Hydrated Sulfates on Northern Wall of Columbus Crater
HiRISE PICTURE OF THE DAY: 29 JULY 2026

Hydrated Sulfates in Columbus Crater

A simple rationale for a HiWish target is sometimes the best: “An area of mineralogic interest identified by the CRISM instrument, which lacks HiRISE coverage.” Sulfate-rich rock outcrops on Mars may be a good location to search for evidence of past life on the planet. Columbus Crater is located in Terra Sirenum, and is about 119 kilometers in diameter.



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

Layered Mesa near Mawrth Vallis
This target comes from the public via HiWish: “Similar HiRISE images of mounds around Chryse Planitia have revealed stunning and complex meter and decameter-scale stratigraphy, indicative of widespread, regional-scale processes. This mound shares characteristics with those landforms, so is important to document.”