Snowy Martian Sand Dunes | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (2006-2026)
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has spent over twenty years (2006-2026) orbiting the Red Planet, collecting valuable scientific data. It was spring in the Northern Hemisphere of Mars when MRO took this image. Over the winter, snow and ice have inexorably covered the dunes. Unlike on Earth, this snow and ice is carbon dioxide, better known to us as dry ice. When the sun starts shining on it in the spring, the ice on the smooth surface of the dune cracks and escaping gas carries dark sand out from the dune below, often creating beautiful patterns. On the rough surface between the dunes, frost is trapped behind small sheltered ridges.
This HiRISE enhanced color camera image (less than 1 km in size) was captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) at an altitude of 319.4 km (198.5 miles).
Latitude (centered): 75.597°
Longitude (East): 13.493°
The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). It was built by BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD), Washington.
Text Credit: Candy Hansen
Image Date: May 21, 2017
Release Date: Aug. 21, 2017
#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #Planet #RedPlanet #Geology #Geoscience #Landscape #Terrain #SandDunes #Frost #CarbonDioxideIce #NorthernHemisphere #MRO #MarsOrbiter #MarsSpacecraft #HiRISECamera #JPL #Caltech #UA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education
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