NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Video: Exploration of Details in Martian North Polar Layered Deposits

This video provides zoom and pan moves to emphasize the context and features of layered deposits near the north pole of Mars. The detailed view comes from an image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Dec. 12, 2006.

Patterns in the layering of this ice-rich material provide clues to global climate variations on Mars.

The location of the terrain explored in this video is at about 87 degrees north latitude, 93 degrees east longitude. The HiRISE source image is catalogued as PSP_001738_2670 .

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NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ.of Arizona