This is only part of that photograph. It shows the central uplift structure in the crater. Rocks that form this peak were several kilometers beneath the surface until an impact formed the 37 mile-diameter (60 kilometer) crater just north of Mars' equator. The HiRISE image shows that boulders as large as 50 feet across (15 meters) have eroded from the massive uplifted rock and rolled downslope.
The HiRISE image also confirms earlier evidence that this part of Mojave crater appears untouched by liquid water. Previous photographs taken by the HiRISE camera, and even earlier by the Mars Orbital Camera that flew on NASA'S Mars Global Surveyor, show that Mojave crater rim walls feature striking drainage channels and alluvial fans that likely were formed by surface water runoff. How runoff formed these channels and alluvial fans is one of the questions that HiRISE team members and their collaborators are looking into.
The High Resolution Science Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) team, led by University of Arizona Professor Alfred S. McEwen, is based at UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson. HiRISE began the science phase of the mission in November, 2006, and posts new images and captions on the Internet at
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu every Wednesday.
Source: University of Arizona
Related stories:
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Reveals Rock Fracture Plumbing on Mars
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed hundreds of small fractures exposed on the Martian surface that billions of years ago directed flows of water through underground Martian sandstone.
Mars rover Opportunity sets out on its greatest journey yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Mars rover Opportunity, which has just crawled out of the 800-meter-wide (875 yards) Victoria Crater is setting out on the longest journey of its life. It will take the rover roughly two years of driving at its top speed -- up to 100 meters (109 yards) a day -- to reach its new target, a crater 20 times the size of Victoria that the Mars Exploration Rover team has unofficially dubbed "Endeavour."
Mars Rover Opportunity To Head Toward Bigger Crater
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity is setting its sights on a crater more than 20 times larger than its home for the past two years.
Orbiter's HiRISE Camera Saw Phoenix Heat Shield in Freefall on Landing Day
Scientists running the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, known as HiRISE, on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have processed more details in an amazing image their camera captured as the Phoenix spacecraft descended through Mars' atmosphere during its landing on May 25, 2008.
NASA Mars Lander Prepares to Move Arm
NASA's Phoenix Lander is ready to begin moving its robotic arm, first unlatching its wrist and then flexing its elbow. Mission scientists are eager to move Phoenix's robotic arm, for that arm will deliver samples of icy terrain to their instruments made to study this unexplored Martian environment.
MRO Spacecraft Images Mars Moon in Color and in 3D
A new stereo view of Phobos, the larger and inner of Mars' two tiny moons, has been captured by a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars.
Orbiter discovers a possibly once-habitable ancient Mars lake
Scientists studying images from The University of Arizona-led High Resolution Imaging Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have discovered never-before-seen impact "megabreccia" and a possibly once-habitable ancient lake on Mars at a place called Holden crater.
Liquid water found flowing on Mars? Not yet
Liquid water has not been found on the Martian surface within the last decade after all, according to new research. The finding casts doubt on the 2006 report that the bright spots in some Martian gullies indicate that liquid water flowed down those gullies sometime since 1999.
