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Artist's concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter approaching Mars.

Artist's concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter approaching Mars.

February 24, 2006

Artist's concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter approaching Mars.

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

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This image acquired on October 28, 2018 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows that gullies probably formed along the bouldery layers in the upper slopes of this unnamed crater.
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PIA23020: Multi-Elevation Gullies
Multi-Elevation Gullies
A dramatic, fresh impact crater dominates this image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Nov. 19, 2013.
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A dramatic, fresh impact crater dominates this image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Nov. 19, 2013.
A Spectacular New Martian Impact Crater
The logistical challenge of getting a mission sent to Mars begins years before liftoff and culminates in the stressful days just prior to launch. This video highlights teams at JPL, Kennedy Space C...
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Challenges of Getting to Mars: Launch Logistics
Challenges of Getting to Mars: Launch Logistics
These images from orbit show an area near Mars' south pole where coalescing or elongated pits are interpreted as signs that an underlying deposit of frozen carbon dioxide, or "dry ice," has been sh...
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These images from orbit show an area near Mars' south pole where coalescing or elongated pits are interpreted as signs that an underlying deposit of frozen carbon dioxide, or "dry ice," has been shrinking by sublimation.
Pitting from Sublimation of Underlying Dry-Ice Layer
This image shows an example of layers in the Martian north polar deposits. These deposits, part of the Planum Boreum dome, are composed mainly of water ice and small amounts of dust.
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This image shows an example of layers in the Martian north polar deposits. These deposits, part of the Planum Boreum dome, are composed mainly of water ice and small amounts of dust. The layers within these deposits are exposed by shallowly-sloping troughs that cut into them. This image is particularly interesting because it crosses complicated trough geometry, making the layers appear curved and exposing multiple stratigraphic levels. Note that layers of different thicknesses are visible. Layer thickness is directly related to the accumulation rate of the layer; a higher accumulation rate will lead to a thicker layer. However, a myriad of factors work together to influence accumulation rate, such as the amount of sunlight reaching the surface and the amount of water in the contemporaneous atmosphere.
Stratigraphy of the North Polar Deposits
Details such as the shadow of the mast on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity appear in an image taken Aug. 17, 2012, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconn...
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Details such as the shadow of the mast on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity appear in an image taken Aug. 17, 2012, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, from more directly overhead than previous HiRISE images of Curiosity.
Orbiter View of Curiosity From Nearly Straight Overhead
The high resolution imaging science experiment (HiRISE) is one of six science instruments for NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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The high resolution imaging science experiment (HiRISE) is one of six science instruments for NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Telescopic Camera for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Front End
This image from orbit covers an area about 460 meters (about 1,500 feet) across, in which carbonate minerals have been identified from spectrometer observations. Fractures and possible layers are v...
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This image from orbit covers an area about 460 meters (about 1,500 feet) across, in which carbonate minerals have been identified from spectrometer observations. Fractures and possible layers are visible in the light-toned rock exposure containing the carbonates.
Fractures in Carbonate-Bearing Rocks at Mars' Huygens Basin
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 September 2016 at "Murray Buttes," and the path planned for reachi...
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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 September 2016 at "Murray Buttes," and the path planned for reaching destinations at "Hematite Unit" and "Clay Unit" on lower Mount Sharp.
Curiosity Destinations for Second Extended Mission
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Context Camera, which captured the 110,000 images that make up the interactive global mosaic, is especially useful for spotting impact craters like those seen here.
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The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Context Camera, which captured the 110,000 images that make up the interactive global mosaic, is especially useful for spotting impact craters like those seen here.
Global CTX Mosaic of Mars: Impact Craters
This movie clip shows a global map of Mars with atmospheric changes from Feb. 18, 2017, through March 6, 2017, a period when two regional-scale dust storms appeared. It combines hundreds of images ...
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This movie clip shows a global map of Mars with atmospheric changes from Feb. 18, 2017, through March 6, 2017, a period when two regional-scale dust storms appeared. It combines hundreds of images from the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Back-to-Back Martian Dust Storms
Unfrozen brine in cryopegs and fracture networks provides habitats for the survival and growth of organisms both within and under frozen rocky materials on Earth and, by analogy, could provide habi...
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Unfrozen brine in cryopegs and fracture networks provides habitats for the survival and growth of organisms both within and under frozen rocky materials on Earth and, by analogy, could provide habitats on Mars.
Plausible Martian Habitats
A Martian dust devil roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) high was captured winding its way along the Amazonis Planitia region of Northern Mars on March 14, 2012 by the High Resolution Imaging Science ...
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A Martian dust devil roughly 12 miles (20 kilometers) high was captured winding its way along the Amazonis Planitia region of Northern Mars on March 14, 2012 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Mars' Whirling Dust Devil
Blue dots on this map indicate sites of recurring slope lineae (RSL) in part of the Valles Marineris canyon network on Mars. RSL are seasonal dark streaks that may be indicators of liquid water. Th...
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Blue dots on this map indicate sites of recurring slope lineae (RSL) in part of the Valles Marineris canyon network on Mars. RSL are seasonal dark streaks that may be indicators of liquid water. The area mapped here has the highest density of known RSL on Mars.
Sites with Seasonal Streaks on Slopes in Mars Canyons
The bright feature in this image might be the parachute from a 1971 Soviet Mars lander named Mars 3. The image was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's...
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The bright feature in this image might be the parachute from a 1971 Soviet Mars lander named Mars 3. The image was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Possible Parachute From 1971 Soviet Mars Lander
Back-and-forth blinking of this two-image animation shows movement of ripples covering a sand dune on Mars.
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Back-and-forth blinking of this two-image animation shows movement of ripples covering a sand dune on Mars.
Ripple Movement on Sand Dune in Nili Patera, Mars
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 2016, which is in the upper half of a geological unit cal...
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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 2016, which is in the upper half of a geological unit called the Murray formation, on lower Mount Sharp.
Late 2016 Map of NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Mission
What appear to be spiders scampering across the martian landscape are actually cracks in the surface of the southern polar region on Mars, seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on August 23, 2009...
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What appear to be spiders scampering across the martian landscape are actually cracks in the surface of the southern polar region on Mars, seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on August 23, 2009. Caused as carbon dioxide ice evaporates and escapes into the atmosphere, there is no escaping that these "araneiform" features look like our 8 legged friends!
South Pole Spiders
Lyot Crater, pictured here, is one of at least nine craters in the northern lowlands of Mars with exposures of hydrated minerals detected from orbit, according to a June 25, 2010, report.
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Lyot Crater, pictured here, is one of at least nine craters in the northern lowlands of Mars with exposures of hydrated minerals detected from orbit.
Hydrated Minerals Exposed at Lyot, Northern Mars
Overview map showing the location of the study area within Aeolis Dorsa (star).
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Overview map showing the location of the study area within Aeolis Dorsa (star).
Overview Map of Aeolis Dorsa
This map shows the thickness of the north polar layered deposits on Mars as measured by the Shallow Radar instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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How Thick is the North Polar Ice Cap on Mars?
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity through the 29th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 4, 2012).
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This map shows the route driven by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity through the 29th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 4, 2012).
Curiosity Traverse Map Through Sol 29
Although the season is late spring, carbon dioxide ice still covers much of the surface at this high latitude site.
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Although the season is late spring, carbon dioxide ice still covers much of the surface at this high latitude site.
Icy Wonderland
Artist concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter during aerobraking.
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Artist concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter during aerobraking.
Artist concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
In this HiRISE image taken within Capri Chasma, TES also detected the same crystalline gray hematite like that found at Meridiani Planum.
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In this HiRISE image taken within Capri Chasma, TES also detected the same crystalline gray hematite like that found at Meridiani Planum.
Hematite in Capri Chasma

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