Dusty Water Ice in Mars' Terra Sirenum | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Dusty Water Ice in Mars' Terra Sirenum | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows white material believed to be dusty water ice lining the edges of Martian gullies in a region named Terra Sirenum. Scientists believe dust particles within this ice act similarly to dust that falls onto glaciers on Earth, warming up in sunlight and causing subsurface pockets of meltwater to form.

On Earth, the dust that builds up on glaciers is called cryoconite, and the pockets it forms are called cryoconite holes. These pockets of water on our planet are often teeming with simple life, including algae, fungi, and cyanobacteria. Scientists believe similar shallow pools of water could exist on Mars, and may also be excellent places to search for life on the Red Planet today.

This enhanced-color image was captured by MRO's High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on Dec. 25, 2016.

The blue color at the bottom of the gullies is likely coarse sand (not ice); the hue would not actually be perceptible to the human eye. HiRISE is able to detect this color by looking at the scene in far-infrared wavelengths.

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. 

For more information on MRO, visit:

https://mars.nasa.gov/mro

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/mission/index.html

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages MRO for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Caltech, in Pasadena, manages JPL for NASA. The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. The Context Camera was built by, and is operated by, Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.

Image Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory--Caltech/University of Arizona

Image Date: Dec. 25, 2016

Release Date: Oct. 10, 2024

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