100 Incredible Images of Mars

Detailed, high-resolution images of the Red Planet.

On August 12, 2005, NASA launched the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — a spacecraft designed to study the climate and geology of Mars, map the planet’s surface, and survey for potential rover landing sites. The spacecraft orbits Mars at an average distance of 287 kilometers (178 miles), scanning, probing, and photographing the planet in exquisite, unprecedented detail. What follows are images captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, one of the Orbiter’s six science instruments. HiRISE (as the camera is known for short) was developed and is managed by a team of scientists at the University of Arizona, to whom all credit belongs for these incredible images.

💬 The colors and contents of these images are not necessarily what would be visible to the naked eye; the colors are often used to distinguish geological features, and some of these images were captured observing infrared light, which is invisible to human eyes and must therefore be shifted into wavelengths we can perceive.

Since capturing the first image of Mars on September 29, 2006, the HiRISE scientists at the University of Arizona have been dutifully collecting, cataloging, and posting high-resolution images of the planet on their website. Their efforts have produced a library of over 70,000 images, all of which are available to view and download in various formats and at various resolutions. So if you found the images in this article interesting or inspiring, go have yourself a time. And if you’d like to see a regularly updated, curated collection of images, follow me on Instagram.