This image was taken in support of imaging by the Context (CTX) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and is an example of how the different instruments cooperate. Trumpler Crater is in the far southern part of the Martian highlands.

This HiRISE image shows a frozen terrain typical at these latitudes. The surface is mantled by a deposit that is postulated to be largely a mix of dust and ice. However, many of the higher hills have had this mantle removed and the older rocks are exposed. In some parts of Mars there is good evidence for ice having flowed from higher to lower ground, but there is no such evidence here. Perhaps the mantling deposit never formed on the tops of these hills or it was preferentially removed from these places.

In the flatter locations, the mantling deposit is completely covered by small cracks that form a polygonal network. These are clearest in the southern part of the image, where the sun is almost parallel to the surface, producing dramatic shadows. Such polygons are a common feature in permafrost.

Written by: Laszlo P. Keszthelyi

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: Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. 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. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. The image data were processed using the U.S. Geological Survey’s ISIS3 software.