Mars' north polar deposits comprise a thick stack of icy layers. Part of this image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has lingering seasonal frost, which serves to accentuate those layers.
June 25, 2018
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observed this image of an impact crater. The blue appearance is due to the intense blast of the impact moving around dust on the surface. That dust is usually light-toned and reddish in color compared to what is beneath.
June 25, 2018
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows many new ice blocks compared to earlier images in 2006. One of the most actively changing areas on Mars are the steep edges of the North Polar layered deposits.
June 25, 2018
This set of images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a fierce dust storm is kicking up on Mars, with rovers on the surface indicated as icons.
June 13, 2018
This graphic shows the ongoing contributions of NASA’s rovers and orbiters during a Martian dust storm that began on May 30, 2018.
June 13, 2018
In this region of Lyot Crater, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a field of classic barchan dunes. Sand dunes often accumulate in the floors of craters on Mars.
June 11, 2018
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows an impact crater that triggered a slope streak. When a meteoroid hit the surface and exploded to make the crater, it destabilized the slope and initiated this avalanche.
June 11, 2018
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a hill with a central crater. Such features have been interpreted as both mud volcanoes (really a sedimentary structure) and as actual volcanoes (the erupting lava kind).
June 11, 2018
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) keeps finding new impact sites on Mars. This one occurred within the dense secondary crater field of Corinto Crater. The new crater and its ejecta have distinctive color patterns.
May 29, 2018
In early Martian summer, at the time NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) acquired this image, the dunes are almost free of their seasonal ice cover.
May 29, 2018
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows the permanent polar cap of Mars, encircled by sand dunes and looking like pulled threads. These dunes march across a fabric of patterned ground.
May 29, 2018
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows Hale Crater, a large impact crater (more than 100 kilometers) with a suite of interesting features such as active gullies, active recurring slope lineae, and extensive icy ejecta flows.
May 29, 2018
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows sand dunes on the slopes of Nectaris Montes within Coprates Chasma.
May 21, 2018
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows two new craters on Mars with the same distinctive pattern of relatively blue ejecta surrounded by a dark blast zone and arcing patterns. This pattern indicates an oblique impact angle with a bolide.
May 14, 2018
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows two small impact craters located in Meridiani Planum on Mars. Small boulders on the floor and walls of the left-side crater.
May 14, 2018
