Mars Mysteries: Unveiling the Icy Craters
HiRISE PICTURE OF THE DAY: 18 MARCH 2024
Mars Mysteries: Unveiling the Icy Craters

Over the past two decades, HiRISE and the Context Camera on MRO have catalogued hundreds of new impact craters. Some of these recent craters, particularly in the mid- to high-latitudes, have excavated buried water-ice that typically is exposed within the crater cavity.



HiRISE Instrument News
Since July 23, 2023, HiRISE observations have lacked data from the RED4 CCD due to a hardware issue, creating a gap in the middle of image products and reducing the color swath to 1 CCD width. We are investigating the hardware issue and may be able to acquire some RED4 data in the future.

Glacial (Ice) or Lava Flow?
The geologic setting and latitude here suggest this is a glacial (ice-rich) flow, but the surface is broken into plates like many lava flows on Mars.