BEAUTIFUL MARS

HiPOD: Young Lava Flows of Elysium Mons

The team at NASA ARC is working on a project called HiRISE Image Analysis, aimed at selecting potential future landing sites for a robotic mission. This area shows a thermal anomaly in THEMIS data, indicating a potential cave entrance or simply a depression with high thermal inertia. The area of interest is located on young lava flows in Elysium, which provides new insights into recent volcanic activity and could be a potential site for astrobiology studies, as well as a natural habitat for a future Mars base.

ID: ESP_092989_1960 date: 29 May 2026 altitude: 282 km

HiPOD: Get into the (Flood) Groove

In this observation within the Kasei Valles outflow channel, a distinct flood eroded surface is marked by a series of linear ridges and grooves, which are also present on an infilled impact crater. We want to know what exactly these ridges/grooves are, how they formed, and their relation to nearby fans.

ID: ESP_092958_2035 date: 26 May 2026 altitude: 283 km

HiPOD: The Ripple Effect

The objective of this observation is to examine layered mesas. They may have been inside of craters that have since eroded away, creating this ripple effect on the surface. This footprint is located near Hrad Vallis, which originates on the northwest margin of the Elysium Volcanic complex and flows into Utopia Planitia. Hrad Vallis is 825 kilometers (513 miles) long.

ID: ESP_077101_2175 date: 7 January 2023 altitude: 298 km

HiPOD: The Remnants of Deposits

In this observation, within the Shalbatana Vallis outflow channel, there appears to be relict fan-shaped deposits towards the top of the channel wall. These surfaces appear perched on top of a mesa-like-feature suggesting erosion of their margins. Surrounding this feature are younger deposits and areas of chaotic terrain. This image can help to evaluate their stratigraphic relationships to the younger fans and the chaotic terrain/wider channel formation.

ID: ESP_092944_1805 date: 25 May 2026 altitude: 269 km

HiPOD: Smooth Sands in the Canyon of Youth

Juventae Chasma, just north of Valles Marineris, is notable for several reasons: it is an otherworldly size-box canyon, and shares a name with the mythological Fountain of Youth.

This image, from Juventae Chasma’s southern extent, captures the extraordinary visual softness of the sand on the bottom of the canyon. Unlike other places in Juventae Chasma where ripples and more bedrock landforms are visible, in this scene we can identify peaks arising from a base of smooth materials. Rather than the sand being grouped in well-behaved, Star-Trek-communicator-badge-shaped barchan dunes, the sand blankets the full surface below the two peaks captured here. The source of this sand is linked to the chasma’s complex geologic history, which likely includes a combination of icy, watery, and windy processes.

ID: ESP_092391_1755 date: 12 April 2026 altitude: 269 km

HiPOD: Eroding Ice-Rich Deposits in Two Craters in Arabia Terra

This image shows two craters in the Arabia Terra region with interesting texture patterns on their floors. These textures are indicative of the presence of ice-rich materials, likely having been deposited from the atmosphere during periods of high obliquity (tilt) millions of years ago, when ice from the poles was mobilized and redeposited in the mid-latitudes.

The ice is gradually eroding away, leading to the interesting patterns displayed in the southern crater in the image. Although uncommon in shape, these erosional patterns are not inconsistent with ice sublimation as their formation mechanism. In the northern crater, ejecta deposits from the crater impacted on its western rim have intermingled with the floor deposits, leading to interesting textures there as well, indicating different types of geologic materials being introduced from the subsurface.

ID: ESP_092480_2160 date: 19 April 2026 altitude: 294 km

HiPOD: A New Impact Crater Exposes Bright Material

We’ve imaged thousands of new impact sites. These are locations with before and after images constraining when the impact happened. We are especially interested in craters that expose shallow ice, which appears as especially bright and relatively blue material.

The new impact imaged here looks like such a crater, but it formed at 3.5 North latitude, almost exactly on the equator, where shallow ice is highly unstable to loss by sublimation. There is also regolith that is bright and relatively blue, perhaps material altered by hot springs or fumaroles. This crater may have revealed an interesting deposit that was hidden by dust. We will monitor this crater over time to see if it fades rapidly as expected for ice.

Enhanced color cutout is less than 1 km across. For full image including scale bar, visit the source link.

ID: ESP_092110_1835 date: 21 March 2026 altitude: 267 km

HiPOD: Bedrock Ridges in Terra Sabaea

This region of Mars has well-exposed bedrock, that is not covered by very much dust or sand. Such exposures are windows into the composition of Mars, as measured by spectrometers.

This region also shows a spectacular array of ridges, that formed first as fractures of faults, then fluids (water or lava) moved through the fractures depositing harder rocks. These hard rocks are resistant to erosion when exposed at the surface, so they are left as elevated ridges.

Colors have been enhanced in the cutout to better show the compositional variations. (Cutout is less than 1 km across. For full image including scale bar, visit the source link.)

