By now folks used to reading about Mars have gotten pretty spoiled by the amazing images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
This fabulous camera came online in 2006 and returned its first color images of Mars in 2007.
The current catalog of more than 8,700 images is a study in how science can become art—rippling sand dunes and scalloped craters in gentle hues of blue and red can look more like exhibits at the MoMA than data on planetary geology.
So at first blush it can be a bit of a downer when a HiRISE image looks like this:
—Image courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
But hey, this is a science experiment, and this contrasty crater is just busting with science.
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