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Storm Chaser on Mars

March 20, 2012

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Catches a Twister in Action.

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These long, smooth features are sand ridges shaped by the constant martian wind. They run perpendicular, or at right angles to, the direction of the wind and often found in channels and crater inte...
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These long, smooth features are sand ridges shaped by the constant martian wind.
MRO Spots Sand Stripes
Color has been added to highlight minerals in this image of Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 mission. The green color represents minerals called carbonates, which are es...
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Color has been added to highlight minerals in this image of Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 mission.
Jezero Crater Minerals
This image shows part of the floor of an impact crater on the northern rim of the giant Hellas Basin.
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This image shows part of the floor of an impact crater on the northern rim of the giant Hellas Basin. Hellas includes the lowest elevations on Mars, and may have once held lakes or seas; layered rock outcrops occur around much of the edge of the basin. At this site, a large impact crater (about 90 kilometers across) was partly filled by layered rocks. These rocks on the crater floor are now eroding and forming strange pits. Here, the layers are mostly exposed on a steep slope which cuts across much of the image. On this slope, they crop out as rocky stripes, some continuous and others not. The material between the stripes is mostly covered by debris, but some areas of exposed rock are visible. The slope is capped by a thick, continuous layer that armors it against erosion; once this cap is gone, the lower material is removed rapidly, forming the steep slope. At the base of this slope, rocks on the floor of the pit appear bright and heavily fragmented by cracks known as joints. The variation in rock types suggests that the rocks here were deposited by multiple processes or in different environments. Sites like this may preserve a record of conditions on early Mars.
Layered Outcrops on Crater Floor
This graphic depicts the Mars Climate Sounder instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter measuring the temperature of a cross section of the Martian atmosphere as the orbiter passes above the...
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This graphic depicts the Mars Climate Sounder instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter measuring the temperature of a cross section of the Martian atmosphere as the orbiter passes above the south polar region.
Scanning Martian Atmospheric Temperatures
Researchers have found deposits of impact glass preserved in Martian craters, including Alga Crater, shown here.
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Colorful image showing impact glass distribution on a Martian crater. These glass deposits are scattered with areas of green showing more glass versus other areas in blue.
Spectral Signals Indicating Impact Glass on Mars
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity appears as a bluish dot near the lower right corner of this enhanced-color view from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on...
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NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity appears as a bluish dot near the lower right corner of this enhanced-color view from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
View From Mars Orbiter Showing Curiosity Rover at 'Shaler'
These images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show how the appearance of dark markings on Martian slope changes with the sea...
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These images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show how the appearance of dark markings on Martian slope changes with the seasons.
Seasonal Changes in Dark Marks on an Equatorial Martian Slope
This HiRISE image shows a group of cones, shield-like features, and round mounds.
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This HiRISE image shows a group of cones, shield-like features, and round mounds.
Small Mounds in Chryse Planitia (3-D)
Hitting a moving target over 306 million miles away is no easy feat. Learn how JPL navigation engineers have guided the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter toward its mission-critical capture into orbit ar...
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Challenges of Getting to Mars: Hitting the Bull's-Eye
Challenges of Getting to Mars: Hitting the Bull's-Eye
This image, acquired by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a new impact crater that has appeared on the surface of Mars, formed at most between September 2016 and February 2019.
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This image, acquired by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a new impact crater that has appeared on the surface of Mars, formed at most between September 2016 and February 2019.
A Work of Art
This HiRISE image shows fractured mounds on the southern edge of Elysium Planitia.
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This HiRISE image (PSP_003597_1765), shows fractured mounds on the southern edge of Elysium Planitia. The mounds are typically a few kilometers in diameter and about 200 feet tall. The fractures that crisscross their surfaces are dilational (extensional) in nature, suggesting that the mounds formed by localized uplift (i.e., they were pushed up from below). The mounds are probably composed of solidified lava. They are contiguous with, and texturally similar to, the flood lavas that blanket much of Elysium Planitia, and, where dilation cracks provide cross-sectional exposure, the uplifted material is rocky. Patches of mechanically weak and disrupted material overlie the rocky mound material. This is particularly conspicuous in the northeast corner of the HiRISE image. These patches may be remnants of a layer that was once more continuous but has been extensively eroded. Smooth lava plains fill the low-lying areas between the mounds. They are riddled with sinuous pressure ridges. The entire area is covered by a relatively thin layer of dust and sand.
