Cool as Ice
HiRISE PICTURE OF THE DAY: 24 MAY 2026
Cool as Ice

Every winter, a layer of carbon dioxide frost forms on the surface of Mars. At its greatest extent in mid-winter, this frost reaches from the poles down to the middle latitudes, until it is too warm and sunny to persist.



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

A Long and Winding Channel in Tharsis
The Tharsis region of Mars is covered in vast lava flows, many with channels. Some channels, however, resemble features that may have been formed by water.