Boulder Strewn Plain in Northern Utopia Planitia
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Boulder Strewn Plain in Northern Utopia Planitia
ESP_016731_2360  Science Theme: Future Exploration/Landing Sites
Common to the northern plains of Mars are rock and boulder strewn landscapes otherwise devoid of major features, short of a few impact craters. This image in the Cydnus Rupes region of northern Utopia Planitia is an excellent example of this sort of terrain.

Boulders up to several meters in size densely coat the landscape. The concentration of these boulders varies at several scales. In some areas only smaller rocks less than a meter across dominate the surface, while a couple hundred meters away may be a somewhat circular “blotch” of larger boulders. Often these blotches of boulders coincide >with a faint circular ridge, the remnant of an impact crater now reduced by erosion and infilling to a a mere hint of a crater rim. The abundant boulders excavated by the impact, however, remain scattered over the surface to mark the past event.

Close examination of excavated large rocks and boulders may yield clues to the geologic processes that have shaped the regional landscape over Martian history. However, as a future landing site, these terrains are perilous. Large boulders can damage landing gear and puncture the underside of spacecraft. Rovers would find it extremely difficult to traverse through dense populations of large rocks and boulders.

Written by: Michael Mellon  (31 March 2010)
 
Acquisition date
20 February 2010

Local Mars time
14:46

Latitude (centered)
55.522°

Longitude (East)
130.956°

Spacecraft altitude
309.6 km (192.4 miles)

Original image scale range
31.0 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~93 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
25 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
0.0°

Phase angle
47.2°

Solar incidence angle
47°, with the Sun about 43° above the horizon

Solar longitude
54.1°, Northern Spring

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  334.0°
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RGB color
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
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Merged RGB label
EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
About color products (PDF)

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
For scale, use JPEG/JP2 black & white map-projected images

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All of the images produced by HiRISE and accessible on this site are within the public domain: there are no restrictions on their usage by anyone in the public, including news or science organizations. We do ask for a credit line where possible:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

POSTSCRIPT
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 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.