HiRISE Science Team wrote:Possible Hydrated Minerals on the Plains of Terra Sirenum (ESP_023335_1560) (video)
This image shows a small light-toned exposure of rock on the plains of Terra Sirenum, in a heavily cratered region of the Southern hemisphere of Mars.
What's of interest here is the potential hydrated mineral signature that appears in CRISM multispectral data. Hydrated minerals on Mars are indicators of past environmental conditions. Comparing high-resolution images from HiRISE and the high spectral resolution of CRISM helps understand these minerals.
Prior to HiRISE, there were no existing high-resolution images of this exposure.
HiRISE Science Team wrote:Clay Minerals Near Mawrth Vallis (ESP_023422_2000) (video)
Mawrth Vallis, one of the oldest valleys on the Red Planet, was one of the final four candidate landing spots for the Mars Science Laboratory and for good reason: there are clay minerals here that most likely formed in the presence of water.
This particular image is part of a collection of observations to support assessment of potential future rover landing sites. The region is rich in aluminum- and iron-bearing clays.
This is a stereo pair with ESP_023567_2000.
HiRISE Science Team wrote:A Crater with a Surrounding Bench (ESP_023593_1845) (video)
This observation shows a crater with a surrounding bench. The crater's original rim appears to have been eroded, but mainly above a resistant layer. It's this sort of layering that gives the crater such a distinctive, "double-ring" appearance.
The image shows fine layering in both the bench and the inner crater walls. The interior of the crater--itself ringed by darker material--appears relatively featureless except for the ripples caused by wind.
This is a stereo pair with ESP_023382_1845.
Colin Dundas wrote:Small Mid-Latitude Crater (ESP_030916_1250) (video)
This image shows a small impact crater, about 400 meters (440 yards) wide. This crater is in the Southern mid-latitudes, at about 55 degrees south.
On Mars, fresh-looking craters are rare in the middle and high latitudes. Asteroids hit the surface there just as often as at the equator, but the craters are buried by frost and dust, or re-worked by ground ice expanding and contracting as it warms up and cools off each year.
Although this crater looks fresh, it is already showing signs that it is being filled in and eroded. Eventually, all that will be left is a shallow circular pit and perhaps a ring of boulders where the rim and ejecta used to be.
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
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