A Recent Impact in Elysium Planitia

This image shows a new impact crater in Elysium Planitia that was first discovered by the Mars Context Camera (CTX, also onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) which formed between February 2012 and June 2014. It appeared as a dark streak with multiple secondary craters, which was not seen in the previous CTX image.

The HiRISE camera commonly monitors new impacts such as these; however this is the first image of this particular impact by HiRISE.

The image shows a very distinct crater rim and ejecta that is much darker than the surrounding dust-covered terrain. The distribution of the rayed ejecta suggests that the impactor struck from the west.

HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.