A crater on Mars has a bright patch of ice. It's the second time in over a decade that the crater and ice has been observed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
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TechTranscript
00:00The HiRISE and context camera instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have worked together to image many new impact craters that have formed within the last few years.
00:08At middle and high latitudes, these craters often dig up ice, which is initially bright and then fades away as it sublimates.
00:16A small crater here was first seen by HiRISE in 2010, and some of the ice is still bright over a decade later.
00:23A theory suggests that many millimeters of ice should have been lost in that time.
00:27Since we can still see the ice, it must be very clean, without much dust or debris mixed in.