Mars: Carbon Dioxide Snow on Sand Dunes | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Mars: Carbon Dioxide Snow on Sand Dunes | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

This is a Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) image of frozen carbon dioxide (CO₂) on Martian sand dunes. Note: This is not frozen water.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image. 

“For 17 years, MRO has been revealing Mars to us as no one had seen it before,” said the mission’s project scientist, Rich Zurek of JPL.

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.

For more information on MRO, visit:

https://mars.nasa.gov/mro

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

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Processing: Stuart Rankin

Release Date: Oct. 29, 2023

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