NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE Images – December 5, 2012

– Impacts from MSL Tungsten Blocks and Cruise Stage http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_029245_1755

MSL (Curiosity) in cruise configuration jettisoned two 75-kilogram tungsten blocks just before atmospheric entry, used as cruise balance masses.

– Columnar Jointing on Mars and Earth http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_029286_1885

Finding evidence for large amounts of liquid water on Mars is important for understanding the planet’s climate history and habitability.

– Colorful Fractured Bedrock in Ritchey Crater http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_029542_1510

The dark, ridgelike lines that cut across the colorful blocks may be dikes, formed when molten rock forced its way into pre-existing linear fractures in the surrounding rock.

– Apostrophe Dunes http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_029660_1350

The lack of symmetry within these dunes tells us that there is more than one wind direction acting here.

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.