the "Bagnold Dunes" dune field.
November 16, 2015
This animation flips back and forth between views taken in 2010 and 2014 of a Martian sand dune at the edge of Mount Sharp, documenting dune activity. The images are from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
November 16, 2015
This view taken from orbit around Mars shows the sand dune that will be the first to be visited by NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover along its route to higher layers of Mount Sharp.
November 16, 2015
This image from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a location associated with the novel and movie, "The Martian." It is the tale's planned landing site for the Ares 4 mission.
October 5, 2015
In the novel and movie "The Martian," an astronaut's adventures take him to the rim of Mawrth Crater. This image from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the nature of this terrain.
October 5, 2015
This May 2015 image from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a location on Mars associated with the best-selling novel and Hollywood movie, "The Martian." It is in a region called Acidalia Planitia, at the landing site for the science-fiction tale's Ares 3 mission.
October 5, 2015
This May 2015 image from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a location on Mars associated with the best-selling novel and Hollywood movie, "The Martian." It is in a region called Acidalia Planitia, at the landing site for the science-fiction tale's Ares 3 mission.
October 5, 2015
This cliff is the site of the most frequent frost avalanches seen by HiRISE. These avalanches remind us, along with active sand dunes, dust devils, slope streaks and recurring slope lineae, that Mars is an active and dynamic planet.
September 30, 2015
This false-color animation simulates a fly-around look at one of the places on Mars where dark streaks advance down slopes during warm seasons, possibly involving liquid water or brine. This site is within Hale Crater. The streaks are roughly the length of a football field.
September 28, 2015
Dark, narrow streaks on Martian slopes such as these at Horowitz Crater are inferred to have been formed by seasonal flow of water on contemporary Mars. Detection of hydrated salts at the streaks supports that interpretation. The features are called "recurring slope lineae."
September 28, 2015
