Acidalia Planitia
HiRISE PICTURE OF THE DAY: 17 OCTOBER 2025

In Acidalia Planitia

Our science goal with this observation is to investigate the structure of the polygonal terrain as well as their superposition and crosscutting relationships with adjacent geologic units and landforms. Targeting high thermal inertial surfaces will help characterize surface materials. Thermal inertia means a material resists temperature changes by storing and releasing heat slowly, keeping its temperature more stable.



HiRISE Instrument News
Since July 23, 2023, HiRISE observations have lacked data from the RED4 CCD due to a hardware issue, creating a gap in the middle of image products and reducing the color swath to 1 CCD width. We are investigating the hardware issue and may be able to acquire some RED4 data in the future.

Ridges in Lycus Sulci
Much of the rocks in this area have been subjected to erosion by the wind, so the surface we see today was originally buried deep underground.