Landing Site Region

As the Sun peeks above the horizon at the Martian south polar icecap, powerful jets of carbon-dioxide (CO2) gas erupt through the icecap's topmost layer.

Unfrozen brine in cryopegs and fracture networks provides habitats for the survival and growth of organisms both within and under frozen rocky materials on Earth and, by analogy, could provide habi...

This image, acquired by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a new impact crater that has appeared on the surface of Mars, formed at most between September 2016 and February 2019.

This map shows the thickness of the north polar layered deposits on Mars as measured by the Shallow Radar instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Eridania Basin Light-Toned Outcrops

Artist rendering of commercial Mars satellites providing communications back to Earth.

Artist's concept of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter en route to Mars.

This illustration depicts a concept for the possible extent of an ancient lake inside Gale Crater.

This global map of Mars was acquired on Aug. 4, 2012, by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

This observation from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a sand dune field in the Nili Fossae region of Mars. The dark lines swirling over the surface of the dunes are the tracks of dust devi...

This is an image of Gusev Crater taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera and is one of the potential landing sites for the Mars 2020 rover.

This image acquired on January 27, 2019 by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the extensive central peak complex of Hale Crater.

This HiRISE image shows fractured mounds on the southern edge of Elysium Planitia.

This image reveals exposed layers in Noctis Labyrinthus which may contain signatures of iron bearing sulfates and phyllosilcate (clay) minerals.

The material in the upper portion of this image, perhaps hardened volcanic ash deposits, is being eroded into parallel long, thin ridges called yardangs by the strong prevailing winds.

This graphic presents Martian atmospheric temperature data as curtains over an image of Mars taken during a regional dust storm. The temperature profiles extend from the surface to about 50 miles u...

Aram Chaos is a heavily eroded impact crater that contains jumbled blocks of material disrupted when large quantities of ice or water were catastrophically removed. The light toned sediments may ha...

Boulder-size blocks of water ice can be seen around the rim of an impact crater on Mars, as viewed by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE camera) aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissanc...

Curiosity performs the first investigation of active sand dunes on another planet. Studying the Bagnold Dunes on Mars will help scientists understand the physics of Martian dunes and how they move.

Dust-Mantled Topography near Zephyria Tholus

This impact crater has gullies incised into its walls on the north and eastern sides. A couple of gullies on the north wall are unusual because a segment in the middle becomes wider than the upslop...

Two types of wind-blown sedimentary deposits are pictured in this scene of the floor of Ius Chasma in the Valles Marineris.

Researchers estimating the amount of carbon held in the ground at the largest known carbonate-containing deposit on Mars utilized data from three different NASA Mars orbiters.

These collapse pits probably formed when lava erupted from the side of Arsia Mons, draining underground magma reservoirs. The resulting voids collapse due to the weight of the solid lava above them...

This map indicates geological units in the region of Mars around a smaller area where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has driven from early 2004 through late 2010.