Fractured Mounds in Elysium Planitia
A meteorite impact that excavated this crater on Mars exposed bright ice that had been hidden just beneath the surface at this location.
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A meteorite impact that excavated this crater on Mars exposed bright ice that had been hidden just beneath the surface at this location.
Fresh Crater Exposing Buried Ice on Mid-Latitude Mars
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in December 2016, which is in the upper half of a geological unit cal...
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This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in December 2016, which is in the upper half of a geological unit called the Murray formation, on lower Mount Sharp.
Late 2016 Map of NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Mission
This image from orbit covers an area about 460 meters (about 1,500 feet) across, in which carbonate minerals have been identified from spectrometer observations. Fractures and possible layers are v...
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This image from orbit covers an area about 460 meters (about 1,500 feet) across, in which carbonate minerals have been identified from spectrometer observations. Fractures and possible layers are visible in the light-toned rock exposure containing the carbonates.
Fractures in Carbonate-Bearing Rocks at Mars' Huygens Basin
This "ring trough" or eroded pit crater, is located in the rugged southern highland terrain known as Noachis Terra. The HiRISE image shows the layered, boulder-rich wall rock facing to the northeas...
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Geologically young gullies are a prime target for the HiRISE camera. Gullies are located in a variety of settings and are found all over Mars. This "ring trough" or eroded pit crater, is located in the rugged southern highland terrain known as Noachis Terra. The HiRISE image shows the layered, boulder-rich wall rock facing to the northeast and gullies that are transporting material downslope. The material collects into debris aprons along the walls, which often exhibit narrow channels along its surface.
Gullies on Southwest Slope of Ring Trough in Noachis Terra
Sand dunes are among the most widespread wind-formed (aeolian) features present on Mars.
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Sand dunes are among the most widespread wind-formed (aeolian) features present on Mars.
Dune Composition (3-D)
This proposed future Mars landing site in Acidalia Planitia targets densely occurring mounds thought to be mud volcanoes.
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This proposed future Mars landing site in Acidalia Planitia targets densely occurring mounds thought to be mud volcanoes.
Proposed Future Mars Landing Site: Acidalia Planitia Mud Volcanoes
Animation of a skinny "dust devil" on the dust-covered Amazonis Planitia region of northern Mars. (No audio)
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Mars' Whirling Dust Devil
Mars' Whirling Dust Devil
This March 20, 2014, image from the MARCI camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has a dark spot (at center of inscribed rectangle) noticed while the image was being examined for a weather re...
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This March 20, 2014, image from the MARCI camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has a dark spot (at center of inscribed rectangle) noticed while the image was being examined for a weather report. Other observations confirmed that the spot is a scar from a space rock hitting Mars in 2012.
Impact Scar Detected in Mars Weathercam Image (Unannotated)
These dark streaks, also known as “slope streaks,” resulted from dust avalanches on Mars. The HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured them on Dec. 26, 2017.
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These dark streaks, also known as “slope streaks,” resulted from dust avalanches on Mars. The HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured them on Dec. 26, 2017.
HiRISE Spots Slope Streaks Fanning Out on Mars
This full-resolution color image from NASA's Curiosity Rover shows the gravel-covered surface of Mars. It was taken by the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) several minutes after Curiosity touched down o...
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This full-resolution color image from NASA's Curiosity Rover shows the gravel-covered surface of Mars. It was taken by the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) several minutes after Curiosity touched down on Mars.
Gravel-Covered Martian Surface
This image acquired on January 27, 2019 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the extensive central peak complex of Hale Crater.
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This image acquired on January 27, 2019 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the extensive central peak complex of Hale Crater.
Bedrock in the Central Peaks of Hale Crater
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity through the 29th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 4, 2012).
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This map shows the route driven by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity through the 29th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission on Mars (Sept. 4, 2012).
Curiosity Traverse Map Through Sol 29
The black speck circled in the lower left corner of this image is a cluster of recently formed craters spotted on Mars using a new machine-learning algorithm. This image was taken by the Context Ca...
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A crater cluster on Mars
AI Spots a Cluster of Mars Craters: HiRISE's View
This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in mid-November 2015, approaching examples of dunes in the "Bagnold D...
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This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in mid-November 2015, approaching examples of dunes in the "Bagnold Dunes" dune field.
Curiosity Rover's Traverse, First 1,163 Sols on Mars

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