The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera onboard the MRO has delivered some breathtaking new images this month of ancient trails, pits, and huge rocks lanying in the middle of perfectly rippled sand across the Martian surface.
Mud volcanoes appear in the region of Acidalia Planitia, and dark pits with no signs of rims appear in the region of Tharis. Below is just a sample of the thousands of images MRO HiRISE has acquired. You can browse them online through the NASA PDS (http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/) or at the HiRISE team’s website (http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu).
MRO was launched in 2005, and achieved it’s Martian orbit in 2006. It has since then returned thousands of images from Mars. The HiRISE camera is essentially a telescope half a meter wide. It has the resolution of 0.30 meters from an altitude of 300 kilometers. The camera uses three color bands as well. Blue/Green, Red, and near-infrared.
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| In the Ascraeus Mons region of Mars, these two dark pits sit in the north western corner. |
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| These mounds which are thought to be mud volcanoes, make the Acidalia Plains an ideal landing spot for a future mission to Mars. | |
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| This landform called a graben was formed when the land between two parallel faults sunk in. With the lava flow, it can help determine the ages of features. |
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