NASA celebrates 15 years orbiting Mars with stunning pictures

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was in the right place at the right time when it spotted a massive avalanche on a giant Martian slope. The major geological process took place near to the north pole of Mars when ice began to loosen and unleashed an avalanche down a 1,640-foot-tall (500-meter-tall) cliff.

Images from the MRO show a huge trail of dust and debris left in the wake of the avalanche.

NASA, which is celebrating 15 years of MRO in orbit of Mars, said on its website: “Hi-RISE, the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured this avalanche plunging down a 1,640-foot-tall (500-meter-tall) cliff on May 29, 2019.

“The image also reveals layers at Mars’ north pole during spring. As temperatures increase and vaporise ice, the destabilised ice blocks break loose and kick up dust.”

Regarding 15 years orbiting the Red Planet, NASA said: “Since leaving Earth 15 years ago, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has reshaped our understanding of the Red Planet.

“The veteran spacecraft studies temperatures in Mars’ thin atmosphere, peers underground with radar, and detects minerals on the planet’s surface. But perhaps what it’s become best known for are stunning images.

“Able to zoom in on surface features at the highest resolution, the detailed, color images from HiRISE have captured dramatic scenes of nature: tumbling avalanches, skyscraping dust devils, and other features of a changing landscape.

“The camera has also provided images of other NASA spacecraft at Mars, like the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers. MRO has even flipped itself around to point HiRISE out at Earth and Phobos, one of Mars’ two moons.”

NASA has recently launched another mission to Mars – the Perseverance rover – which is set to arrive at the Red Planet next year.

READ MORE: NASA news: MRO captures striking avalanche scene on Red Planet

Space scientists will then measure the way the light scatters when it hits the ground to work out what kind of minerals and chemical compounds it is made from.

The technique will also identify the unique spectral “fingerprint” certain alien organic material might give off.

Extraterrestrial life experts hope this can track down potential signs of past alien life.

NASA’s Luther Beegle told the JPL news blog: “Life is clumpy. If we see organics clumping together on one part of a rock, it might be a sign that microbes thrived there in the past.”

source: express.co.uk