HiRISE (NASA)
HiRISE is a high resolution camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA). We take images of the surface of Mars. Based out of UArizona in Tucson.
Joined Aug 2018
Landslide!
This image shows a fresh (well-preserved) landslide scarp and rocky deposit off the edge of a streamlined mesa in Simud Valles, a giant outflow channel carved by ancient floods.
The stereo images can be used to measure the topography, which in turn constrains models for the strength of the mesa’s bedrock. (Image is less than 5 km across.)
ID: ESP_050033_1920
date: 30 March 2017
altitude: 280 km
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_050033_1920
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA
Unlocking an Impact Crater’s Clues
The materials exposed nearest the crater have distinctive yellowish and lighter grey appearances, while more distant ejected materials range from dark brown to bright bluish in an enhanced-color view. These varied materials may have originated from different layers penetrated by the impact.
Purple Mountain’s Majesty
This image of an isolated mountain in the Southern highlands reveals a large exposure of “purplish” bedrock.
Since HiRISE color is shifted to longer wavelengths than visible color and given relative stretches, this really means that the bedrock is roughly dark in the broad red bandpass image compared to the blue-green and near-infrared bandpass images.
Well-Preserved Impact Ejecta
This image of a well-preserved unnamed elliptical crater in Terra Sabaea, is illustrative of the complexity of ejecta deposits forming as a by-product of the impact process that shapes much of the surface of Mars.
Mantled Terrain in the Southern Mid-Latitudes
This HiRISE image shows terrain typical of these mantling deposits in the Southern Hemisphere, east of Reull Vallis. The pitted texture suggests that ice is sublimating out from the deposits as the region is warmed under current lower obliquity conditions.
HiRISE 3D: A Large Gully
This 3D pic shows a large gully with an undersized apron. Why is apron so small? It may indicate ice-rich mantle.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_083213_1425_ESP_083358_1425_RED
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science
Looking for Ice
One of MRO’s ongoing campaigns is a search for new impact craters. At high latitudes, such craters often expose ice, which appears bright in HiRISE enhanced-color images. This image was targeted to look at a candidate new crater on a lobate apron. Such aprons are often ice-rich, but the crater shows no bright material that would indicate ice.
More: https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_044698_2245
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA
HiRISE 3D: Fluvial Erosion in Harmakhis Vallis
This image is in a corner pointing opposite of the flow, possibly creating an eddy/turbulent area. One goal is to examine for shoreline markings and erosion effects.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_075006_1410_ESP_083973_1410_RED
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Fill or Mantling Material in a Crater
High resolution imagery can help determine what this material may be (e.g., ice-rich fill, dust, or other mantling unit?) and estimates of its thickness. With knowledge of its thickness, we can discern how deep the valleys and pit would be without its presence.
Diverse Deposits in Melas Chasma
This scene includes chaotic deposits with a wide range of colors. The deposits are distinctive with both unique colors and small-scale textures such as fracture patterns.
These are probably sedimentary rocks, transported and deposited in water or air. The original layers may have been jumbled in a landslide. Dark or reddish sand dunes cover some of the bedrock.
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_041134_1720
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA
New Crater Blues
The blue appearance is due to the intense blast of the impact moving around dust on the surface. That dust is usually light-toned and reddish in color compared to what’s beneath it. When you remove the dust, you’re left with a dark spot that can sometimes be blue in comparison to the redder surroundings.
More: https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_053006_1980
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Summer Sand Dunes
Mars’ permanent north polar cap is ringed by sand dunes. In the winter and spring the dunes are covered by a seasonal cap of dry ice.
Here, we see the dark dunes in the summer, bare of seasonal frost. Two classic barchan dunes march across the rugged terrain. The long dark dune is crossing transverse aeolian ridges probably formed in a previous climate regime.
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_044088_2640
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA
Frosted Gully Slopes in Shadows
This image was acquired just after the northern winter solstice, when Southern Hemisphere shadows are longest. However, the fine dust in the Martian atmosphere scatters light into the shadows, and HiRISE has the sensitivity to acquire useful images within shadows.
HiRISE 10K: Low-Order Inverted Streams near Juventae Chasma
The raised ridges are inverted channels. It is likely that liquid water, either pure or salt water, flowed through these channels.
Full cutout on Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/2qaeFtC
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science
Tilted in Terra Cimmeria
The objective of this observation is to determine the nature of a tilted, layered deposit in a small crater. Also visible in Context Camera data, these features are relatively common in this area and some have odd shapes. They may have formed from mantle layers that have stacked up.
ID: ESP_075348_1405
date: 23 August 2022
altitude: 250 km
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_075348_1405
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA
HiRISE 8K: Gullies in a Crater in Noachis Terra
The gullies shown in this image are similar to terrestrial gullies produced by flowing water.
Full cutout on Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/2qa55YE
HiRISE 3D: Hillslope Shapes near Holden Crater
Landscapes such as rivers, deltas and alluvial fans have been studied extensively, proving to be reliable records of Mars’ paleoclimate, while hillslopes on Mars have largely been ignored.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_083002_1550_ESP_083859_1550_RED
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
A Recent Cluster of Impacts
The dark spots in this enhanced-color infrared image are the recent impact craters that occurred in the Tharsis region between 2008 and 2014.
The dark halos around the resulting impact craters are a combination of the light-toned dust being cleared from the impact event and the deposition of the underlying dark toned materials as crater ejecta.
https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_047768_1995
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #NASA
At the Confluence of Nirgal and Uzboi Valles
These layers may have been fluvial, volcanic, or aeolian (wind-blown).
Full cutout on Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/2qa49Hp
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #science #geology
HiRISE 3D: South Polar Carbon Dioxide Glacier Crevasses
These troughs are likely crevasses formed from glacial flow and their size and shape provide important information regarding the thickness and size of polar carbon dioxide.
https://www.uahirise.org/anaglyph/ESP_083900_0930_ESP_084031_0930_RED
HiRISE (NASA)
HiRISE is a high resolution camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA). We take images of the surface of Mars. Based out of UArizona in Tucson.
Joined Aug 2018