NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE Images March 28, 2012

– Cratered Dune Forms http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_025389_1690

This is a wonderful case of aeolian sandstone that has preserved its original sand dune bedform shape.

– Lava Lamp Terrain on the Floor of Hellas Basin http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_025780_1415

Some of the weirdest and least-understood landscapes on Mars are on the floor of the deep Hellas impact basin.

– Summer is on Its Way http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_025916_2555

A few bright ice deposits remain sequestered in “cold traps” shadowed from the sun on the poleward-facing side of the dunes.

– A Wild Assortment of Jumbled Rocks http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_026412_2035

This image covers a region of Mars near Nili Fossae that contains some of the best exposures of ancient bedrock on Mars.

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.