If you’re looking for solitude and beauty, there’s nowhere better than the surface of Mars. Mars has earned the nickname the red planet, but the HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) can transform subtle differences in soils into a rainbow of colors.
For 10 years, HiRISE has captured wonderful – and scientifically valuable – images of Mars. Their photos are so detailed that scientists can examine the planet’s features at the scale of just a few meters, including the recent crash site of the Schiaparelli Mars spacecraft in Europe. October, to bring you some of the best – and we hope to help you temporarily escape Earth. NASA / JPL / University of Arizona
NASA can land its next nuclear-powered space mission on Mars 2020 here.
The black spot is where the European Space Agency’s Schiaparelli Mars spacecraft crashed. The white spots, pointed with arrows, are pieces of the probe.
The false coloring of this image makes a giant dune and its ravines appear blue.
A possible landing site for the ExoMars 2020 mission, which the European Space Agency is running.
A North Pole dune field nicknamed “Kolhar” in homage to the fictional world of Frank Herbert.