PIA21630: An Ancient Valley Network
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Spacecraft:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Instrument:  HiRISE
 Product Size:  2880 x 1800 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  University of Arizona/HiRISE-LPL
 Other  
Information: 
Other products from ESP_049977_1610
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA21630.tif (15.56 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA21630.jpg (747.3 kB)

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Most of the oldest terrains on Mars have eroded into branching valleys, as seen here in by NASA's Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter, much like many land regions of Earth are eroded by rain and snowmelt runoff. This is the primary evidence for major climate change on Mars billions of years ago.

How the climate of Mars could have supported a warmer and wetter environment has been the subject of scientific debates for 40 years. A full-resolution enhanced color closeup reveals details in the bedrock and dunes on the valley floor (upper left). The bedrock of ancient Mars has been hardened and cemented by groundwater.

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 51.5 centimeters (22.4 inches) per pixel (with 2 x 2 binning); objects on the order of 155 centimeters (61 inches) across are resolved.] North is up.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. 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

Image Addition Date:
2017-05-09