NASA’s HiRise camera reveals breathtaking sand-dunes on Mars

clipped from www.independent.co.uk The wonder of Mars in its seasonal glory These images of sand dunes in Proctor Crater were taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter clipped from www.independent.co.uk clipped from www.independent.co.uk This stereo image suggests a process of rock formation called ‘rhythmic bedding’ in sedimentary rock within the Becquerel crater. A three-dimensional analysis on pairs of images confirmed the regularity of the repetition in the thickness of the beds. The image covers an area about half a mile wide clipped from www.independent.co.uk These dark, fern-like features on the floor of the Antoniadi Crater tell the story of an ancient wet environment on Mars where life may have existed. One hypothesis is that these represent a network of channels that now stand in inverted relief. The channels may have become filled in with materials more resistant to erosion clipped from www.independent.co.uk This false-colour image shows gully channels in a crater in the southern highlands of Mars. The gullies emanate from cliffs near the crater’s rim.