NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE Images: April 9, 2014

– Two-Color Dunes in Meridiani Terra http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_033483_1805

Why are these dunes different colors? Sand on Mars is typically dark in tone, as it commonly derived from volcanic rocks like lava flows.

– Slumping Terraces on a Crater Wall http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_035702_2270

This slumped terrace, a result of the crater formation process, gives the crater a concentric ringed appearance.

– A Heart in Ascraeus Mons http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_035807_1885

What is this strange-looking feature? HiRISE scientists first noticed it in images from the Context Camera and acquired this picture to investigate more closely.

– Opportunity Rover’s Winter Work at Murray Ridge http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_035909_1775

This new image of Opportunity was acquired as a “ride-along” with the CRISM instrument also onboard MRO, to help give better details of the topography 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.

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