Countdown Nears: Final Tests

This image covers a location that has been imaged several times to look for changes in gullies.

This enhanced image shows the inside of a rimless pit about 180 meters (591 feet) in diameter, northwest of the mountain Ascraeus Mons in the northern hemisphere of Mars.

The colorful rocks exposed in the central peak visible in this image probably reflect variations in mineral content that were caused by water activity early in Mars' history. The CRISM hyperspectra...

MRO took this image of layered, sedimentary rocks on the floor of an impact crater north of Eberswalde Crater. Billions of years ago there may have been a lake in this crater.

This image acquired on December 3, 2018 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a cross-section of a dune field. Dune shape depends on several factors, including the amount of sand present and ...

This image shows part of the floor of an impact crater on the northern rim of the giant Hellas Basin.

Sample Noachis Terra

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 dist...

This image is located within Northern Sinus Meridiani, a region of ridged terrains and extensive stratigraphic layering. 

Download a PDF of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Arival Press Kit.

This image shows dunes near the north pole of Mars. The north pole is surrounded by a vast "sea" of basaltic sand dunes, and the dunes imaged here are similar to barchan dunes that are commonly fo...

Curiosity performs the first investigation of active sand dunes on another planet. Studying the Bagnold Dunes on Mars will help scientists understand the physics of Martian dunes and how they move.

The eastern margin of a rippled dune in Herschel Crater on Mars moved an average distance of three meters (about three yards) between March 3, 2007 and December 1, 2010, as seen by NASA's Mars Reco...

Deposits on the floor of Palos Crater

As the Sun peeks above the horizon at the Martian south polar icecap, powerful jets of carbon-dioxide (CO2) gas erupt through the icecap's topmost layer.

This series of images shows carbon dioxide ice sublimating (going directly from a solid to a gas) inside a pit at Mars' south pole. Each frame of the animation was taken by the HiRISE camera on NAS...

These two images show Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument data from two tracks in a part of Mars' Utopia Planitia region where the orbiting, ground-penetrating radar on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orb...

This map traces where NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drove between landing at a site subsequently named "Bradbury Landing," and the position reached during the mission's 130th Martian day, or sol, (De...

Sand dunes often accumulate in the floors of craters. In this region of Lyot Crater, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows a field of classic barchan dunes on Jan. 24, 2018.

This view of Martian surface features shaped by effects of winds was captured by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Jan. 4, 2015. The spacecraft has been orbiting Mars sinc...

Recurring slope lineae (RSL) are active flows on warm Martian slopes that might be caused by seeping water.

The Coloe Fossae region is a series of enclosed, intersecting canyons. The floors of the canyons in this image contain complex set of ridges and grooves that are generally parallel to the canyon wa...

Two 2001 images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter show a dramatic change in the planet's appearance during a dust storm.

These collapse pits probably formed when lava erupted from the side of Arsia Mons, draining underground magma reservoirs. The resulting voids collapse due to the weight of the solid lava above them...

Artist’s concept of Comet Siding Spring approaching Mars, shown with NASA’s orbiters preparing to make science observations of this unique encounter.