NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE Images: March 5, 2014

– Sand Dunes in Spring http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_035033_2635

Dark, bare south-facing slopes are soaking up the warmth of the sun.

– Don’t Get Lost in the North Polar Ice Cap http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_035295_2670

The ice cap would be a bad place to get lost: it’s one of the smoothest, flattest places on Mars so there are no landmarks visible.

– Many Small Interesting Ridges in Erythraea Fossa http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_035409_1525

These light-toned ridges are found in a large fracture located east of Holden Crater and form a curious box-like pattern.

– A Crater Straddling Two Terrain Units http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_035421_1810

An approximately 1-kilometer impact crater located in northern Sinus Meridiani has formed along the boundary of two different terrain units.

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.