A South Polar Wonderland | NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

A South Polar Wonderland | NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

A wide variety of south polar terrains are on display in this spectacular color image taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument. The reddish material is the South Polar layered deposits. These deposits are a stack of layered, dusty water ice. Scientists believe that these layers record previous climatic conditions on Mars, much like terrestrial ice-sheets provide a record of climate change on the Earth.

Image cutout is less than 1 km (under a mile) top to bottom across and the spacecraft altitude was 248 km (154 mi). 

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a spacecraft designed to study the geology and climate of Mars, to provide reconnaissance of future landing sites, and to relay data from surface missions back to Earth. It was launched on August 12, 2005, and reached Mars on March 10, 2006. 

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona

Release Date: May 3, 2023

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