Tag Archives: nasa orbiter

NASA Orbiter Finds New Gully Channel on Mars

By Guest PostMarch 23, 2014Scienceball aerospace, carbon dioxide, highlands of mars, hirise camera, mars, mars reconnaissance orbiter, martian season, nasa orbiter, new gully channel, temperature, tucson, university of arizona

A comparison of images taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in November 2010 and May 2013 reveal the formation of a new gully channel on a crater-wall slope in the southern highlands of Mars.

These before-and-after images are available online at https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA17958 . (more…)

Northern Mars Landscape Actively Changing

By Guest PostFebruary 5, 2011Sciencecandice hansen, carbon dioxide ice, high resolution imaging science experiment, hirise, hirise camera, image, landscape, mars, martian dunes, martian years, nasa orbiter, north polar cap, northern mars, sand dunes, serina diniega, texas

Sand dunes in a vast area of northern Mars long thought to be frozen in time are changing with both sudden and gradual motions, according to research using images from a NASA orbiter.

These dune fields cover an area the size of Texas in a band around the planet at the edge of Mars’ north polar cap. The new findings suggest they are among the most active landscapes on Mars. However, few changes in these dark-toned dunes had been detected before a campaign of repeated imaging by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which reached Mars five years ago next month. (more…)