Thermal Property Variation on South Polar Layered Deposits
HiRISE PICTURE OF THE DAY: 20 FEBRUARY 2026

Variations of a Martian Terrain

This portion of the South Polar Layered Deposit surface displays variation in light/dark banding in image mosaics from other science instruments. This observation can help to characterize surface roughness and other properties and interpret the variations here and in additional parts of the SPLD. This is important for understanding the modification history of the SPLD and climate records.



100,000 Image of Mars!
On 7 October 2025, the HiRISE camera aboard MRO acquired an image of the Syrtis Major plains that marks over 100,000 images of Mars, which is a fabulous milestone!
HiRISE Image of Exocomet 3I/ATLAS
On 2 October 2025, MRO turned away from Mars to image 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system!

HiRISE Instrument News
HiRISE Instrument News
Since mid-2023, our RED4 CCD has operated only intermittently due to a hardware issue, creating gaps in the middle of some image products and reducing the color swath to 1 CCD width. We continue to command RED4 in all observations and it returns data approximately 50% of the time

Ejecta Moving into Crater in Chryse Planitia
The objective of this observation is to examine what appears to be ejecta moving into a small crater. More resolution is needed to tell exactly what is going on here. This scene is also visible in Context Camera data. Chryse Planitia is a region where the Viking 1 lander and Mars Pathfinder touched down.