NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HIRISE Images November 20, 2013

– A Textured Mesa http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_033564_1405

 

Also imaged by MRO’s Context Camera, this observation shows one of two odd, rounded mesas with a knobby/pitted texture.

 

– Martian Intersection http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_033591_1805

 

This image depicts an intersection of several fractures on the floor of Echus Chasma.

 

– Nirgal Vallis Tributaries http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/ESP_033814_1525

 

Although Nirgal Vallis formed long ago, likely by flowing water over long periods, abundant wind-blown sediments transformed into dune fields that now line the valley floors.

 

– Hydrated Sulfate Landslides in Ophir Chasma http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_007535_1755

 

These different toned surfaces also mark a transition from one sulfate mineralogy to another and variations in surface evolution.

 

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.