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A Polar Smile

Jan. 7, 2015
This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is of an approximately 5 kilometer (approx. 3.1 mile) diameter crater that is one of the rare examples of a fresh 'lunar-like' crater on Mars.
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This image represents one of many monitoring sites at the South pole residual cap (SPRC). Images are taken throughout the Martian year to document changes in carbon dioxide ice coverage.

This image shows a popular spot where one of the features resembles a smiley face that is approximately 500 meters across. If you smile at Mars, sometimes it smiles back.

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.

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