Dark Dunes
Date: 10 Jun 2007

Within a 150-km diameter crater named Proctor, in the southern highlands on Mars, is this dark dune field. The reason these dunes are so dark is because they are composed of basaltic sand that has collected at the bottom of the crater. Between the dark dunes and on the crater floor are many smaller and brighter formations.


This is an enhanced-color view generated from images acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).


Images from the HiRISE instrument and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/mro.


JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.


Last Update: 8 Jun 2011 (AMB)

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona