NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HIRISE Images January 4, 2012

– Small Floral-Shaped Volcano on Cerberus Fossae http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_024378_1880

This smaller feature has a single vent, aligned along a Cerberus Fossae trough, and it has flows radiating away from this vent in all directions.

– Field of Transverse Aeolian Ridges in Proctor Crater http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_024449_1320

Transverse Aeolian Ridges (or TARs) are small aeolian bedforms that are distinct from typical dunes or ripples.

– Lava Flow Oozing into a Crater http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_024587_1465

By studying how lava reacts to obstacles and to variation in slope, scientists may be able to learn about the thickness, stickiness, and strength of the ancient lava flow.

– What is This Stuff? http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_024886_1765

A puzzling ridged texture was first seen in an image from the Context Camera on MRO, leading to this suggestion for a HiRISE image.

All of the HiRISE images are archived here: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/

Information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is online at http://www.nasa.gov/mro. The mission is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, of Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo., built the HiRISE instrument.