NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

‘Corduroy’ sand dunes enhance Mars’ permanent polar cap

4 June 2018 Astronomy Now

High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment – HiRISE – camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this intriguing view of “corduroy” dunes on Mars permanent polar cap, an image seemingly as much art as science.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter gets long-distance tune up

9 February 2018 William Harwood

NASA is tweaking operating procedures to prolong the life of its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, reducing the demand on its batteries and switching to star trackers instead of aging gyroscopes to determine the spacecraft’s orientation.

Gullies on Mars sculpted by dry ice rather than liquid water?

23 December 2015 Astronomy Now

Mars’ gullies may be formed by dry ice processes rather than flowing liquid water, as previously thought. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by two French scientists published in Nature Geoscience. They show that, during Martian late winter and spring, underneath the seasonal CO₂ ice layer heated by the Sun, intense gas fluxes can induce gas-lubricated debris flows which look like water-sculpted gullies on Earth.