ID: ESP_092084_1525 date: 19 March 2026 altitude: 256 km

HiPOD: A Dune Field at Herschel Crater

This area is potentially useful for monitoring the wind-generated processes of Hershel Crater. This gorgeous dune field near the center of the image target. HiRISE images have demonstrated that the dunes are not stationary, but have moved over time, so multiple images help to track those changes over time. The crater is jointly named after the 17th/18th century father and son astronomers William Herschel and John Herschel.

ID: ESP_077062_1660 date: 3 January 2023 altitude: 257 km

HiPOD: Frosty Dunes of an Impact Crater

This observation is one of three images requested from HiRISE at this location to monitor frost deposition, evolution and sublimation. The Context Camera was also requested as a “ride along” to assist with frost detection. Our image will also be used for detailed surface measurements.

Enhanced color cutout is less than 1 km across; grayscale cutout is less than 5 km across. For full image including scale bar, visit the source link.

ID: ESP_077070_2410 date: 4 January 2023 altitude: 310 km

HiPOD: East of Aram Chaos

Aram Chaos is of particular scientific interest because it is hypothesized that its chaotic terrain may be the source of water that contributed to the creation of nearby valleys such as Ares Vallis flowing toward Chryse Planitia. Our science goal with this observation is to see more details about these extensive light-toned deposits: could they be more sulfates or other hydrated materials?

Enhanced color cutout is less than 1 km across; grayscale cutout is less than 5 km across. For full image, including scale bar, visit the source link.

ID: ESP_077054_1825 date: 3 January 2023 altitude: 271 km

HiPOD: Field of Cones

The objective of this observation is to examine a field of light-toned cones that is surrounded by dark material and happens to be free of cones. This image footprint is in Acidalia Planitia, a vast plain in the northern lowlands of Mars.

ID: ESP_077093_2230 date: 6 January 2023 altitude: 301 km

HiPOD: Fan and Ridges in Southern Gale Crater

Our objective with this observation is to study a setting of complex fan and ridge systems in southern Gale Crater. HiRISE stereo was also requested to investigate their stratigraphy and geologic evolution. This footprint is almost directly southeast of the Curiosity rover, close to the base of Aeolis Mons (Mount Sharp).

ID: ESP_077088_1745 date: 6 January 2023 altitude: 266 km

HiPOD: Layers on the Floor

The objective of this observation is to examine a nice outcrop of layers on the floor of an impact crater in Arabia Terra. Perhaps, the crater once held a lake. Arabia Terra is one of the oldest surface regions on Mars and contains a large variety of surface features. This scene is also visible in Context Camera image data.

ID: ESP_077080_1900 date: 5 January 2023 altitude: 275 km

HiPOD: Impact Related Deposits and Flows in Noachis Terra

The purpose of this image target is to observe how surface flow patterns in the area vary with distance from the proposed parent crater. This is one of several flow feature observations being suggested in the vicinity of the well-preserved crater to the southeast here in Noachis Terra.

Image cutout is less than 5 km across. For full image including scale bar, visit the source link.

ID: ESP_076922_1505 date: 24 December 2022  altitude: 253 km

HiPOD: Martian Impact Parties: Where Everything Happens in a Cluster 

The HiRISE and Context Camera instruments onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have discovered over 700 recent impact sites on Mars. Some of these sites contain crater clusters where multiple craters are concentrated in a single region.

These clusters are thought to have formed when an incoming impactor fragmented in the Martian atmosphere, with the resulting debris creating newer craters in close proximity. Investigating these recently formed crater clusters provides valuable insights into the atmospheric fragmentation processes and the characteristics of the impacting bodies.

Our HiRISE image shows one such site where several meter-sized craters were formed between 2009 and 2011. The craters also contain very distinctive dark blast zones, suggesting the removal or disturbance of surface material. The arcing patterns around the crater indicate an oblique impact angle, with the bolide likely coming from the southwest.

ID: ESP_055581_1985 date: 5 June 2018  altitude: 277 km

HiPOD: The Spring Awakening of Martian Polar Dunes

During the Martian winter, carbon dioxide ice (dry ice) blankets various landforms, including dunes, in the northern high latitudes. As spring arrives, the ice sublimates, causing unique changes on the surface.

This HiRISE image captures a site featuring a North Polar scarp and nearby dune field, showing the early to mid-stages of defrosting during northern spring. In areas without dunes, the ice remains a continuous layer, while on the dunes, dark defrosting spots appear as the surface material beneath the ice is mobilized and deposited on top.

In some cases, this mobile material also cascades down the steep dune faces, leading to the formation of dark streaks that can be easily identified in our enhanced color cutout. This dynamic interaction between the sublimating ice and the underlying surface provides us a unique glimpse at the seasonal processes that shape the landscape on present-day Mars.

Enhanced color cutout is less than 1 km across. For full image including scale bar, visit the source link.

ID: ESP_087131_2640 date: 26 February 2025 altitude: 316 km