Abstract Art in Ius Chasma

Sometimes Mars' surface is just beautiful as seen through the eyes of HiRISE.

This is one example on the floor of Ius Chasma, part of Valles Marineris. The region has had a complex history of sediment deposition, deformation, erosion, and alteration.

The map is projected here at a scale of 50 centimeters (19.7 inches) per pixel. (The original image scale is 53.3 centimeters [21.0 inches] per pixel [with 2 x 2 binning]; objects on the order of 160 centimeters [63.0 inches] across are resolved.) North is up.

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