MRO captures spectacular sand dunes on Mars

The image below shows dunes and sand ripples of various shapes and sizes inside an impact crater in the Noachis Terra region of southern Mars. It was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

This enhanced-color image shows sand dunes trapped in an impact crater in Noachis Terra, Mars. Image credit: (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)

More than 20,600 images taken by HiRISE are available for viewing on the instrument team's website: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu. Each observation by this telescopic camera covers several square miles, or square kilometers, and can reveal features as small as a desk.

HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson. The instrument was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft.

For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, see www.nasa.gov/mro.