Mars’ north polar layered deposits comprise a thick stack of icy layers. Part of this image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has lingering seasonal frost, which serves to accentuate those layers.
An additional rationale for this observation is to document new activity in scarp erosion.
The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 63.7 centimeters (25.1 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 191 centimeters (75.2 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.
The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona