Stunning new images of spidery frost deposits and deep canyons on Mars, as well as new gas discoveries, have rocked the science world for a month full of news on the Red Planet as a total of three new Mars spacecraft head to the red planet -NASA’s Perseverance rover, China’s first Mars explorer, and a UAE orbital. All these scientific expeditions aim to expand our knowledge and understanding of Mars. See what the surface of the Red Planet looks like in photos:
A gully in the sand dunes of Matara Crater on the surface of Mars, carved by seasonal dry ice that accumulates each year.
A field of barchan sand dunes appear turquoise blue on the surface of Mars in this enhanced image taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Two geologically young craters on the surface of Mars.
Cliffs of ancient ice on the surface of Mars, featuring brown dusty cliff walls and light blue ice.
Dunes on Mars are almost free of their seasonal ice cover during early Martian summer, with pockets of ice still visible in areas protected by shade, as seen in this Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image.
The surface of Mars after a meteoroid hit and exploded, creating an impact crater 5 meters across that triggered a one-kilometer-long slope streak, or avalanche. Image taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
A view of the Ophir Chasma on the northern portion of the vast Mars canyon system, Vallles Marineris, taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Nili Patera, one of the most active dune fields on the planet Mars. Image taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Perseverance View of the Delta in Jezero Crater
A view shows Mars in a picture taken after UAE’s Hope Probe entered orbit in the first Arab Mars mission, February 2021.
Rough spherical features in an area called Yellowknife Bay. These features are interpreted as concretions, implying they formed in water that percolated through pores in the sediment. Spherical concretions have previously been discovered in other rocks on Mars.
An impact crater on Mars is seen in an image taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
A rock outcrop called Link pops out from a Martian surface. Rounded gravel fragments, or clasts, up to a couple inches in size are in a matrix of white material. The outcrop characteristics are consistent with a sedimentary conglomerate, or a rock that was formed by the deposition of water and is composed of many smaller rounded rocks cemented together. Scientists enhanced the color in this version to show the Martian scene as it would appear under the lighting conditions we have on Earth.
The northern-most sand dunes are seen as they begin to emerge from their winter cover of seasonal carbon dioxide (dry) ice.
A location on Mars associated with the best-selling novel and Hollywood movie, “The Martian” This area is in the Acidalia Planitia region and in the novel and the movie, it is the landing site of a crewed mission named Ares 3.
Portions of the Martian surface showing many channels from 1 meter to 10 meters wide on a scarp in the Hellas impact basin.
Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z First High-Resolution Panorama. Stitched together from 79 individual images, this Mastcam-Z right-eye 110-mm zoom mosaic is from the camera’s first high-resolution panorama imaging sequence.
A view of the Noctis Labyrinthus region of Mars, perched high on the Tharsis rise in the upper reaches of the Valles Marineris canyon system.
The surface of the planet Mars inside Gale Crater seen from Curiosity.
Curiosity appears as a bluish dot near the lower right corner of this enhanced-color view from Orbiter.
Part of the wall of Gale Crater. Here, a network of valleys believed to have formed by water erosion enters Gale Crater from the outside.
This shows the rim of Jezero Crater as seen in the first 360-degree panorama taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover.
Two trenches dug by Phoenix’s Robotic Arm.
Mars’ Victoria Crater at Meridiani Planum.
An iron meteorite on Mars in an image taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.
