Science and Exploration

Strange Terrain Near Hale Crater On Mars

By Keith Cowing
Press Release
February 7, 2022
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Strange Terrain Near Hale Crater On Mars
Strange Terrain Near Hale Crater On Mars
NASA/HiRISEe/STSCI

This image shows material almost completely filling an impact crater to the northeast of Hale Crater, perhaps water-rich ejecta from Hale itself.
There is a pattern of fractures at two scales and many small cones. There are lots of strange terrains surrounding Hale Crater, perhaps the youngest impact crater on Mars larger than 100 kilometers in diameter. The body that hit Mars, creating Hale, may have impacted ice-rich ground.

Larger image

SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.