PIA20730: The Plains are Not Plain
 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_045300_1630
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA20730.tif (15.56 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA20730.jpg (1.024 MB)

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This image covers some of the plains south of Capri Chasma in eastern Valles Marineris.

Where the aeolian (wind-blown) sedimentary cover has been stripped away, we see diverse colors indicative of of a variety of altered minerals formed in Mars' wetter past.

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 the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Image Addition Date:
2016-06-01