Planetary Society logo
  • “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

Autumn comes to Mars' north pole

Autumn comes to Mars' north pole
Autumn comes to Mars' north pole During the early part of its science mission, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter frequently targeted Mars' far northern plains to capture data over the possible landing sites for the Phoenix lander, to be launched in 2007. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrived as summer was waning and autumn weather arriving in the northern hemisphere. This map contains two CRISM images captured one month apart. The lower right image was acquired on November 29, 2006, and the upper left one on December 26. The earlier image is cloud-free, and surface features are easy to spot. But the later image is obscured by clouds and haze. As on Earth, clouds and haze on Mars are intermittent, occurring more frequently in some seasons than others; here in Mars' north, clouds and haze will become more and more frequent as the region descends into polar night. Under the cover of clouds and darkness, the region will soon be covered in water ice and carbon dioxide frost. NASA / JPL-Caltech / JHUAPL